Those who would blame Argentina's economic woes on free-market policies or pegging the peso to the U.S. dollar choose to be willfully blind to reality. Although the most evident and most disastrous results are economic in nature, the bases of the problems are political.
The simple truth is that Argentina suffers from the ravages of populist policies put into place 50 years ago by Juan Peron that created rigidities in markets and restricted competition. Unfortunately, functionaries from another Peronist regime are using the same failed policies to perpetuate a disease created by their eponymous founder.
Populist policies promote divisions between the rich and poor, contributing to social instability and economic destruction. Economic upheaval and street demonstrations can often be traced directly to the rhetoric of populism used by cynical politicians.