By Oscar Rotundo
Argentina has witnessed this week a general strike that might constitute the start of a long struggle after Javier Milei took office as president of the country.
The following article describes Milei’s program. It has been first published in Spanish on PiaGlobal and translated to English by UWI.
By Oscar Rotundo, Buenos Aires, Argentina *
From dollarization, which would mean the loss of monetary sovereignty by incorporating the dollar as current currency, to the choice of allies with whom we should negotiate our exports and imports and which side to be on, should a world war occur, everything passes through messianic subjectivity of a person who thinks that votes are a blank check so that he can do whatever he wants with the country.
Hence the clumsy and pernicious abuse of the Necessity and Urgency Decree (DNU) 70/2023[1], from which it can be interpreted that the only necessity and urgency of that instrument, specifically, with its 336 articles that through derogations and law reforms modify and deregulate the strategic and fundamental sectors of the national economy, is to favor the economic groups that manipulate the market, overriding the acquired rights in the areas of production and services and in the State’s assistance to the most vulnerable sectors of society.
These are reforms and repeals that transfer more power to concentrated exporting and extractivist sectors, such as mining and the rural oligarchy, which even endanger sovereignty by repealing the Land Law, allowing greater concentration and, in addition, a much more significant foreignization of the national territory.
Once again, they are once again trying to dismantle the State with the massive privatization of surplus companies such as the flag airline, Aerolíneas Argentinas, ANSES or Banco Nación.
Once again with lies, they pretend to justify “sepoy” actions, leaving in the air that sad reflection that Carlos Menem uttered: “Follow me, I am not going to let you down”, and that after applying a devastating neoliberal policy he stated: “If “I had said what I was going to do, no one would have voted for me.”
Today, these lies are uttered by a being who espouses an unscrupulous, messianic thought, convinced that the “forces of heaven” assist him in his crusade for the destruction of the State to enshrine the laws of the Market.
Today a person foreign to the Argentine idiosyncrasy, an admirer of Margaret Thatcher, and the Zionist State of Israel, and irrationally aligned with the warlike positions of the United States and Great Britain, is the commander in chief of the armed forces and the person responsible for policy. outside our country.
“We want to adjust 15 points of GDP, but unlike other adjustments in Argentine history, the adjustment will not affect the good people,” the current president exclaimed during the electoral campaign, assuring that, “the reform of the State”; “the modernization of the labor market”; “trade openness”; and “the monetary reform that, in the end, would put an end to the BCRA”, would go against the “Caste”.
But, in everyday reality, the victims of this mega adjustment would never be those of the much-mentioned “Caste”, but rather ordinary citizens, their families and their assets throughout the country.
Vice President Cristina Fernández de Kirchner warned this in the UMET auditorium, [2] when referring to candidate Milei’s “chainsaw plan”:
“…And here comes the other question, the one that Argentines are made to believe that they have the plan to eliminate expenses that are innocuous and that they talk about 15 points of the GDP (you heard it, right?) and others, like Melconian, who for there he goes. I want us to talk seriously in Argentina with numbers, and I want number 3 to be published, please, to see if we are lucky, that of the main components of income transfers.
There you have the main components of income transfers; this is the budget. Those who want to go with a chainsaw, or I don’t know what. Look, the retirement system, that is, all pensions and all retirements are 6.49 of the GDP in Argentina. Family allowances, which are also paid by the State, that is, the family allowances of all employees in a dependency relationship, which are also paid by Anses, are 0.49%. The AUH 0.40, Enhance plans, 0.38. Oh, I forgot… Néstor received, in his inheritance, two million one hundred thousand plans for Heads of Household, forgive me for the digression, but I forgot about that topic, which is very important. Those plans had been suggested by Anoop Singh, who was the auditor of the IMF. The collapse had been so great, the social crisis, the unemployment, the misery, the poverty, so great, that they suggested making a plan, plans, so that people could eat.
The AUH was not in the Argentine Republic. And then, during the government of President Duhalde, the Heads of Household plan was designed, and when Néstor took office it had reached two million one hundred thousand because unemployment was more than double digits, twenty-something percent. I had forgotten that part of the inheritance. But let’s go to the plans Boost, 0.38; the Feed Card 0.22; PAMI, 0.20; Progress, 0.10; Employment, and in total spending or investment, as you prefer, according to what you think, 8.29 of the GDP. How much will the Legislative Power and the Judicial Power be? Let’s go to the second film, please.
