Latin America

Argentina Fesses Up: Price of Milk Doesn’t Lie, But Politicians Do

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By Sam Pothecary, Argentina: It said the economy shrank for the first time since 2012. This is confusing to us who live here: Does that mean it had been growing for years of peso devaluations, soaring inflation, unemployment, strikes, rising poverty and crime?

Brazil’s Troubled Petrobras Becomes Hot Political Potato

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Petrobras is the world’s most indebted and least profitable oil major. It has $114.3 billion in debt. Production stagnates. Its shares have lost half their value since 2010. It’s embroiled in scandals. And President Dilma Rousseff is on the hook.

Seed Wars: Latin America Strikes Back Against Monsanto

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By Don Quijones: With more back channels and revolving doors to governments around the world, Monsanto is used to getting its way. But now it faces an outright rebellion.

Broke Argentina Socks It To Warrant Holders, Saves $3 Billion

by Bianca Fernet •  • Comments Off on Broke Argentina Socks It To Warrant Holders, Saves $3 Billion

By Bianca Fernet: “Head in hands” photos or “plunging value” graphs that are traditionally displayed when markets fall were selected to accompany news that Argentine warrants tied to GDP crashed when the government revised 2013 GDP growth down to 3%.

Tearing Venezuelan Society Apart: A Personal Account

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By Mariana Belisario-Blaksley, The Bubble: Government policies have destroyed the economy, sovereignty, and security of our once rich nation. They led to preposterous exchange controls, persecution, expropriation in the private sector, and impunity regarding corruption. Reading the media has turned into masochism….

Walmart International: Lousy Economies ‘Everywhere We Operate’

by Wolf Richter •  • Comments Off on Walmart International: Lousy Economies ‘Everywhere We Operate’

With over 6,400 stores in 26 countries outside the US, Walmart International has smacked into the same problems Walmart has encountered in the US: it’s tough out there.

Corporate Colonialism: Winners and Losers of Global ‘Free’ Trade

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By Don Quijones: The new trade agreements have little to do with promoting free trade. They’re about extending the power and control of the world’s largest corporations.

Argentina’s Tempestuous Tango At The Edge Of The Abyss

by Don Quijones •  • Comments Off on Argentina’s Tempestuous Tango At The Edge Of The Abyss

For a while it seemed the government’s unique mathematics had miraculously enabled Argentina to overcome insurmountable economic challenges. Now reality caught up with it.

Giant Sucking Sound? Emerging-Markets Fiasco To Topple European Banks

by Wolf Richter •  • Comments Off on Giant Sucking Sound? Emerging-Markets Fiasco To Topple European Banks

It’s not like Europe is out of the woods, after years of recession, lurching from bank bailout to country bailout, and sweeping remaining fetid matters under the rug. But its banks are now sinking deeper into an even greater morass: the emerging-markets fiasco.