News of James Neilson

James Neilson

Former editor of the Buenos Aires Herald (1979-1986).

The importance of real education, not just kids having (or being given) a computer.

AS I SEE IT

Culture matters more than computers

08-08-2020 09:51 The technology that provides people with the equivalent of dozens of huge libraries is certainly marvellous, but only those who have already been fairly well educated are able to benefit from having the accumulated wisdom of humankind there at their fingertips.

by James Neilson

When most people assumed that Cristina Fernández de Kirchner would not be coming back, investigations into her behaviour in office gathered speed, only to slow down again sharply when the economy seized up and the mood changed.

AS I SEE IT

Making a monkey of the law

01-08-2020 10:10 In Argentina, where many think all politicians are crooks, millions are more than happy to vote for individuals they know have always been on the take and who, if elected, will continue to put their personal business interests before anything to do with the welfare of their compatriots.

by James Neilson

AS I SEE IT

Alberto, Cristina and a sinking economy

25-07-2020 09:45 Macri’s experience suggests that Alberto’s chances of convincing the moneymen that it would be in their interest to lend Argentina a hand right now are close to zero.

by James Neilson

One must take into account the attachment some have to the languages, literatures and the like they think of as intimately theirs and which, they believe, help give meaning to their lives.

AS I SEE IT

Strolling towards the exit

18-07-2020 09:55 Extinction is staring many communities in the face, yet few find the thought that all they presumably value could be about to die at all disturbing.

by James Neilson

Alberto owes his job to his willingness to make out that Cristina Fernández de Kirchner, the former president who gave it to him, is completely innocent of the many highly plausible charges that have been levelled against her.

AS I SEE IT

Corruption refuses to go away

11-07-2020 09:23 The Kirchnerites could soon have considerably less power than they have today. Without it, Cristina will find it impossible to break free from her chequered past.

by James Neilson

China vs United States: Will China come back again to ‘help’ Argentina?

AS I SEE IT

China will soon come a-calling

04-07-2020 09:25 The coronavirus plague has harmed China’s international reputation, but it has also weakened many developing countries to such an extent that they will find it all but impossible to turn down offers of financial help.

by James Neilson

No running, one of the last decisions announced on Friday.

AS I SEE IT

Runners go home!

27-06-2020 08:13 Many leftists and populists want to prolong the status quo indefinitely because they are convinced that the state should play a far greater role in their country’s life.

by James Neilson

AS I SEE IT

The year of the scientists

20-06-2020 11:20 Throughout the world, complaints about the tyranny of “Science” are becoming more frequent. We are not laboratory rats, people say, and demand that other factors be taken into account.

by James Neilson

On both sides of the Atlantic, single-minded minorities of latter-day Puritans have risen up against the sinful old order and are doing their vigorous best to tear it down.

AS I SEE IT

The great Anglo-Saxon meltdown

13-06-2020 10:30 It is hardly surprising that the prolonged lockdowns are changing people’s behaviour. Perhaps this is why the US, and to a slightly lesser extent, the UK, are now experiencing bouts of collective madness.

by James Neilson

the United States is a disgracefully racist country in which white policemen enjoy hunting down and killing innocent blacks.

AS I SEE IT

Another long hot summer on the way

06-06-2020 08:45 Whether or not Trump’s attempt to make political capital out of the mayhem works will not be known for some time.

by James Neilson

Cristina´s evergrowing power in government decisions.

AS I SEE IT

Under cover of darkness

30-05-2020 10:43 Alberto has shown no signs of wanting to be his own man, whoever he may be. Far from rebelling against Cristina’s tutelage, he seems afraid to do anything that might displease her.

by James Neilson

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Getting down to business

23-05-2020 10:19 Something must be badly wrong with a system which offers voters a choice between Trump and Joe Biden. Surely a country inhabited by over 330 million people can do better than that?

by James Neilson

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An impossible conundrum

16-05-2020 09:50 For a great many years, Argentina’s political elite has worked on the assumption that the rest of the world owes it and the rapidly growing number of people who depend on its generosity a decent living.

by James Neilson

AS I SEE IT

Epidemiologists versus economists

09-05-2020 11:01 There are few places in which the habit of assuming that economic policy should be left to would-be ethicists is more firmly entrenched than it is in Argentina.

by James Neilson

Uneducated and old fucked in future; will people start to leave cities?

