For the longest time I was really indifferent to where Gov Sanford was. it seems since he took this trip privately that was what had everyone’s undies in a bunch. When Pelosi goes overseas to do God knows what on taxpayer money no one cares; when Obama took his family on a European vacation…er… I mean important state function…no one cared. But Sanford wants to take a break and the Drive-by’s go wild. So I almost didn’t even read this story, but thought well…ok…so where was he…? And then I had to run and get my tinfoil hat.
Sanford met in Atlanta after returning from South America
By GINA SMITH - gnsmith@thestate.com
ATLANTA -- S.C. Gov. Mark Sanford arrived in the Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport this morning, having wrapped up a seven-day visit to Buenos Aires, Argentina, he said. Sanford said he had not been hiking along the Appalachian Trail, as his staff said in a Tuesday statement to the media.
Sanford's whereabouts had been unknown since Thursday, and the mystery surrounding his absence fueled speculation about where he had been and who's in charge in his absence. His emergence Wednesday ended the mystery.
Sanford, in an exclusive interview with The State, said he decided at the last minute to go to the South American country to recharge after a difficult legislative session in which he battled with lawmakers over how to spend federal stimulus money.
Read the whole article here: Sanford met in Atlanta after returning from South America - Local / Metro - The State
Ok. So he went to Argentina. I am KOOKy. I know I am. Let’s review: Sanford has been one of the loudest voices from the State level arguing against the Stimulus. :
Gov. Sanford Slams Stimulus 2/11/2009
BY DAN COOK
Gov. Mark Sanford made national news once again when he went on CNN and told John King that the United States is “moving precipitously close to what I would call a savior-based economy.” It was the latest in Sanford’s ongoing denunciation of bailouts and stimulus packages that has set him apart from other politicians and made him a darling of many conservative bloggers. “A lot of people who’ve made some very stupid decisions are being bailed out by the population at large,” Sanford said. Calling Sanford “one of the rising stars in the Republican Party,”
Free Times: Media Madness - Gov. Sanford Slams Stimulus
So, ultimately, I mean absolutely end result, why do we think the Stimulus is so bad. Take it to the furthest conclusion. Because it will put us into another Great Depression and absolutely destroy our economy right? So why go to Argentina? Of all the Beautiful places in the world. Why Argentina. I know it is a pretty place. I understand that. But, if you could go anywhere, how about Costa Rica, Brazil, Hawaii, the Dominican, the Bahamas, the U.S. Virgin Islands, the Caymans, …What I am saying is Argentina is not a huge hot spot for Tourism right now. What I am saying is that as soon as I read where he went a little bell went DING…
Everyone heard of Ferfal ? Check out his blog, it is an open window to what is going to happen here if we are not extremely careful and lucky.
What is Argentina going through right now?
From Wikipedia:
From Perón to the last dictatorship
In 1946, General Juan Perón was elected president, creating a big tent movement referred to as "Peronism." … During Perón's tenure, wages and working conditions improved appreciably, the number of unionized workers quadrupled, government programs increased and urban development was prioritized over the agrarian sector.[21] Formerly stable prices and exchange rates were disrupted, however: the peso lost about 70% of its value from early 1948 to early 1950, and inflation reached 50% in 1951.[22] Foreign policy became more isolationist, straining U.S.-Argentine relations. Perón intensified censorship as well as repression: 110 publications were shuttered,[23] and numerous opposition figures were imprisoned and tortured.[24] Over time, he rid himself of many important and capable advisers, while promoting patronage. A violent coup, which bombarded the Casa Rosada and its surroundings killing many, deposed him in 1955. He fled into exile, eventually residing in Spain.
Following an attempt to purge the Peronist influence and the banning of Peronists from political life, elections in 1958 brought Arturo Frondizi to office. Frondizi enjoyed some support from Perón's followers, and his policies encouraged needed investment in energy and industry, both of which were chalking up sizable trade deficits for Argentina. The military, however, frequently interfered on behalf of conservative interests and the results were mixed.[19] Frondizi was forced to resign in 1962. Arturo Illia, elected in 1963, enacted expansionist policies; but despite prosperity, his attempts to include Peronists in the political process resulted in the armed forces' retaking power in a quiet 1966 coup. Though repressive, this new regime continued to encourage domestic development and invested record amounts into public works. The economy grew strongly, and income poverty declined to 7% by 1975, still a record low. Partly because of their repressiveness, political violence began to escalate and, from exile, Perón skillfully co-opted student and labor protests, which eventually resulted in the military regime's call for free elections in 1973 and his return from Spanish exile.[25] Taking office that year, Perón died in July 1974, leaving his third wife Isabel, the Vice President, to succeed him in office. Mrs. Perón had been chosen as a compromise among feuding Peronist factions who could agree on no other running mate; secretly, though, she was beholden to Perón's most fascist advisers. The resulting conflict between left and right-wing extremists led to mayhem and financial chaos and, on 24 March 1976, a coup d'état removed her from office..
