forest444
forest444's JournalErnestine Anderson, Grammy-nominated jazz singer, dies at 87.
Jazz vocalist Ernestine Anderson, who was nominated for four Grammys over her career, died Thursday, reports the Associated Press. The King County Medical Examiner’s Office told the AP on Sunday that she died of “natural causes” at a nursing home in Shoreline, Wash. She was 87.
Over her six-decade career, Anderson performed at events around the world, including at the first Monterey Jazz Festival in 1958, as well as at the Kennedy Center and Carnegie Hall, according to the Seattle Times. Her voice was once described as “honey at desk” by friend and producer Quincy Jones. The singer performed at Dwight D. Eisenhower’s presidential inauguration, and often played with bands led by Lionel Hampton and Johnny Otis.
Anderson was born in Houston and won a talent contest when she was 12. She began touring when she was 18, going on the road with Johnny Otis’ band.
Her first single, “K.C. Lover/Good Lovin’ Babe,” was recorded in 1948. While she was in New York, Anderson toured Rolf Ericson to tour Europe. There, she recorded her critically acclaimed album “Hot Cargo,” which was released by Mercury Records in 1958. Anderson would go on to release six albums with Mercury Records until she quit singing in the ’60s. She revived her career in the ’70s and released “Hello, Like Before” in 1977, and continued to record for years after.
While she frequently moved across the United States, Anderson often returned to Seattle, where she became a jazz staple. The city’s Bumbershoot Arts Festival awarded her with its Golden Umbrella honor in 2002.
Anderson is survived by three children, eight grandchildren and four great-grandchildren.
At: http://news.yahoo.com/ernestine-anderson-grammy-nominated-jazz-singer-dies-87-014027930.html
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Ethel Kennedy leads farm workers' protest near home of Wendy's billionaire chairman
Source: Fox News Latino
Hundreds of protesters, many farm workers, led by Ethel Kennedy, demonstrated near the home of Wendy's fast food chain chairman Nelson Peltz in hopes of convincing the company to pay a penny-per-pound fee for its tomatoes to supplement some farm workers' wages.
The Palm Beach Post reports the Immokalee Coalition of Farmworker march near the billionaire's Palm Beach, FL, home was peaceful Saturday. A federal judge had ruled the coalition could use loudspeakers but said marchers must remain on the sidewalk. Kennedy, the 87-year-old widow of Sen. Robert F. Kennedy, led the charge onto the barrier island where protesters held signs to boycott the chain and some acted out a skit.
Tomato harvesters make an average of about $10,000 during the six-month season, earning 50 ¢ for every 32-pound basket they fill. The coalition has used demonstrations and consumer boycotts to pressure the five largest fast food companies — Wendy's, McDonald's, Burger King, Subway, and Taco Bell — into joining its "fair food program." All but Wendy's eventually joined. The coalition says the program can add $20 to $150 to their weekly checks.
Participating companies pay the extra penny-per-pound to their tomato growers to supplement field worker wages in Florida and six other states: Georgia, the Carolinas, Maryland, Virginia and New Jersey.
Peltz, a 73-year-old investor, has a net worth of $1.35 billion and is the 423rd richest American, according to Forbes Magazine.
Read more: http://latino.foxnews.com/latino/news/2016/03/13/ethel-kennedy-leads-farmworkers-protest-near-home-wendy-billionaire-chairman/
Argentina charts course for renewable energy.
Argentina, Latin America’s third largest power market with approximately 32,000 megawatts (MW) of installed capacity, faces the task of installing 7,000 MW, or 22.5% of its 2015 total capacity, in five years.
With the majority of Argentina’s current generation needs being met by costly imported fossil fuels, the nation has the economic incentive to begin exploiting its abundant renewable energy resources. This incentive translated into a new renewable energy law that requires that 8% of generation derive from renewable sources by 2018, and 20% by 2026.
