Tens of thousands of Argentines filled the streets of downtown Buenos Aires on Wednesday to demand increased funding for universities and pediatric care, which have suffered cuts under libertarian President Javier Milei’s austerity measures.
Milei’s popularity has declined following his deep budget cuts, and he is dealing with the fallout from a corruption scandal and a legislative defeat in Buenos Aires provincial elections earlier this month.
Milei faces high-stakes midterm elections in October, in which his party aims to secure enough seats to keep the opposition-controlled Congress from overriding his vetoes.
I’m going to use the same phrase I use for Americans.
Have the day you voted for.
That is particularly unfitting in this case though. Because the people that voted Milei are still in favour and the people that didnt are still against him. The people protesting are not the ones who voted him.
I thought his austerity measures were working?
Yes, in the sense that printing less money reduces inflation. This isn’t exactly a shock.
The big issue is what he has sacrificed to get there. Poverty rates initially spiked, causing a lot of people to burn through their savings. Now the poverty rate has fallen, but people below the poverty line report having even less to spend than before.
And of course he slashed the budgets of a lot of services, so people are feeling that too.
Yes I understand that, austerity was never going to be a breeze.
It absolutely is a breeze for the 1%. The pain is only reserved for the poors.
That would be the case in any economic hardship.
They might be but his sister is wrapped up in a corruption case now which seems to be tearing them apart.
