By Nicolás Cachanosky
In this interview, we ask economist (and Argentina native) Nicolás Cachanosky about the prospects for a lasting change to Argentina’s highly inflationary and interventionist economy.
I could not read the entire article... But I must say that what Milei proposes and seeks in Argentina in economic and social matters... is impressive!! Now even more impressive will be the way to be able to achieve it with several aspects against her... from the political point of view and conciliation with the other entities of the Argentine nation that oppose her point of view and ideologies... wow, if she achieves it we will see a great Argentina with a splendid future and above all a country saved from the claws of socialism!! that evil cancer that has also damaged my native country Venezuela...
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As Cachanosky correctly points out in his last statement, at this point the greatest challenge is to ensure changes will, for the first time in the history of this country, remain constant. A pervasive cancer of Argentina's reality has been it's daily volatility both in economic and political terms. The absolute authority of all socialist regimes we still have in all provinces allows them to change norms back and forth at whim, as it's pointed in the article. Thus bureaucrats permanently pass norms depending on their own schemes to exploit the population or resolve internal disputes: one day a certain market will be freed out of a political dispute between two chieftains, another a given market will be closed because a chieftain has a company and by decree makes it the only one authorized to provide a given service. One day a very specific component that has to be imported will be banned because either the manufacturer refused to pay a ransom or a chieftain had a personal problem with a local manufacturer and did it just to prove his power and/or to cause his bankruptcy. Another day a given market will be nationalized and all industries can be thus expropriated by the state at whim. Wherever we are close to elections things get worse because since everything is in shambles, chieftains need to give the impression of "actions being taken" and will rush to make up laws so to underpin whatever may assure him enough votes in the short term. It's a self-feeding cycle because since people is permanently unaware that problems are being caused by socialism, and they are always told that economic problems are always a curse of capitalism, chieftains promote themselves as much needed protectors in order to keep up the relentless fight against the evil capitalist forces that permanently try to make the good socialist policies fail. So to counter that, socialist policies must be profound, and when things get worse it's because capitalism is fighting back harder, so even more socialism is needed. And so on. So all back-and-forth moves are our sacred chieftains tirelessly fighting for the well-being of the people. This has been this way for more than 100 years now since socialism started rooting in society. A whole new generation of voters was needed to change it, and now a whole new generation of leaders is desperately needed to keep it up. This last part is the most critical now: besides Milei and his closest team, everything down below is composed by less than mediocre people barely useful to vote for Milei initiatives. An entire new generation has to be formed to fill the ranks to underpin the reforms in the long term, and it has to be done in record time. It's a massive, mind-breaking challenge, not for the faint of heart.
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