Argentina’s Renewable Energy Law (27.191), signed by former President Cristina Fernández de Kirchner on October 15, 2015, strengthens prior legislation through tax exemptions and other mechanisms, and includes two new renewable promotion schemes with the most potential for impact: a new renewable energy fund (FODER), which will support renewable energy projects through financing programs and underwrite long term contracts by cosigning or providing guarantees for bankable power purchase agreements (PPAs); and renewable energy requirements for large energy users.
Driven by the need to wean itself off of expensive imported fuel, renewable portfolio standards (RPS) to achieve 8% renewable energy generation as a percent of national consumption were originally established in 2006. Renewable energy promotion through legislation, however, dates back to 1998, with the establishment of feed-in tariffs which allow customers to generate their own electricity using renewable technology and sell the electricity back to the grid.
Yet these and other similar initiatives have failed, partially as a result of market distortions including electricity price freezes and subsidies, which gave Argentina’s residential ratepayers some of the lowest rates globally (6.3 ¢ per kWh for residential users in 2014, compared to an average of 12.5 ¢ per kWh in the United States and 18.7 ¢ per kWh in neighboring Brazil). Artificial residential rates that represent just a fraction of the real cost of electricity have helped reduce the incentive for residential users to shift to distributed generation, limiting the likelihood of achieving the nation’s RPS.
Just 1% of electric generation in Argentina derived from wind and solar combined, compared to 63% from fossil fuels (mainly natural gas), 30% from hydroelectric sources, and 6% from its three nuclear power plants.
For Argentina, electric generation is at a crossroads. Electricity demand, which has doubled on a per capita basis since 1990 and increased at 5% annually for residential customers in the same period, is projected to continue to grow at a strong pace and necessitates a 7,000 MW of new generation capacity by 2021 to ensure reliability. The new 2015 legislation is designed to guarantee that renewable energy makes a significant contribution to new generating capacity. As such, the nation must promptly prove itself a viable option for renewable investment, a task it has not yet achieved.
At: http://oilprice.com/Energy/Energy-General/Argentina-Charts-Course-For-Renewable-Energy.html
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Besides hydroelectricity, which has been the country's second largest electricity source since the 1970s, the most developed type of renewable energy in Argentina is wind power.
Wind power capacity grew 10-fold from 2009 to 2014, to almost 300 MW. Global Wind Energy Council head Steve Sawyer recently described Argentina as having "the world’s best wind resources."
Complaint filed in Argentine Congress over suspected bribery to pass vulture fund payout bill.
Victory Front (FpV) congressional lawmakers in Argentina filed a criminal complaint against congressmen Nicolás Massot (leader of the right-wing PRO caucus) and Diego Bossio (leader of the splinter, center-left Justicialist caucus) over suspected bribery as part of the ongoing negotiations in Congress over a bill sponsored by President Mauricio Macri that would allow a $6.5 billion settlement payout with four vulture funds and other holdout bondholders.
FpV Congressmen Carlos Kunkel, Juan Manuel Pedrini, and Rodolfo Tailhade took action after pictures of a text message conversation between Massot and Bossio on an instant messaging application were published on Thursday. Both Bossio and Massot have acknowledged that the pictures were genuine; but asserted there was nothing untoward about their conversation.
The exchange was as follows:
Massot: OK. We sealed the deal with STM (Renewal Front caucus leader Sergio Tomás Massa), in terms similar to those we agreed on. We love taking on debt as it's necessary to finance the settlement and, ultimately, public works. Are you coming to the 4th floor?
Bossio: Give me (House Speaker) Emilio Monzó's mobile number. Massot gives him the number. It looks like now they (Massa's Renewal Front) want to come to an arrangement.
Massot: They're easier than you are.
Bossio: Yes.
Massot: They want to make us look good. You want to suck us dry. Don't think we'll let you slide with five sandwiches and three cold teas.
