Economic ghosts
"Is the party over? Will South America get back on the economic roller coaster?" That's the big question around the continent these days as fears of a U.S. recession grow and countries here worry about a possible drag. The background: The region has experienced what around here feels nervously weird - normality. Economies are growing at a good clip, inflation is mostly low although in the double digits in a handful of countries, political turmoil is largely absent, so what's got to give?
As Kevin Hall and I explain in this story about the global economic crisis, the emergence of Chinese economic power gives countries another place to turn to if Americans stop buying South American copper, soybeans and other commodities. But what if China goes too? The bad old days when the price of bread multiplied in a few days? An Argentine friend told me that when he was renovating his house in the 80s, the supplier of window glass refused to give him an estimate per pane in the morning because by the time it was delivered in the afternoon, the price would have already grown. Such absurdities still haunt the newly stable South America.
