LET THEM EAT BEEF

Argentina's leftist President Nestor Kirchner hopes to fight inflation and shore up his popularity by imposing a six-month ban on beef exports. I'm no economist but smart enough to know such governmental meddling isn't a good idea:

But cattlemen said Kirchner's move would kill the golden calf. Beef exports earn vital foreign exchange for Argentina and amounted to a record $1.4 billion last year. Foreign sales rose 24%.

Cattle farmers say the export ban will probably reduce supplies in the long term, cost them hundreds of millions of dollars and throw thousands of people out of work.

Looks like Australian beef will probably go up in price as the market adjusts. Damn.