As chair of the PRO caucus in the Lower House, Massot has spearheaded negotiations with other caucuses in order to whip up support for the holdout settlement bill. Bossio was elected to Congress on the Kirchnerist FpV ticket but formed the splinter Justicialist caucus a month ago. Kirchnerist lawmakers believe STM could be a reference to Renewal Front caucus leader Sergio Tomás Massa, without whose support the holdout bill would almost certainly fail.
Massa and Bossio, both Peronists, have criticized the bill but have promised to vote for it on Tuesday. The center-left FpV is very critical of the agreement, which they describe as a capitulation to fraudsters seeking astronomical returns on old bonds and which they warn could lead to $200 billion in new liabilities to other bondholders seeking the same terms.
Massot chalked up the use of the term “sandwiches” — which the FpV took for a term hinting at bribery — as a reference to an actual meal between lawmakers. “The thief thinks that everyone else is also a thief,” Massot fired back at his accusers. Massot's previous phrase, however (vos nos querés secar), is local slang very similar to “you want to suck us dry” and in Argentina is only used in reference to money. It specifically refers to instances in which the one using the phrase has no choice but to pay the other party, and is reproaching that person for demanding too high a price.
At: http://www.buenosairesherald.com/article/210522/fpv-files-complaint-against-bossio-massot
And: https://translate.google.com/translate?hl=en&sl=es&u=http://www.notienred.com/politica-mensajitos-bossio.html&prev=search
Buenos Aires Governor Marķa Vidal "celebrates" Int'l Women's Day with tear gas and rubber bullets.
The city of La Plata, capital of Buenos Aires Province and Argentina's fifth largest, was marred with state violence for the second time this year after far-right Governor María Eugenia Vidal ordered police to quash a labor protest that took place on March 8. The tear gas and rubber bullets fired at the crowd made up mostly of women sent seven protesters to the hospital with injuries ranging from rubber bullet lacerations to broken bones.
March 8 is International Women's Day.
The victims were members of the Union of Child Care and Educational Support Staff Workers (SOEME), who were protesting in front of the General Directorate of Schools for a increase in their salaries to 10,000 pesos ($650) to compensate for the sharp increase in inflation rates since President Mauricio Macri (a close Vidal ally) took office three months ago. Governor Vidal refused to hold a meeting with the union, and instead ordered police to repress the demonstration.
This is the second such incident in La Plata since Governor Vidal and Mayor Julio Garro, both members of President Macri's far-right PRO, took office three months ago. Mayor Garro ordered police to repress a protest of laid off public employees on January 8, which resulted in 20 injuries and ongoing calls for his resignation.
Susana Mariño, Assistant Secretary of the SOEME union, said that "it is a shame that this happened on International Women's Day, as it shows that we've not learned anything at all."
At: https://translate.google.com/translate?hl=en&sl=es&u=http://infobaires24.com.ar/vidal-homenajea-las-mujeres-dia-gases-balas-gomas/&prev=search
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Vidal, a member of the extremist Catholic sect Opus Dei, has become the Argentine face of the War on Women. http://www.democraticunderground.com/110845846
Layoffs and nepotism in Macri's Argentina: love in the time of austerity.
Amid a wave of 25,000 government layoffs in Argentina since President Mauricio Macri took office three months ago, numerous high-ranking officials in both the Macri administration and in its right-wing Let's Change coalition have been caught hiring or promoting close friends and relatives to highly paid government posts.
In the Legislative Branch Vice President Gabriela Michetti, known for her frequent use of the buzzword "transparency," was quick to use her dual capacity as President of the Argentine Senate to dismiss 2,400 employees she considered "political appointees." The affected employees described the layoffs as a "witch hunt" since nearly all were members of the opposition FpV or its allied parties.
While doing so, however, she promoted her cousin, Alejandra Illia, and her best friend, María Conte Grand, to Senate administrative posts paying 45,000 pesos ($3,000) a month - three times the median full-time salary in Argentina. Several senators in Macri's Let's Change coalition obtained Michetti's approval to do likewise.
