Latin America

Argentina - a middling-resource country - can't earn anywhere near enough dollars to sustain a healthy economy constrained by the sole use of dollars.

Even Ecuador - an oil-rich country with much smaller import needs - has struggled mightily with its dollarization. And now that oil exports can't earn what they used to, relative to its import needs, it's collapsed outright.

And a big part of that cost is the "prep work" - i.e. depressing the economy beforehand to the point that, in Argentina's case, the 50 trillion pesos in circulation (mostly business deposits) would dwindle down to a "manageable" amount to compensate in dollars when dollarization is in fact imposed (assuming it ever is).

But without the kind of massive export earning Argentina would need to meet all its obligations (debt, outbound travel, etc.) and finance a healthy economy (and all its import needs) in a dollarized context, the result would be a long-term depression.

A "Mileise" - if you will.

Thanks as always, Judi, for keeping up with the bedlam in Buenos Aires. Have a great weekend!