How the argentinians are seen in U.S.A.???

I was surfing the web for information to share in regards to how Argentinians are viewed currently in the U.S.A.

I know this is not a highly regarded educational resource or website but I did find it interesting because the questions I was researching came up at yahoo answers, which I think displays true responses of people in our society in U.S.A . which gives us a pulse of some the feelings and understanding of how some people view Argentinians in the U.S.A. , currently. These definitely are not very culturally competant answers.


Here are some of the answers people posted:


1. they are highly respected for their successful national soccer program. But other than that, there really isn't any positive feedback. The Argentinians I know, tend to look more European than Latin American. Perhaps in the United States this will come to your advantage.

2. Well, I don't know much about Argentinians specifically, but most Americans are a little biased when it comes to people from Mexico and South America, mainly because of all the media hype about illegal immigrants and stuff.

3.No, seriously they look like white ppl and most don't know they are hispanic until they talk to them. Most argentinians I know have been light skinned with blonde hair and blue eyes

4. This was considered the BEST answer,
When I attended university, I met a number of Argentinians, both students and professors (one of which was a deseparacida..one of the "disappeared" from the so-called "Dirty War" in the 70s-80s)....and none of them seemed to be exceptionally biased...at least they didn't act that way in front of me...and sometimes a black American person in a Latin American studies class is not taken all that seriously for some reason. Of the people from Argentina that I know, they would sometimes get upset about being mistaken for Mexican because they spoke Spanish...but then a number of people from South America and the Caribbean feel that way. Not because they don't like Mexicans, but because they're proud of their specific heritage and want to be known for that. A number of Argentinians also have Italian, German and British heritage in addition to the Spanish, so some of them are more likely to see themselves as European rather than Hispanic American, despite the US government labeling them as such. There are black Argentinians but very, very few. From what I've been told by my professions, it is considered a no-no to ask Argentinians about any Indigenous/Indian background. Because most appear white, they tend to fit into American society more so than say, someone from Mexico. Brazil or Colombia.How are Argentinians seen in the mainstream USA?I would say apart from the Tango (dance and music), beef, yerba mate, soccer and the musical/movie Evita, the average American knows little to nothing about Argentinian culture. Indeed they know little about MOST of the diverse cultures of Latin America...or even Canada. Instead, they know more about the countries of the former Soviet Union (Russia, Chechnya, Belarus, etc) or the Middle East (particularly Iraq, Iran, Egypt and Israel) because that is what dominates the news headlines in the USA. Unless something very unusual occurs most Latin America headlines are ignored, except in Spanish language newspapers in Los Angeles, Miami, NYC or perhaps cities in the Southwestern United States. I get most of my Latin American info from the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) and various mailing lists.
Source(s):
degree in international studies (emphasis on Latin America)

United States And Argentinas Debt

When reading about Argentina, the one thing that captures my attention is the economy; from going to a stable economy to a economy that has no backbone and seems to be continually failing. I believe it is easy to relate to Argentina's continually failing economy because it is something that all individuals in the United States can relate to (with our poor economy in today's society) and for the individuals who are about to read this article will most likely agree. This article that I am about to present I found very important. This shows a situation that arose in the year of 2006 between the United States economy and the Argentinean economy, and till this day is still present.

U.S. judge rules against Argentina in debt case

* Judge rules Argentine Central Bank not independent

* Attachment hits bond prices, risk spreads (Adds bonds fall, country risk, details and byline)

By Fiona Ortiz

BUENOS AIRES, April 7 (Reuters) - Some $100 million in Argentine Central Bank deposits in New York can be seized to pay two investment funds that sued Argentina over unpaid debt, a U.S. federal judge ruled on Wednesday.

The Argentine funds held in the U.S. Federal Reserve Bank in New York have been frozen since 2006, but another judge delayed their attachment pending an investigation into whether the Central Bank could be considered part of the Argentine state.

Judge Thomas Griesa of the United States District Court of the Southern District of New York on Wednesday ruled that funds of the Central Bank, also called the BCRA, are really those of the Republic of Argentina saying evidence shows that the bank is not autonomous.

