The Free Trade Area of the Americas (FTAA) is a strategic project of the United States which seeks to consolidate its domination of the region through new mechanisms of trade penetration, greater control over investment and refined forms of supervision of financial flows.

Why is the economic crisis in Argentina so serious? How can the present and continuing depression be explained? The recession in the economy has persisted for three years, twice the traditional length of cyclical contractions. The fall in investment affects all sectors and the gross domestic product has fallen by 4.3 per cent from the beginning of 1998.