Argentine austerity anger mounts, but govt says its working
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https://www.france24.com/en/live-news/20240222-argentine-austerity-anger-mounts-but-govt-says-its-working
https://www.france24.com/en/live-news/20240222-argentine-austerity-anger-mounts-but-govt-says-its-working
Annual inflation has hit 254 percent and since Milei ripped away hefty transport and fuel subsidies the price of bus tickets has more than tripled.
"Now I know what it's like to walk," 42-year-old domestic worker Yanina Salto told AFP, who used to take four trips a day to get between jobs.
The cost of medicine has soared over 300 percent year-on-year.
While the government decreed a 30 percent salary increase by March, this is far less than the 85 percent demanded by labor unions -- and the walk-outs are mounting.
On Wednesday, train drivers downed tools, and on Thursday healthcare workers across the public and private sector went on strike, with only hospital emergency rooms expected to function.
Teachers have called a strike for the start of school next week, and the country's main CGT union is debating another general nationwide walkout.
Great success!
That’s what happens when your previous government runs the economy into the ground. It was only ever going to get worse before it got better, over time it will equalize and stabilize just like it always does.
Or, bear with me here, maybe going against the advice of every major school of economics in as many sectors as possible is a bad idea?
Privatizing, cutting expenses, and building foreign currency reserves are all reccomended policies, especially if your government is bankrupt and your currency was worth next to nothing. Argentina will come out of this stronger for it.
Don’t privatize things like healthcare.
Source: am American. Our healthcare system SUCKS.
Privatization is one of the recommended policies, but essentially every place that has implemented it isn’t better off now. Studies show that it works for increasing the performance of the enterprises, but making shareholders richer doesn’t really matter for standards of living. Even the IMF and IBRD have started to see issues with privatizing everything. Argentina will one day be stronger, but not as a result of these policies.
Anytime a government mentions privatising something, it sells a public asset for pennys in the dollar, which cuts quality of service to make a profit and as a result drives up its cost as the government that sold it pockets a commission to use as a war chest against its opposition.
It basically privatises the profit and socialises the debt. So instead of government debt (which is easier to pay off as governments don't die like humans do and they get better rates of interest) it becomes public debt ie people become impoverished.
Recently economists in Australia have come to the realisation that inflation by in large isn't caused by regular citizens as much as it by large private profits from ceos and executive pay packets and tax avoidance of the companies in general.
Taxing the large corporate empires that sneak into Argentina and pay little to no tax would not only address the cause of Argentinas inflation it would reduce the debt and pay for vital services like medical, roads, education etc..
An example that comes to mind is all the foreign mining companies that literally steal the wealth out the ground of your country and pay nothing to the people that live there.
Like what currently happens in most countries with conservatard governments in power
But don't tell the Yanks they'll replace your government before you can whistle Yankee doodle Gough Whitlam! Cough cough
It doesn't help that the current government also seems to be running the economy into the ground
It was only ever going to get worse before it got better. Policies need time to be implemented and the economy needs time to stabilize. Overall, Argentina will come out of his presidency stronger than if the previous governments had kept power.
Previous government ran the economy on the ground out of a lack of capacity and bad decisions. This one is doing it as part of its's plan.
Theres is a soaring debt exacerbated by the previous-previous government (2015-2019), whose ministers are again on the current government. They are continuing their plan while also preparing Milei's own plan to dollarize.
Previous government was idiotic but managed the pandemics rather well. This government is evil, and only finance sector driven.
From what I can read, he chose certain ministers to placate his opposition, but chose people that would be more sympathetic to his cause and would overall support him. The precious government, while handling the unprecedented pandemic very well, also continuously overspent on top of what the previous previous government spent. What Milei is doing is completely cutting back, stabilizing the Argentinian economy, then will allow the next government to reintroduce subsidies. Like he said, times are hard, and they will only get worse before they get better, but it will be better than what would have happened under another leftist government.
Of COURSE it's working. When the desire is to cut spending regardless of outcome, the results are always certain.
Milei's plan: there's no inflation if people don't have money.
Small catch: inflation is a lagging indicator, so after everyone starved to death, couple of quarters later inflation will go down. #success