"The court ... concludes that the $105 million was in fact not the property of BCRA held for its own account, but was the property of the Republic," Griesa wrote in his ruling for the plaintiffs in the case.

The plaintiffs in the case are EM Ltd and NML Capital. The latter is an affiliate of Elliott Management Corp and one of the biggest holders of Argentine defaulted debt.

A spokesman for Elliott said the company had no comment.

The judge rejected arguments by the Argentine government that the Central Bank funds are immune because the bank is autonomous.

DEBT SWAP

Wednesday's ruling came a week before Argentine President Cristina Fernandez's cash-strapped government seeks to woo investors by swapping some $20 billion in defaulted bonds left over from the country's massive 2002 default.

Next week's swap offer is meant to neutralize the threat of lawsuits from so-called holdout bondholders who are trying to recover the full, face value of their defaulted debt.

They rejected a previous government offer to swap the paper at a steep discount in 2005.

The bondholders have won several judgments against Argentina in U.S. courts, but so far they have not been able to seize any Argentine money or property.

Argentina argues that bondholders who did not accept the terms of the 2005 exchange cannot be paid the full face value of their debt because that would be unfair to those who did accept losses in the deal.

A Central Bank spokesman did not immediately have comment on Wednesday's ruling, but it is likely to be appealed.

An attachment is a step in the process in which a plaintiff could actually receive money. Other filings and procedures would have to be completed before payment.

Argentine bond prices closed down 0.8 percent on average in local, over-the-counter trade in reaction to news of the ruling, which investors initially thought might refer to a new embargo on Argentine funds in the United States.

The spread between the yield on benchmark Argentine bonds and on comparable U.S. Treasuries widened 21 basis points to 636, according to the JP Morgan Emerging Markets Bond Index 11EMJ.

Link to article:
http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSN0717036220100407?type=marketsNews

While searching through articles that deal with Argentina and the United States I came across the article "United States of Argentina." This article is based upon the history of Argentina's economy, and how the United States economy is going. I found it very interesting, and was wondering what everyone's opinions were on this article.

United States of Argentina

Examiner Editorial
March 31, 2010

When White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel last year advised "never waste a good crisis," he likely was thinking ahead to President Obama's economic stimulus program and health care plan. After swelling the federal deficit by passing the stimulus at a cost of nearly $1 trillion, Democrats in Congress signed off on Obamacare, with a price tag, according to Rep. Paul Ryan, R-Wis., of $2.3 trillion in its first decade alone. With federal spending exploding at such a rate, it's no wonder that Moody's Investor Service recently warned that it would downgrade the U.S. government's credit rating if it concludes "the government was unable and/or unwilling to quickly reverse the deterioration it has incurred."

What the United States government will do in the future may be in question, but we need not look far to find past examples of countries unwilling to get their finances in order. Consider Argentina. In 1914, it was one of the wealthiest countries in the world, and its living standard exceeded that of Western Europe until the late 1950s. Then President Juan Peron squandered his nation's prosperity by introducing a host of redistributionist economic and regulatory policies, nationalizing utilities and foreign investments, and pumping up the national debt. What followed was three decades of political instability, growing dependency, and economic stagnation.

There was a brief period of privatization and booming foreign investment in what the American Enterprise Institute's Mark Falcoff called Argentina's "go go" 1990s. But that was negated by the return of political leaders espousing Peronist principles who created a downward economic spiral by breaking contracts with foreign utility companies that had invested heavily in Argentina. Today, the country has lost its international credit standing and an estimated 10 percent of the population has moved abroad to escape the stifling taxes, regulation and inefficiency. To make matters worse, President Cristina Kirchner recently attracted attention for firing the president of the country's central bank. His sin was refusing to go along with her inflationary spending policies (Argentina's inflation is 17 percent) and challenging her demand that he hand over $6.6 billion in bank reserves.

Besides sending federal spending skyrocketing, Obama has, like so many of the politicians who ruined Argentina, dramatically increased government regulation of business, nationalized major sectors of the economy, and imposed a lengthy list of tax increases. America today is no more exempt from economic reality than Argentina was in years past. Make no mistake, these actions will eventually drain the life from this nation's economic vitality, just as they did in Argentina.

