
The First Buenos Aires Hacker News Meetup in 908 days is tonight - rubyrescue
https://www.facebook.com/events/330622203674447/
======
drats
Argentina seems to be ranked as among the worst places in the world, besides
actual war zones, in terms of economic freedom and political corruption type
rankings. The currency isn't stable either and the government is appropriating
private assets when they feel like it. You'd have to be insane to start a
business there, but maybe the main topic of your meeting will be how to get
out. I mean you could technically try to start one there, but you'd have to
take a long look in the mirror first and answer the question "why not just
move to Chile?".

~~~
vaneck
An Argentinian here.

I honestly believe the current government is, in many ways, the best this
country has had for the past 30 years (at least), even taking into account its
many and very real shortcomings (the mangling of official statistics and the
outrageous restrictions on foreign currency ranking very high among them).

I am obviously partial in the matter, but I also believe Argentina still has
much going for it. The upper education system in particular remains very good
in most places and is _completely free_. I attend the University of Buenos
Aires and can attest to this, even though I'm by no means a top student. The
resources aren't abundant, but the quality of the education itself is
excellent.

Lastly, the government is forcefully _buying_ the oil company that used to be
state-owned until the early 90s neoliberal selling spree happened. It's not
like it's arbitrarily taking companies by force. I think there's some kind of
consensus in economics about oil being a strategic resource, so I'm not sure
it's fair to extrapolate from this one data point.

~~~
drats
Anecdotes are not data. The whole of South America is fairly mediocre vs. the
world in education but Argentina doesn't seem to be ahead of Chile in a
relative ranking. Chile has two unis ahead of your university, which is top in
the country (although Argentina does make up some ground in the tail).[1]

The Spanish have a different story on the oil company. It's hardly an
advertisement to set up a business there anyway, which is what I am talking
about.

Finally, I don't think being the best government in Argentine history is a
very high bar to reach. You were the 7th richest country in the world in the
1920s, with plenty of resources, and now a place starting poorer than you like
Japan with hardly any resources (plus getting burned to the ground and nuked
twice) is three or four times richer. There are tons of examples like that
beyond Japan, the governments of Argentina have been a string of disasters in
terms of providing for the people and not filling mass graves with them.
Taking the current government though, I'd hardly say inflation three to six
times higher than Chile is a great government. But when inflation in the past
has been measured in hundreds of percent I concede that this could be a
reasonable government when the only comparison is past Argentine governments.

[1][http://www.topuniversities.com/university-rankings/latin-
ame...](http://www.topuniversities.com/university-rankings/latin-american-
university-rankings/2011)

~~~
demian
_Anecdotes are not data._

In that ranking, they basically measure _reputation_ , citations of papers in
other papers and # of PhDs students. It depends how you measure quality.

 _Finally, I don't think being the best government in Argentine history is a
very high bar to reach..._

Yes, that's correct.

In a nutshell, when Argentina was rich there were very rich and very few
landowners, who also controlled the goverment, and a lot of poor people that
worked for them. It was feudal "capitalism". There wasn't much of a "middle
class" or "rising middle class". Of course, a democracy can't work in those
conditions. There were fraudulent elections, coups and, of course, the
response of the mass of the poor was either following the few intelectuals of
the elite that proclaimed comunism as the solution, or to cling to father
figures in goverment(Perón). The people were slaves, treated as slaves, and
then reacted as slaves.

~~~
drats
>It depends how you measure quality.

Aggregate stats across a number of areas plus opinion is a reasonable measure,
albeit imperfect. Again I have provided many stats and figures and nobody has
provided anything contrary other than assertions (and in one case cast some
doubt over the Internet penetration). One would suspect that if the education
is so good in Argentina people would have better researched arguments (ok
that's a low blow, but people are downvoting). Feel free to provide another
measure though. I don't think the roles will be reversed, though it might come
out even under another measure as they are close in this one.

I think we broadly agree on your other point.

~~~
demian
My intention wasn't to provide another index, but to discard the index system
as a mesure for something more than what the index actually mesures. For
example: the abstract, subjective and esoteric education "quality".

------
rubyrescue
Last time barmstrong, AndrewWarner, and rubyrescue were here. This time it's
playtomic and inaka. Times change, prices go up by 300%, a few of us are still
here, a few new foreigners have arrived, a lot of porteños have started using
HN since then. It's time to get a regular meetup going...

~~~
AndrewWarner
At the last one, I met people who helped me think through my ideas and figure
out how to solve basic problems (like getting my iPhone to work locally).

I even met people who I hope will be life-long friends, like rubyrescue and
his wife.

------
j-Monkey
Argentina no esta al borde de una dictadura, argentina da educación gratis y
te paga si vas a la UNIVERSIDAD y te dedicas a estudiar, en Chile su educación
es privada, acá nosotros tenemos derecho y libertad de expresión, y no somos
censurados por leyes absurdas incrustadas en leyes de comercio, Chile lo esta
por hacer de forma secreta, ocultándole al pueblo la verdad de leyes como ACTA
o como le querían llamar ahora, YPF es nuestra y nuca se debería haber
vendido, REPSOL no cumplía con los pactos de abastecimiento (hs estuve
esperando para cagar nafta en mi moto), si es verdad los políticos todos son
horribles, ladrones, deshonestos, pero por lo menos no tenemos una dictadura
como Colombia, Bolivia o Chile.

~~~
alecco
NO POLITICS HERE, PLEASE.

------
j-Monkey
Argentina is not on the verge of a dictatorship, Argentina provides free
education and you'll pay if you do the UNIVERSITY and to examine, in Chile is
private education, here we have the right and freedom of expression, and are
not censored by absurd laws embedded in trade laws, Chile it is done in
secret, hiding the people the truth of laws such as ACTA or wanted to call him
now, YPF is ours and neck should have been sold, REPSOL did not comply with
the covenants of supply (I am waiting to shit on my bike naphtha), if it is
true politicians are all horrible, thieves, dishonest, but at least we have a
dictatorship like Colombia, Bolivia or Chile.

------
loboman
Please fix the title, the meeting is not in two years

~~~
alainbryden
He means it's the first one in 908 days, not it's the first one and it's in
908 days :p

~~~
loboman
Ah, thanks

------
sohn
908 days!!

