In recent years, Argentina’s rising government debt and economic inflation has caused for both administrative troubles and rising food and consumer good prices. This economic chaos lead to a declining social condition, and unpredictability in daily life for both monied foreign investors and average Argentine citizens .
Frustrated, in this years election, Argentine voters chose Milei’s candidacy. They likely found him appealing because it singled collective frustration towards the established political parties lack of competence in ongoing legislation. And, his margin of victory was significant, at a resounding 10 percent distance over his competitor, Sergio Massa, an economy minister. In fact, the topic of the economy was a common rallying call for Milei and wild approaches, such as reducing headcount within government felt gratifying, but likely were not the entirety of the problem in terms of Argentine finance. The problem is debt, much of it acquired through the IMF after Argentina returned to electoral democracy in the early 1980’s.
However, even with his extreme popularity, Milie will have to contend with the consequences of his extreme free market fandom as this will irritate much of the population.
Ley Omnibus
Currently, there are massive protests regarding Milei’s destruction of price controls on rent and food. Hundreds of pages from his decree were sent to Argentine congress for approval. The document contains proposal to permit the president engage in massive credit and loans. External investors are likely frothing at the mouth over the implications. Protests have erupted for days, and Milei has called on protestors to stop their activities or risk public benefits being denied to them.
Milei’s political campaign has been based on a bold lie about the origin of Argentina’s debt crisis. He does not blame a war that forced them to borrow exorbitant amounts of debt for the acquisition of military hardware. Neither does he choose to acknowledge the legacy of IMF debt that continued to accrue interest well into their current democracy. Instead, he blames government planned economies in a few sectors of the country.
As a result, he plans to privatize state owned industries that provide steady employment and services to the general public. Among his plans, Milei plans to penalize the right to peaceful assembly and demonstrations likely because he understands that his plan will be massively unpopular.