{"id":8491,"date":"2014-05-16T14:48:16","date_gmt":"2014-05-16T19:48:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.iwu.edu\/factrack\/?p=8491"},"modified":"2025-03-02T15:29:28","modified_gmt":"2025-03-02T21:29:28","slug":"8491","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.iwu.edu\/factrack\/2014\/05\/16\/8491\/","title":{"rendered":"Takes Two to Tango"},"content":{"rendered":"

May 17, 2014 (am)<\/p>\n

At the end of a long day, we found out it takes two to tango, which was Argentina\u2019s gift to the Jazz Age.<\/p>\n

But before then, we had a non-typical FDIB (Faculty Development in International Business) trip\u2014we had some free time in the afternoon.\u00a0\u00a0Our main visit was to the UADE\u2014a private school in Argentina that specializes in business and professional programs.\u00a0\u00a0It was an \u201copen house\u201d day, with hundreds of prospective students, loud music, lots of displays, and two crowded on-campus Starbucks.\u00a0\u00a0The 22,000 student university charges tuition (the state universities are free), but the tuition is only about $2000 per semester.\u00a0\u00a0It positions itself as a school with close ties to the business community, a fact reflected in the kinds of degrees it offers, which border on the practical.\u00a0\u00a0You can\u2019t major in Sociology here, for example.\u00a0\u00a0It sounds like the kind of school I wish our business students attended.<\/p>\n

One of the faculty shared his thoughts on Argentina, reinforcing what we\u2019ve heard from businesses: the current uncertainty of politics and economics.\u00a0\u00a0Part of the problem is that Christina Kirchner, the current leader, cannot succeed herself.\u00a0\u00a0The family plan (her husband served the maximum consecutive two terms, she has served almost two terms) was to have her husband succeed her, but his death left the party\/dynasty with a vacuum for the election next year.\u00a0\u00a0Thus, the professor said, the consensus that governed the country is ending and there is a political\/economic\/and foreign policy crisis. Christina\u2019s legacy (she\u2019s a Peronista\u2014see Evita for a framework) will be a massive new Opera House, carved out of one of the magnificent old\u00a0\u00a0Empire-style buildings (the shell was saved) because the existing Opera House is owned by the opposition party and she won\u2019t set foot in it!\u00a0\u00a0The economic bargain struck 10 years ago to control inflation and create jobs has also been disrupted. Although there\u2019s no obvious problems (it\u2019s not Greece with vacant stores), the hyperinflation of the last few years prompted our guide to say, \u201cIf you have pesos, keep them as souvenirs; they won\u2019t be worth anything in the future.\u201d He described the business environment as grim, with low growth, corruption, and statistical data that is at best unreliable.<\/p>\n

His most interesting (to me) observations were on foreign policy.\u00a0\u00a0I hadn\u2019t thought of South America as divided East\/West, but it is\u2014at least economically.\u00a0\u00a0The economic alliance here is Mercosur, Argentina, Brazil, etc., which is in the title of the program, but we\u2019ve not mentioned it otherwise.\u00a0\u00a0The union is much less real than the EU for example.\u00a0\u00a0The Pacific Alliance of Chile, Peru, and Mexico is a serious rival. While he predicted Argentina will have to reforge friendly relations with the United States,\u00a0\u00a0the new balance of power will be more challenging, especially China.\u00a0\u00a0He described China as \u201cpotentially the Britain of the 21st<\/sup>\u00a0century,\u201d pointing to some projects (dams and infrastructure) and purchases (soybean, but only the raw product with no value added) as indicators that China wants resources\u2014period.\u00a0\u00a0I\u2019ll have to think about that.<\/p>\n

We had the afternoon free, and it was my first chance on this trip to do what I love to do–wander aimlessly.\u00a0\u00a0Actually, I did aim\u2014at the Scout shop in \"\"<\/a>Argentina.\u00a0\u00a0With 40000 Scouts, in at least two different organizations (one Catholic), Argentina Scouting is celebrating 100 years as a \u201cScout franchise.\u201d I can predict with 120% certainty that Troop 19 will have the only blue and white neckerchief slides from Argentina at Canyon Camp this summer.<\/p>\n

I also stumbled on one of the few museums here that isn\u2019t art-based–the museum of \u201carms.\u201d\u00a0 The collection of guns was outstanding (the ticket taker made sure I saw the samurai materials), but what was most interesting to me was the fact that Latin America has had a lot of wars that did not involve the United States.\u00a0\u00a0Now I need to read more about the history of this region!<\/p>\n

In the evening, we did what you have to do–go to a Tango show.\u00a0\u00a0Tango is Argentina\u2019s contribution to the Jazz Age, and the show\u2019s retro dress looked like something out of Woody Allen\u2019s \u201cMidnight in Paris.\u201d Before the show, we had a tango lesson, and I have a certificate (and a partner who was not trampled) to prove I took the course, and know, at a minimum, it takes two to tango.<\/p>\n

We\u2019re touring the city this afternoon before leaving for Chile.\u00a0\u00a0Oh, and I made it through the day without any red meat.\u00a0\u00a0The city has great pasta, probably a reflection of its Italian immigrants.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

May 17, 2014 (am) At the end of a long day, we found out it takes two to tango, which was Argentina\u2019s gift to the Jazz Age. But before then, we had a non-typical FDIB (Faculty Development in International Business) trip\u2014we had some free time in the afternoon.\u00a0\u00a0Our main visit was to the UADE\u2014a private … Continue reading “Takes Two to Tango”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":36,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[56],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-8491","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-fdib-latin-america-2014"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.iwu.edu\/factrack\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8491","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.iwu.edu\/factrack\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.iwu.edu\/factrack\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.iwu.edu\/factrack\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/36"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.iwu.edu\/factrack\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8491"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.iwu.edu\/factrack\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8491\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8498,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.iwu.edu\/factrack\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8491\/revisions\/8498"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.iwu.edu\/factrack\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8491"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.iwu.edu\/factrack\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8491"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.iwu.edu\/factrack\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8491"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}