You know you live in a banana republic when....other banana republics taunt you for your debt problems. Reuters: "When did the American dream become a nightmare?" gloated Argentina's President Cristina Fernandez, whose own country defaulted on about $100 billion in debt a decade ago. In a speech at the Buenos Aires Stock Exchange on Monday, she contended that Argentina had prospered since then by focusing on exports and controlling financial speculation -- a lesson that Washington has yet to learn, she said. The Americans "thought that money just reproduces by itself, and only in the financial sector, without having to produce any goods or services," Fernandez said. Washington's biggest critics in the region, such as Venezuela's Hugo Chavez and Bolivia's Evo Morales, have also portrayed the crisis as an inevitable outcome for a country that failed to follow its own financial advice and overextended itself militarily -- in Latin America, and elsewhere. "If they didn't spend money on...(Read Full Post)