Tuesday, November 16, 2010

Argentina and California

As readers of COTTonLINE will remember, the curious fate of Argentina is to us what Yul Brynner's King from The King and I would call "a puzzlement." They have a beautiful country, a wonderful climate, excellent soil, lots of coastline, educated people, everything a country could ask for.

At various times Argentina has been predicted to be the next superpower. Instead they have done poorly; they continue to shoot themselves in the foot. What is wrong? In a word, politics. In two words, Peronist politics. The CIA ranks Argentina 63rd among nations in Gross Domestic Product per capita.

What does all this have to do with California, the fate of which is much on our minds lately? Only that, like Argentina, California seemed to have everything going for it. And in recent years, like Argentina, California's messed up politics are taking a near-paradise and turning it into a mess. In both, the unions 'own' the government and in both the unions' interests have proved to be unhelpful.

Argentina finds the situation they are in is one from which they cannot extricate themselves. I hope California isn't similarly trapped in quicksand. Here is another article about California's situation, from Forbes.