this post was submitted on 25 Dec 2023
573 points (95.4% liked)

World News

31906 readers
492 users here now

News from around the world!

Rules:

founded 4 years ago
MODERATORS
top 50 comments
sorted by: hot top controversial new old
[–] [email protected] 108 points 8 months ago (24 children)

I think so far this is what people wanted: end the status quo and apply shock therapy.

His supporters hope that in the long run the economy will become independent and the country would come out of the never ending crisis. My guess is that everything will simply end up owned by private interests and while (best case scenario) the economy will do better, people will suffer even more.

[–] [email protected] 63 points 8 months ago (3 children)

The Argentinian economy will not do better, only the wealth of the neocolonial compradors will, and the wealth of their Global North capitalist masters.

[–] [email protected] 25 points 8 months ago

That's what I meant, it will do better "on paper".

load more comments (2 replies)
load more comments (23 replies)
[–] [email protected] 102 points 8 months ago (1 children)

He did say he would apply shock therapy to the economy. He never mentioned if the economy would come out alive.

load more comments (1 replies)
[–] [email protected] 99 points 8 months ago (3 children)

This is just the price the poor are going to have to pay while the rich get to loot the country.

load more comments (3 replies)
[–] [email protected] 96 points 8 months ago (6 children)

Who could've guessed that a rightwing government wouldn't solve their issues (which were originally caused by rightwing policies)?

load more comments (6 replies)
[–] [email protected] 69 points 8 months ago (14 children)

The previous leftist government had used complicated currency controls, consumer subsidies and other measures to inflate the peso’s official value and keep several key prices artificially low, including for gas, transportation and electricity.

Yea devaluing peso from 360 for a dollar to 790 for a dollar instantly meanwhile is such a big brain play.

there is no such thing as a 'natural' price. every price is artificial. OPEC is literally a cartel ffs. The concept of 'artificial' pricing is so libertarian brained.

[–] [email protected] 36 points 8 months ago

The invisible hand of Chicago School pseudoscience.

[–] [email protected] 33 points 8 months ago (1 children)

A Mileista friend of mine keep complaining about 140% of inflation a year for the past government, but now that yhey had like 300% in a week suddenly is ok and is just the true price of everything. Of course he dosen't live in Argentina and dosen't has his salary cut by a third in a week so it's ok.

[–] [email protected] 26 points 8 months ago

Always the gusanos living outside their countries that back their right-wing nutcases the hardest

[–] [email protected] 21 points 8 months ago (3 children)

I think in his bigbrain libertarian mind, the money market pricing of the peso to usd is what defined the value previously and he decided that the market's pricing is not correct for that of the Argentinian currency.

By devaluing the currency, it makes Argentinian labor and goods comparatively cheaper on the international market. This is a similar move to how China grew at such a tremendous rate in the 90's - they intentionally devalued their currency in order to use foreign investment in their relatively cheap labor pool to fund the creation of their manufacturing industries.

That solution probably won't work here, though. Corporations are scared of investing in countries with unstable political leadership that performs brash actions like his. (Libertarian economics cannot account for such beliefs though since everyone must be a perfectly rational actor that chooses price above all). They are afraid that he may unilaterally nationalize certain industries and claim all assets for the state. Or he may rugpull outside investments and say that all profits must go to the state for some amount of time. Whatever flavor of stupid chainsaw wielding antics he comes up with one day is what they will see and use as a justifiable rationalization for not investing in the devalued market of Argentina.

load more comments (3 replies)
load more comments (11 replies)
[–] [email protected] 49 points 8 months ago (9 children)

Libertarians around the world like AKTCHUALLY this is good for Argentinians! Nobody being able to afford goods and services is the cornerstone of a healthy society! I am very smart! smuglord

[–] [email protected] 24 points 8 months ago

Idk what you're talking about my guy. Pretty sure numbers going up is a good thing for the economy 🤷

load more comments (8 replies)
[–] [email protected] 40 points 8 months ago (1 children)

Who would've known, the man that made it so people can get their salary in jugs of milk is a complete idiot.

load more comments (1 replies)
[–] [email protected] 39 points 8 months ago (1 children)

I can't believe this is happening. There was no possible way to have seen this coming from a man who cosplays as "General AnCap". I'm just beyond floored that this man could do something bad to an economy.

load more comments (1 replies)
[–] [email protected] 37 points 8 months ago (4 children)

If this keeps up I'll have to stop shitting myself.

load more comments (4 replies)
[–] [email protected] 32 points 8 months ago (7 children)

It's beginning to look like Venezuela but with libertarians. It's quicker than I thought.

[–] [email protected] 49 points 8 months ago

No it isn’t. Venezuela is one of the most sanctioned nations in the world.

