Los fundamentos del proyecto son insólitos y algunos encima son erróneos. Sin embargo, en este Informe ponemos el foco sobre el verdadero objetivo que persiguen y que dio lugar al título respectivo. En definitiva, este paso que está dando el gobierno nacional sólo se puede 'racionalizar' si se antepone a todo, incluida la cuestión ideológica, la restricción financiera que deberá enfrentar durante 2009 (y años posteriores) en un contexto de menor holgura fiscal y de imposibilidad de acceder a financiamiento voluntario (doméstico y/o externo). ¿Implicancias? Entre los economistas, una de las frases más comunes establece que "no hay almuerzos gratis".

IF ANALOGIES with the Great Depression are scary for Americans, they are hardly less so for Latin Americans. Within a few years of the 1929 stockmarket crash, 16 governments in the region fell to military coups or takeovers by strongmen. In recent years the talk has mostly been of Latin America's economic independence from its big neighbour in the north (with the exception of Mexico). But on September 29th, the day the House of Representatives in Washington balked at the bail-out, came a reminder of just how close those ties still are. While the Dow Jones dropped by nearly 7% in a day, Brazil's Bovespa, the region's biggest stockmarket, tumbled by more than 9%.

Even so, the fact that this financial crisis does not have "made in Latin America" stamped on it is cause for modest celebration. In the crises of 1994, 1998 and 2001 Latin America went on a binge, using foreign finance to pay for a huge rise in imports. The mood then changed, foreign money fled and panic ensued. This time many countries have had trade surpluses in recent years, and soaring commodity prices have made government finances look more than respectable.

Latin American banks also look strong. This is partly because they did not hoover up American mortgage-backed securities, but also because they are not that dependent on foreign credit. Brazil's banks are an exception: the publicly traded small and medium-sized banks that do depend on foreign funding have had their share prices pummelled over the past week. But even in Brazil, foreign capital accounts for only about 10-20% of bank-funding needs.

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