7 ms·

Argentina Sees First Monthly Budget Surplus in 12 Years

20 points by _____k 3y ago

tangus 3y ago
On the other hand, poverty is now estimated at 57%.
- tryptophan 3y ago
  That is what decades of socialism does to a country.
  - pupppet 3y ago
    Decades of poor leadership.
- alemanek 3y ago
  I would encourage you to take a look at what policies are actually being put in place in Argentina. Milei has kind of an impossible task. He has to unwind massive government entitlements to stave off a full economic collapse. Argentina is not the US where they can print and borrow endlessly. He came into office with over 200% inflation. An economy can’t function like that forever. He isn’t just slashing indiscriminately and I don’t see anyway for Argentina to dig it self out of 40 years of irresponsible spending in the 2 months he has been in office. Also remember that he has to forge a coalition with others to get anything done. His party doesn’t have anywhere close to a majority in the legislature. EDIT: Just looked up and inflation was over 200% annualized when Milei took office.
  - JumpCrisscross 3y ago
    > Argentina is not the US where they can print and borrow endlessly Argentina is the U.S. if it printed and borrowed endlessly. The reaction ordinary Americans had against 8% inflation is what Argentinians had against 200%. America was willing to risk a recession to bring inflation down; we’ll see if Argentina has similar patience.
    - alemanek 3y ago
      Milei was a long shot candidate and he was elected on the back of this one issue. Dollarizing the economy and the radical measures Milei ran on in that election have a very real risk of collapsing Argentina. But, the general feeling here from the people I know, so anecdotal of course, is that they would rather risk economic collapse than guarantee it. Also you act as if America is some bastion of fiscal responsibility. Its position as the worlds largest economy guarantees that it can borrow at the best rates. The dollar being the worlds reserve currency ensures that it can’t devalue too quickly as there is built in massive demand just for normal trade. So, it has large advantages that Argentina can only dream of. The hill Argentina needs to climb is far steeper than what the US has to contend with.
      - JumpCrisscross 3y ago
        > you act as if America is some bastion of fiscal responsibility. Its position as the worlds largest economy guarantees that it can borrow at the best rates. The dollar being the worlds reserve currency America is no bastion of anything responsibility. But its currency and economy became what they are, in large part, due to its economic culture. If America spent like Argentina, the dollar would lose its position and its economy collapse.
        gatlin 3y ago
        The Bretton Woods Agreement and our military probably do us more favors than our spending habits (which are enormous).
verticalscaler 3y ago
From the article: "January was the first full month in office for Milei, a far-right libertarian who took office in December, and it ended with a positive balance for public-sector finances of $589 million at the official exchange rate, the government said late Friday." He isn't a far-right anything and this phrasing taints the article and subsequent discussion. I urge commentators to please not project your domestic politics into one of the weirdest countries in the world. Especially if you have never been there. After spending some months exploring that place and interacting with all manner of folks "There are 4 kind of economies: developed, undeveloped, Japan and Argentina" is one of the truest things I've ever heard in my life. It just doesn't map to anything you're familiar with. The system there is extremely broken and corrupt and has been since before you were born. It is going through a chaotic reset. They might dollarize. I think they should and definitely wish them the best. Completely orthogonal to social policies I know many on this website might have a problem with.
- vstrava 3y ago
  >He isn't a far-right anything Libertarian anarcho-capitalist memes aside. Save everyone some time, and just own and embrace the shitty people the ideology creates
- JumpCrisscross 3y ago
  > isn't a far-right anything In terms of policies enacted thus far, I have to agree. That said, Milei’s anarcho-capitalist views are fairly described as extreme, as are his anti-abortion views, though he’s also a liberal on drugs, guns, same-sex marriage, prostitution and gender identity, and seeks a closer alliance with North America and Europe’s democracies over Russia and China.
  - verticalscaler 3y ago
    There are no other terms friend, that is the only thing that matters. Who decides what is "extreme"? This is a very tedious tactic to force values unto others and ruin any possibility of intelligent conversation. Just making a salad of it all. What people (especially the "extreme far lefties" overrunning this website and mindlessly downvoting everyone and thing they are instructed to dislike) fail to understand that filtering information about far away places through the media divorces you almost completely from reality. A lot of his antics are political theatre. To parse out what he means you'd actually have to be a local and know a lot of history. There is simply no avoiding the fact that previous Argentine governments have robbed the population blind. I'm talking scandal after scandal of the duffel bags filled with cash verity. It is almost beyond the comprehension of a westerner from a developed country. Look into Peronism (!= socialism) sometimes. Quoting him out of context makes for great clickbait and strips it of all meaning. Normal people over there are concerned with literally not starving at the moment, these social issues that are oh-so-important to you don't really rank. But hey, if someone has no clue why they might want to attempt dollarization of course they'd prefer to focus on and project their pet domestic issue. It is also super obvious that this thread would not be flagged and erased from the front page if the news was negative. Which is doubly pathetic because he truly is not what the downvoters imagine him to be. Good guy or bad not for me to say, but simply does not fit the regular boxes. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Not_even_wrong https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Not_even_wrong
lurking15 3y ago
Great to see libertarians cleaning up the failed societies of socialists

