said "plundered" the workers. So they're getting away from the IMF suggested/sometimes imposed American way.

The US way of economics is going to be viewed with more and more suspicion. And Paulson's Fix Is In is not helping all that much to assuage foreign skepticism. Or domestic skepticism.

There will now be a mandatory government run system with optional private plans in addition to the base government system.

BUENOS AIRES, Oct 21 (IPS) - Against the backdrop of the current global financial turmoil, Argentine President Cristina Fernández on Tuesday proposed the elimination of the privately administered retirement accounts created 14 years ago.

The president described the private pension funds as "plundering," when she made the announcement in the National Security System Administration (ANSES), which will absorb the personal accounts if a draft law introduced by the government is passed.

The head of ANSES, Amado Boudou, said the initiative would "put an end to the failed experiment" of the private pension funds, and added that to maintain the "illusion" of private pension funds, the state pays 4.0 billion pesos (1.3 billion dollars) a year to top up the monthly pension payments of retirees with private accounts.

Active workers and pensioners covered by the private funds will not suffer a drop in their monthly payments when the private system is taken over by ANSES, said Boudou.
...
The government’s announcement was criticised by the AFJPs (private pension funds) and by political leaders who say the government’s aim in overhauling the pension system is to find new sources of funding at a time when credit is scarce, in order to service the country’s foreign debt.

The stock market fell nearly nine percent Tuesday ahead of the president’s announcement, and the federal courts ordered the AFJPs to stop trading over the next seven days, in response to a denunciation by the head of the fiscal unit of social security investigations, who pointed to possible fraud after a heavy sell-off of shares by private pension funds Monday.

In an interview with IPS, opposition lawmaker Claudio Lozano said the measure was the "right" step to take because the AFJPs are a "drain" on the public system. (Emphasis mine.)

Via Commenter Alamet at Moon of Alabama.

the past eight years or so, losing one's grip on middle-classness. I just think it's going to get even worse.

I know it's off subject, but can one be "fairly terrified?"

-- http://biz.yahoo.com/ap/081023/foreclosu... --

"The number of homeowners ensnared in the foreclosure crisis grew by more than 70 percent in the third quarter of this year compared with the same period in 2007, according to data released Thursday.

Nationwide, nearly 766,000 homes received at least one foreclosure-related notice from July through September, up 71 percent from a year earlier, ..."

I couldn't find a link to a copy that shows the last few minutes.

One, among many, comment stood out, at 19:45 - "It's a swindle to make the Government responsible for the debts of the banks".

More fun facts -

In addition to the corralito, the Ministry of Economy dictated the pesificación ("peso-ification"), by which all bank accounts denominated in dollars would be converted to pesos at official rate. This measure angered most savings holders and appeals were made by many citizens to declare it unconstitutional.

After a few months, the exchange rate was left to float more or less freely. The peso suffered a huge depreciation, which in turn prompted inflation (since Argentina depended heavily on imports, and had no means to replace them locally at the time).

The economic situation became steadily worse with regards to inflation and unemployment during 2002. By that time the original 1-to-1 rate had skyrocketed to nearly 4 pesos per dollar, while the accumulated inflation since the devaluation was about 80%.

gentina and your grandparents' experiences.

Unfortunately, Argentina may be much more important for us to learn about than we ever imagined....

As to "fairly terrrified," is there a way to make the Big Banker Boiz and their enablers in BushCo subject to the War on Terror?

Those would be worthy targets!

Dr. Krugman on the list for any Obama appointment? My gut reaction is probably not, but, what do you think? Since Bernanke is in there, maybe he could bring Krugman in.