Argentina’s expropriation should be applauded
Argentina’s move to gain control of its energy resources via the expropriation of a portion of the national oil company YPF represents a strong democratic stand against oligarchy and should be loudly applauded.
President Cristina Fernández says the action will give her country the freedom to decide its energy policies and recover its lost energy security. She’s on the right track but her view of freedom and security shouldn’t be restricted to the energy “sector” alone. The very same oligarchic firms that control energy, after all, have a death grip on every other aspect of life and these are just as vital, if not even more so, to human security.
The global trans-national oligopolistic corporations that dominate our world are managed under just one primary directive – to suck as much cash out of its operations as possible and channel it to executives and stockholders. It’s a business plan written by parasites, as well revealed in today’s FT by a former executive of Repsol, the company being expropriated: “The business model (of Repsol) has been based on YPF being a cash cow and reinvesting that into other areas.” The article doesn’t specify what those areas may be, but we can be certain they involve yet more milking.
The whole world’s one big cash cow and we’re the ones being milked.
Comments on Inequality 
Exactly! My comment on Twitter:
“Of course The Economist gets goose bumps if government dares 2 nationalize sacred private sector exploitation activity. So does @ryanavent”
The unsatisfactory aspect of this episode is that the expropriation was carried out by another oligarchy so corrupt and greedy as the Board of Directors of Repsol.
From Spain I can not say more than it that makes me laugh to hear Rajoy saying that expropriation is an attack on all Spanish citizens who love democracy, free trade and globalization.
How much of the billions that Argentina will pay for compensation for the expropriation of Repsol will revert in the welfare of the Spanish and the Argentine people?
Vaya una mierda!!!!
Salud
Despite the corruptness of the Argentine government, I see it as a positive for Argentinians and the world in general for the example it sets. It does depend though on the compensation that’s ultimately paid.
Of course it’s absurd to claim an expropriation of a Spanish multinational corporation is an attack against the Spanish people. The best response I’ve seen was in an article by Argentinian political scientist Atilio Boron in today’s Mexican paper La Jornada. His finale went like this:
¨España, por último, es el indoblegable heroísmo de la Pasionaria y los anarquistas y comunistas que lucharon contra la barbarie franquista, de la cual Rajoy, Aznar y el Partido Popular son sus indiscutibles herederos. Estos energúmenos, tardiós sobrevivientes de un conjuro medieval, representan con sus exabruptos de hoy lo peor de España. Son los perros guardianes de los filibusteros de traje y corbata que siembran miseria dentro y fuera de España. La lucha es contra esa España, no contra los españoles ni mucho menos contra la otra España, con la cual nos sentimos hermanados.¨