Posts tagged The Economist
Good Airs, Good Reads
Karina Argentina
1 note &
Buenos Aires es la mejor ciudad para vivir de Latinoamérica
Because: Interesting. I find it surprising Santiago and Panama City in particular didn’t come in ahead, just based on my (potentially distorted) understanding of wealth, stability and safety in those cities.
Inflation surely must not have been a factor.
2 notes &
On Renouncing Citizenship
Renouncing citizenship
Did Eduardo Saverin do anything wrong?
Because:This is not something I will be doing anytime soon or probably ever, but the U.S. is the only country whose citizens are subject to domestic income tax even if residing outside the U.S. I had to report when I left Argentina, where I went and for how long, as well as details like how much I paid in monthly rent down here in Buenos Aires. Big Brother reaches far. Here in Argentina you don’t file for taxes; the government just takes out directly each month what it needs for your medical insurance and whatever else and that’s that.
0 notes &
Since 2007 Argentina’s government has published inflation figures that almost nobody believes. These show prices as having risen by between 5% and 11% a year. Independent economists, provincial statistical offices and surveys of inflation expectations have all put the rate at more than double the official number (see article). The government has often granted unions pay rises of that order.
Don’t lie to me, Argentina
Because: It’s about time something like this happened. I’m sure the financial arm of the Argentine government is in crisis mode right now, considering this is a country that messes with its McDonald’s menu prices with the goal of measuring up well against The Economist’s Big Mac Index. May this be the catalyst for some real change, because inflation is burning everyone in Argentina.
Here is another related article, also from The Economist and called The price of cooking the books.
Also, lettuce is apparently ridiculously expensive in Buenos Aires, says La Nación.
6 notes &
Modern society tends to regard itself as somehow better than previous ones, and technological advance reinforces that sense of superiority. But history teaches us that there is nothing new under the sun. Robert Darnton, an historian at Harvard University, who has studied information-sharing networks in pre-revolutionary France, argues that “the marvels of communication technology in the present have produced a false consciousness about the past—even a sense that communication has no history, or had nothing of importance to consider before the days of television and the internet.” Social media are not unprecedented: rather, they are the continuation of a long tradition.
How Luther went viral
Because: Same method, different tools. This is a cool story that puts us in our historic contextual place.
1 note &
International marriages matter partly because they reflect—and result from—globalisation. As people holiday or study abroad, or migrate to live and work, the visitors meet and marry locals. Their unions are symbols of cultural integration, and battlefields for conflicts over integration. Few things help immigrants come to terms with their new country more than becoming part of a local family. Though the offspring of such unions may struggle with the barriers of prejudice, at their best international marriages reduce intolerance directly themselves, and indirectly through their progeny.
Herr and Madame, Señor and Mrs
Because: I suppose I am one of such offspring mentioned, the biological daughter of my mom from the U.S. and father from Mexico. But, I really cannot pretend to have faced any prejudice, and if I have I haven’t recognized it. I can blend in, or at least not stand out, in any part of the US, really, as well as in much of Europe and Latin America, or at least I like to tell myself that. The whole part about reducing intolerance reminds me of how when growing up, at times when I felt like stirring the pot and someone would make a comment about “Mexicans” in town, a term many used to describe anyone who looked Hispanic, I would say, “You know, I’m Mexican.” I always had to bring that up when someone would let a “dirty Mexicans” slip because, uh, how offensive, and if only you knew how obsessed many Latin Americans are with preening. Often times my revelation would get a defensive, quick counter like, “But, you’re not like them.” If I really wanted to take it all the way, I would ask them what they meant by that.
Anyway, this sizable article is mostly about statistics and details related to cross-border marriages, and it’s quite interesting.
3 notes &
The wanderers
Because: I imagine number one is no surprise to anyone. The U.S. really could—and should—be higher up on this list. If we didn’t make it so darn hard for people to merely visit the U.S. on vacation/holiday, I am sure we would be. It is ridiculous what we require! Months of applications, interviews, references, more than, I think, is worth it.