María Conte Grand is the wife of syndicated right-wing op-ed writer Luis Majul, who earned a reputation as a mudslinger against Macri's predecessor, former President Cristina Fernández de Kirchner, while receiving over 14 million pesos ($2.5 million at the time) in unspecified municipal publicity contracts under then-Mayor Macri. Numerous similar municipal publicity contracts signed by Macri as mayor are currently under investigation.
The Provisional President of the Argentine Senate, Federico Pinedo, followed Michetti's example and hired two relatives (including his brother, Enrique Pinedo) to posts paying 35,000 pesos ($2,300) a month. Pinedo also used his prerogatives to bill the Senate for 100,000 pesos in security costs for a vacation stay in scenic Villa La Angostura.
Something similar took place in the Argentine Chamber of Deputies (the lower house), although unlike his affable counterpart in the Senate, Federico Pinedo, Speaker Emilio Monzó announced 2,000 layoffs of house clerks and staff (out of 5,000) using insults and veiled threats. This, however, did not stop Monzó from approving numerous plum jobs for the relatives of at least six legislators in his Let's Change caucus.
Doling out patronage while imposing austerity has been the rule in the Executive Branch as well. While dismissing 120 Casa Rosada (presidential office) employees, President Macri's own press secretary, Iván Pavlovsky, had his own wife, Marina Klemensiewicz, appointed Undersecretary of Habitat and Housing despite having no experience in the area. Fernando de Andreis, Macri's Chief of Staff, is his brother-in-law from his first marriage.
Macri's cabinet followed suit. His own "terminators," Interior Minister Rogelio Frigerio and Modernization Minister (a post created by Macri) Andrés Ibarra, each put at least one family member in hierarchical government posts: Mario Frigerio at AFTIC (Argentina's FEC) and María Piccolomini (Ibarra's wife) in Congress. Frigerio famously described the 25,000 laid-off employees as "junk contracts," and warned the number will reach 70,000 by year's end.
Labor Minister Jorge Triaca approved the firing of 70% of the inspectors in the National Farm Workers' Registry; but hired Juan Carlos Paulucci, jr. as Inspector General for the Social Security Secretariat headed by his father, Juan Carlos Paulucci, sr. The Social Security Agency itself (ANSES) is headed by a known privatization proponent, Emilio Basavilbaso, who's also a cousin of Iván Kerr, Undersecretary of Housing.
Similarly, the Workplace Risk Superintendent (SRT) shed 200 employees; but not before giving María Labat, ex-wife of longtime Macri official Guillermo Montenegro, a 120,000 peso ($8,000) post as a legal adviser - a salary almost as high as President Macri's. Montenegro served as municipal Justice Minister throughout Macri's 8-year tenure as Mayor of Buenos Aires and was given the post after acquitting Macri's wife, Juliana Awada, in 2007 of numerous labor law violation charges related to her garment sweatshop.
Nor were the government scientific institutes immune from the nepotism bug: these include the appointment of Amadeo Nicora (Agriculture Minister Ricardo Buryaile's cousin) as head of the National Agricultural Technology Institute (INTA); Javier Ibáñez, a violent soccer hooligan close to Vice President Michetti, as head of the National Industrial Technology Institute (INTI); and Rodrigo de Loredo, State Media boss Oscar Aguad's brother-in-law, as head of the Argentine Satellite Enterprise (ARSAT).
Anxious to bolster his reputation as a law-and-order man, President Macri named Eugenio Burzaco as Secretary of Security. Secretary Burzaco is the younger brother of Alejandro Burzaco, who was arrested in Italy last year at the request of U.S. Attorney General Loretta Lynch for having bribed FIFA officials millions to secure broadcast rights for this year's World Cup. Burzaco's broadcaster, TyC, is co-owned by the Clarín Media Group, whose favorable coverage of Macri proved decisive in his narrow win last November.
