|
|
History is the reasonI recently attended the 25th annual Alltech Symposium in Lexington, Ky. I refer to it as "the United Nations of Agriculture" because 1,100 people from 65 countries are represented and it has an extremely unique feel. In fact, I am told that 40 percent of the animal feed manufacturing in the world was represented at this gathering. It is the conversation with Juan Tricarico, Ph.D. that will stick with me the longest. Juan lives in South Dakota and is working for Alltech but he is from Argentina. How about a little history lesson here today? Afterall, we are told to study history so we don't make the same mistakes twice, right? Juan told me that his grandfather had immigrated to Argentina from Italy. At the same time, his grandfather had a brother who couldn't afford to make it all the way to Italy so he landed in New York. I think most people agree that at the turn of the century Argentina was considered "the place" to immigrate. That was up until the mid 1940s. So what happened? Another man, Juan Perón, was elected leader in 1945. After spending a great deal of time searching, I find it tremendously interesting how some have attempted to categorize his time in office as that of an extreme populist leader. Perón and his second wife, Eva, were immensely popular amongst many of the Argentine people. To this day they are still considered icons by the Peronist Party. The Peróns' followers praised their efforts to eliminate poverty and to dignify labor, while their detractors considered them demagogues and dictators. The Peróns gave their name to the political movement known as peronismo, which in present-day Argentina is represented by the Justicialist Party. Perón, as head of the labor department, instituted minimum wage, eight hour days, frozen rents, firing restrictions and a labor court, which was instituted to penalize business owners that didn't engage in "fair" business practices. Peron's administrations ranged from economic isolation and tariff building to heavy nationalization of trade and industry. Legislation was passed jailing political dissenters when Juan Peron remitted a new constitution that allowed him to succeed himself in elections. His economic policies resulted in steep inflation and heavy government debt through massive overspending by him and his appointed head of the welfare state, his wife, Evita Peron. Bailouts, nationalization and out-of-control spending seems to be the method that Perón had as his main platform. In 1955, he was thrown out of power with a military coup. It appears some Argentinan lives were improved early in his tenure but what about the next 10 years? With the drop-off in production, a destructive trade imbalance ensued: Year Deficit (in millions) 1960 $237 1961 $450 1962 $640 These imbalances, in turn, caused the money supply to tighten up and inflation outran wage increases. In the period following the overthrow of Perón, wages went up 400 percent while the price of food went up 750 percent. Although some projects were successful (joint oil exploration with Standard Oil in Patagonia), others were colossal flops. Steel production had ground to a halt. By 1962, the country was only producing 600,000 tons when it needed 3,000,000. Meat production dropped from a high of 145,000 metric tons under Perón to 87,000 by the end of 1961. I don't think you need to be all that sharp to see why I thought this little history lesson is so timely. I understand life is cyclical and that all things seem to repeat themselves but, for our children's sake, it is high time we all stand up to the methods of all the elected officials. We need to tell them the bailout, nationalization and their out-of-control spending never has nor will it ever work to better a society, long term. Dr. Walter "Chick" Bishop, a retired history professor, tells me that 19 of the 20 great civilizations of all time have failed. I don't plan to allow us to follow that same path on my watch. It is essential for us to take a look at the history, plan for a sound future, and take action today to make sure that we protect the liberties and opportunities this great country has granted us for over 200 years. We can't leave it up to any elected official to ensure our prosperous future; we must take matters into our own hands and accept responsibility for shaping the future of our world for the sake of all of our offspring to come. Editor's note: Trent Loos is a sixth generation United States farmer, host of the daily radio show, Loos Tales, and founder of Faces of Agriculture, a non-profit organization putting the human element back into the production of food. Get more information at www.FacesOfAg.com, or e-mail Trent at trent@loostales.com.
1
Copyright/Privacy
Copyright 1995-2011. High Plains Publishers, Inc. All rights reserved. Any republishing of these pages, including electronic reproduction of the editorial archives or classified advertising, is strictly prohibited. If you have questions or comments you can reach us at High Plains Journal 1500 E. Wyatt Earp Blvd., P.O. Box 760, Dodge City, KS 67801 or call 1-800-452-7171. Email: webmaster@hpj.com |
|
