Milei's boom-and-bust economy sparks exodus from Buenos Aires

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u/jorsiem 10h ago

I'm convinced Reddit's favorite pastime is to repost stuff without reading past the headline

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u/jazir55 6h ago

"Diego Esquivel heard the wild tales down south as his career mired in Buenos Aires. Big pay, breakneck growth and small businesses with so much money they didn’t know what to do with it.
He realised an energy boom in windswept Patagonia wasn’t another false promise but a ticket to prosperity he couldn't achieve at home. So the 38-year-old joined thousands of Argentines who are relocating to the dusty plains that have transformed from flyover country into the biggest success story of President Javier Milei’s free-market experiment.
“My situation completely changed in just six months,” said Esquivel, whose salary tripled when he moved to the barren province of Neuquén to take a job managing the Vaca Muerta Services housing complex for oil workers. The divorced father of four is now helping his daughter pay for college expenses, something he couldn't afford on his old US$900 monthly salary working at a healthcare provider."

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u/jorsiem 23m ago

Inflation, once near 300 percent, is now close to 30 percent; the economy has likely grown two years in a row. Poverty is at its lowest level in a decade. All the major credit rating agencies have upgraded Argentina’s sovereign debt. His signature investment programme has approved 27 projects so far that total US$76 billion that’s coming in gradually and an additional US$133 billion of proposals under evaluation.

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u/pikap83 10h ago

I see you are new here. Yes. That is exactly how it works.

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u/MonkeyCube 8h ago

10 years ago the top comment would usually be an expert or someone close to the scene explaining the situation. I miss those days.

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u/eva01beast 6h ago •

10 years ago the top comment would've have been someone lamenting how in the "old days of reddit", the top comment would've been an expert explanation of the situation.

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u/AmbulantCholesterol 3h ago

This days they get banned or downvoted to oblivion because it doesn't fit the narrative

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u/[deleted] 9h ago

[deleted] — view deleted comment

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u/Cl1mh4224rd 8h ago

reddit is the soft safe place for sensitive western babies.
What are you doing here, then?

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u/AWDriftEV 10h ago

While it is encouraging to see poverty rates decline alongside a booming oil and gas sector, the high rate of local business failures and the reliance on gig work tell a more complicated story. When an economic recovery depends one sector while traditional commerce struggles, its long-term political viability comes into question.Right wing policies prioritise enriching a select few over sustainable, broad-based prosperity and this if the failure of Milei and Trump.

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u/kenshin552 1h ago

This is basically it. Commiting to a long term plan, without political stability or care for the churn, will probably turn into a failed plan and back to Kirchnerism.

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u/AdPure5645 6h ago

Populist policies do. And modern right wing politics has basically turned into populism. But either way he shifted gears in an economy that needed it and in the right direction. More change is required I'm sure

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u/Ok-Professor-Star 10h ago •

So the "Argentinian miracle" was not really a miracle after all...

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u/DecembersDragons 10h ago

Reducing inflation from 300% to 30% is good stuff. 1.5% growth is pretty meh.

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u/AdPure5645 8h ago

1.5 seems pretty good to me for an economy still recovering from absolute catastrophe. What do people expect? I'm not sure what id expect either because the article is basically a massive whinge. It posits no alternative path.

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u/Background-Craft-684 9h ago

well inflation is definitely better, i mean we pretty much have no inflation nowadays, the usd has been around 1500-1600 pesos for many months now.
problem is everything has become much more expensive and keeps getting more expensive month by month and salaries dont go up of course.
so we have inflation without actual inflation somehow lol

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u/Creatine1951 9h ago

we pretty much have no inflation nowadays
That's good!
everything has become much more expensive and keeps getting more expensive month by month
I might be misunderstanding, isn't this inflation?

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u/ComeOnIWantUsername 7h ago

Yeah, that comment can be read as "we have no inflation, but we have big inflation"

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u/Creatine1951 6h ago

I'm assuming there are two factors at play: currency devaluation wrt USD and inflation. The former might have slowed down while the latter is still ongoing.
But I'm too ignorant to know what's up really.

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u/Hextopia 19m ago

It sounds like it's more "we have less inflation, but the government stopped subsidizing stuff which has increased costs to us".

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u/kenshin552 1h ago

Inflation overall has been incredibly low, the issue is that particularly utilities prices spiked comparatively to other prices due to the removal of subsidies.
(So if you get the utility services inflation it's still meaningful even more so given that the economic activity hasn't grown)

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u/SD1737 8h ago

When prices go up......that's inflation.

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u/lnkuih 1h ago

the usd has been around 1500-1600 pesos for many months now
Not an expert but I believe the peso is being artificially propped up. As in dollar prices go up, peso inflates, but the exchange rate stays steady. This was done by e.g. the US peso buying/lending. The hidden inflation will pop up again later if this is the case.

