Poverty in Argentina soars to over 50% as Milei’s austerity measures hit hard
Far-right president has been battling inflation by imposing steep cuts in spending, resulting in widespread poverty
Yes, spending has been liimited, cut even. That poverty rate waws already well over 40% before he started (as far as I can see Argentina uses an absolute. not relative, poverty level). But the poverty rate is not being caused by the poor getting less from government. Again as far as I can see (the usual language barriers here) the incomes of the already poor are the one thing being protected. It’s that those who were just above it before are just below it now. And that’s because inflation is moderating – not wholly gone yet – while pay rises aren;t keeping up with that moderating inflation.
That is, contrary to that impression being given it’s not, in fact, cuts to the welfare side of the state that are causing the rise in poverty.
Anyone not to the left of Stalin or Starmer is far right to the Graun. They have a prepared script pointing out the fictional failures of the fascist’s policies already prepared so if the editor’s guts are playing him up that night the script is duly printed the next morning…
Not always typical for south America, but Millei does have to convince voters next time round as well.
Let’s hope he can do so, but a Thatcherite revolution usually takes more than 1 term to bear fruit.
Lying is our business, lying is what we sell
Lying is our business, business sure is swell
Now, if you’re dim, lying’s what you need
If you got lying, you’re sure to succeed
Lying is our business, business sure is swell.
Or not so swell, I hope.
From what I’ve seen of Melei’s “cuts” they’re largely impacting Argentina’s well fed “liberal” middle-class. So one can understand why the Graun’s getting it’s knickers in a twist.
His administration has frozen pensions, reduced aid to soup kitchens, cut welfare programmes and stopped all public works projects.
Wait, soup kitchens? Why is the central government funding soup kitchens? Christians will run those for free, gives them a chance to tell you about Jesus. If government needs to get involved, it would be on a local level, Shirley?
Tens of thousands of public employees have been fired,
Stop! My penis can only get so erect.
María Claudia Albornoz, a community worker from Santa Fe, said the government had “provoked a situation of desperation”. “We are feeling it in the fridge, empty and unplugged. Money is really worth absolutely nothing. We have three jobs and it is not enough,” she said.
Learn to code.
Also among those affected is 33-year-old Catalina, who works for the ministry of justice and was told last week that she will soon be losing her job.
“Last week 2,500 of us were told that we will be out of a job by the end of this year, except for a handful of ‘lucky ones’ who will be offered to continue working the same hours for half the money,” she said. “I have been looking for another job for months, but there is no work. I don’t know how I’m going to make it. It’s frightening.”
Find a husband.
Christopher Sabatini, a senior fellow for Latin America at Chatham House, said that economic decline was inevitable when controlling inflation, and pointed to similar historic crises in Brazil and Bolivia, but questioned whether Milei’s changes will work.
“It is dangerous territory. The question is, will this belt-tightening have any benefit? What comes next? Can he actually control public sector spending? Can he shore up the currency? Without doing that, you’ve just created poverty,” he said.
His reforms might not work (as quickly as everyone would like), but not imposing reforms has a 100% chance of causing economic catastrophe, so what do you want Milei Vanilei to do? At least he has the courage to try to resuscitate his country.
A bit like Reagan in the 80’s, there is some pain early and the benefits take a bit longer to materialize, but they were tremendous. Also, those who oppose these changes can find plenty of testimonials from people who are “suffering”. Of course, they never check to see if these tales of woe are legit, if Catalina says there are no jobs, that’s good enough.
I think it was John Stossel went around in NYC, talked to people applying for unemployment benefits, definitely no jobs to be had, zero, zilch, nada. Then he and the camera crew started circling the area and noted all the “help wanted” signs in windows. Hmm
María Claudia Dressing-Gown doesn’t sound nearly as impressive, does it? More like an excerpt from a comedy script.
OT but they never give up do they?
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2024/09/27/the-tories-enemy-is-now-clear-for-all-to-see/
The Tories’ enemy is now clear for all to see.
You mean it’s looked in mirror?
“The party must equip itself for the fight”
It needs to get itself a hammer to break the mirror?
It’s this sort of shit (see below) that is the sort of problem Milei is (correctly) focussing on:
Argentina’s nationalised airline is being supported by the Argentinian government to the tune of about $8 billion. Typical of such state enterprises, union capture and overmanning are a problem. Aerolineas currently employs 1,204 pilots to fly 81 planes, or nearly 15 pilots per plane.
