Argentina

Argentina is in the news these days because of a controversial the new President Javier Milei. He is an outsider who came to power promising to change things by making things tough. He was a TV talking head with no political experience. He promised to rein in soaring inflation by crusading against the creeping socialism in the country. During most of the 19th Century Argentina was a prosperous country selling exports to the United States and a free market economic system. As in all capitalist economies there were winners and losers and this opened the door for change. This all changed in 1940 when Juan Peron came to power. He saw the income disparities and promised a new kind of government that would combine socialism with capitalism. He set about building schools and hospitals in poor areas. He built houses for poor people. The government over time provided more and more benefits and this led to many new government agencies which led to corruption. To pay for these benefit the government printed money and borrowed money and soon economic growth began to slow. This led to high inflation and Milei promised to cut programs and he is doing that. Milei is pledging economic shock therapy. His plans include shutting the central bank, ditching the peso, and slashing spending, potentially painful reforms that resonated with voters angry at the economic malaise. People do not like austerity programs and the new president will soon find out how much pain the citizens are willing to put up with.