No cabinet ministry suffered deeper cutbacks relative to its size than the Ministry of Culture, which lost 500 employees to layoffs. Culture Minister Pablo Avelluto nevertheless saw fit to appoint his girlfriend, Carolina Azzi, to a managerial post in a department he himself eliminated: the Center for Audiovisual Research (CePIA). Avelluto denied having hired her until a Culture Ministry document signed by Azzi emerged that authorized her removal of cinematographic equipment worth $300,000 from CePIA offices. Azzi is an amateur filmmaker with two documentaries to her credit - both produced by Avelluto.
Patronage in the Macri administration reached truly royal proportions, however, when it was discovered in February that he had hired Inés Zorreguieta to a 40,000 peso ($2,600) clerical post in the National Council on Social Policy, located within the Casa Rosada. Zorreguieta, who suffers from mental illness and has few qualifications, is the younger sister of Queen Máxima of the Netherlands.
Government patronage is nothing new to Argentina, or indeed most other countries. But in the Macri administration's case, plum jobs paying 35-45,000 pesos to often unqualified family and friends of high-ranking officials are being dispensed while 70,000 other public employees are being deprived of paychecks that average no more than 10,000 pesos ($650). These layoffs have exacerbated a deteriorating job market already reeling from austerity policies under Macri, with 45,000 private sector jobs lost and a sharp rise in inflation.
At: https://translate.google.com/translate?hl=en&sl=es&u=http://nuevoperiodismodigital.com/2016/02/04/el-macrismo-llena-el-estado-de-familiares-de-funcionarios-y-diputados-mientras-avanza-en-la-caza-de-brujas-de-empleados-publicos/&prev=search
https://translate.google.com/translate?hl=en&sl=es&u=http://mundo.sputniknews.com/americalatina/20160215/1056776257/macri-contratar-hermana-reina-holanda.html&prev=search
https://translate.google.com/translate?hl=en&sl=es&u=http://www.eldestapeweb.com/mas-nepotismo-pro-designan-la-ex-esposa-guillermo-montenegro-n15438&prev=search
https://translate.google.com/translate?hl=en&sl=es&tl=en&u=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.politicargentina.com%2Fnotas%2F201603%2F12298-afirman-que-pablo-avelluto-finalmente-habria-designado-a-su-novia.html
Inflation in Argentina reaches 4.8% in February (33.9% annually); Macri refuses to release figures.
Consumer prices in Argentina rose by 4.8% in February according to the unofficial "congressional inflation index" released today. Inflation in Argentina, according to their estimate, reached 33.9% over the same time last year - the highest in 13 years.
The alternative index is elaborated by private consulting firms and released by opposition parties. The monthly index, which first appeared in 2007 in response to understated inflation figures released by the INDEC statistics bureau, was revived last month by Renewal Front lawmakers after the Macri administration declared that official consumer price figures would not be released until September.
Renwal Front Congressman Marco Lavagna stressed that the latest hikes on public utility bills had “an important role” in February, representing a two point increase in and of themselves. The estimated 4.8% monthly inflation rate for February was higher than the 3.6% Congress estimated for January. Prices began to rise steeply following Macri's narrow runoff victory on November 22 on anticipation of a steep devaluation, which was in fact enacted on December 17.
The leader of the centrist Renewal Front caucus, Congressman Sergio Massa, affirmed that “we need statistical certainty in Argentina. We cannot continue with our arms crossed, not adopting measures.”
Massa, who finished third in last year's presidential race, added that "we need dialogue and instruments to denounce abuses because given the administration's lack of indexes and controls, there are businessmen who are destroying the people’s purchasing power.”
At: http://buenosairesherald.com/article/210423/inflation-reaches-48-in-february-according-to-congressional-index
Kirchnerist lawmakers seek binding referendum on Macri's holdout bondholder settlement bill.
The FpV, the party representing Argentina's center-left Kirchnerists, proposed holding a binding public referendum to decide whether the holdouts deal proposed by the Macri government in New York courts should be accepted.
