Former Argentine President Fernando de la Rua dies at age 81

[sandensea]

4. Good find! The Freedom House assessment was indeed accurate (though it left the IMF out)

The IMF's role in the de la Rúa disaster, you'll recall, became a hot topic of conversation among economists for years.

A textbook example of what not to do.

But predictably enough, it's the very sequence they're using with Macri now. That's the IMF's business plan, after all:

· Help elect presidents who'll run up gigantic debts, congratulating them all the way as they do so.

· Offer an outsized bailout once said debts become unpayable. Make sure the bailout money is used to finance capital flight by fleeing speculators, rather than anything constructive.

· Once the bailout becomes unpayable too (or there's a change in administration), become coy all of all sudden and refuse any further assistance.

· And once a crisis erupts, offer a new bailout in exchange for mass privatizations - especially of energy/mineral resources.