The endless agony of Argentina

Yesterday there was a run on the dollar in Buenos Aires and the peso lost 15% of its worth. To stop the avalanche, the Central Bank offered 60% interest on Peso deposits. This is the second time this year, with the difference that this one comes after the generous support agreement with the IMF International Monetary Fund. Dujovne, the Finance Minister, travelled urgently to Washington to renegotiate the agreement and ask for more funds.

How this affects common people? Food suppliers have stopped deliveries to supermarkets because of the uncertainty of prices, cars are left without gas till the government announces the new price, all the unions are demanding salary raise, panic seizes the population that lives from payday to payday.

President Macri stands for re-elections in October 27, 2019. If he fails to stabilize the country's finances, the Peronists (see Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner pic) will replace him. Then the revenge of the Kirchner gang, that is being investigated and jailed these days (for organized sacking of the State), will be fast and furious.

In 1807 the British sent a fleet to incorporate Argentina, then called the Provincias Unidas del Sur, into their Empire. That was the last opportunity for Argentina to become a civilized and progressive country like Australia, New Zealand, Canada. The natives resisted successfully. Pity.

Bull Market on Tel Aviv Stock Exchange

Could it be that Israeli firms are worth so much?

Let me think.

Israel Water System Turned Upside Down

So once again we have a serious drought in Israel, our largest reservoir - the Sea of Galilee - is drying up. Soon we shall be adding desalinated sea water to keep it ecologically healthy and attractive for tourists. The basic structure of the Israeli water supply system, where the Kinneret served as long term regulator and reservoir, us being turned upside down. A revolution by definition. Yesternight we had a tropical storm, some water, very irregular for August. Somebody should look into it and say something substantial. I for one went to see the Israel Meteorological Service's site and they say there is no significant weather (!) See pic. Very peculiar. 

Jim Rogers says that the best sector to invest is in agriculture, that is dying all over the world. Japan farmers are pensioners, American farmers are not being replaced, etc. and ag prices are 25% down in the last thirty years. Farmers will be very rich, he says. He pushes his RJA Rogers Agricultural Index.  He also says that China/Japan/Russia stock exchanges are 30% lower than thirty years ago, they will rise. 

How recessions start? The last one started where no one was looking: Island's bankruptcy, and then ENRON's collapse. These days Turkey, Indonesia are in bad situation. Could they start the debacle? 

The Battle of the Smelt

Delta smelt used be common throughout the Sacramento-San Joaquin estuary until its water was diverted to supply the 25 million people and farmers who live in the area. Invasive species and changes in water salinity and clarity also played a role in the smelt’s decline. They were protected under the Endangered Species Act in 1993 and a recovery plan was established in 1996. The average population between 2000 and 2006 was 353 fish. That population crashed to just 25 fish the following year. The EPA ordered to reduce the water diverted for human use and let it flow to the ocean, restoring the smelt's home environment. 

Trump is trying to undermine California's water policies that disregard the needs of the population to "protect" a barely surviving fish. Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross this month ordered agencies under his jurisdiction, including the National Marine Fisheries Service, to circumvent the Endangered Species Act on the pretext that water deliveries blocked by ESA rules were needed to fight California wildfires. 

California's self-imposed "drought" is difficult to understand - it is magic cult of sacred "Nature" that never existed. America is fighting Chinese competition, poverty, etc.  with one hand tied behind. Can President Trump work the miracle of dividing the waters between Man and the Smelt? 

West Nilus mosquito attacks Jews

This racist Egyptian mosquito bites white people with visible bare skin, like girls in bikini or shorts, T-shirted men. Arab women that are totally veiled and covered except a narrow slit for the eyes, are immune to this pest. The West Nilus Fever has no treatment. 

It kills about one in a hundred people. Yesterday died one in Israel. A Jew, of course. 

About 1 in 5 people who are infected develop a fever with headache, body aches, joint pains, vomiting, diarrhea, or rash. Recovery takes months. I am feeling tired, is it because of the summer or is it because of the mosquitoes? No way of knowing. I feel like vomiting. 

Playing Hardball with the Ayatollahs

Trump intends to cut Iran's oil exports by November. That will cause more instability in Iran and probably in Iraq and Syria too. Europe sees this scenario as a direct menace because "the Middle East is our backyard". Tension and conflict in early 2019 is just what the doctor recommended for Bibi before the elections. If I was a Palestinian fallah I would prepare my visa to Chile, or as somebody advised, Indonesia. The next war will make the air unbreathable for them.  Photo from Der Spiegel. 

Kirchner Stories

Argentine President Kirchner filled the presidential plane with his friends of the kirchnerista party in a State visit to Venezuela. Once finished the visit, Chavez (pic) desiring to send away the Argentine mission in happy mood, sent to the  airplane sacks with US dollars. Uberti, the only one with courage to face "El Malo", protested: "Néstor, estás loco. Tenemos acá a la Mossad, a la CIA…, es una locura...". "Nestor, we have here the Mossad, the CIA... this is crazy...". But Kirchner shouted him: “Subí la plata, subí la plata, subila igual...”. Bring up the money, bring up the money, bring it up anyway...". Uberti was left in Caracas, punished by Kirchner.