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Google Unable To Keep Paying App Developers In Argentina
An anonymous reader writes "Google has sent letters to app developers registered in Argentina saying they won't be able to accept payments on developers' behalf after June 27th. 'The change applies to both paid apps and apps that use in-app purchases. The move appears to be related to new, restrictive regulations the Argentine government has imposed on currency exchanges.' According to the Telegraph, 'The new regulations required anyone wanting to change Argentine pesos into another currency to submit an online request for permission to AFIP, the Argentine equivalent of HM Revenue & Customs. To submit the request, however, you first needed to get a PIN from AFIP, either online or in person. Having finally obtained your number, submitted your online request and printed out your permission slip, you could then present it at the bank or official cambio and buy your dollars. Well, that was the theory. In practice, the result was chaos. ... damming the flood has come at a huge cost to the economy, especially since the currency restrictions were coupled with another set of regulations that effectively imposed a near-total ban on any imported goods.'"
Cristina Kirchner, destroying Argentina since 2007.
I'd love to tell you more about the meaning of "kind of"
It starts with "Don't be a pedantic idiot and consider a broader view"
I live over there. Here's what's going on, I'll try to explain it because even fellow Argentinians don't really understand:
Argentina is a country that is very culturally different to the rest of Latin America, and even the world and likely the right place to look at when you want to see the results of a government being more involved instead of less. By the time of the second world war, Peron did a deep change to the country, created public health, public education (made public university free), public retirement funds, changed labor laws to highly benefit the employees (employeers must pay them many sort of benefits and can't fire them without paying compensation), etc.
Peron tried to made it clear that he wasn't going towards fascism/socialism/communism, but his model was more of creating a capitalism with more social equity through the intervention of the government. Most of the "upper class" did naturally not like this and tried to fight this by financing coup d'etats by the military (It's a little more complex than, but that goes beyond what i'm trying to explain and there's plenty of material to read about dictatorships in Latin America).
My point is that Argentinians are sort of "spoiled" and that has even been transmitted from generation to generation. There is this strange belief that everything that happens is the fault of the government, and that the government should take care of it.
For example, beyond public health, retirement, education, etc. If you are homeless, the government will build you a house. If you are poor and your children can't study, the government will give you money to send them to school. If you are unemployed, you just receive money. Transport is dirt cheap because it's subsidized too, some products are price-fixed to be made more accessible and now the government is even making a line of clothes that is more cheaper and accessible.
The government spends a fortune in social help and taxes are high as the result. But it goes beyond that. The economic model is also designed to ensure that unemployment is really low. They do this by forcing people to spend their money and not keep it, so there is constant inflation and purchasing foreign currency is forbidden. By spending the earned money constantly, the local economy is always very active, restaurants are packed full, and everyone is using credits to buy stuff.
The right wing media opposition to the government is strong and focuses on mainly on corruption and insecurity, to make people feel they are being constantly robbed and freak them out. However, people is employed and is earning decently nowadays so this has a limited effect, which gives place to the saying ("roban pero hacen", translated to "they might steal but they still do for the country") Even the media themselves know they can't mention anything related to a right wing point of view (less state intervention) or people will label them as traitors.
So the big question is if economical stability by this means are worthy. Buenos Aires is a production powerhouse and generates a lot of income, but there is a large part of the population that would not be able to be sustained in a more open economy. As a result, the country is very closed do the rest of the world economy. The rest of the world isn't very healthy economically either.
What's going on with Google is really nothing new. It's extremely hard for Argentinians to be entrepreneurs in this context, so we just open offshore companies in Panama, Delaware or other places and get paid there (otherwise we can't get get paid in us dollars or euros), then transfer our money to the country either illegally (black market price is higher), or legally (needed if you run a company and need to pay your employees). It's not impossible, just harder.
Governments exists solely for oppressing people, making sure they are "in line". There is no such thing as government that serves the people, by definition. It's the people which serve and obey the government.
It's not just South American countries. Every country believes they are something special.
Does that happen now in Brazil?
It happened back when we didn't have a stable currency. Then we adopted policies which created a stable currency and it stopped. Amazingly, the US dollar is a stable currency. See a trend there?
There is no problem for dolar imports, we have no permission to remove dollars from the system not otherwise.
Yes, because adopting the economic doctrine of the 18th century (mercantilism) is smart. Here's a notion for you: there is no such thing as actually exchanging dollars for pesos. When someone who has dollars wants pesos that's for the sole purpose of purchasing stuff valued in pesos, When someone who has pesos wants dollars that's for the sole purpose of purchasing stuff valued in dollars. This means that the exchange of currencies goes like this: pesos go, meet dollars, and after a while return to Argentina where they belong; dollars go, meet pesos, and after a while return to the US, where they belong; meanwhile, stuff go from the US to Argentina and and stay in their new home, and stuff go from Argentina to the US and stay in their new home. In other words, currencies are tourists, goods are migrants. If you block one half of one side of the equation, you block the other half, and then the whole equation. The exchange of goods, which is what matters, stops both ways, and you're left with whatever exists within your country and no more. Your oligarchs, monopolies and cartels all thank you gladly, your population is left purchasing overpriced trash (but they all can work in exchange for said trash, woohoo!), and after a few years you're technologically broken.
Have fun!
Conservatism: (n.) love of the existing evils. Liberalism: (n.) desire to substitute new evils for the existing ones.