#outsourcing my decisions to the council (tumblr)

[mikemortgage]

Argentines return to Europe to escape economic uncertainty

BUENOS AIRES, Argentina — Tomas Ruiz embraced his father one last time at the Buenos Aires airport before he boarded a plane in search of a new life in Ireland. His sister recently did the same when she moved to Spain.

Like many other young Argentines, the siblings hold European passports by descent, and they are returning to the home countries of their grandparents — far from Argentina’s sizzling inflation, high unemployment and sharp currency depreciation.

“My country’s situation prompted me to take this decision,” Ruiz said as he finished packing his bags for his trip to Dublin surrounded by photos of his family and friends on the wall. “It was a constant frustration to live constantly on the edge, barely making it to the end of the month.”

Ruiz studied gastronomy and was employed as a cafe manager in Argentina’s capital. But even when he worked extra shifts, he couldn’t manage to save money, and for months he had been living with his mother to save on rent.

Outside his room, family members left him and his sister farewell messages on a chalkboard. “I love you and I’ll miss you,” his mother wrote. Others said: “The best is yet to come,” and “Crpe diem,” Latin for seize the day.

It’s not the first time Argentines have sought shelter in Europe in times of economic uncertainty. Hundreds of thousands emigrated to the old continent to escape hyperinflation in the early 1990s and an economic meltdown in 2001 and 2002.

Now, Argentines are losing purchasing power to a nearly 50% annual inflation rate — one of the world’s worst. Many have also protests President Mauricio Macri’s decision to cut subsidies, leading to a spike in the costs of utilities and public transportation.

Last year, the Argentine peso lost more than half its value to the U.S. dollar following a run on the local currency, causing the government to seek a record $56 billion bailout loan with the International Monetary Fund to try to come out of the recession.

“As a result of the economic crisis and the devaluation, more young professionals are thinking about a future in Europe,” said Alejandro Servide, director of professionals and recruitment process outsourcing at Argentina’s branch of Randstad, the world’s second-largest staffing company.

As part of the austerity measures aimed at balancing the budget, Macri’s administration has laid off thousands of government workers and slashed funding for dance, science and other programs. Hundreds recently protested outside the headquarters of the National Scientific and Technical Research Council, Argentina’s main agency for science and technology.

“The science sector is suffering because these budget cuts ordered by Macri endanger the continuity of scientific activity,” said Alberto Kornblihtt, a molecular biologist. “This is undoubtedly contributing to a brain drain that we’ve suffered at other times (of crisis) in our country.”

There are no official statistics available on how many Argentines have moved to Europe. Argentina’s immigration directorate said it is nearly impossible to keep track of the number because Argentines leaving the country don’t have to provide information on their destination or how long they’ll stay.

But academics, research groups and consulting firms agree there has been a rise in the number of people leaving, especially among young, educated Argentines — just as there was during the nation’s worst crisis 17 years ago.

Back then, millions were plunged into poverty, more than 20 per cent of the population became unemployed and many reportedly went hungry in a country that is one world’s biggest producers of beef, soy and wheat.

“When Argentina goes through these profound crises, people search for options, and just like it happened in 2001-2002 when nearly 800,000 Argentines went abroad, today we’re living through perhaps the initial phase,” said Ariel Gonzalez, executive secretary of the Center for International Studies at the Catholic University of Argentina.

“That means that there’s a sector of society — the middle and high class professionals — who are eyeing a Plan B, which is that if the crisis deepens, one of the options would be to go abroad.”

Servide said Randstad Argentina carries out about 160 daily interviews for surveys. One of the questions they ask is whether if given the chance, they would be interested in living abroad. “About 80 per cent tell you yes,” he said.

Manuel Miglioranza, a 26-year-old lawyer, is moving next month to Toulouse, France. Although he doesn’t have dual Argentine-French nationality, he’s going to take French lessons and find a job through a temporary work permit allowed through a treaty between the two nations.

“The economic situation in Argentina is not helping. You can’t progress unless you work for the state or you have dollars,” he said. “I know many people who are leaving.”

Millions of Europeans flooded into Argentina in the 19th century to escape war and poverty back home, which has been a source of pride for the country.

“Argentina gave peace to those who were escaping war, freedom to those escaping religious persecution, and bread and work to those escaping hunger,” said Horacio Garcia, director of Argentina’s National Migration Directorate.

“Of the last six presidents, four of them were first-generation sons of immigrants,” Garcia noted. “Their fathers came to Argentina with a cardboard suitcase, and they saw that their children in a short amount of time became presidents of the nation. That hardly happens anywhere else in the world.”

By the 20th century, a strong workforce along with export earnings from agricultural products and beef had helped turn Argentina into one of the wealthiest countries in the world.

Argentines were also among “the most Europeanized and educated people in Latin America,” Gabriela Nouzeilles and Graciela Montaldo write in their anthology “The Argentina Reader: History, Culture and Politics.”

“Their literacy rate (about 90 per cent) was the highest by far. Until 1945, the country boasted the highest per capita income on the continent, the most extensive urbanization, the largest middle class, as well as the best newspapers, universities, and publishing houses.”

