So, today seems to be the day to make fun of Americans escaping the economic crisis and heading to Buenos Aires to take advantage of the strong dollar. I actually am quite proud of myself for having predicted this trend back in September 2008. No, I didn’t predict the influx of expats (that started after the 2001 crash) but I did wonder if more New Yorkers would be moving to Buenos Aires after the financial turmoil started.
First, Gawker published their story, Buenos Aires Ruined By I-Bankers, which was itself prompted by a New York Observer piece, quoting them:
You’d start the day at a park and then run into five former bankers, and then you’d wind up at a bar and all of a sudden there would be 15 of them,” Mr. Webb said. “Ex-bankers, ex-traders, Lehman guys, Bear guys, everyone. Guys that got screwed by their job and came to a place where everything was cheap. It’s fuckin’ beautiful and the sun was going down at 9:30.”
and stating that the city is now populated by laid-off American bankers.
Then BlackBook also got into the fray with Strong Dollar + Weak Steaks = More Douchebags in Argentina while pointing out that this trend is nothing new. They also added a pretty funny video called “Meet the Foreigns.”
You have to be able to laugh at yourself, right? Well, hopefully the new arrivals will drop their Wall Street ways, appreciate the local culture and spend their time learning the language, but I guess we’ll have to see. I’m sure I’ll still be able to pick out the Americans when walking through Palermo…