There we have them, in the Legislative Branch, where the aristocracy of the political caste would be, we would be with 0.12 of the GDP, and the Judicial Branch 0.27%. Could you bring me the blackboard, please? Since we are in the Justicialista School, let’s see if we can… come Pedro, I’m going to dictate to you, write down Pedro… write down well that the country is watching you. I put 15%. Write down 8.9… that’s what we could call social spending, write down 0.12 and 0.27… you’re going to have to add up. And now write down 4.75… which is what was called separata… now add… 13.43. Remember, at 8.9 are the retirees, here is the Legislative Branch, the Judicial Branch, and this 4.75 is the reprint that the Ministry of Economy sent in the Budget project and which is what is called tax expenditure.
What is tax expenditure? The luxury gliders. The 0.38 of the Enhance Work are the street gliders and these are the luxury gliders. Because? Because they are tax exemptions, people who have to pay Income Tax like judges and do not pay them, taxes whose 21 percent VAT rate is broken, or they are exempt from VAT or it is broken, they pay half, 0, 10 and 50. Tax promotions, here is Tierra del Fuego. Well, all that is 4.75. 13.43 the total. We can sit down, student (laughs).
So, look, we put all the pensions, we put all the social plans (Potenciar, AUH), all the family allowances, we put all the tax exemptions, the Legislative Branch, the Judicial Branch, and we are reaching 13.43 percent of the GDP, nothing else. Let’s find out where they are going to get the 15 percent from, because… let’s go to the next plate please.
This is the project that was sent to the House and that they asked not to be discussed until after the elections. Now I realize why they don’t want to deal with it until after the elections, because there the inconsistency of what is said and what is proposed is evident. Look, you are going to see the total resources, and that is the total tax resources that the national State gives to give; It is the part of the collection that remains for the national State, that 15.7 is the total resources, that is, we would be suppressing the total because the collection made by the national government, which is 24 points of the GDP, 15 are left for the Nation because the rest goes to the provinces.
And here comes the second part of the myths, that is, we see that in reality it is impossible to go with the chainsaw because they don’t give you the numbers to do what you want to do, but they don’t give you the numbers… well, it’s going to tell me that we get that 13.43 out of that 15, what remains is the Armed Forces, security forces, universities, diplomatic corps abroad, foreign relations, etc. As you will see, everything is really very inconsistent.”
So much so, that the Milei government nationalizes the debt of private companies with one of its first measures, Cavallo style, using the Central Bank, which it said was going to be “dynamited,” with the implementation of a dollar bond to be applied to the commercial debt of importers, through the creation of the Bopreal (Bond for the Reconstruction of a Free Argentina) to reduce the commercial debt for imports of goods and services carried out and not paid.
The amount involved in this operation exceeds 30,000 million dollars, which the subscribers will pay at the official exchange rate (800 pesos per dollar), ignoring what happens with the exchange rate from now on and which will accrue an interest rate of 5% annually.
That State, which the anarcho-capitalist president denies, is in charge of alleviating the businesses of a commercial caste and at the same time attacks the vulnerable sectors of society from the Ministry of Human Capital, announcing that it will cancel 27 thousand social plans, to avoid the expenditure of 2 billion pesos from the national State.
Two billion pesos destined for consumption and the payment of obligations, which, yes, are assumed by the popular sectors, in the midst of a recession in the industrial activity of SMEs that in December 2023 already registered a drop of close to 27%.
We are facing a business plan for friends of power, like Mr. Eduardo Elsztain, who traveled with Milei to New York last December to visit and thank in front of the tomb of Rabbi Menachem Mendel Schneerson, of the Chabad Lubavitch sect involved in scandals. of pedophilia and other aberrant crimes in the North American city, and owner of the Libertador hotel where Milei lived until his move to the presidential residence in Quinta de Olivos, at an approximate cost of 450 dollars per day, from days before the general elections of October 2023 until a week ago.