[–] [email protected] 44 points 8 months ago

Venezuela's economic crisis really began after oil prices fell drastically in 2014 and the west used Chavez's death/Maduro's election to increase pressure on the country via sanctions which for example made buying parts to maintain oil refineries difficult. Before that, it was doing about as well, or better (of course, failing to become independent from oil exports) compared to the other countries in Latin America.

Argentina was already in a crisis for the last ...20 years-ish, but this acceleration of the crisis happened in a week even as Milei backpedaled on some potentially damaging promises like cutting trade with China.

[–] [email protected] 39 points 8 months ago (1 children)

Venezueal is a locked country that's sanctioned to hell, Argentina is about to break incompetence records not ever seen before

load more comments (1 replies)
[–] [email protected] 13 points 8 months ago* (last edited 8 months ago)

Hell no. For Argentina to look like Venezuela, inflation must be 100,000%. I wish I was exaggerating. 1 USD is 40 trillion of the old Venezuelan currency pre-Chavez, the one the government has cut 9 zeroes to hide inflation ever since.

Of course, that doesn't mean that the situation in Argentina isn't looking dire.

load more comments (3 replies)
[–] [email protected] 23 points 8 months ago* (last edited 8 months ago) (6 children)

hopefully circumstances worsen quickly enough that it'll be noticable for everybody so that the general public can clearly identify it as a direct consequence of this maniac being elected. If its deteriorating too slowly people might just not notice it as much and might go along with all the coming explanations ( probably immigrants, leftists, blahblah). If there's a quick look into the abyss people might wake up and get into action.

[–] [email protected] 16 points 8 months ago

"He also devalued the peso by 54 percent, putting the government’s exchange rate much closer to the market’s valuation."

It looks like the situation was worse all this time. The government just stopped pretending.

load more comments (5 replies)
[–] [email protected] 21 points 8 months ago (5 children)

I knew he was going to hurt Argentina badly, but I didn’t expect him to be this quick

I’m so glad Argentina pulled out from BRICS+, it would have been a drain on it

load more comments (5 replies)
[–] [email protected] 21 points 8 months ago (7 children)

Look, theres a lot of reasons this guy sucks.

Increasing the costs of two things that are causing the most damange to our planet is not a reason to criticize him tho.

[–] [email protected] 38 points 8 months ago (2 children)

This guy isn't a climate activist. It's funny to see the price of fuel going up with a climate denier.

load more comments (2 replies)
[–] [email protected] 28 points 8 months ago* (last edited 8 months ago) (2 children)

sure it is. removing subsidies on commodities like gas doesn't change the demand for gas, it just puts more of a burden on poor people, and doesn't matter at all to the rich who use it most. that path will only lead to backlash against green policies in general, see the yellow vest protests. in order to reduce consumption you actually need to reduce demand by giving people sustainable alternatives.

load more comments (2 replies)
[–] [email protected] 27 points 8 months ago (2 children)

Diapers are straight up more valuable and less dangerous than the phone you type on. Do you like Cholera outbreaks?

load more comments (2 replies)
[–] [email protected] 25 points 8 months ago (13 children)

Diapers are causing the most damage to the planet? You sure about that? Also the dude is a climate change denier so this isn't even a "broken clock right twice a day" thing, it's just purely accidental.

load more comments (13 replies)
[–] [email protected] 22 points 8 months ago (5 children)

diapers bad

this reads like the reddit mayobrain take where they pat themselves on the back for not eating octopus because it's "smart"

You're not doing anything, you're just stretching and reaching for a bright side to make yourself look good/feel good. Plastic literally-everything-fucking-else usage (ziploc bags, garbage bags, cups, spoons, forks, condiment packets, takeout containers, grocery bags which still exist despite having been banned) is so astronomically higher than diapers that it probably makes the CO2 differential between Africa and Europe look small

load more comments (5 replies)
[–] [email protected] 16 points 8 months ago (1 children)

diapers bad

Let me guess, you've never raised small children while also having to work full time?

Washing, boiling and drying poopy diapers is something people had the time to do back when women were expected to be full-time housewives. Unless you're proposing a drastic reduction of work hours for parents, something "just raise the price of everything" is the direct opposite of doing, you're simply cheering for life becoming harder for ordinary working class people.

You're not going to avert climate change by making things suck more for working class people. All that is going to lead to is ecofascism. A socialist alternative to climate change has to offer actual justice and a better future than the present.

load more comments (1 replies)
[–] [email protected] 14 points 8 months ago

Increasing the costs of two things that are causing the most damange to our planet is not a reason to criticize him tho.

centrist

[–] [email protected] 17 points 8 months ago (12 children)

Totally out of context title

load more comments (12 replies)
[–] [email protected] 14 points 8 months ago

Picture me surprised, he looked like a calm and rationale person

load more comments
view more: next ›