The Agony of Argentine Capitalism: From Menem to the Kirchners

This diagnostic history of Argentina's economic prostration is full of timely lessons for readers in the United States about how an irresponsible capitalist elite and cynical politicians can lead a wealthy nation to throw it all away.

They say those who do not learn from history are bound to repeat it. Thus the importance of this book. The Agony of Argentine Capitalism: From Menem to the Kirchners is the capstone of a magisterial trilogy exploring the reasons for Argentina's shocking "reversal of development." In the early 20th century, Argentina was a rising star. It was one of the world's ten richest countries, on course to a place among the most advanced and prosperous liberal democracies in the world. Then, in 1929, Argentina fell into an economic coma from which no political or military shock treatment has been able to rouse it.

The collapse of Argentina's capitalist class has been so devastating that little support remains for free enterprise or free trade. Her fate poses an intellectual challenge for First World capitalist countries. As famed economist Paul Samuelson warned: "Argentina is the pattern no modern capitalist may face without crossing himself and saying, 'There but for the grace of God….'"

• 15 illustrations