BUENOS AIRES, Argentina (AP) — When libertarian President Javier Milei assumed office one year ago, Argentine supermarkets were marking price increases on
This guy is very much the opposite of my general politics… But I think he has had the right idea with the economics here. Better to hurt now and be better later than hurt a little for ever (and not really grow… And risk the government defaulting again)
However… I don’t trust him to actually make everyone better off once the economy is recovering. Expect income disparity to continue growing.
It’s sad to see people fall for this obvious scam. He’s using vague, unsubstantiated promises to legitimize a massive robbery of the working class. Poverty and unemployment are rapidly growing while the rich get richer. There’s no economic justification for this, it’s just grift.
But it’s who’s hurting. When the solution involves making the poor suffer more for the better of the economy…you think that’s the right solution?
I’m not going to pretend to know much about the Argentinian economy. But using the basic tenets of my moral worldview, I have to say I disagree. But hen again, I am incredibly uninformed about the history of politics in Argentina. And I will say, what I learned from my Argentinian friends while living in South America, I would have to assume the problem is similar to other countries in South America (and in NYC)—it’s not the structure, but the string of corrupt assholes who take advantage of the position when they get in power. That story is not unique to anywhere in the world. Power corrupts people. So I’m going to, again, share my kind a uninformed opinion and say I would assume corruption has been the problem, not that the poor people weren’t getting screwed hard enough.
My (very rough and possibly incorrect) understanding was that there was a lot of government subsidies of things and lots of government jobs that somewhat existed just to employ people.
This resulted in huge government expenditure as rich/middle class people took advantage. (I heard something about heated swimming pools as electricity was so subsidized. Not checked that though) This meant that the government was always teetering on bankruptcy (again) and the economy never really grew.
My understanding was basically that the country was pretending to be much richer than it was. This is more about resetting to what it can actually afford - hopefully setting itself up for future growth.
If the government went bust, most of this would have happened to an extent anyway. I’m not sure what other options there where, I think the other option at the election was to spend their way out, but they had no money and that would have pushed inflation even further.
“Something must be done. Milei is doing something, therefore that must be done”
See how that is a fallacy?
I’m not sure what other options there were
Argentina is the victim of decades of capitalist exploitation. There is no quick fix (no matter what the Wolverine-wannabe would have you believe). Cutting spending is probably part of the solution, but the distribution is crucial. Milei is mostly targeting the poor and selling out to foreign investors. That makes the numbers look good, but only benefits the rich.
This guy is very much the opposite of my general politics… But I think he has had the right idea with the economics here. Better to hurt now and be better later than hurt a little for ever (and not really grow… And risk the government defaulting again)
However… I don’t trust him to actually make everyone better off once the economy is recovering. Expect income disparity to continue growing.
It’s sad to see people fall for this obvious scam. He’s using vague, unsubstantiated promises to legitimize a massive robbery of the working class. Poverty and unemployment are rapidly growing while the rich get richer. There’s no economic justification for this, it’s just grift.
But it’s who’s hurting. When the solution involves making the poor suffer more for the better of the economy…you think that’s the right solution?
I’m not going to pretend to know much about the Argentinian economy. But using the basic tenets of my moral worldview, I have to say I disagree. But hen again, I am incredibly uninformed about the history of politics in Argentina. And I will say, what I learned from my Argentinian friends while living in South America, I would have to assume the problem is similar to other countries in South America (and in NYC)—it’s not the structure, but the string of corrupt assholes who take advantage of the position when they get in power. That story is not unique to anywhere in the world. Power corrupts people. So I’m going to, again, share my kind a uninformed opinion and say I would assume corruption has been the problem, not that the poor people weren’t getting screwed hard enough.
My (very rough and possibly incorrect) understanding was that there was a lot of government subsidies of things and lots of government jobs that somewhat existed just to employ people.
This resulted in huge government expenditure as rich/middle class people took advantage. (I heard something about heated swimming pools as electricity was so subsidized. Not checked that though) This meant that the government was always teetering on bankruptcy (again) and the economy never really grew.
My understanding was basically that the country was pretending to be much richer than it was. This is more about resetting to what it can actually afford - hopefully setting itself up for future growth.
If the government went bust, most of this would have happened to an extent anyway. I’m not sure what other options there where, I think the other option at the election was to spend their way out, but they had no money and that would have pushed inflation even further.
“Something must be done. Milei is doing something, therefore that must be done”
See how that is a fallacy?
Argentina is the victim of decades of capitalist exploitation. There is no quick fix (no matter what the Wolverine-wannabe would have you believe). Cutting spending is probably part of the solution, but the distribution is crucial. Milei is mostly targeting the poor and selling out to foreign investors. That makes the numbers look good, but only benefits the rich.
Almost anything might have been better than nothing. They voted for it and he still seems to have high approval ratings 🤷♂️