Milei has tried before to get Aerolineas privatised and off the government books but has been plagued by legislative opposition (state airline, source of national pride, etc.).
Surely, better to balance the books and control inflation than worry about what organization runs the national airline. No doubt Argentine politicians being treated to freebies and VIP attention on the airline is also a sticking point (my conjecture, but usually the case).
Argentina’s Milei plans to privatize state airline by decree [LINK]
BiS – Charles Moore writes:
Thanks, in part, to the crazed net-zero policies of both parties, all voters – and especially the elderly, because they are the most often at home – face the prospect of ever-rising energy costs. So the abolition of the winter payment hurts more.
Net Zero is also the reason our economy is dying, so why vote for one of the parties who did this to us? It’s not as if this is a minor, forgivable mistake.
Re: Queer Eye for the Keir Guy.
I used to work for a self-made multimillionaire and CEO who bought all his shirts from ASDA.
There’s no reason why the prime minister can’t do likewise.
John Galt,
You don’t need to own an airline to enjoy perks and freebies. The “flag carrier” of a certain large central European democratic republic grants all MPs elected to the national parliament top tier frequent flyer status, for free.
Well, all except those of a certain party.
“We have three jobs”
Lucky Lucky Barsteward! Economy booming enough so people can get three jobs? Takes me over a year to just get *one* job.
Whether Milei turns the Argie economy round in a year and provides wealth for every citizen, or barbecues babies for breakfast, the Graun will not change its reporting.
Charles Moore
I used to have some regard for his lordship, but this dwindled after reading his lame attempts to put down Reform and puff up the Plastic Tories prior to the election. He is a good writer, but these articles were desperate stuff.
The Terriblegraph has gone full bore doom and hysteria about Labour policies which either were Tory policies until 5 minutes before the election or are only 5% different to Tory policy.
I’m not sure 15 pilots/plane at Aerolineas is that excessive – my quick calculation is that Air Canada has 12.5 pilots/plane (4500 / 358) – not that they are a parogon of lean staffing. I’ll sniff around some of the US operators.
>Esteban
Then he and the camera crew started circling the area and noted all the “help wanted” signs in windows. Hmm
From my own experience – inquire at those help-wanted places and they’ll direct you to apply online. With a third party HR service. And you’ll get an answer 6 months down the road.
Further to…
Delta has 13,180 pilots for 1,165 aircraft (11.3) as of 2021
United has 15,445 pilots for 1.358 aircraft (11.4) as of 2023
BA has pages and pages of crap about DEI, decarbonization, and modern slavery, but not so much about how many pilots or aircraft they fly – so I gave up.
Steve,
Milei seems to be doing fine with Kevin Keegan’s wardrobe from the mid-70s.
11.4 does sound remarkably lean. Two pilots are needed for each crew then figure in shifts. Most 24 hour industrial processes are on 4 shifts, so not much slack for sickness,training, vacations etc.
Less the time planes spend on the ground….
routesonline.com says that BA has 3600 pilots and “more than 280 aircraft” (although Wikipedia says there are 244). That gives a ratio of about 13:1.
Steve @ 12.23. “I used to work for a self-made multimillionaire and CEO who bought all his shirts from ASDA”. This watch ad from the 70’s makes a similar point:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a9sSx1NIjzY
The number of pilots needed is going to depend on the mixture of flights between long and short hall.
Long hall flight need 2 pilot crews on board plus 2 at the other end waiting to bring the plane back, so that 8 pilots per round trip so its easy to see why you’d need a pool of, say, 12 to 15 pilots per plane if not more.
n the other hand a short hall flight of a couple of hours just needs a standard crew for the round trip, and there’s no reason why the plane couldn’t do second round trip if its a trip like Heathrow to Amsterdam. So maybe only 9 or 10 pilots per plane.
Argentina has (had) a lot of short haul flights because of the nature of the country so perhaps they should be nearer the lower end of that distribution not at the top end.
And, indeed, the statutory flying hours limits. Cathay Pacific fucked up big time at the end of last year by miscalculating the hiring of new pilots post-covid lay-off and the annual flying hours limit (900 hours IIRC). Result, hundreds of flights cancelled.
Addolff,
I think that a lot of rich, self-made people come from being frugally or value minded. It’s part of their DNA. Like that bloke who ran Ikea didn’t need to fly standard class. He could have flown business and it would have barely dented his fortune. But he come from the sort of “well, is it really worth $1500 to me” doesn’t pay it,