Eduardo Elsztain is president of the board of IRSA, a company dedicated to high-end real estate operations, which has been receiving important benefits from the State for some time. The magnate also heads Banco Hipotecario, Cresud and BrasilAgro. Along with Macri, Marcos Galperín and Marcelo Mindlín, he also appeared in the Panama Papers for having accounts in tax havens.
Eduardo Elsztain already has the appointment of Nicolás Pakgojz, senior executive of IRSA, as head of the State Property Administration Agency (AABE), and if the Omnibus Law is approved [3], he will be one of the main beneficiaries of the revocation of the Rental Law, enabling it to speculate and obtain a source of exceptional profits, given that this business group owns the Llao Llao hotel in Bariloche, as well as different shopping malls throughout the country.
Their profits would also increase with the proposed modifications to the Forest Law, since one of their companies, Cresud, dedicated to livestock farming, which manages 542 thousand hectares in Argentina, would have the possibility of being able to act on protected areas.
Another big deal for the real estate magnate comes from the change that involves the elimination of the restrictions established by the 2011 land law, regarding the number of hectares that a foreigner can acquire in rural areas. Currently, the law limits to 1,000 hectares the amount of land that a foreigner can own in the core zone, where the largest exportable agricultural production is generated.
But, as we can see, the government’s actions also contain a plan to hand over national sovereignty.
This session of sovereignty is manifested in strategic areas, in energy and technology, and also in the military field since the British icebreaker RRS Sir David Attenborough with the “Falklands” flag sailed through Argentine waters towards Chile, violating Argentine sovereignty when crossing the Strait of Magellan [4].
This aggression against our people caused controversy last year and generated a protest from the Argentine Foreign Ministry and political leaders, but under the colonialist vision of the current government that described the meeting between Javier Milei and former British Prime Minister David Cameron as “ excellent.” This intrusion will go unnoticed like all Anglo-North American activity in the south as demonstrated by the authorized patrol of a North American vessel, the US Coast Guard ship USCGC Stone, to combat illegal fishing in the Patagonian Sea.
For this reason, the governor of the province of Chubut, Ignacio Torres, met with the United States ambassador to Argentina, Marc Stanley, not only about possible investments, but also to shape a strategic alliance to jointly patrol territorial waters. , which also contemplates that North American flag warships have access to patrol the coast or eventually moor in national ports [5].
With almost two months of government, the Macri-Mileista administration is developing the neo-Monroist-Otanist hybrid in which they plan to enroll our country. And the situation raised is so serious that they must do it in an accelerated and authoritarian manner to anticipate the resistance and popular organization.
I think that we should not only point out the rejection of the reactionary and surrendering measures and policies that the government plans to implement, with measures such as the strike and the mobilization of January 24, which is a qualitative expression of the mobilizations and protests that have been taking place. From the moment of the announcement of the DNU, I also understand that progress must be made in agreements and strategies that prepare us for the possibility of having to specify an alternative for governability from a popular project.
The crisis has been unleashed, and beyond the names, the superstructural agreements and the organizational alliances, the people in the squares and wherever possible must debate the political project and who will be their legitimate representatives.
* Political analyst and editor of PIA Global
Cover photo by @ElNecio_Cuba
References:
[1] https://www.boletinoficial.gob.ar/detalleAviso/primera/301122/20231221
[2] https://www.cfkargentina.com/presentacion-de-la-reedicion-de-despues-del-derrumbe/
[3] https://tn.com.ar/politica/2023/12/27/texto-completo-de-la-ley-omnibus-de-javier-milei/?gclid=Cj0KCQiAnrOtBhDIARIsAFsSe536px2t1KUcLlItCrvxN6yjjpQCvVLLqmTQA6VK94uUxk5GGgrk2A8a AnHCEALw_wcB
[4] https://bocadepozo.com.ar/2024/01/20/grave-el-rompehielos-britanico-rrs-sir-david-attenborough-con-bandera-de-las-falklands-navego-por-aguas -argentinas-to-chile/
[5] https://www.escenariomundial.com/2023/12/26/chubut-explora-un-atrabajo-con-estados-unidos-para-que-buques-norteamericanos-puedan-patrullar-la-costa-argentina -before-illegal-fishing/