Read more at the Washington Examiner: http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/opinion/United-States-of-Argentina-89551242.html#ixzz0jmjrLkPH

Immigration to United States and Misconceptions

Immigration
By: Amanda Noble

Suppose someone from another Country assumed Maine is from Canada, wouldn't you be bothered by this. This has happened to me not just only from another country but, also when visiting Florida. I was annoyed that they would think that I was part of a country that I was not.
Argentinians are sometimes referred or put into the category of Mexicans, mostly because they speak Spanish. However, a lot of people speak Spanish yet, they are not from Mexico. There are people in Northern Maine that speak more French than English and they are still considered Mainers.

Immigration Population

The number one Immigrant population into Maine is Canadians, according to the Center for Immigrant Studies. Argentinians are not even in the top 15 and neither are Mexicans. In the Country Argentinians are the 31st immigrating to the Unite States, so why are mainers caught up into the immigrant reform battle? They're only Canadians right? Where does Maine stand on Immigration Reform and how could Argentinians be hurt or helped if new immigration laws were to come into effect?

MPA- Maine People's Alliance
MPA immigration click for link

MPA brings companies, organizations, and individuals together to bring social and economic issues to the public eye in search or answers to better the lives of those in the states. Some of their projects are passing environmental bills that limit toxins and mercury in our water and oceans, they work with the Maine Freedom to Marry Coalition and helping to stop TABOR along with many others. Their current project includes immigration laws that create immigrants as people not just numbers or a quota. They want to give immigrants rights along with equal opportunities to become citizens, protect families in the United States, not all families are 2 immigrant parent households some are 1 immigrant and 1 citizen families and those families have no rights to be kept together, last they want to expand civil and human rights.

Argentinians here in the Unites States are low-income workers usually laborers. If fees were raised by the government again then the possibly that someone making below minimum wage to about $8 an hour affording to become citizens is too low. And yes immigrants in Maine make below minimum wage because of the fear of being deported and losing their job is greater than the fear of turning a boss in. Another problem is that there are so many 1 natural and 1 immigrant family structures in this state that to make things harder on immigrants will actually hurt citizens. We, as a people in Maine, need to rethink immigration reform and how it can hurt or help people.

My Story Real Quick

My Husband is from Guyana, it's technically part of the Caribbean although confused as being part of Latin America. We are currently going through the immigration process. Until he got his green card he could not work. We also have three children. I was told that I am supposed to make up the lost income that he was unable to earn and DHHS could not help us financially until he got his new green card in. By denying his chances to work our Government created a subclass that technically did not exist because the people were undocumented and therefore do not exist.

What are our Governments priorities and interests in keeping immigrants from becoming citizens? How does these laws affect Argentinians or even your families when they came to the United States, unless you are 100% Native American you are from an immigrant family.

Center for Immigrant Studies Website

Argentina and the United States
By: Amanda Noble

I was going to do this post on the misunderstandings and prejudices of Argentinians in the Unites States however, due to the resent meeting of Secetary Clinton to Argentina I felt this was important and relevant to the immigration population here in the United States. If the United States and Argentina can continue to meet and create a better understanding of each other then I feel that Americans that are not Argentinians will have a better understand and a greater acceptance of those from Latin American.

Over the past few months Argentina and the United States have not been meeting. During Hillary Clinton's tour of South America, she has decided not to visit Argentina. However, at the last minute she decided to add argentina to her list adnd meet with its President Christina Fernandez de Kirchner. According to an article by the New York Times dated Feb 28, 2010 Argentina has been having disputes with England over the Falkland Islands and now England is drilling off the coast upsetting Argentina and the United States has not taken a side in the dispute.


Clinton and Presiden Kirschner

I would imagine that Argentina had seen this as a deliberate attempt to avoid the dispute since Clinton is not willing to visit the country. The long standing problems with S. Americana and the United States goes back a long time. When the United States had passed the Immigration law that forbade migrant workers from mexico this unintentially included all S. Americans. Immigration from Argentina to the Unites States has doubled from 1994 to 2004 according to the DHS office of immigration. Most of the immigrants are positioned in California, Florida, and New York and the rest in surrounding states. To other Americans they are considered Mexican American although they are not from Mexico. The majority of them are in reunification programs that reunites them with their families and so are legal and documented.