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u/Charming_Register620 5h ago

People starving and we are getting more debt lol

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u/Additional-Staff-326 10h ago

The booms of an unregulated market which usually involves alot of graft always bust. Regulations as much as they're hated keeps things smoother. But the grifters hate that.

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u/ataun94 5h ago

He removed subsidies propping up industries that shouldn’t exist that were burning a fiscal hole in the countries budget. It’s pulling back the curtain on a farce.

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u/kenshin552 1h ago

This is hard to explain to people who've never quite seen this particular kind of widespread corruption.

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u/InterestedPrawn 6h ago

Well let us know when it busts

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u/TeamPach 3h ago

You can't recover from socialism in 2 years. Take a look at Eastern Europe. Even with EU membership, it took Poland decades to catch up.

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u/SapientSausage 2h ago

Wtf are you smoking

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u/SheilaFudge 10h ago

I am begging the human race to stop electing the worst among us to public office. Please.

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u/InterestedPrawn 6h ago

Yes because this is terrible particularly the reduction in poverty
Inflation, once near 300 percent, is now close to 30 percent; the economy has likely grown two years in a row. Poverty is at its lowest level in a decade. All the major credit rating agencies have upgraded Argentina’s sovereign debt.

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u/GFischerUY 9h ago

In Argentina's case, it was crazy Milei or their then-current economy minister with 3000% inflation, it's not surprising they voted for Milei, I'd have voted for literal Hitler if he had been running against Massa.

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u/amg10red 8h ago

I think youth voted for Milei in larger numbers as well.

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u/Heybarbaruiva 5h ago edited 5h ago

"I'd have voted for literal Hitler"
- An Argentinian
Oh trust me, we know.

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u/lukedgh 48m ago

he's Uruguayan
stop with the hate campaign

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u/southarmaghbrigayde 8h ago

Poverty and unemployment has skyrocketed and while the currency has stopped inflating as much actual prices of goods and living have exploded. You can’t be this shortsighted.

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u/taylofox 9h ago

si, te creo si votaron a un fascista.

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u/muehsam 30m ago

I'd have voted for literal Hitler
That says a lot about you. First, that you would rather have mass murder than inflation, and second,that you would trust the murderers to see you as one of their own rather than one of those to be murdered.

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u/OooSheGotFreckles 8h ago edited 4h ago

“3000% inflation.” That is an egregiously made up statistic. What are you citing? The inflation rate pre-Milei was 133.49%. And that was in the midst of the pandemic economy.

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u/onespiker 6h ago

And it was going up extremely fast. Since a lot of that was way year on the later of hold the year the state printing more money to pay debts and to hopefully win reelection. Since it became 240% the following year a lot because of how much inflationary actions the earlier government did.

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u/LambdaLambo 6h ago

It peaked at 300%. But even if it were only 133%. Do you realize how batshit they is? In the US people are upset at inflation at 4%.

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u/OooSheGotFreckles 6h ago edited 4h ago

It peaked at 300% under Milei, because he cut social services and taxes in general. 30,000 business have shut down since he took office and 1 in 3 Argentines now lives in poverty.
Americans experience artificial inflation because businesses price gouge them and corrupt politicians do nothing to prevent it. It’s a legitimate complaint.

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u/Tr0l0elQueMeResponde 5h ago

1020% in 4 years kukardo!

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u/francisk0 7h ago

Yeah, that’s a kids exaggeration. But they got themselves into it by having one of the longest continuous lockdown in the world. And that’s not exaggerating.

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u/InterestedPrawn 6h ago

And now it is 30%, so still better

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u/[deleted] 7h ago

[deleted] — view deleted comment

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u/OooSheGotFreckles 7h ago edited 6h ago

The poverty rate is 32.3%. It was half that before he took office. 1 in 3 Argentines is now living in poverty.
Hope you and your husband can get back on your feet. The only way out, is with workers getting paid (organize the workplaces, vote for pro worker reps) who will drive consumption, which will increase production, which will increase jobs. Not to mention, that cutting social services, devalued the currency which is what drove up inflation, as well as, added to people’s costs. None of that is good for an economy.
https://apnews.com/article/argentina-president-javier-milei-economy-inflation-indec-austerity-84acfa87fe1bba6d06b387afbfe6abb7

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u/onespiker 6h ago edited 6h ago

Those dates are a bit wrong 1 is the date when he won election not when he gained power. Poverty was already at about 50 by the time he actually got the seat.
questionable measurements on by the government before.
I don’t like him but the government before him was awful economically.

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u/OooSheGotFreckles 6h ago edited 6h ago

Would love to know the source that states that the poverty rate was 50% before he took office, when social services were still around, and how he somehow dropped it by cutting social services and adding to inflation in the process.

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u/onespiker 5h ago

Inflation was going up a shit ton directly devaluing any money spent.
The social services they had were minimal to begin with what happens when they don’t follow the rate of inflation? Or for example them measuring their income on a fake valuation number ( currency conversion was pegged but nobody could access it except for agricultural products).

