Stranica 2 [2]
XsAs8s November 52.
- page two =
private initiative and investments are nulg the country, due to its
nationalistie policy, has lost its great and matural foreign markets:
England and the United States who had been the great buyers of
Argentina's grain, meat, leather and other products. =
Despite these striking losses, the country nevertheless disposes still
of the most important economic assets: 1. From a financial angle,
Argentina enjoye the rare privilege of having practically no public
debt, meither foreign nor domestic; one explanation of this fact
peing certainely the lacking confidence that discouraged capital
investments. 2. In agriculture, the fundamental wealth, the rich
land, still exists, What has happened is that production, due to
present pressures, has been artifficially reduced. The Peron regime
indeed has placed peasants and farm workers at the wame level as
industrial labor; they were grovped in Unions and high salaries
claimed, Landowners, unable to face the high charges requested, kill
their cattle and leave their fields idle and thus can reduce the hire¢
labor. 3. In inüsstry and mining the picture is similar: installatior
and buildings still exist; but, unable to pay for the expensive labor
and the other charges, enterprises decrease artificially their out¬
put to a minimum. Thus they slowly carry on, until such time when a
. change in regime would give them the freedom to develop again, ¬
Economie experts on South America agree that potentially Argentine's
future outlook is excellent. They feel that, should Peron disappear,
the country's economy could be fully restored in two years. Its
finances being basically sound and its natural wealth still existing,
there are more assets to work on than f.ex, in Brazil with its high
public debts. For the speedy restoration of Argentina's economy,
a sound policy however wovld be needed: the eutting down of public
expenses and of wages3 the increase of essential prices that are now
art és artificially lows; the restoration of foreign exchanges, especialy
ith Enghadh and the United States, - Industrááláét go even as far as
to say that anyone, interested in highly speculative investments,
would have advantage in entering Argentina today; counting with the
end of the Peron regime and the great business opportunities that
will be opened at that moment. recime
Politically speaking, the fate of the Peron/is tied to
the success of its three basid elements: the Army, the Labor Unions
and the victories in foreign policy.
1. The Army has been artificially developed by Peron as one of his
power instruments. Extremely costly, it has become one of the reasons
of economic difficulties and dissatisfactione Very unpopular, the.
Army cannot last, unless supported by other forces of the regime. :
2e The Labor Unions have equally become oncof Peron's power instru¬
mentse They group practically all working people and have been used |
to rule out the middle-class, Argentina indeed had been the only .: °°‘
South American country, where 90% of the population had been consumers
and buyers (in other countries these are only 10-20-30%). This "middle
class", as well as the landowners and the business were oppesed to
Peron policies, Their influence was counterbalanced by the power
given to Labor Unions which, by their high claims, have paralyzed
the country's economic life and led to unemployment and dissatis¬
faction. In the same way as the Army thus, Unions will not last,
unless otherwise supported.
2G.