AS I SEE IT

O brave new world

02-05-2020 11:45 If social distancing goes on for as long as the more hawkish epidemiologists recommend, it will be just as discriminatory as the virus.

by James Neilson

Sun Tzu as the coronavirus? Or the coronavirus as Sun Tzu?

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The virus is winning on all fronts

25-04-2020 12:02 What might be just about tolerable for a couple of months most definitely would not be if, as seems more than probable, the “emergency” that allegedly justifies such stringent measures drags on for many years to come.

by James Neilson

So far, the countries hardest hit by the virus have been the ones most closely connected to the globalised supply chains (traffic between Milan and Wuhan was constant, with routine direct flights and a still advertised roundtrip costing about U$583) but there is no reason to think that remoter regions will be left alone.

AS I SEE IT

The world prostrate before its new overlord

18-04-2020 10:23 Without a working economy, no society – no matter how kind-hearted its members and benevolent its leaders – will be able to care for those who fall sick, whether from the coronavirus or many other ailments.

by James Neilson

If the extreme measures almost all governments have taken are anything to go by, Covid-19 must be regarded as far more dangerous than anything we have yet seen.

AS I SEE IT

Waiting for the end

11-04-2020 11:02 Covid-19 is here to stay and we will have to get used to living with it, just as we have with whatever causes the common flu, cancer, cardiovascular diseases, pneumonia, diabetes and many other deadly ailments.

by James Neilson

Ensuring that the truce lasts until something like normality has been restored should be an official priority; unless it does, what is an already difficult situation would be certain to get a great deal worse.

AS I SEE IT

Making the most of the coronavirus

04-04-2020 09:36 It is generally agreed that, until the emergency is over, it will be better to give President Alberto Fernández and his team the benefit of the doubt, unless they start making decisions that could have ruinous consequences.

by James Neilson

Epidemiologists have yet to agree on the health dangers posed by Covid-19. As many have pointed out, nobody knows how many people have already caught it.

AS I SEE IT

When togetherness is anti-social

28-03-2020 11:37 Life and the economy are intertwined. Without money, people starve. In an unpleasantly short time, desperation can breed violent anarchy.

by James Neilson

"They can even forget about economic realities and ladle out huge sums of money without paying much heed to minor matters like inflation."

As I see it

The world turned upside down

21-03-2020 10:28 How long can this cooperative mood, which reportedly prevails in most countries, last?

by James Neilson

While the flu is a nasty illness which every year helps put an end to many thousands of lives, its annual onslaughts do not come near to approaching the disruptive economic, political and social impact the coronavirus is having.

AS I SEE IT

The human herd stalked by a virus

14-03-2020 10:19 So far, Argentina has been relatively free of infection from this particular virus, but Alberto Fernández’s government has decided to join the rest of the world and take suitably stringent measures.

by James Neilson

It was widely expected that Alberto would use last Sunday’s address to Congress to outline his economic game plan, but, to the disappointment of many, he said little about what he proposes to do once all that debt business is finally cleared up.

AS I SEE IT

Down with greed

07-03-2020 14:16 Alberto is far from being the only local politician who takes it for granted that a proper government should be more than able to make the economy dance to its tune.

by James Neilson

Much as he dislikes the idea, the way things are turning out Alberto Fernández will have to cut government spending to the bone, and then some.

AS I SEE IT

Growth put on the backburner

29-02-2020 11:33 When in opposition, Peronists and others with broadly similar points of view like to pretend that the country is several times richer than the available data would suggest.

by James Neilson

The notion that some people are entitled to remain above the law is shared, or regarded as unimportant, by such a large proportion of the electorate that disabusing it seems well-nigh impossible, writes James Neilson.

As I see it

Political unprisoners

23-02-2020 16:53 The notion that some people are entitled to remain above the law is shared, or regarded as unimportant, by such a large proportion of the electorate that disabusing it seems well-nigh impossible.

by James Neilson

For many years now, Argentine governments have tried to find a way of encouraging growth without treading on anyone’s toes.

