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In 1916, a new president was elected. Hipólito Irigoyen had formed a
party called The Radicals under the banner of "fundamental change" with
an appeal to the middle class. ("Fundamental change"... now where have
I heard that?)
Among Irigoyen's changes: mandatory pension
insurance, mandatory health insurance, and support for low-income
housing construction to stimulate the economy. Put simply, the state
assumed economic control of a vast swath of the country's operations
and began assessing new payroll taxes to fund its efforts. (Beginning
to sound more familiar?)
With an increasing flow of funds
into these entitlement programs, the government's payouts soon became
overly generous. Before long its outlays surpassed the value of the
taxpayers' contributions. Put simply, it quickly became under-funded,
much like our Social Security and Medicare programs. (And, more!)
The death knell for the Argentine economy, however, came with the election of Juan Perón. Perón
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