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Once Again, Argentines Feeling on Edge
Strikes, Economic Worries Eating Away at Confidence

Washington Post Foreign Service


Tuesday, June 3, 2008; Page A08

BUENOS AIRES -- Today's Argentina is not gripped by crisis. It's gripped by the fear of crisis.

Several strikes by farmers, furious over government policies, have sparked concerns about lasting damage to the economy. Many Argentines have been exchanging their pesos for dollars, forcing the government to dip into its surplus to keep the currency stable. Consumers, told that their government faces a shortage of natural gas, are bracing for blackouts

It's enough to fundamentally change the character of daily life for a lot of people here, from the swankiest boardrooms to the humblest street corners.

Driving through the streets of this city, taxi driver José Luis Baldini, 60, voices a bleak notion that has become conventional wisdom for many here: Good times never seem to last.

"Argentina is like a kid who makes a really good sand castle at the beach, takes a lot of care in building it just right, then steps on it himself," Baldini said. "Things have been good recently. Now we have to put a question mark on everything."

Argentines have seen much worse than what they're seeing today. In late 2001, the economy here collapsed, plunging millions into poverty. Many here also remember social turmoil that boiled over into military coups at least once each decade from the 1930s to the 1970s. Such memories are fueling the current anxieties, which now have many people asking whether this crisis of confidence could degenerate into the real thing.