AS I SEE IT

Groundhog Day all over again

15-02-2020 11:17 Argentina’s many economic problems have less to do with greedy speculators, whether local or foreign, than with the corporatist model Juan Domingo Perón consolidated almost three-quarters of a century ago.

by James Neilson

Like all dictatorships, China’s nominally Communist one cares greatly about the image it projects.

AS I SEE IT

China at war with the coronavirus

08-02-2020 12:43 If winning prestige in other quarters was what the people in Peking were after, they are likely to remain disappointed.

by James Neilson

For the euro to work as the people who engendered it said it would, the EU would need to have a finance minister with far-reaching powers which, as the Germans are well-aware, would end up making mandatory revenue-sharing schemes.

AS I SEE IT

Farewell to the EU, but not to Europe

01-02-2020 09:54 The decidedly conciliatory mood prevailing in the European Parliament, may have had something to do with the fact that, while Brexit has had a deleterious effect on British political life, its economic impact has so far been less damaging than predicted.

by James Neilson

Sceptics, let alone outright “deniers” who think the entire warming business is a left-wing hoax, can point out that dismantling much of industry and culling all those flatulent cows would have a cruel impact on the livelihoods of many millions of men and women.

AS I SEE IT

The joys of pessimism

25-01-2020 10:32 Would a socialist world order make things any better? To judge from the experience which was so generously provided by the Soviet Union before its demise, it would be sure to make them a great deal worse.

by James Neilson

Exactly how Nisman died remains an open question. Opinions on the matter reflect the political preferences of those who offer them.

AS I SEE IT

The return of Alberto Nisman

18-01-2020 10:36 If nothing else, this unhappy business has confirmed that, in Argentina, important criminal cases which elsewhere would be solved fairly quickly tend to get more and more mysterious as time goes by.

by James Neilson

So, who wields power in Argentina? For many, the choice is binary: Cristina or Alberto. But as there are at least two Albertos, perhaps more.

AS I SEE IT

Alberto and his doppelganger

11-01-2020 10:42 Alberto is like Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde; there are two very different people inhabiting the same body. Both may appear almost simultaneously on your television screen.

by James Neilson

If Argentina’s experience is anything to go by, in the rest of the world populists are likely to dominate the political stage for a long time to come.

AS I SEE IT

The fruits of populism

04-01-2020 07:27 Unless Alberto Fernández succeeds in turning the economy around within six months or so, the country could find itself back where it was in late 2001 and early 2002: flat broke, with a huge number of people previously unacquainted with real poverty barely getting enough to eat and irate foreign creditors banging at the door.

by James Neilson

What all this suggests is that unless a great deal changes, Argentina will continue to slide downhill towards a most unpleasant destination.

AS I SEE IT

The challenges ahead

28-12-2019 09:38 The many who find merely materialistic values hollow may feel the constant worrying about economic developments and the subordination of education to the labour market distasteful, but for the 40 percent or so of the Argentine population which is already below the poverty line to enjoy a better life, its members will need not just handouts paid for by money taken from the marginally better off but also the skills and aptitudes they will require to prosper in an ever more demanding world.

by James Neilson

Does this mean that the new government will do its best to remove the many obstacles to growth that have accumulated over the years?

AS I SEE IT

The new economic order

21-12-2019 10:22 It is unsurprising that, despite the warm hopes aroused by Fernández’s soothing rhetoric, outside Kirchnerite circles pessimists are rather thicker on the ground than optimists.

by James Neilson

Unless he is playing a cunning game designed to catch Cristina and her faithful followers off-guard, what Fernández has in mind looks a lot like one of Plato’s “noble lies,” those appealing “myths” which are invented by rulers who think they will have a positive effect on society by helping to make it more cohesive.

AS I SEE IT

In the land of make believe

14-12-2019 11:52 Fernández says the better off should shoulder the bulk of the sacrifices that will have to be made to save the country from an economic collapse as disastrous as Venezuela’s. He could start by ordering big pay cuts for legislators and members of his government.

by James Neilson

With so much convincing evidence against her, Cristina has no choice but to insist she is the victim of a monstrous political plot.

AS I SEE IT

Cristina is back, on steroids

07-12-2019 12:19 Unless the new president manages to tie her down, next week Argentina will fall into the hands of a lady many of her compatriots, and most foreign leaders and businessmen, believe to be extremely corrupt.

by James Neilson

Despite the efforts of Juan Domingo Perón himself and most of his successors to make it clear that they preferred free markets to the available alternatives, their followers have continued to wage a highly successful campaign against “capital.”