In a press conference in which Congressman Axel Kicillof and caucus leader Héctor Recalde were the main speakers, the FpV said it should be up to the Argentine voters to decide whether the offer that was initially accepted by the vulture funds led by Paul Singer should be approved. A similar measure had initially been proposed by Workers’ Leftist Front (FIT) lawmakers.
Meanwhile, Argentina reached agreements worth $190 million yesterday with another group of holdout funds and creditors, as part of its effort to end the 15-year litigation with the vulture funds and other holdouts. This is in addition to settlements announced in February with other holdouts worth a total of $6.5 billion - around half of which would be received by the main litigant, Paul Singer's Cayman Islands-based NML.
The settlements included BNP Paribas, GMO, Carlo Regazzoni, Elazar Romano, Grazia Valenti, La Società Ymus, and Tomasso Zappoli Thyrion.
“I am very pleased to report that the Republic of Argentina continues to reach agreements in principle with bondholders, both large and small, holding defaulted Argentine bonds,” court-appointed mediator Daniel Pollack said in a press release. “The range and diversity of the settlements are encouraging.”
Each of these holdout settlements are contingent to the lifting of the Sovereign Payment and the Lock laws by Congress and to the lifting of payment hold imposed two years ago against Argentina's legitimate bondholders by U.S. District Judge Thomas Griesa.
These bondholders, who represent 92.4% of those who held defaulted bonds in 2002 and whose bonds were later swapped in 2005 and 2010, object to these recent settlements with holdouts because the latter would receive, on average, a payout twelve times greater than the others did when they accepted the 2005 and 2010 swaps.
The difference is far greater in the case of the main vulture litigant, Paul Singer's NML, which would receive around $3.3 billion for bonds bought from resellers in 2008 for $48 million - a 6,800% return.
Congressman Axel Kicillof, who served as President Cristina Kirchner's last Economy Minister at the height of the dispute with the vulture funds between 2013 and 2015, has condemned the proposed settlement because of the high likelihood that the legitimate bondholders whose payments have been blocked by Griesa would now sue for repayment on equal terms to those obtained by holdouts.
Kicillof estimates that such demands would expose Argentina to a new, potential liability of $500 billion.
At: http://buenosairesherald.com/article/210385/kirchnerite-lawmakers-want-binding-referendum-on-holdouts-bill
And: https://translate.google.com/translate?hl=en&sl=es&u=http://www.pagina12.com.ar/diario/economia/2-294204-2016-03-10.html&prev=search
Macri forces YPF state energy firm CEO Miguel Galuccio out.
The CEO of the Argentine state energy firm YPF, Miguel Galuccio, confirmed he will be resigning due to "irreconciliable differences" with the right-wing Macri administration.
Galuccio was designated to head the energy firm upon its partial renationalization in May 2012 by former President Cristina Fernández de Kirchner, and has been credited with helping reverse output declines at YPF of 6% annually under its previous Repsol management. YPF, established by the state in 1922, is the largest firm in Argentina of any kind with sales of $17.5 billion in 2014.
In a statement released today, Galuccio said he will guarantee an “ordered transition" ahead of the appointment of his successor. He will remain in his position until the upcoming Ordinary Shareholders Assembly takes place, and is expected to leave YPF on or after April 30.
“It has been 4 years of a lot of intensity in which we changed the direction of YPF to turn it again into the energy engine of the country, creating value for shareholders," Galuccio said. “I feel proud of what we achieved together with all at YPF; but it is time to allow that others continue the way the company is taking. YPF is the best company of the country and I am convinced it will continue to be.”
President Mauricio Macri, who had praised Galuccio during his presidential campaign last year as "one of the truly qualified Kirchner appointees that will stay if I'm elected," made no comment as to the news of his resignation. His energy advisers, however, are largely private oil executives who have pushed for YPF's privatization - particularly Macri's Energy Secretary, Juan José Aranguren, who was previously CEO of Shell Argentina.
