The Latest Argentine Invention: The Patacon!

McDonald's, the fast-food chain, will accept the currency in exchange for its new "Patacombo" - two cheeseburgers, fries and a drink.

The news caused laughter among emerging market debt traders on Wall Street when it was reported by Bloomberg News. But the Patacombo also gave economists useful chance to calculate the real value of the currency.

Because of its ubiquity around the world, the Big Mac has long been used by economists to calculate the real value of national currencies.

Using such "burgernomics", economists at Merrill Lynch found that the true value of a Patacon, at least to McDonald's, is between 67 and 78 cents of a dollar.

Many books have been written on how Argentina, once the seventh-richest country in the world, could have degenerated into the global economic basket case it is today. But the potential subsistence of Buenos Aires' teachers, bureaucrats and policemen upon a diet of McDonalds' must surely be one of the stranger effects of the country's latest crisis.

From this story.

Well, even though this current crisis is ongoing, business as usual continues in Argentina. In fact, environmental work is ongoing as evidenced by this story which is summarized below:

"Buenos Aires Shapes Sustainable Waste Disposal Strategy

By Alejandra Herranz

BUENOS AIRES, Argentina, July 24, 2001 (ENS) - The total amount of solid waste generated by Argentina's capital city of Buenos Aires has increased 30 percent in the past 10 years. This finding comes from the city government's first ever study of solid waste.

The government released its study last week as the first step in a strategy to improve the way the city deals with the two million tons of waste generated each year by Buenos Aires residents, commuters and students, some 10 percent of Argentina's population.

They found that in 2001, the average composition of urban solid waste in Buenos Aires was 34 percent food waste, 24 percent paper, 14 percent plastics, five percent each of gardening waste, rubber and glass, four percent disposable diapers, two percent each construction materials and metals, and the rest miscellaneous waste.

The researchers found above 85 percent of the waste is organic in composition, and 86 percent of the total waste could be incinerated. Roughly 64 percent of the components could be used for compost, while 30 per cent of these components could be recycled the study says. "

I thought it was especially interesting to note that:

"Currently there are five consortiums which are responsible for taking the waste generated in Buenos Aires to the sanitary landfill of Villa Dominico, in the province of Buenos Aires. "

Argentina has privitized most everything and from my experience, it has worked very well.

I really feel for Argentines .. just 4 years ago everything was looking so very good. Now ..

Hey, at least Menem has been held to account for some of his illegal actions. That has got to count for something!

Fundamentally, Argentina has what it takes to be a great country again. But, it needs more *accountability* in the sense of *quality control*. Products, services and politicians all have to be held to consistently higher standards. Too much effort is bled out of business and governmental operations in the form of graft, corner-cutting, image and inaction. Building a quality product or delivering a quality service costs more, takes more effort and requires a sense of service. However, it is necessary to inspire confidence in your citizens, customers and employees. This will open more markets to Argentine products and services particularly outside of Latin America. Argentina needs to reduce its trade dependence on Brasil.

The Asian *Tiger* countries understood this and look at what they have achieved. Argentina deserves better. Argentines deserve better.

Hey look .. Argentina DOES have an impact on Canada!

Argentine crisis sends dollar lower
Posted Fri Jul 13 17:22:50 2001
TORONTO - Nervousness over the economic situation in Argentina helped send the Canadian dollar lower on Friday. Read More

Will Argentina "dollarize" or float their peso? Personally, I think that Argentina should allow the Peso to float.

Holy flashback Batman! Cavallo is back!! What a country, so full of surprises!!! Not only is he back, but he is making big changes. When I first went to Argentina in early 1997, I recall that Cavallo and his wife returned to Argentina from a brief exile. There were all sorts of rumours and stories about why old Mingo left the country including his possible prosecution, assination threats, etc. I remember some people saying that Cavallo that he must have big balls or big protection, to return to Argentina. So, I am quite surprised after his poor showing in the last elections, and his vilification by all parties in Argentina since he left the Menem government, that he is now been invited by De La Rua. Bizarre.

There is an article in the Argentina News section about the wine industry in Argentina. Here is a link to the original story: Click here

In 1997, I had the fortune to go to Mendoza and perform some environmental work for a big chemical company in Argentina. This company played an integral role in the wine industry in the region by processing waste byproducts from wine production and turning them into fertlizers and chemicals for food production and other uses. I was amazed at the extent and history of the wine industry in the region.

