There are few countries like Argentina that can take an idea straight out of the Keynesian playbook to reactivate consumer spending and industrial activity and then at the last minute screw it up all by themselves. The cheap fridge scheme cooked up by the government (and reported by IKN just before xmas in this post) has been successful so far, but due to lack of planning (what?…improvisation in Argentina? …hoodathunkit?) the country has run out of units to sell. Therefore the local white goods stores (knowing a good thing when they see one) are now selling Brazilian made units to their clientele.
Errrr…..this wasn’t really the plan, was it? I mean, unless they’re worried about all those import companies and truckers from Brazil suddenly being pinkslipped. The whole idea of a roots-up economic stimulus has fallen by the wayside in the rush to sell sell sell. Heaven forbid the idea of actually bumping up production capacity in Argentine factories…far too récherché.
It now remains to be seen how they’ll make a balls-up of the new car stimulus plan. I suggest you go long Brazilian autoparts makers right now.