There are songs Argentines would likely forget if a currency crisis didn’t refresh them with unexpected relevance. The lines about a dollar and what one might do for two echoed through 1991, when devaluation pressed hard. It could have been written yesterday as the American currency shook this city again. Markets roared, and the government of ghosts, led by Alberto Fernández, watched as the hearts and pockets of millions trembled in the face of looming inflation and emptied wallets.
Argentina faces scarce international reserves and runs a gap between spending and production. The crave for dollars surfaces in moments of deceptive calm and bursts of anxiety. Storefronts display prices tagged in USD as a practical, if costly, means of payment. But at what price? In recent weeks, the rate on the black market climbed from 388 pesos per dollar to 418 pesos, then to 462 pesos. The next day it surged to 500, only to tumble again. The exact timing of these currency swings remains unknown. The lesson is clear: one must stay alert, and restraint is never enough.
In the financial heart of the capital, known as the city, the speed of price movements is palpable. Street vendors cry out, Change, change, with dollars, euros, and reais all in the mix. The era of discreet, hidden markets has faded; visibility and loudness now define the process. Buyers and sellers often include migrants from Colombia and Venezuela, forming a chorus of recurring demands. When a deal is agreed, the exchange often happens in a closed room or building that locals call a cave.
daily effect
This roller coaster shapes neighborhood pricing and inflates symbolic indicators of inflation, while ordinary Argentines see their lives reflected in the eye of Copani’s dour chorus. A line from the lyric about joining the CIA and family tragedy underscores a broader unease rooted in historical setbacks. Researchers have described the dollar as more than a store of value; it has become a public work of interpretation of the country’s economic and political reality that no citizen can ignore. Taxi drivers and public workers may speak in terms of dollars even if they do not own or hoard them, because the currency has become a shared shorthand for resilience and risk.
The dollar started to become a near daily topic during the last dictatorship when the peso was artificially propped up for speculative purposes. It was said that betting on dollars would lead to losses, and indeed the peso fell sharply, helping topple the regime. The democratic transition began with efforts that sought to stabilize the economy, and over time a complicated relationship between the peso and the dollar endured. The currency saw waves that carried through subsequent decades, culminating in a period that some described as a financial playground, until further political shifts ended that era.
The largest IMF loan
During a new era of crisis, a caretaker leader warned that those who invest in dollars would secure dollars, a pledge that did not fully materialize for savers. The economy faced repeated setbacks under successive administrations. A former minister of economy later presided over a crisis that involved a historic loan from the International Monetary Fund. The nation refinanced heavy debt and navigated political storms, with loyalty to certain policy approaches meeting sharp resistance in the public sphere. The rightward shift and economic retrenchment shaped a landscape where fiscal decisions moved quickly and taxes, spending, and credit interacted in new ways, often casting long shadows over policy credibility.
Disillusionment with Peronism opened space for new political currents, including voices on the far right. An economist who had once crossed into public life as a musician and commentator promoted the idea of currency policies that would fully dollarize the economy. He argued that the peso might no longer be compatible with national sovereignty, proposing instead to adopt a single currency as a national project. Yet the chorus of warnings from seasoned economists persisted, emphasizing that unaffordable risks could undermine financial stability. The refrain from that era—dreaming of a one-to-one peso-dollar equivalence—lasted far longer than the early years of the crisis. Whether the nation would fully embrace or resist drastic changes remained a live debate, echoed in a line from Copani that hinted at a political shift: for a dollar, a vote might be cast, and decisions could hinge on the currency’s perceived promise.