Opinion: Have Brazil’s Lula and Argentina’s Fernandez heard of cryptocurrency?

cointelegraph.com:

“Good ideas out of context are like shiny objects lost in a dark field,” American writer Seth Godin once said. “They catch your attention, but have no real utility.”

Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva and Argentine President Alberto Fernández have been making headlines for a proposal to create a common currency between Argentina and Brazil. The idea for a common currencyarose about 25 years ago in an articlewritten by two renowned economists and, in the context of the time, made sense. This idea has now been resurrected as a political opportunism play with a hint of ideological propaganda, but it lacks real utility.

In 1998, both the Argentine and Brazilian governments implemented neoliberal measures in the economy, including a fixed exchange rate regime, with a conversion rate close to 1:1 between the United States dollar and their respective local currencies. A lot has changed in the 25 years that followed. Both countries went through similar political cycles, with the predominance of Peronism in Argentina and Petism in Brazil. (Peronism was a populist political movement created around President Juan Perón ideas; Petism was a left-wing political movement led by the Brazilian Workers’ Party.)

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However, the economies of both countries have evolved in vastly different ways. The Brazilian real, which was close to one Argentine peso back in 1998, today is worth more than 35 pesos considering Argentina’s official exchange rate, which is, knowingly, overvalued. Part of the peso’s devaluation can be explained by the two defaults in Argentine sovereign debt in the period.

Another anecdotal symptom of the chaotic state in which the Argentine economy is