I would like to focus this posting on that meeting and the way the United States is trying to build bonds with a country that has the potential to be a strong ally with the United States. Argentina is the second largest power in South America. On the America.gov website the converstaion between Clintona and Kirchner was written down and there are some important aspects to that converstation.

While Clinton talked about the relief aid Argentina has sent to Haiti and the effort to be rid of terrorism, Argentina has a history of terrorism against their country, Kirschner has her own agendas that she presented to Clinton. A few are the issues of a request of mediation between England and themselves to find a middle gound over the Falkland Islands. It was interesting to hear that Clinton beat around the bush about the only request made by the Argentinian president. President Kirschner is scheduled to come to Washington, I am interested if this move will incourage a better understanding of the Argentinian people or create more problems for them. If you would like to read more about this converstaion the link is:
http://www.america.gov/st/testrans-english/2010/march/20100302132819xjsnommis0.2797619.html

Religious Argentinians

Argentineans and Religion

Approximately 90 percent of Argentineans are born Roman Catholics or Christians. About two percent of the population is Protestant and, according to recent Argentinean statistics, about 400,000 Jews live in Buenos Aires.

According to the World Christian Database. Argentines are 92.1% Christian or Roman Catholic, 3.1% agnostic, 1.95 Muslim, 1.3% Jewish, 0.9% Atheist, and 0.9% Buddhist and other.

The following is from the Argentina.gov website:

According to the National Constitution , in its 14th. Article establishes that “All inhabitants in the Nation have same rights conforming to the laws that rule their practice, namely: to run any licit industry; to sail and trade; to petition; to come in, stay, travel and go out of the territory; to publish their ideas on the press with no prior censorship; to use and dispose of their real estate; to get associated for useful purposes; to freely practice their cult or religion ; to teach and to learn ". The Argentinean government has a Secretary of Cult whose main purpose is to keep records of all cults via. a registry of all recognized cults along with maintaining peace between the different cults.

Major Festivals Observed by Argentineans

Main Popular Festivities
• Our Lady of Itatí: July 9.
• Virgen of Carmen de Cuyo: July 16.
• Pacha Mama: August 1.
• Saint Cayetano: August 7.
• Our Lady of Luján: October 1.
• San Martín de Tours: November 11.
• New Year: January 1.
• The Three Wise Men: January 6.
• Easter and Sunday of Resurrection: The date varies according to the year.
• Immaculate Conception of Virgin María: December 8.
• Christmas: December 25.

Up until recently the President of Argentina needed to be Roman Catholic in order to become president. Also the Roman Catholic Church supported and the government financially, this is a conflict of interest where the Church would have say in many political debates.

In reference to Maine

The religion in Maine according to city-data.com is Maine had about 283,024 Roman Catholics and an estimated 8,290 Jews in 2000. The leading Protestant denominations were the United Methodist Church, with 31,689 adherents; the United Church of Christ, 29,122; and the American Baptists USA, 26,259. The Muslim community had about 800 members. Over 800,000 people (about 63.6% of the population) were not counted as members of any religious organization.

Problems faced by Argentineans, and other religious people, that would immigrate to Maine

Except for New Years, Easter, and Christmas many of the Festivals that are observed or celebrated by Argentineans are not observed here in the United States. If the Argentinean people were to assimilate here then it would be very difficult for them to observe or celebrate their own festivals which are very important to their own religions. I feel that this is true to many religions because, the Unites States only observes a handful of Holiday's and employers are not willing to allow time for people to celebrate the days that are important to them religiously.

Another issue is that many people have the notion that Christianity and Catholicism are under the same church and they are not. Where the Pope is the head of the Catholic church there is no head of the Christian church other than Christ. This I have found, from talking to Catholics and Christians in Maine, is an issue because many people assume that the Catholic holiday's are the same as Christians and they are not.

What Can be Done?

1. Don't assume that one religion is above another
2. Don't assume that one religion is connected to another without doing some research
3. Be respectful of other's holidays and observances, if you don't know anything about them ask.

