Un Museo de la Deuda Argentina. Que buena Idea !!
Que gran idea! Dicen que un pueblo sin historia es propenso de cometer los mismos errores. Me alegro entonces que un grupo de académicos y periodistas esten creando el Museo de la Deuda, yo iría mas allá y crearía el Museo Ignorante (A-R-G-E-N-T-I-N-O) con documentos, videos, y descripciones de los errores más costosos en el ámbito económico y político cometidos en las últimas décadas.
Debt Musseum an Argentine first (National Post)
A group of financial journalists and academics have found a novel way to make the best of Argentina's chronic economic woes. They are starting a museum.
The Museum of Foreign Debt, which opens next month in Buenos Aires, is the world's first national museum devoted to overspending. Its aim is to explain how this South American country of 30 million people has so regularly plumbed the depths of fiscal mismanagement, including the most recent meltdown nearly two years ago.
"It's not going to be the Pompidou," said Simon Pristupin, a financial journalist and the new museum's director, referring to the Centre Georges Pompidou in Paris. "But we hope that everyone, including tourists, will come to see it."
Mr. Pristupin hopes that when they tire of tango and the city's Parisian-style cafés, foreign tourists will make the trek to the museum's temporary quarters in the economics department at the University of Buenos Aires, where they can watch video installations chronicling significant moments in the country's debt history, and view exhibits that chart the cycle of Argentina's economic breakdown.
While many Argentine academics are eagerly awaiting the museum's opening, others are not sure what to make of a museum that is devoted to debt.
"This is meant to be funny, right?" said Mark Falcoff, an expert on Argentina at the American Enterprise Institute in Washington.
But Mr. Pristupin and the museum's other organizers are serious. They believe that ordinary Argentines will visit the museum to learn why their country has suffered regular catastrophic defaults on the national debt since the nineteenth century. The first one occurred in 1827, just after Argentina gained its independence from Spain.
The idea for the debt museum emerged when Mr. Pristupin and some of his colleagues from the Gaceta de Economicas began printing monthly supplements to explain the 2001 economic collapse and its implications for ordinary Argentines.
But few readers understood the complex economic material, he said, and the editorial team decided they needed to present their information in a much more lively and interactive way. In addition to detailed visual histories chronicling the five major defaults in Argentina's history, there will be a video library stocked with footage of Argentine and International Monetary Fund leaders negotiating the debt.
"We hope ordinary members of the public who visit the museum will leave with a better understanding of what can be a very complicated subject," said Mr. Pristupin, adding that the exhibits will eventually be transformed into a mobile museum and travel the country.
One of the videos at the Museum of Foreign Debt shows then Argentine president Adolfo Rodriguez Saa announcing Argentina's latest default in December, 2001, a tumultuous time in the country's history during which violent protests erupted on the streets of Buenos Aires and the country went through five presidents in a two-week period.
"We are going to take the bull by the horns," announced Mr. Rodriguez Saa, as he plunged the country into more chaos. "I announce that the Argentine state will suspend payments on the foreign debt."
Immediately after the speech, Argentina stopped payments on its US$142-billion debt. The default, coupled with more than four years of deep recession, left more than 57% of the population under the poverty line and nearly 20% unemployed.
"Knowing Argentina, I don't have great expectations about the museum's ability to educate ordinary Argentines on economics," said Mr. Falcoff. "I am expecting that the exhibits will put Argentina in the role of victim, putting the blame for its economic downfall on other forces outside the country."
Indeed, the issue of debt is a subject of much controversy in Argentina.
Leftists and economic nationalists blame poverty in the country on the burden of debt payments.
When he took office in May, President Nestor Kirchner warned the country's creditors that Argentina "cannot pay the debt at the cost of sentencing Argentines to hunger and exclusions."
Others blame the debt on government overspending and corruption.
They say that if Argentina fails to make its debt payments, the country's future development will be imperilled and it will become isolated from the global financial system.
