His DOGE Agenda Would Leave Workers In Serious Poverty
I like Argentina and I’ve been all over the country, not just in Buenos Aires. Up in the north, where Argentina meets Brazil and Paraguay, I visited Iguazu and then Esteros del Iberá, the second largest wetland in the world. Way in the south, at the spot closest to Antarctica, I spent a week in Tierra del Fuego.
But Argentina has, once again, fallen on tough times. In November, 2023, a runoff left the country with a political unknown as president, far right and authoritarian-oriented Javier Milei. Aside from endorsing Trump, he’s probably best known for his extreme Austerity agenda. As soon as he took office he began slashing government spending, eliminating ministries, depreciating pensions, firing boatloads of government workers and cancelling infrastructure projects. He has cut government spending by around a third.
The good news for Argentines: falling inflation. The bad news for Argentines: a recession, a spike in unemployment, a fall in real wages , the gutting of regulations and rapidly climbing poverty (up 5o% since Milei entered office). Over 6 million Argentines are now living in extreme poverty (meaning, without enough to eat). So… an economy that is good for the rich and terrible for the working class. Take a look at this:
Over and over again, both Musk and Ramaswamy have said they want to use Milei’s extreme cuts as a model for what they hope to accomplish at their DOGE. Yesterday, Courtenay Brown reported that Musk was at it again, talking up Milei’s Austerity policies for the U.S. He wrote that Musk’s “admiration of the ‘chainsaw-like’ approach in Argentina shows how hard he could push to axe the size of America's government— maybe with some success. ‘The example you are setting with Argentina will be a helpful model for the rest of the world,’ Musk told Argentine President Javier Milei in an exchange on Twitter.”
The U.S. fiscal situation is starkly different from that of Argentina, a nation prone to financial and economic crises stemming from government overspending and sovereign debt defaults.
….Milei cut government spending by about 30%, roughly in line with the share of spending DOGE wants to eliminate in the U.S.
But spending cuts in Argentina happened in a very different context. Milei's austerity measures aimed to arrest double-digit inflation after years of failed economic reforms.
"There's a real sense of urgency in Argentina, that something dramatic has to be done to save them from the abyss," Cato Institute's Johan Norberg, who interviewed Musk and Milei in Buenos Aires last year, tells Axios.
"Musk almost single-handedly has shifted the debate the US.— suddenly there is a discussion about spending and whether things can be reformed," Norberg says.
"That doesn't mean there is a popular mandate to do it, because I'm not sure that sense of urgency is there."
Milei laid off thousands of federal workers, scrapped many of the subsidies supporting Argentinians, eliminated government agencies and halted public works projects.
Inflation has plunged as a result of Milei's shock therapy: In November, it was 2.4%, well below the 25% when he took office.
Yes, but: Milei's shock therapy comes at a steep cost to the real economy. Poverty rates last year soared to the highest in 20 years….
Much of Milei's economic shock therapy was done via executive orders, though legislation ultimately passed to support his efforts.
…Cutting $2 trillion in spending would likely require cuts to politically popular programs. The downside impact might be a hit to economic activity.
Trump, who campaigned on policies that would increase spending, might be the biggest roadblock to DOGE's efforts.
Over the weekend, Trump urged Congress to pass a bill that would— among other things— renew his first-term tax cuts, secure the border and remove taxes on tips.
Of course, Musk isn't just interfering in Argentina and the U.S. He's using his billions and his social media platform to promote fascist politicians in Germany, Brazil, Canada, Italy, India, Turkey, Romania and the U.K. He tweeted this provocative poll yesterday:
DOGE inflicting serious pain on millions and potentially crashing the economy along the way is a much greater concern than Trump's comments about annexing Canada or buying Greenland. One would not know that from our media or from the nominal opposition party.
An attempt to mobilize people in opposition to the very real threat of their future immiseration needed to be initiated the day after the elections. It still hasn't happened yet.
Given the gravity of the threat, energies need to be focused. Instead, energies are diffused by publicizing Trump's latest unhinged rants.
"eliminating ministries, depreciating pensions, firing boatloads of government workers and cancelling infrastructure projects. He has cut government spending by around a third.
The good news ... falling inflation. The bad news ...: a recession, a spike in unemployment, a fall in real wages , the gutting of regulations and rapidly climbing poverty ... So… an economy that is good for the rich and terrible for the working class."
PERFECTLY describes their goals.
The bad news for us/US will be a depression (possible DEflation) and, absolutely, a jump in deprivation-related deaths. As of today, 60k die for lack of health CARE.
I read a stat that during 1931, one american dropped dead of deprivation every 8 seconds.
“Those who cannot remember…