Introduction This is Javier Milei. He was elected president of Argentina
in a radical political gamble. And the aftershock is now in full swing. Melei took office in December 2023 and believes his aggressive and
controversial austerity measures are key to lifting Argentina out of a decades
long cycle of economic boom and bust. And he knows it's going to hurt. N/A N/A Close to half of Argentina's
46 million citizens live in poverty. Inflation is among the world's highest, at an annual rate of 260%. And a sixth recession in a decade
took hold at the start of the year. N/A N/A Despite the hardships
associated with his fiscal reforms, Milei's not your typical politician
and enjoys rock star status. So what's propping up his popularity? And when will the electorate know
if their gamble will pay off? Milei’s rise Milei kind of came out of the blue. He had only been in politics for two years
as a national congressman. Argentines took a bet on someone
completely new that even in his discourse filled with yelling and expletives, captured the ire that they themselves
were were feeling at everyday life. And perhaps understandably. Argentina's the largest economy
in Latin America after Brazil and Mexico, but it spent a third of the last
70 years in recession. It defaulted on its international
sovereign debt three times since 2001. Runaway inflation and a devalued currency prompted the central bank
to introduce bigger and bigger banknotes to help shoppers needing to carry
increasingly large stacks of cash around. We are in a huge crisis, but also we have a very important opportunity because
we have things that the world needs. We have oil, gas, lithium, commodities. So maybe it is an opportunity to find our model of economic development. Cuts to public spending Milei planned on finding that model. He started by stripping away government
subsidies of public utilities from electricity and gas to water and public transportation. This has had a big impact on people's
wallets. In December 2023, an average
household in the Buenos Aires metro area would pay about 30,000 pesos
for public services. That bill has soared in the months
since then. Low and middle class households who previously had to pay next
to nothing, about 5% for the actual cost of electricity, are now having to pay between 20 and 30% of the real cost of that electricity. This had real financial consequences
for people like Monica Perez. She owns a carniceria in a working class
neighborhood outside of Buenos Aires. But she says she stands by her vote
for Milei. N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A Milei also cut real spending on pensions,
social security, public wages and education - and halved
the number of ministries in government. N/A N/A N/A It was all part of Milei's rock and roll campaign promise
to take a chainsaw to public spending. Milei reduced
spending on public works in real terms 90% compared
with the first three months of 2023. That includes everything
from hospitals and schools to train stations, bridges
and even hydroelectric dams. No matter how far along they were. N/A N/A N/A N/A Juan Pablo Rudoni owns Ecosan,
a modular construction company that works on both private
and public infrastructure projects. Since Milei came to power,
he says government contracts have been completely frozen. N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A He's not alone in his optimism. Popularity in Argentina Milei came to power
with nearly 56% of the vote, and he's mostly retained that popularity. Different polls show different numbers, but for the most part,
he remains above 50%. This is really high approval
rating for someone who's taken such unpopular measures. One of the main reasons that Milei remains
so popular is that there's still a lot of anger
toward everyone that came before him. There's plenty of anger when it comes
to Milei's politics as well. He's right
wing and a self-described libertarian who's quite literally embraced
Donald Trump and his political rhetoric. He condemned abortion, advocated
for the free trade of human organs, and cozied up with far right
leaders and billionaires across the world. N/A N/A N/A N/A But as for whether Milei's austerity
measures are working, Impact of austerity measures it really depends on where you look.
When he took office, monthly inflation spiked to 25%
after his government scrapped price controls
and devalued the currency. But it's slowed since then,
reaching this two year low in July. And that is very important
because inflation affects people not only in material terms,
also in psychological terms. For someone going to the supermarket and seeing that a product
have the same price as the last week, well, that has a psychological impact
that is very, very important. The government also now spends
less than it receives in tax revenue. That's notable for a nation that in 2001,
during a brutal recession, went through five presidents in two weeks and defaulted
on a record $95 billion of foreign debt. We haven't seen this level of sustained
fiscal surplus since 2008. It's a country that has always spent way
more than it has, which is one of the key
culprits behind runaway inflation. Some critics say
that the onset of a fiscal surplus is simply the result of one-time
cost-cutting measures. In the first three months of 2024, the economy fell into another recession, consumer spending and manufacturing
tanked in the wake of Milei's austerity measures, and tens of thousands
of people lost their jobs. Salaries for those in the formal sector
have failed to keep pace with prices. And it's worse for informal workers
who are paid under the table and make up almost half
of the total workforce in the country. In June, Argentina's Congress
approved a sweeping bill that grants Milei’s future emergency executive powers, privatizes
a number of public companies, makes it easier for employers
to fire workers, and provides tax breaks for foreign investments
in key sectors like mining. It's really important for investors
because it's a test of whether or not Milei can get congressional approval
to back his ideas. It's one of the biggest challenges
that he faces because Milei is sort of a one man party. There's no one else. In 2025, midterm elections will reveal
whether Milei's measures, and the hardship they've meant
for those who gamble on his presidency, pay off. N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A
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