AS I SEE IT

The long war against capital is coming to a triumphant end

30-11-2019 11:39 These days most Peronists, including Alberto Fernández, would very much like to see “capital” return to the country from which they banished it, but such is the state of the economy that getting it to do so will be anything but easy.

by James Neilson

AS I SEE IT

Make way for the Cristina and Alberto show

23-11-2019 13:26 From the moment the election results made it clear that her handpicked candidate had won, Cristina has been reminding Alberto he is simply an employee.

by James Neilson

On hearing the news from La Paz, Donald Trump said “the United States applauds the Bolivian people for demanding freedom and the Bolivian military for abiding by its oath to protect not just a single person, but Bolivia’s Constitution.”

AS I SEE IT

A very unusual coup d’état

16-11-2019 13:16 A few weeks ago, Fernández insisted that he would do his best to get on with other countries without discriminating between those which shared his views and those which did not, but that was then.

by James Neilson

Like other mortals, journalists are subject to the laws of the land, including the ones regarding libel and the like, and cannot expect to get away with flouting them.

AS I SEE IT

Journalists fear a new inquisition

09-11-2019 11:44 Independent media companies are becoming increasingly vulnerable to political pressures because they lack the resources they would need in order to resist them.

by James Neilson

Alberto Fernández reacted calmly to Cristina’s evident determination to remind him he was her puppet and should behave as such, but he did not waste much time before showing her he has a mind of his own.

AS I SEE IT

Let battle commence

02-11-2019 10:04 In the celebrations Cristina staged in Chacarita, the president-elect found himself getting treated as a bit player obliged to play second fiddle.

by James Neilson

Can all this be changed? Though politicians of all stripes, influential thinkers and even most billionaires insist that they are egalitarians at heart and believe that everyone deserves to get a proper share of the available wealth.

AS I SEE IT

Development is no longer what it used to be

26-10-2019 13:01 To avoid getting left behind, countries whether big or small have no choice but to do whatever they can to encourage not only the outlandishly talented but also the many who can help them achieve their goals.

by James Neilson

Just when Argentina began sliding downhill is a question many are asking.

AS I SEE IT

Crunch time is about to arrive

19-10-2019 13:36 For most of the country’s political leaders, trade unionists, businessmen and other influential personalities, the traditional way of doing things is perfectly natural and the ideas they cling to are only common sense.

by James Neilson

If rich, welladministered, highly-productive countries, most of them long characterised by a robust work ethic, have failed to eliminate poverty, what chance does Argentina have of making a dent in it?

AS I SEE IT

The phoney war on poverty

12-10-2019 12:19 If rich, welladministered, highlyproductive countries have failed to eliminate poverty, what chance does Argentina have of making a dent in it?

by James Neilson

AS I SEE IT

Alberto’s likely to turn into Mauricio

05-10-2019 11:18 With elections just a few weeks away, the differences between Macri’s approach to Argentina’s many economic woes and that favoured by Alberto Fernández are getting smaller by the day.

by James Neilson

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Politics is getting nastier almost everywhere

28-09-2019 04:19 Decorum is an increasingly rare political phenomenon.

by James Neilson

Argentina, the forever troubled country.

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Politicians are part of the problem

21-09-2019 10:52 For what presumably are tribal reasons, plenty of people regularly vote for individuals they know to be incompetents, demagogues or outright scoundrels.

by James Neilson

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Alberto is already in the hot seat

14-09-2019 00:44 In Argentina, politics and economics parted company at least half a century ago. This is why her performance in the latter department has long been worse than that of just about any other non-Communist country in the world.

by James Neilson

AS I SEE IT

Here we go again

07-09-2019 01:49 Despite the allegedly progressive chitchat of people who think they are intellectuals, Argentina is an extremely conservative country whose politicians dream of restoring some departed golden age.

by James Neilson

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Something unpleasant is coming our way

31-08-2019 01:07 If Alberto Fernández does win office in October, his government will have to choose between setting off a hyperinflationary firestorm and undertaking a fiscal squeeze every bit as ferocious as was applied in 2002.

by James Neilson