Do you have any statistics about the total number of miles driven by cars every day vs. miles flown by planes daily? Somehow, just based on the amount of cars worldwide, I’d bet that there are far more miles driven by cars daily than miles flown by planes, so accidents per mile would still be a significant statistic. Because even though planes fligh thousands of miles per trip, cars are numbered in millions, in the US alone. So I’d bet that if every car trip was one mile, which is very conservative, you’d still have more miles driven daily than flown in the US. Which makes deaths per mile a lot more scary.

Accidents per trip would be relevant as well, but how many commercial airliners crash every day vs. how many cars crash every day? How many people die a year from commercial airline crashes vs. from car crashes? I’d bet that even per trip cars are less safe than planes.

I live in a mostly rural area, and we have had 4 deaths on the motorway nearby over the past 3 or 4 months. And that is just in one region,with low to moderate traffic and low population density (lots of farms and woods around here). Also, never knew anyone who died in a plane crash, in over 40 years, but have had 2 close friends die in car crashes, never mind acquaintances or friends of friends. And I bet everyone, in developing or developed countries, knows someone who died in a car crash, whereas I’d bet that most people don’t have even acquaintances or friend of friends that died in plane crashes.

So I’d really like to see numbers on that claim that, per trip, cars are safer, because in 2021, with no deaths from commercial planes in the US, that claim does not stand, because you could have an infinite number of car trips that year, and still be less safe than commercial planes with one single dead person.

You misspelled Latin America…

Nowadays, I’d settle for less corrupt, and even that is becoming harder by the minute…

Well, I do hope you are right, but after our “right wing” scare, Lula came back, as bad and corrupt as he was. So I really wouldn’t be surprised if they “make a comeback”. Hate those populists.

I know I am preaching to the choir, but this guy will only make things worse in my opinion, and yet I do think Argentinians need to see what a “disruptive” president will do to the country, in order to maybe think about moderation again, just like Brazil did.

Don’t get me wrong, I am Brazilian, and as such I am very aware of polarization and populism (PSDB and PT anyone?). God knows we have had our share of it over the past 30 years. But the two “disruptive” presidents we had (Collor and Bolsonaro) were both corrupt imbeciles, who managed to make things a lot worse, a lot faster than the others. But sometimes people need to learn the hard way.

The question is: will Argentina, and specially the Kirchners, be able to control themselves when they inevitably return to power, after yet another failed attempt to tie Argentina’s economy to the dollar? Just remember that this is, I think, the third time in about 30 years Argentina has tried that, and it always fails.

Dude, same boat here, I am from South America, and I absolutely agree that we are basically screwed with every populist regime that comes and goes, regardless if they call themselves left wing or right wing. In the end, they are all just corrupt imbeciles making a buck off of other’s misery and hunger.

The problem with Chinese money is that it will end the same way US money ended in the 80s/90s: indebted countries with massive inflation.

Mercosur is negotiating a deal with the EU, which should improve things a little, though, even though I was raised in Europe, I can tell you that it will be same shit, different continent.

I gave up trying to find the less bad player here. And don’t forget that some of the world biggest predators, including Nestle, Santander, Lloyds and Danone are European.

What South America needs is to get rid of populism, but I reckon an alien invasion is more likely. The way Argentinian elections are shaping up to happen, with Massa and the Kirchners not wanting to give up power; Brazil electing populist imbeciles like Lula and Bolsonaro; Chile stuck on drafting a new constitution; Peru dealing with protests and a regime that wants to amass more power; Colombia trying to survive the FARCs with peace agreements; Bolivia trying to stabilize itself after some really turbulent times; and Uruguay, well, swinging from left to right, I reckon we are ways from solving any issues.

So might as well embrace the Chinese, since there is not much left to lose. Just without any illusions that what they are doing will be any good to anyone in the long run, like US money from the 50s was.

And don’t worry, discussing Latam politics as a whole makes anyone sound sassy.

How does de cool aid taste?

(Not saying the US is good, but China has no interest in improving anything other than their bottom line and geopolitical influence, don’t kid yourself).