Chemical companies are often thought of as those engaging in "bad" or "polluting" activities. However, this company was actually playing the role of a recycler, an environmentally friendly role, in addition to bringing additional economic value to the region and the wine industry. I encouraged the company to think of themselves in this positive light and to highlight their beneficial role in the community. Without the chemical company, the waste byproducts would just be landfilled, and generate possible environmental impacts. Of course, the chemical company still needed to make sure that their processes, etc, were all compliant with all legislation and industry environmental standards - which they were doing. I have to say that I was quite delighted to see that this particular chemical company was operating with a high level of environmental awareness and besides, ran a tight ship and didn't have many significant or high impact environmental issues resulting from it's activities.

Well, back to the wine .. I often pick up a bottle of Trapiche here in Vancouver .. I really enjoy the Malbec and the Cabernet Sauvignon is good too. Other labels I enjoy include Norton and Navarro Correas, both of which are available here in Vancouver. The Trapiche Malbec is about $10 Canadian which is about $7 US. If I recall, this is about the same price as in Buenos Aires .. a very good deal for a delicious bottle of wine that has travelled halfway around the globe !!

Improving the Environment in Buenos Aires - One Step at a Time

The next time you throw your empty cigarette package on the ground don't expect that you can complain about the about some business or the government not doing enough to protect the government because you haven't lived up to your responsibilities either. This may seem a bit dramatic, but think about the impact you have on the environment every day:

The toilet that you flush several times a day drains into the Rio Plata. The used oil you pour into the street drain after you change your car's motor oil eventually finds its way to the Rio Plata. When your portero washes the sidewalk in front of your building the soap and dirt he used are washed into the Rio Plata as well. What about the soapy water you use when you wash your car? It goes into the Rio Plata too.

The "gray water" from your kitchen sink and washing machine also drain into the Rio Plato. Some of the dirt, oil residue and other debris on the street also drains into the Rio Plata every time it rains. In fact, most of the material deposited on the road including the rubber residue from your car tires, the oil from your leaking engine, the fertilizer and pesticides you use on your garden will also be washed into the street drains in the first 10 minutes of a rainfall, and drain into the Rio Plata. The old car you are driving which burns too much oil, will also pollute the air you breath. The tree's leaves and the garbage you burn also find their way into the air and into your lungs and the particulate material will end up on the street and later will be washed into the Rio Plata.

What can you do about these things? Why should you change if no one else does? How can you minimize your impact on the environment?

To answer this, you need to consider who you are in the grand scheme of things. You are a consumer in a consumer-based society.

There are many small changes you could make in your daily habits. You could ask your portero to use less soap when washing the sidewalk every morning or instead use a biodegradable "environmental friendly" detergent or not to use soap at all. You could do the same when you wash your clothes at home or maybe you might ask your lavadero how environmentally friendly their detergents are. In order to satisfy your concerns they may decide to change.

When you change your car's engine oil, you could put the used oil into a plastic container and try to find a used oil recycler to take your used oil. The government runs hazardous materials garbage dumps which will accept used oil. You may decide to call the bus company that has a bus which burns too much oil and politely suggest that they repair the bus or even decide to take it out of service. You may look for an inexpensive solution to reduce the amount of oil your car burns. If your car leaks oil, you could also look for inexpensive solutions to repair the oil leak.

The City of Buenos Aires government and private garbage collection companies are doing a good job of providing new garbage cans throughout the city, but often they are vandalized or damaged and then not used. You could call the city works department to notify them that your street or neighborhood has damaged garbage cans that need repair or replacement.

Imagine if 100's or 1000's of people in Buenos Aires began doing the same things as are suggested above. Imagine the effect of millions of individual consumer making "environmentally friendly" decisions. It becomes very realistic that one person can make a difference - one person at a time. It really doesn't take a big change of lifestyle or attitude to make these changes. Imagine what the city may look like if many Portenos made these small changes.

The logic behind this argument is that if there was only one person in Buenos Aires dumping soapy water, used oil, fertilizers and pesticides and waste water into the sewage system it wouldn't really have any significant effect on the level of contamination in the Rio Plata. But the reality is that Buenos Aires and the surrounding area has nearly 14 million people in apartments, houses, villas, offices and factories dumping all of these substances (and many more substances) into the Rio Plata every day. Environmental contamination almost always results from such cumulative impacts.

Almost all of the environmental impacts due to the manufacturing and distribution process of products and services are produced due to satisfy your desires as a consumer of products and services. You, as the consumer, are the driving force in a consuming society. You have a significant amount of power, as part of the consuming group. Companies listen to the consumer. Without the consumer there is no business. However, a company will not spend money on anything unless there is a benefit, a return on their investment. This only makes sense, why spend money for nothing?

When manufacturing and service companies notice that their customers and communities are becoming more environmentally aware and want environmentally products and services they will invest to meet this new demand. It will take time for these changes to happen and much longer before they begin to produce results but somebody must make the first step. That one person is you - the consumer and the citizen of Buenos Aires.