Argentina's Economy

While abroad, you don’t expect the troubles of the United States to follow you, but I have begun to realize that the United States truly is the super power that all the government teachers tell us it is. The American dollar affects economies around the world, and Argentina is far from being excluded from this. In Argentina the unemployment rate is astronomically high. This leads to many beggars on the street as well as many homeless children. As I walk down the streets of Buenos Aires worrying about what store I will stop in next, or what I will eat for dinner, I absent mindedly pass by children who are clearly starving and people who use the concrete covered in secretions as a resting place for their tired head. As you eat dinner outside, you are approached by people attempting to sell their goods if they have any or who just plain out ask you for money. In fact on little girl approached my roommate, who had an extra empanada on her plate, and asked “Una empanada por favor.” It was a sad reminder of the economic crisis in Buenos Aires.

On top of the economic crisis, there is for some reason a shortage of change, or “monedas.” In the US we do not have this horrible problem. In fact some of us pay the extra couple of cents on the dollar in order to change these pesky dimes and nickels into ‘cold hard cash.’ It is the opposite here. The local ‘7/11’ would rather give you a 2 peso bill instead of give up their one peso coin. The reason these coins are so precious is because these are the only way one can take the bus. In fact, this is the only reason I have needed monedas. No matter how rich or how poor, people take the bus here. And again, no matter how rich you are, there is NO PAYING WITH BILLS ON THE BUS LINE. People who do not have monedas have broken out in screaming matches with the bus drivers in order to take the bus. One may say, just go to the bank. They are bound to give you change. Well good luck in this department! On a good day the bank will give you change. Sometimes one can ask for 10 pesos worth, and the bank will grant them this simple request. But the person behind them can ask for the same amount and only receive six pesos worth. What is the deal? Some break it down to the theory that the bus lines are in a conspiracy with the government to cause the people of Argentina even more turmoil by only taking change. The government says that people are hording large amounts of monedas and not allowing the flow of monedas to be evenly distributed around the country, especially in big cities like Buenos Aires. But the bottom line is, I have worked my butt off for countless hours trying to find banks that will change for MONEDAS!!!!