Argentina: demographics and immigration to North America

General Information about Argentina

Argentina, officially the Argentine Republic is the second largest country in South America. It is the eighth -largest country in the world by land area and the largest among Spanish-speaking nations.

Population

In 2001 census , Argentina had a population of 36,260,130 inhabitants, and the official population estimate for 2009 is of 40,134,425. Argentina ranks third in South America in total population and 33rd globally. The population growth rate in 2008 was estimated to be 0.92% annually, with a birth rate of 16.32 live births per 1,000 inhabitants and a mortality rate of 7.54 deaths per 1,000 inhabitants.

Argentina is considered a country of immigrants. Most Argentinians are descended from colonial-era settlers and of the 19th and 20th century immigrants from Europe, and 86.4% of Argentina's population self-identify as European decedents. An estimated 8% of the population is Mestizo, and a further 4% of Argentinians are of Arab or East Asian heritage. In the last national census, based on self-identification, 600,000 Argentinians (1.6%) declared to be Amerindians.

Argentina, an ethnically diverse country, about 90 percent of the Argentinean population consists of immigrants from Italy and Spain and their descendants. In the late nineteenth and twentieth centuries, other ethnic groups, including Germans, Poles, Welsh, Irish, Lebanese, Hungarians, Czechs, Danish, French, Jews, Japanese, Koreans, and Swiss also chose Argentina for settlement. Almost half of the immigrants who arrived during that period eventually returned to their countries of origin.

Religion

Approximately 90 percent of Argentinians are born Roman Catholics. About two percent of the population is Protestant and, according to recent Argentinean statistics, about 400,000 Jews live in Buenos Aires.

According to the World Christian Database. Argentines are 92.1% Christian, 3.1% agostic, 1.95 Muslim, 1.3% Jewish, 0.9% Atheist, and 0.9% Buddhist and other.Argentine Christians are mostly Roman Catholic.

Language

The official language of Argentina is Spanish, usually called castellano (Castilian) by Argentines.

Immigration to the United States

Prior to the 1970s, Argentinean immigrants were classified by the U.S. government within the broad category of "Other Hispanics," and immigration statistics from before that time do not exist. Nonetheless, Argentinean immigrants to the United States are a relatively new group.

In 1970 there were 44,803 Argentinean immigrants in the United States. The 1990 U.S. Census, which counted 92,563 Argentinians, indicates that nearly half of all Argentinean immigrants arrived in the United States in the last two decades alone.

Early Argentinian immigrants came to the United States, primarily during the 1960s, in search of greater economic opportunities. Later Argentinians began to immigrate to the United States during the mid- to late-1970s— in order to escape political persecution during the "dirty war." This group was more diverse and less educated than their predecessors, although their educational attainment tended to be higher than that of Argentina's overall population.

In the 1970s, 20 % of the Argentinians in the United States resided in the New York metropolitan area. In the 1980s, this percentage increased to just over 23 percent.

Overall, Argentinean Americans typically prefer metropolitan areas, such as New York City, where 17,363 Argentinean Americans were counted in the 1990 U.S. Census, and Los Angeles, home for 15,115 Argentinean immigrants. The least preferred destinations are North Dakota and Montana, where only 15 Argentinians were counted in each state.

Just the Beginning of issues encountered in the Immigration to the United Sates

Due to Argentina's ethnically diverse population challenges arises as any attempts are made to to ethnically classify Argentinean Americans. Commonly used terms when referring to people of South America are "Hispanic" and "Latino." The use of these terms do present problems when they are used to define Argentinian Americans as well as many other people from the Americas. The word "Hispanic" derives from the Latin word "Hispania," a proper name in Latin that describes the area also known as the Iberian Peninsula (Spain and Portugal). The questionnaire for the 1990 U.S. Census, uses the term to apply to Argentinian Americans which, excludes almost half of their population, most of whom are Italian born or of Italian descent. The term "Latino" also presents some major difficulties in describing the cultural and ethnic diversity of South America, which extends far beyond its Latin European heritage. The term Latin America excludes the native people of Central and South America, as well as its numerous immigrant groups who have little in common with the Latin European countries.