20 points by _____k 3y ago

tangus 3y ago

On the other hand, poverty is now estimated at 57%.

tryptophan 3y ago
That is what decades of socialism does to a country.
- pupppet 3y ago
  Decades of poor leadership.
alemanek 3y ago
I would encourage you to take a look at what policies are actually being put in place in Argentina. Milei has kind of an impossible task. He has to unwind massive government entitlements to stave off a full economic collapse. Argentina is not the US where they can print and borrow endlessly. He came into office with over 200% inflation. An economy can’t function like that forever. He isn’t just slashing indiscriminately and I don’t see anyway for Argentina to dig it self out of 40 years of irresponsible spending in the 2 months he has been in office. Also remember that he has to forge a coalition with others to get anything done. His party doesn’t have anywhere close to a majority in the legislature. EDIT: Just looked up and inflation was over 200% annualized when Milei took office.
- JumpCrisscross 3y ago
  > Argentina is not the US where they can print and borrow endlessly Argentina is the U.S. if it printed and borrowed endlessly. The reaction ordinary Americans had against 8% inflation is what Argentinians had against 200%. America was willing to risk a recession to bring inflation down; we’ll see if Argentina has similar patience.
  - alemanek 3y ago
    Milei was a long shot candidate and he was elected on the back of this one issue. Dollarizing the economy and the radical measures Milei ran on in that election have a very real risk of collapsing Argentina. But, the general feeling here from the people I know, so anecdotal of course, is that they would rather risk economic collapse than guarantee it. Also you act as if America is some bastion of fiscal responsibility. Its position as the worlds largest economy guarantees that it can borrow at the best rates. The dollar being the worlds reserve currency ensures that it can’t devalue too quickly as there is built in massive demand just for normal trade. So, it has large advantages that Argentina can only dream of. The hill Argentina needs to climb is far steeper than what the US has to contend with.
    - JumpCrisscross 3y ago
      > you act as if America is some bastion of fiscal responsibility. Its position as the worlds largest economy guarantees that it can borrow at the best rates. The dollar being the worlds reserve currency America is no bastion of anything responsibility. But its currency and economy became what they are, in large part, due to its economic culture. If America spent like Argentina, the dollar would lose its position and its economy collapse.
      - gatlin 3y ago
        The Bretton Woods Agreement and our military probably do us more favors than our spending habits (which are enormous).

verticalscaler 3y ago

From the article: "January was the first full month in office for Milei, a far-right libertarian who took office in December, and it ended with a positive balance for public-sector finances of $589 million at the official exchange rate, the government said late Friday." He isn't a far-right anything and this phrasing taints the article and subsequent discussion. I urge commentators to please not project your domestic politics into one of the weirdest countries in the world. Especially if you have never been there. After spending some months exploring that place and interacting with all manner of folks "There are 4 kind of economies: developed, undeveloped, Japan and Argentina" is one of the truest things I've ever heard in my life. It just doesn't map to anything you're familiar with. The system there is extremely broken and corrupt and has been since before you were born. It is going through a chaotic reset. They might dollarize. I think they should and definitely wish them the best. Completely orthogonal to social policies I know many on this website might have a problem with.

vstrava 3y ago
>He isn't a far-right anything Libertarian anarcho-capitalist memes aside. Save everyone some time, and just own and embrace the shitty people the ideology creates
JumpCrisscross 3y ago
> isn't a far-right anything In terms of policies enacted thus far, I have to agree. That said, Milei’s anarcho-capitalist views are fairly described as extreme, as are his anti-abortion views, though he’s also a liberal on drugs, guns, same-sex marriage, prostitution and gender identity, and seeks a closer alliance with North America and Europe’s democracies over Russia and China.
- verticalscaler 3y ago
  There are no other terms friend, that is the only thing that matters. Who decides what is "extreme"? This is a very tedious tactic to force values unto others and ruin any possibility of intelligent conversation. Just making a salad of it all. What people (especially the "extreme far lefties" overrunning this website and mindlessly downvoting everyone and thing they are instructed to dislike) fail to understand that filtering information about far away places through the media divorces you almost completely from reality. A lot of his antics are political theatre. To parse out what he means you'd actually have to be a local and know a lot of history. There is simply no avoiding the fact that previous Argentine governments have robbed the population blind. I'm talking scandal after scandal of the duffel bags filled with cash verity. It is almost beyond the comprehension of a westerner from a developed country. Look into Peronism (!= socialism) sometimes. Quoting him out of context makes for great clickbait and strips it of all meaning. Normal people over there are concerned with literally not starving at the moment, these social issues that are oh-so-important to you don't really rank. But hey, if someone has no clue why they might want to attempt dollarization of course they'd prefer to focus on and project their pet domestic issue. It is also super obvious that this thread would not be flagged and erased from the front page if the news was negative. Which is doubly pathetic because he truly is not what the downvoters imagine him to be. Good guy or bad not for me to say, but simply does not fit the regular boxes. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Not_even_wrong https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Not_even_wrong

lurking15 3y ago

Great to see libertarians cleaning up the failed societies of socialists