Down in Argentina, President Cristina Kirchner is running for re-election. As is traditional when leftist politicians run for office, she is pulling out all the stops: passing around walking around money, cooking the books, and, of course, using the powers of the state and the media to intimidate anyone who gets in her way: 

As Cristina Kirchner heads for an expected landslide re-election in Sunday's presidential voting, few Argentines are resting more uneasily than 12 economic consultants who face sanctions from her government for contradicting its calculation of the inflation rate.

In a bitter showdown, the 12 consultants are fending off government investigations, accompanied in most cases with fines of 500,000 pesos ($119,000) under an obscure consumer-protection statute called the "commercial loyalty law." Three of the most outspoken consultants have been singled out for additional criminal charges under a financial-speculation law. Their offense, in the eyes of the government, is insisting in press interviews or in their own published reports that Argentina's real inflation rate is between two and three times the official government rate of 9.9% annually.

Needless to say, Argentina's inflation numbers are not credible at all. In fact, there is no agreed upon method for calculating the country's inflation rate because no one believes the Kirchner government:  

The government has announced plans to develop a nationwide inflation index, with some advisory input from the International Monetary Fund, which might eventually supplant the current index, which is compiled based on prices in the Buenos Aires area only. But the relationship between Argentina and the IMF has been stormy for years. Argentine officials were recently angered when an IMF official suggested that, in trying to assess inflation in Argentina, the fund relied partially on estimates of provincial governments and other outside sources—none of which necessarily match the federal government rate. For the IMF to focus such scrutiny on Argentine statistics at a time of grave crisis in Europe and other wealthy countries "seems to me very much like the captain of the Titanic checking to see how the violin plays in the orchestra," Economy Minister Amado Boudou told Argentine reporters.

To protect themselves from government reprisals, many of the consultants have started disseminating their inflation data via opposition members of Congress, who then release the average for what is dubbed the "Congressional Consumer Price Index." The congressional index was 1.89% for September, compared with 0.8% for the official index.

Even some parts of the federal government, as well as groups loyal to it, no longer rely on the official inflation index. Many courts now use private inflation estimates for cases such as worker compensation claims requiring judges to set an indemnization. And even unions that are allied to the government cite the inflation estimates of private consultants during salary negotiations.

The state begs to differ, of course, with its toadies/official economists saying the inflation rate produced by Congress is "unpresentable," whatever that means. This being Argentina, there is a precedent for this sort of thing. Back in President Nestor Kirchner's administration, they raised the manipulation of statistics, and the intimidation of the statisticians, to the level of art. It's no different now. The former First Lady just lacks the subtlety of her husband.


Kirchner, btw, is expected to coast to victory. Partly that's because the opposition is fractured (hear that third partiers?) but mostly it's because the electorate can't resist a glamorous leftist who can get away with all manner of lies and intimidation, so long as she has the media, the trade unions, and the urban poor behind her. There's probably a lesson - not to mention a warning - in that. 

Alex Tabarrock over at Marginal Revolution links to a study that tracks the effects of anti-Chavez political activity can have on one's employment (or lack thereof) in Venezuela: Chavez and the Power of the State

What the authors find is shocking, albeit not surprising. Before the recall election, petition signatories and non-signatories look alike. After the election, the employment and wages of signatories drop considerably, about a 10% drop in wages relative to non-signatories. Survey evidence conducted by the authors is consistent with retaliation by Chavez supporters especially in the form of job losses in the public sector. The authors estimate that the retaliation was so widespread, many workers were pushed into informal employment, that the Venezuelan economy was significantly damaged.

OK so it's just what you'd expect, but it's nice to see someone produce a contemporaneous economic study showing the practical effects of a thuggish left-wing government at work. For all their concern for the "People," a lot of progressive governance is dedicated towards this sort of institutionalized political revenge. When the state can give you everything, they can take it all away...

The "political activity" that led to all this misery was the simple act of signing a petition to force a referendum on Hugo's government. He won (obviously), but that clearly was not enought.

We had previously discussed the successful paternity suit that a woman brought against the President of Paraguay, who fathered a child while serving as a Catholic bishop. Now, a third child has surfaced. Wait, where did the second come from? Woman: Paraguay's Lugo has Third Child

The latest woman to claim a child with Lugo is a 39-year-old divorcee with
two adult children who said she met Lugo three years ago, after he gave up his
church leadership position. And while the two other women are pursuing paternity
claims, she says has no plans to sue the president.

Unbelieveable. Lugo was a noisily Leftist "priest" throughout his career. I have to wonder about the sincerity of his religious faith, as his adherence to Catholic teaching was non-existent. Has anyone asked him if he even believes in God?

The third woman, for her part, seems to have loved him for his skills as a community organizer:

"I fell in love because as a man, he is phenomenal. He is charismatic. He was
my ideal of a man and social-political leader," Moran told Channel 4 television.
"I do not need money or his last name for the child, because I can support my
family. I am the owner of a child day care center and have plenty of work."

Blah Blah Blah. Lugo stands revealed as yet another Leftist, "marching through the institutions," weakening them from within while aggrandizing his own political power. In this case, he was willing to trade on the religious faiths, not just of his parishoners, but also of his lovers. No one seems concerned about how a such a fabulous "social political leader" could also father and abandon children like a petty feudal baron lording it over his serfs. Some would call that hypocracy, but he did it for The Cause, so everything's cool. While Progressives have forever proclaimed themselves to be the vanguard of the future, they never fail to reveal themselves to be the proponents of political and personal arrangements that are older than recorded history.

I used to think Paraguay's president, Fernando Lugo, was little more than a lefty disguised as a priest/president, but no more. Now, he has set a new standard for presidential sex scandals: President of Paraguay Had a Child as Bishop

In a stunning confession, the president ofParaguay, Fernando Lugo, a former Roman Catholic bishop, admitted to fathering a child while the Vatican still considered him to be ordained.

That's right, he fathered a child while serving as a bishop, and then lied about it while serving as president. The mother - 26 years old to the president's 57 - has sued for paternity. Macho men around the world are shaking their heads and muttering imprecations against the dangers of beautiful young women. The president is subdued and a bit rueful:

“It is true that there was a relationship with Viviana Carrillo,” Mr. Lugo said, referring to the child’s 26-year-old mother. “I assume all responsibilities that stem from that, and I recognize that I fathered the child.”

And the child is already taking advantage of the powers bestowed by his unusual parentage:

(A lawyer for the mother) confirmed that Guillermo once fell from the third floor of a building and survived without a scratch. “He is the son of a bishop, no doubt,” Mr. Acosta said. “It was a miracle.”