Mr. Pristupin said the museum presents the facts in as neutral a manner as possible, and that it is not accepting government funds. The museum is currently being financed by donations, and will be staffed by volunteers, he said.
ivincent@nationalpost.com
Debt Musseum an Argentine first (National Post)
A group of financial journalists and academics have found a novel way to make the best of Argentina's chronic economic woes. They are starting a museum.
The Museum of Foreign Debt, which opens next month in Buenos Aires, is the world's first national museum devoted to overspending. Its aim is to explain how this South American country of 30 million people has so regularly plumbed the depths of fiscal mismanagement, including the most recent meltdown nearly two years ago.
"It's not going to be the Pompidou," said Simon Pristupin, a financial journalist and the new museum's director, referring to the Centre Georges Pompidou in Paris. "But we hope that everyone, including tourists, will come to see it."
Mr. Pristupin hopes that when they tire of tango and the city's Parisian-style cafés, foreign tourists will make the trek to the museum's temporary quarters in the economics department at the University of Buenos Aires, where they can watch video installations chronicling significant moments in the country's debt history, and view exhibits that chart the cycle of Argentina's economic breakdown.
While many Argentine academics are eagerly awaiting the museum's opening, others are not sure what to make of a museum that is devoted to debt.
"This is meant to be funny, right?" said Mark Falcoff, an expert on Argentina at the American Enterprise Institute in Washington.
But Mr. Pristupin and the museum's other organizers are serious. They believe that ordinary Argentines will visit the museum to learn why their country has suffered regular catastrophic defaults on the national debt since the nineteenth century. The first one occurred in 1827, just after Argentina gained its independence from Spain.
The idea for the debt museum emerged when Mr. Pristupin and some of his colleagues from the Gaceta de Economicas began printing monthly supplements to explain the 2001 economic collapse and its implications for ordinary Argentines.
But few readers understood the complex economic material, he said, and the editorial team decided they needed to present their information in a much more lively and interactive way. In addition to detailed visual histories chronicling the five major defaults in Argentina's history, there will be a video library stocked with footage of Argentine and International Monetary Fund leaders negotiating the debt.
"We hope ordinary members of the public who visit the museum will leave with a better understanding of what can be a very complicated subject," said Mr. Pristupin, adding that the exhibits will eventually be transformed into a mobile museum and travel the country.
One of the videos at the Museum of Foreign Debt shows then Argentine president Adolfo Rodriguez Saa announcing Argentina's latest default in December, 2001, a tumultuous time in the country's history during which violent protests erupted on the streets of Buenos Aires and the country went through five presidents in a two-week period.
"We are going to take the bull by the horns," announced Mr. Rodriguez Saa, as he plunged the country into more chaos. "I announce that the Argentine state will suspend payments on the foreign debt."
Immediately after the speech, Argentina stopped payments on its US$142-billion debt. The default, coupled with more than four years of deep recession, left more than 57% of the population under the poverty line and nearly 20% unemployed.
"Knowing Argentina, I don't have great expectations about the museum's ability to educate ordinary Argentines on economics," said Mr. Falcoff. "I am expecting that the exhibits will put Argentina in the role of victim, putting the blame for its economic downfall on other forces outside the country."
Indeed, the issue of debt is a subject of much controversy in Argentina.
Leftists and economic nationalists blame poverty in the country on the burden of debt payments.
When he took office in May, President Nestor Kirchner warned the country's creditors that Argentina "cannot pay the debt at the cost of sentencing Argentines to hunger and exclusions."
Others blame the debt on government overspending and corruption.
They say that if Argentina fails to make its debt payments, the country's future development will be imperilled and it will become isolated from the global financial system.
Mr. Pristupin said the museum presents the facts in as neutral a manner as possible, and that it is not accepting government funds. The museum is currently being financed by donations, and will be staffed by volunteers, he said.
ivincent@nationalpost.com
posted by Pablo Presas at 7:50 a.m.
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