Argentine Stocks Threatened by State Seizure of Biggest Holders

[Ichingcarpenter]

Source: Bloomberg

Nov. 21 (Bloomberg) -- Argentina’s stock market is fading as the state seizure of the nation’s biggest shareholders undermines investor confidence and threatens an equity sell-off.

The Argentine Senate last night approved President Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner’s plan to nationalize about $24 billion in private pensions, a move opposition parties called a cash grab and the government said is a way to protect retirees from the worst financial crisis since the Great Depression.

For the Buenos Aires Stock Exchange, the government’s decision underscores the growing irrelevance of a market whose listed stocks dropped to 82 from a record 669 four decades ago and is discouraging outside investment because of capital restrictions.

“It’s a substantial blow to the capital markets,” said Eduardo Costantini, the 62-year-old chairman of Buenos Aires- based real-estate and asset management group Consultatio, the sole Argentine company to go public this year. “The only long- term investor with characteristics of the pension fund industry disappears with this.”

Read more: http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601086&sid=ajuNcpt6m_N0&refer=news

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Argentina nationalizes we give money for spa's and airplane rides.

[Skink]

1. A government that guaranties pensions.

[JDPriestly]

3. I wish our government would take heed.

Congress needs to stop and think about pensions and people who are relying on them. All those retired teachers and municipal, state and federal employees who don't get the 401(K) statements have no idea what is happening to them. It's going to be too late for them before they realize just how bad it really is. They did not have the choice to get out of stock investments before the crash. Their money is gone, but they don't know it. Oh, I feel so sorry for them. I'm quite serious about this.

[leftstreet]

2. “It’s a substantial blow to the capital markets,”

Good.

[tama]

4. Argentina first

rest of the world to follow. Good buy stock markets, good buy capitalism. :)

[Peace Patriot]

5. This article is written with such neoliberal gobble-de-gook that it's difficult to see

reality. Argentina had gone belly-up on World Bank/IMF neoliberal looting. They and other South American countries got hit way before us. They clawed their way and thought their way and revolutionized their way out from under crushing, ruinous debt to first world investors. They PAID their debt. They rebuilt their economies and societies through cooperation with each other, to the point of this year forming UNASUR, the new South American "Common Market"--a Common Market created on social justice principles. They are now in a better position than we are, than Europe is, and than many countries and regions of the world are, to ride out this Bushwhack Financial 9/11--and do things like guarantee pensions.

THEY recovered. Now WE are the ones being turned into the biggest "banana republic" on earth. OUR global corporate predators are eating us alive. When are WE going to get smart, and cast these fuckers off our backs, and start using our resources, our labor, our infrastructure, our intelligence, our creativity, our legal system, and our sovereign power as a people for our own benefit. That is the question.

But you wouldn't know this from Bloomberg, or any of the corpo/fascist 'news' monopolies. They don't want you to know that recovery is possible through transparent elections, by which people put their real representatives in power, and by cooperative action among workers and the poor, and all people of good will. They don't want you to know about the strength of the people when we pull together for social justice. South America was their testing ground for neoliberal looting and destruction. It is now our model for recovery.

[Ichingcarpenter]

6. I'm glad someone was able to read between the lines

The Argentine government is doing things to protect the workers
and their pensions vs doing something to save the banking financiers and stock market.

Bloomberg slanted the story because its worried the US govt. might do something
as sensible for its populous.

[AlphaCentauri]

7. Yep! "is discouraging outside investment because of capital restrictions"

I think the Argentinian government is trying to create wealth not renting their resources to foreign investments to make a quick buck, the decision of Cristina in the short run it may be painful for some argentinians but in the long run it will secure and stabilize their markets.