But political mismanagement and lower prices for agricultural products that form the country’s economic backbone have for decades led to cyclical booms and busts.

The Spanish government recently launched an initiative that allows a limited number of descendants of Spaniards living in Argentina without a Spanish passport to seek a special three-month work visa. Once they find a job, they can request Spanish nationality and bring their families. There were 76,328 Argentines officially registered by mid-2018 in Spain.

“There are many, many Argentines living here. We’re like pigeons — everywhere,” quipped Paz Pucheu, an Argentine now living in Spain.

The 25-year-old radio and television announcer went to Barcelona in 2017 when “things got really complicated” in Argentina. She began working at a restaurant and eventually landed a job at a local radio station.

“Like other Latin American countries, Argentina was a Spanish colony. With friends now we joke around that we’re colonizing our colonizers,” she said.

—-

Associated Press journalists Paul Byrne and Demian Bio in Buenos Aires, Aritz Parra in Madrid and Renata Brito in Barcelona, Spain, contributed to this report.

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[stevensavage]

A Bridge To The Quiet Planet: Mage’s Guilds

(This column is posted at www.StevenSavage.com and Steve's Tumblr.  Find out more at my newsletter.)

Let's get to know more about the setting of my upcoming novel, A Bridge To The Quiet Planet.  It’s out late this fall but you can find out about the world now . . .

Mage's Guilds

Mage's Guilds are part of the culture of Telvaren and the human worlds that are so historical, so commonplace, that no one remarks on them. They're a part of life, like rain, if rain wore funny outfits and threw spells around

Historically, there have been Mage's Guilds since various witches, wizards, sorcerers, and alchemists decided it was time to get organized, support each other, and outrun the occasional mob. Some Guilds trace their history back for thousands of years, though as the term "Guild" is a catch-all term for magely organizations, the modern Guilds are often removed from their historical counterparts. Except for historians, this is often of little concern in day-to-day life.

Mages usually enter guilds after formal education, usually the university level. Though there is often some experimentation in career, the majority stay with their Guild, and after five years some ninety percent stay with the Guild they are part of at the time - if that guild is still in business. Choosing a guild is obviously important, and modern career counselors do their best to keep up on them.

Guilds all have their own uniform, color scheme, and logo or badge to make them stand out. As there are a huge number of Guilds, this means that except for truly noteable ones (or stylish ones) people can mix up mages between guilds. It also means any hopeful new guilds will inevitably make style decisions that either conflict with known guilds, or look horrible.

The Guilds provide a large amount of services to their members that, if they choose to, cover almost all of their life needs. There is housing assistance, dining, job placement, training, and retirement benefits. Once a mage is in a Guild, barring any extreme behaivor (well, extreme for a mage), their life is defined if they so wish.

This is unfortunately not just due to convenience or social consciousness, but because to not belabor the point, most magical practitioners are a bit "off" or eccentric. They have radically different life experiences, they wield great forces, and they have to twist their minds into convoluted shapes to bend reality. The Guild ensures full support, and in a few cases, just makes sure no one does anything dumb and destructive.

By ancient agreement and modern politics, all teachers of magic and related professions are approved by a Guild - which of course provides various Universities with a reliable certification program. Some guilds with a teaching or investigative focus, like Phoenix Ascendant, certify non-mages in various historical and technical practices related to magic.

All mages are required to wear their guild colors and badge at all times to identify themselves. This allows people to know when a magic-user walks among them, and to respond accordingly. Though this has meant mages are now fully recognizable as a class of uniformed professionals, this casualness was hard-won over the last few hundred years. Because mages are seen as everyday citizens, Guilds go to great lengths to make sure no one upsets their golden apple cart.

Due to politics, personal preference, and the occasional collapse of Guilds, some mages loose their Guild status. These mages are required to register at a local University magic department. They dress in gray and are known as "unguilded."

A mage that repeatedly does not identify themselves can be subjected to various sanctions, from expulsion to Guildmarking or Branding - magical tatoos on the face to make their magical nature unhideable. Some mages do this anyway to look impressive since they get to choose the style.

In some cases, Mages may belong to more than one guild; there are a slew of minor specialist guilds. Other guilds also sponsor spinoff or new guilds, often to expand their own power or deal with divisions in their own ranks.

Guilds are regulated by a council where each Guild of a certain size is represented. In theory guild population and seniority decide the votes each Guild has. It's not that easy, and Mage politics are often quite underhanded and border on the bizarre.

The following is a list of noteworthy guilds:

Abiding Herald

The Guild of diviners, researchers, seekers, analyzers. Abiding Herald is a small but powerful and respected guild known for it's knowledge and high standards. Despite these standard (or because of them) It's a surprisingly relaxed guild – getting in is a mark of honor and the guild is mostly free of politics if only for its small size. If you're in, you're family.

Abiding Herald's members wear black and silver. Their logo is a stylized eye, and because of it's simplicity other guilds are jealous.