In the late 1960s and the early 1970s, ultra-leftist armed groups such as People's Revolutionary Army kidnapped and murdered people almost weekly.[26] The self-styled National Reorganization Process promptly repressed opposition and leftist groups using brutal, illegal measures (the "Dirty War"); thousands of dissidents "disappeared", …This new dictatorship at first brought some stability and built numerous important public works; but their frequent wage freezes and deregulation of finance led to a sharp fall in living standards and record foreign debt.[19] Deindustrialization, the peso's collapse and crushing real interest rates, as well as unprecedented corruption, public revulsion in the face of alleged human rights abuses and, finally, the country's 1982 defeat by the British in the Falklands War discredited the military regime and led to free elections in 1983.
Raúl Alfonsín's government took steps to account for the "disappeared", established civilian control of the armed forces and consolidated democratic institutions. The members of the three military juntas were prosecuted and sentenced to life terms. The previous regime's foreign debt, however, left the Argentine economy saddled by the conditions imposed on it by both its private creditors and the IMF, and priority was given to servicing the foreign debt at the expense of public works and domestic credit. Alfonsín's failure to resolve worsening economic problems caused him to lose public confidence. Following a 1989 currency crisis that resulted in a sudden and ruinous 15-fold jump in prices, he left office five months early.[28]
Newly elected President Carlos Menem began pursuing privatizations and, after a second bout of hyperinflation in 1990, reached out to economist Domingo Cavallo, who imposed a peso-dollar fixed exchange rate in 1991 and adopted far-reaching market-based policies, dismantling protectionist barriers and business regulations, while accelerating privatizations. These reforms contributed to significant increases in investment and growth with stable prices through most of the 1990s; but the peso's fixed value could only be maintained by flooding the market with dollars, resulting in a renewed increase in the foreign debt. Towards 1998, however, a series of international financial crises and overvaluation of the pegged peso caused a gradual slide into economic crisis. The sense of stability and well being which had prevailed during the 1990s eroded quickly, and by the end of his term in 1999, these accumulating problems and reports of corruption had made Menem unpopular.[29]
President Fernando de la Rúa inherited diminished competitiveness in exports, as well as chronic fiscal deficits. The governing coalition developed rifts, and his returning Cavallo to the Economy Ministry was interpreted as a crisis move by speculators. The decision backfired and Cavallo was eventually forced to take measures to halt a wave of capital flight (as in a big run on the banks, big investors getting out, rats leaving a sinking ship, such as what happened the day Dubya looked like someone walked on his grave) and to stem the imminent debt crisis (culminating in the freezing of bank accounts). A climate of popular discontent ensued, and on 20 December 2001 Argentina dove into its worst institutional and economic crisis since the 1890 Barings financial debacle. There were violent street protests, which clashed with police and resulted in several fatalities. The increasingly chaotic climate, amid riots accompanied by cries that "they should all go", finally resulted in the resignation of President de la Rúa.[30]
Three presidents followed in quick succession over two weeks, culminating in the appointment of interim President Eduardo Duhalde by the Legislative Assembly on 2 January 2002. Argentina defaulted on its international debt, and the peso's 11 year-old tie to the U.S. dollar was rescinded, causing a major depreciation of the peso and a spike in inflation. Duhalde, a Peronist with a center-left economic position, had to cope with a financial and socio-economic crisis, with unemployment as high as 25% by late 2002 and the lowest real wages in sixty years. The crisis accentuated the people's mistrust in politicians and institutions. Following a year racked by protest, the economy began to stabilize by late 2002, and restrictions on bank withdrawals were lifted in December.[31]
Benefiting from a devalued exchange rate the government implemented new policies based on re-industrialization, import substitution and increased exports and began seeing consistent fiscal and trade surpluses. Governor Néstor Kirchner, a social democratic Peronist, was elected president in May 2003 and during Kirchner's presidency Argentina restructured its defaulted debt with a steep discount (about 66%) on most bonds, (I am not an economist but I think that means they stiffed a lot of bond holders) paid off debts with the International Monetary Fund, renegotiated contracts with utilities and nationalized some previously privatized enterprises. Kirchner and his economists, notably Roberto Lavagna, also pursued vigorous income policies and public works investments.[32]
Argentina has since been enjoying economic growth with high inflation, a situation that some analysts consider stagflation. Néstor Kirchner forfeited the 2007 campaign in favor of his wife Senator Cristina Fernández de Kirchner. Winning by a landslide that October, she became the first woman elected President of Argentina and in a disputed result, Fabiana Ríos, a center-left (ARI) candidate in Tierra del Fuego Province became the first woman in Argentine history to be elected governor. President Cristina Kirchner, despite carrying large majorities in Congress, saw controversial plans for higher agricultural export taxes defeated by Vice President Julio Cobos' surprise tie-breaking vote against them on 16 July 2008, following massive agrarian protests and lockouts from March to July. The global financial crisis has since prompted Mrs. Kirchner to step up her husband's policy of state intervention in troubled sectors of the economy.[33]
Argentina - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
I THINK He was there researching where we are going. He wanted to see it for himself. The folks in Argentina already read the book, saw the movie, and have the T shirt on this wonderful experience we are all being led into by Pied Piper Chairman Zero.
That is my opinion. What d’ya’ll THINK?
