Baldazo de sentido común

Anastasia:

Mrs. Kirchner's insistence that the central bank's assets should be at her disposal is noteworthy. It reflects a primitive view, not unknown even in the U.S., that the role of a central bank is to print money for the government's use. Yet it is nonetheless surprising that even after the nation has suffered so much inflationary agony, it is still possible for an Argentine politician to pursue this line of reasoning without risk of being tarred and feathered.

More interesting is the constitutional crisis that Mrs. Kirchner has provoked. For some time now, Argentine republicans have been battling to preserve the country's institutional checks and balances against a president who seems to believe that no such limits exist for her. Already unpopular for her authoritarian style, Mrs. Kirchner would seem to be skating on precariously thin ice. Why that would be so is worth exploring.

The president might have a case against Mr. Redrado if her complaint were the country's 17% inflation rate last year. But her government has been rapidly increasing expenditures by borrowing from the state-owned banks. It has also been spending the country's $2.7 billion "special drawing rights" windfall from the International Monetary Fund. Both actions are inflationary.