Berg Blog

Maybe I shouldn’t be amazed, but I am. Perhaps disgustedly dumbfounded would be more proper phrasing. Since I’ve gotten back to the United States, I marvel at how desperately the media tries to paint our economic situation as dire. One would guess we spent our days wringing our hands, looking for soup lines, and wandering [...]

About 2 1/2 weeks ago, some of the other volunteers I met in Barracas were nice enough to offer me a ride most of the way home. As we drove down Avenida Libertador, the law school of the University of Buenos Aires came up on our right. The girl driving gestured emphatically and bragged about [...]

The economic brilliance of Venezuelan president Hugo Chávez continues to amaze the world. Rather than performing training drills or studying in the classroom, some of his reserve soldiers are being sent out to enforce government price controls. As Chávez spreads his systematic, maniacal socialism throughout Venezuela, the weakened economy is deteriorating faster than a [...]

The United States is so prosperous that the majority of its citizens have no perspective on how much of the rest of the world lives. Those labeled as poor or “disadvantaged” today lead better lives than even royalty of the past could have imagined. The “poverty” in our nation is often more a figment of [...]

The August 18th issue of The Economist has an article on the economic progress being made in Latin America. It makes a special note of people rising from poverty in Mexico and Brazil. Argentina seems to be a mix of good and bad economic news. On the positive side, tourism continues to boom as people [...]

In my Spanish class yesterday, Maria was telling me about all the government mandated paid vacation time employers must give to employees. There’s a minimum of 2 weeks right off the bat after hiring. If you’re a student, you’re granted 12 days per year to be used at your discretion to take exams or study. [...]