Originally Posted by iahphx

Honestly, you don't see that much true poverty as a tourist in BA these days (different from, say, 2003, when lots of people were collecting cardboard on the streets). Yes, "the poor" are obviously worse off than the poor in "first world" countries, but as far as int'l poverty goes, Argentina doesn't make it on the list. I think the country's main economic woe is that things are stacked against the middle class: there's no incentive to save, so you spend what you earn. This actually makes BA appear more prosperous than it really is.

If you don't take the subway, avert your glance at some of the shantytowns on the outskirts of town, and ignore the obvious public infrastructure problems like broken pavement and such, Buenos Aires can still pass for a declining but important European city.