Summary
Argentina’s poor are struggling under President Javier Milei’s severe austerity measures, which include deep spending cuts, subsidy eliminations, and mass layoffs.
Poverty has surged to a 20-year high, with 53% of Argentines and 18% in extreme poverty. Communities face rising food prices, job losses, and reduced social support, while pensions and public works have been heavily slashed.
Though Milei’s policies have reduced inflation and stabilized the peso, critics argue benefits favor the wealthy.
Despite widespread hardship, Milei retains significant public support, while opposition parties remain fractured and ineffective.
I thought this guy was voted in and they wanted his shock therapy on the economy.
Well, there you go. Maybe economics isn’t as simple as populists would have you believe, but it’s too late now, the damage train is rolling.
I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again:
Nothing in this dude’s policies involves redistributing wealth from those who have too much to those who have too little.
Those who have too little have to get by with even less.
That’s what you get when you elect a far right conservative who only cares about the economy.
A long history of military dictatorships, followed by the many flavors of Peronism, is actually how Argentina managed to downgrade themselves from developed economy, to a developing one. Which is also what created the conditions that swept the current government to power.
I’m not saying the current administration is helping the situation, just that their economic policies have continued a long standing tradition of gross economic mismanagement.
Seriously… when will people learn that letting military leaders dictate your nation is never a good idea.
Ordinarily I would agree. But this is Argentina we’re talking about. Over 40% of Argentinians worked for the government and it was and probably still is the most regulated country in the world. For decades the unions had policy in an iron grip and the Peronites would pass one subsidizing law after the other while not having the money to pay for it all. So they printed more money. And more. And more.
And this kept going for decades, almost a century now (this started in 1930 with a military coup). Since then, Argentina has defaulted on its foreign debt obligations so often they lost all outside investment while having rampant inflation. And subsequent governments just kept printing money and introducing more regulations and social programs.
Argentina is sitting on a ton of natural resources, the country should be rich as hell, but because no foreign investor will touch it, nothing happens. And I haven’t even mentioned the rampant corruption and clientelism yet, which is also a massive problem.
Milei is a strange character, but his chainsaw politics are absolutely warranted and he is going after corruption as well. I just hope he manages to see it through so that Argentina can stop being an economic backwater. He only cares about the economy because the economy of Argentina is so completely and utterly fucked up, there is little else he should care about.
You’re getting down voted but it’s a valid argument. And it gave me a better understanding of the context, so thanks for that.
But, I would argue that his approach is too extreme. As someone else replied, he should care about the people too. They’re the backbone of the country and the economy.
I’m not super educated on Argentina, but according to this site, their economy is actually pretty important with a good agricultural and manufacturing sector. And as far as natural resources go, if we talk about oil and gas, everybody should be seeking to decrease exploitation of these resources.
I dunno. I’m just some random guy. But, I think he should calm down and find some compromise because it looks like there’s a lot to work with here
I think he should care about the people
Milei is a strange character, but his chainsaw politics are absolutely warranted and he is going after corruption as well.
What basic necessities is Milei ensuring for the people (food, shelter, water, clothing, etc)? Or are things like “food” suppose to trickle down to the masses?
Wait, where’s that Xitter screengrab of some BS Ramanswamy just said about what a great job he’s been doing? I just saw it!