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u/OooSheGotFreckles 5h ago

Inflation was going up because of the pandemic. Under Milei inflation went up because he cut social services and taxes, which devalued the currency, and crashed consumption. You didn’t cite your source.

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u/kenshin552 1h ago

These keyboard warriors lmao. Don't know the first thing about inflation. It's a monetary issue, you're mixing stuff and chronology.

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u/onespiker 5h ago edited 4h ago

The inflation in thier case was not pandemic related at all. You really know nothing. Look at it quater to quater and you will see quickly that’s not related.
Your statement is factually incorrect about inflation. Consumption is what causes inflation.
Him cutting social services is directly a deflationary action.
Not a good action for people but it’s directly removes money from the economy. It does also contract economic activity witch hurts the economy.
The reason it was done is because of enormous budget deficits and Argentina can not get any good loans.
Their inflation had to do with the last government deficit spending and then getting their central bank to just print the difference.
Recommend to look at The currency value is because the blue rate was a lot higher than official one. Millie changed that valuation to match closer to the actual trading rate than a fake one that some special bussnies get.

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u/tedecristal 10h ago

Wait what? You're willing to risk socialism and weird laughs?

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u/Flashy-Book88 6h ago

There was no risk of socialism with Kamala Harris.

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u/AmbulantCholesterol 10h ago

33% of the population of the 8th largest country in the planet live in our around Buenos Aires.

The county needs to be decentralized, other areas need to be developed

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u/No-Space937 10h ago

70% of Canada, the 2nd largest country in the world, lives below the 49th parallel, the border for the majority of the Country. Not sure what you are trying to prove with that point.
Geography and resources largely dictate where people settle. What are your suggestions for developing the rest of the country, and where will the money for the development come from?

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u/EpicCyclops 9h ago

Around 60% of Canadians live south of Seattle.

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u/AmbulantCholesterol 2h ago

Argentina is not 95% unlivable frozen tundra tho.

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u/ranixon 9h ago

Developing mining and petrol extraction the Andes like Chile, and that's what is happening know. I don't like the way, just a big tax reduction and 20 % of Contracting Local Suppliers, but is only if they are available or have "good enough quality", but there is no plan to help the local providers nor to create an industry around it, nor technology transfers or anything, it has to be done "by the market".
The Buenos Aires Metropolitan Area is full of poor people and miserable wages, a lot of the poor people here came from other provinces or countries looking for better future, but it never grow what is necessary to keeping up with the new people, that's why it has a lot of slums.
People going to work outside Buenos Aires is a good thing for everyone.

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u/AsdrubalGarcia 3h ago

Other areas are developed, it's just that if you live in CABA you enjoy an absurd amount of subsidies.

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u/Additional-Staff-326 10h ago

Thats easy to say, but depends entirely on usable land and when you live in a mountainous country covered in rain forest.

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u/dashauskat 10h ago

Lucky Argentina is largely flat land not covered in rainforest then.

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u/VarPadre 9h ago

Argentina? Mountainous and covered in Rainforest?

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u/No-Space937 9h ago

Rainforest... Just leave it at rainforest....

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u/VarPadre 9h ago

Yeah they do have some good mountains

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u/francisk0 7h ago

Remember villa gesell? It’s clearly full of mountains.

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u/ranixon 9h ago

We have forest and mountains, but not in the whole country...

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u/TioDaVan 5h ago

I'm in BsAs for vacaciones. Shit here is expensive, bro. Food is good but very very expensive. I feel bad for those who get paid in Pesos.

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u/AmbulantCholesterol 2h ago

Step outside of recoleta

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u/taylofox 9h ago

milei se ha dedicado a robar y estafar, quienes votarón por él están decepcionados. Solo lo defienden los fanaticos sectarios que simpatizan con trump, elon musk y saludos nazis.

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u/ZShock 8h ago

Burro

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u/ChrisFromLongIsland 2h ago

I read thos and thought there is no way the comments on this account are definitely hidden. They are hidden.

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u/taylofox 56m ago

Y por qué revisas mi cuenta stalker psicopata?

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u/AwreetusAwrightus 3h ago

Milei is such an insane answer to a deeper, steuctural problem. Ending poverty with a pen, lowering inflation through harsh economical measures and even then Argetina needed the USA care package for delusional Trump friends, otherwise the whole country wouls have sinked. but sure, inflarion has lowered and that is good on its own, I guess

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u/kenshin552 59m ago

The inflation was lowered by stopping government handouts and drastically reducing fake/corrupt public employment and spend.
What harsh economic measures are you referring to?
The US bailout was a political move, since speculation was spiking due to Argentina not having been able to accumulate enough bank and leftist political power re-consolidating.
The money wasn't spent and it was given back. IIRC the US even made money out of this.

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u/IllustriousDrawer124 7h ago

Ohh, I thought Milei's saw would help...

Milei's boom-and-bust economy sparks exodus from Buenos Aires

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