One of the names mentioned most frequently as a possible replacement for Galuccio is Javier Rielo, linked to the French company Total Austral.
At: http://buenosairesherald.com/article/210349/ypf-ceo-galuccio-confirms-resignation
And: https://translate.google.com/translate?hl=en&sl=es&u=http://www.politicargentina.com/notas/201603/12257-miguel-galuccio-dejara-la-presidencia-de-ypf.html&prev=search
Aldo Ferrer, former Economy Minister and Argentina's leading opponent of globalization, dead at 88.
Argentine economist and former Economy Minister Aldo Ferrer has died today at the age of 88. Ferrer, known for his economic nationalism and opposition to globalization, had a long career in public service.
Trained by leading developmentalist academic Raúl Prebisch, Ferrer and other centrist economists co-founded the Argentine Association of Political Economy, a macroeconomic research foundation, in 1957. He was named provincial economy minister in 1958, at age 31, by the progressive new governor of Buenos Aires Province, Oscar Alende. His four-year tenure saw record investment in public works and the promotion of the Greater Buenos Aires metro area as the nation's leading industrial hub.
He later served as a committee member in President John F. Kennedy's Alliance for Progress, and in 1967 co-founded the Latin American Social Science Council (CLACSO) as consultants to UNESCO.
Ferrer, however, is best remembered for his promotion of domestic industry during his brief stint as Economy Minister of Argentina in 1970 and 1971. Opposed to income concentration whether by social class or region, Ferrer restored collective bargaining rights and created a small industry lender (BANADE). He also promoted industries in the country's more remote regions, notably paper and aluminum. He enacted requirements for more domestic inputs in autos and other consumer durables, and appeared in ads encouraging consumers to "Buy Domestic."
Ferrer's efforts to discourage speculative hoarding and underproduction in Argentine farming drew opposition from the powerful beef and grain lobbies, however, and pressure from groups such as the landowner-controlled United Farmland Movement (MCU) led to his dismissal in May 1971.
Long affiliated with the centrist UCR, Ferrer was named president of the Bank of the Province of Buenos Aires (the nation's second largest) when President Raúl Alfonsín took office in 1983. Differences with President Alfonsín's austerity policies led to his resignation in 1987, and he returned to academia and writing.
Ferrer became a vocal opponent of globalization at the height of its popularity in the 1990s, and wrote two books on the subject: A History of Globalization (1996), and From Columbus to the Internet: Globalization in Latin America (2000). Ferrer denounced globalization for its dependence on slavery, and saw it as a continuum with the brutal colonial economics of prior centuries.
He co-founded Grupo Fénix, an economic think tank, in 2001, and a number of their members and proposals were later incorporated into the populist administrations of Presidents Néstor and Cristina Fernández de Kirchner from 2003 to 2015. These included more active state intervention, protectionist import limits, and restored collective bargaining rights and purchasing power. Despite high inflation, real GDP doubled in 12 years.
Ferrer's last public post was as Ambassador to France from 2010 to 2013. He remained active as editor of Buenos Aires Económico from 2008 until his last days, and was critical of both the Kirchner administration's failure to limit cheap imports and the right-wing policies adopted recently by President Mauricio Macri.
"Macri presumes to go to the IMF to ask them to tell us what to do, to go to New York to apologize to Judge Griesa and pay the vulture funds, and to bow down and take on more debt. That has been tried and it doesn't work here or anywhere else," Ferrer said. "Taking on debt to mitigate the shortage of dollars does not solve the underlying problem. Indebtedness will add to our existing problems, which is what already happened to us during the 1976 dictatorship and in the 1990s."
Ferrer died in Buenos Aires this morning of congestive heart failure. He was 88.
At: http://buenosairesherald.com/article/210276/economist-aldo-ferrer-dies
And: https://translate.google.com/translate?hl=en&sl=es&u=http://www.diariobae.com/notas/114266-fallecio-el-economista-aldo-ferrer.html&prev=search
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