Celestial Foundation

The largest Magician's Guild by a hair, and respected member of the Guild Council. Celestial Foundation has a well-earned reputation, but is very bureaucratic This is because many members end up managing its interests which include property, money, and more. It does produce and attract talented mages, but is riven with internal politics which has caused it not just to stagnate, but to slowly begin a decline.

Members of Celestial Foundation wear blue with gold details as well as blue hats or caps. They tend to wear blue jackets. Their logo is a four-pointed star on a horizon. They are always impeccably dressed and polite, and in “higher society” have a reputation for being charming.

Cerulean Compass

Cerulean Compass is a generalist guid of mages that is also one of the oldest - but not as old as Celestial Foundation. They have an emphasis on developing skills outside of straight-up magic and thus have an educated (and surprisingly functional) group of members.

Cerulean Compass openly sponsors new guilds as a way of cultivating power and keeping the world of magic shaken up.

Cerulean Compass outfits are blue and their logo - unsurprisingly - is a compass.

Crystal Tapestry

The guild of Illusionists. Crystal Tapestry has a long history, but is relatively small and thus has little say in the Council. They are big on ethics, proper practice – and kind of need to be considering what they do.

The guild itself is more a professional association like a union – focusing more on activism and training as illusionists easily find employment. Most work in the military/intelligence, entertainment, law enforcement – some are secondary guildsmenbers in other guilds.

Crystal Tapestry members wear white robes. Their badge is a black point radiating red, yellow, blue, and green lines.

Crimson Cornerstone

Crimson Cornerstone are construction-mages, specializing in working stone and metal and the like for buildings, repair, and recovery. They take great pride in their work, and have developed a strong presence on Gellitar as well as Telvaren.

They employ a large amount of specialty mages - those using only one form of magic. Many guilds look down on "level one" mages, but this GUild prefers specialists for some areas of work.

Members wear black and red, and shoulderpads fit prominently into guild robe designs. Their logo is a black cube on red.

Mirror Mountain

A relatively new and fast-growing Guild, Mirror Mountain is a generalist guild that openly challenges many of the older ones - mostly Celestial Foundation. Because of their willingness to do so, other guilds back them at least temporarily.

Mirror Mountain members wear vibrant purple robes with black highlights, their logo is a triangle-and-eye logo.

Obsidian Moon

Obsidian Moon is a Guild of Necromancers operating in the east of Telvaren, usually among Grand Ivar, Brightguard, Allanax and Kalstaff. They are a straightforward guild, focused on practice of their craft, and have little time for politics.

As they often have little time for social skills, they have taken to outsourcing certain delicate tasks to other guilds.

Members of Obsidian Moon wear black and purple. Their logo is a three-faced skull.

Phoenix Ascendant

Phoenix Ascendant is the guild of Reclimators and Reliquers, those that seek old technology, unusual technology, and reclaim it or defuse it. It is a respected, if workmanlike guild that attracts mostly practical mages and some suicidlaly weird ones the former keep in line. It is not a glamorous guild, but it is respected – and often wealthier than people expect.

Phoenix Ascendant keeps a large selection of scientists, historians, technics, and more on hand and certifies them as well. They are extended full Guild benefits upon becoming full members, aka a Signed Technic or Member.

Members of Phoenix Ascendant wear red wraps or robes with some gold trim, but usually its sober. A flame logo like a wing is their mark.

Radiant Visage

Radiant Visage is a guild that deals with rogue mages, magical dangers, and unusual monstrosities. They are the Telvaren branch of Silent Mask, when the guild split apart centuries ago.

Members of Radiant Visage wear light gray and gold, and wear masks that cover their upper faces when on the field.

Silent Mask

Silent Mask is a guild of exorcists, Demon Fighters, monster-fighters and at times trackers of rogue mages and magical experiments. Silent masc split from Radiant Visage some 2-300 years ago, and they are only found on the worlds of Gellitar and Telvaren.

They are known as a ruthless and at times fanatical guild, and they have an unpleasant rivalry with Radiant Visage. They also cross paths with Phoenix Ascendant.

Their outfits are always white and a mask is always involved, with various faces drawn in black – the faces tell something of their ranks. High-ranking members may have additional details in red and gold, while truly high ranking ones have blank masks.

Splendid Sunset

Splendid Sunset is a very "modern" Necromancer Guild operating out of Grand Ivar and Allanax. They specialize in raising the dead and contacting the dead for forensic and personal reasons. They were founded by several other guilds some hundred years ago as a way to develop a team of Necromantic professionals with actual social skills, and to settle conflicts over "proper" use of Necromancy. It was easy to shut off people who seemed a bit too sensitive about the whole dealing-with-the-dead thing at the time.

Splendid Sunset's members are trained in therapy, in speaking, and in etiquette as well as necromancy. Depending on your situation they are thus welcome and comforting or terrifyingly friendly. Other Guilds have found themselves outsourcing important tasks requiring a human touch as well as death-magic to them because they're just so good at handling it.

Splendid Sunset members wear yellow and their logo - unsurprisingly - is a sunset. They also are known for fashionable hair and dress and use of makeup.

- Steve

www.StevenSavage.com

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