O-O, is this good or bad for Argentina?

quote:

DW.com: Argentina president suffers severe setback in midterm elections

Argentines dealt a severe blow to President Alberto Fernandez's ruling coalition amid widespread discontent over the deepening economic crisis and spiraling inflation.


Argentina's President Alberto Fernandez suffered a severe setback in midterm legislative elections held on Sunday, with his ruling Frente de Todos (Front for Everyone) coalition losing control of the Senate for the first time in almost 40 years.

With over 90% of votes counted, the coalition — made up of a collection of Peronist and leftist parties — looked set to drop from 41 to 35 seats in the 72-member Senate.

It could also lose its position as the biggest bloc in the Chamber of Deputies, the lower house of Congress.

The triumph by the center-right coalition Juntos por el Cambio (Together for Change) will mean a tough final two years in office for the president.

The conservative opposition, which was badly defeated in a presidential election two years ago, won almost all the key races in the legislative ballot, as voters turned away from the government amid
widespread discontent over a deepening economic crisis, spiraling inflation and rising poverty.

In the country's most populous province, Buenos Aires, some 39.8% of voters cast their ballot for the opposition, with 38.5% supporting the ruling coalition, according to results published by local newspaper La nacion.

Why are people angry at the government?

Argentina's economy has been in recession since 2018, with GDP slumping by as much as 9.9% last year due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

The country has one of the world's highest inflation rates, at about 40% so far this year. And the nation's currency has been hitting record lows against the US dollar despite strict capital controls.

Poverty, meanwhile, affects more than 40% of Argentines and exceeds 50% among children. Unemployment is near 10%.

Public perceptions of rising insecurity and a series of scandals, including violations by Fernandez and those close to him regarding pandemic health restrictions, have also hit the ruling coalition's popularity.
What does the outcome mean for the president?

Losing control of the Senate means that the president will be forced to negotiate with the opposition every initiative he sends to the legislature, which would make it extremely tough for him to push through any laws for the rest of his term.

Hi,

MY PERSONAL OPINION is they had it coming.
Most likely they will keep playing dumb to the real situation thry’ve created and blame the VOTERS for their elextoral setback.

The President never had popular backing of his own but was a puppet figure chosen by our VP, the suspected Eminence Grise of our Government.
But sometines the puppet wants to speak and that creates friction in the house. Not to mention the blunders. People mandated to stay at home and forbidden to meet while the President is hosting birthday parties, VIP vaccination while others are denied the caccine (lost a lifelong friend because the Government was @saving a few bucks”), giving away money qnd shit instead of creating jobs or helping those doing so. The economy was in poor shape before the pandemic and the lockdown was the coup de grace for too many.

Our is a crisis of epic proportions. Different from the one in 2001 and here the populist proto-Venezuelan government is to blame.
Delinquency is at its worst ever but the prosecutors and courts are looking the other way. Catch (if by accident) and release (immediately) is the rule of law. We are helpless.
Taxes around 40+%. Imports are limited and restricted beyond reason, the use of hard currency is also taxed heavily.
Used to keep tabs on the local expats board looking for opportunities (used stuff, books, etc) and they boasted how the exchange rate was so good for those even with limited income/pensions. For a couple of years now it’s only bitching and moaning. It got uninteresting.

Quit my job when the lockdown begun. Got fed up with the company after 30 years. Complete lack of respect for me way too many times. Late 2018 i was making $1k in pesos. Through 2019 they payed me the same amount of pesos, now worth $400 with inflation at a steady 50%/year. Started 2020 and when i stopped collecting my check and they wouldn’t answer the phone, messages or emails i got upset but they were that kind of stupid anyway. Then they called a friday afternoon yelling about an email i hadn’t respond because they forgot to send…. I had enough, not the time to ask for a raise (of my already 3 years old frozen figure), or my missing and very late check, so i called it quits. Been 18 months and nobody called to apologize or ask what triggered my quitting.

Tried to renew some of my toys to keep busy. I was told hard drives could take up to 6 months. No audio receivers entering the country since late 2019, the stock long gone…. Imports are a thing of the past.

I walk the streets and the shops are gone. Period. No time to invest either. Wanted a cab ride yesterday and doing small talk the driver told me there little few left, the lot went broke. I live in a luxury hotel area that became a ghost town for a year and a half.
All this, we have to thank to the current government policies.

The interesting news is that the VP lost its automatic majority at the Senate, a first since 1983.
The Peronists have been led by the Kirschneristas for almost two decades. Up till now, it was ok for them. Now someone is going to carry rhe blame for this and Peronismo might want to shed its Kirschnerista flavor and renew itself…

0-0

This post is like looking into the future of what Joe and the Democrats want for us. Thanks for posting.

quote:

Originally posted by spunk639:
This post is like looking into the future of what Joe and the Democrats want for us. Thanks for posting.

Maybe 0-0 could setup a training school for us with his experience so we could survive.

Is it allowed for people in the US to send you things you are unable to buy? If so, I’d be happy to do so.

quote:

Originally posted by DaveL:
Is it allowed for people in the US to send you things you are unable to buy? If so, I’d be happy to do so.

Same goes for us stuck in UK.

quote:

Originally posted by tacfoley:

quote:

Originally posted by DaveL:
Is it allowed for people in the US to send you things you are unable to buy? If so, I’d be happy to do so.

Same goes for us stuck in UK.

Do you need things or are you giving aid to 0-0, our resident Argentinian?

I’d be happy to send Christmas gifts to you both.

Thanks for the offers but they are nore trouble than help.

If someone ever comes down to Buenos Aires i will surely love to order some goods. Foreigner can come and go as they please and bring an elephant with bread slices at both ends and call it a meat sandwich and nobody will bother you. If you are a local the story is quite different.

But we honestly are fine.

Don’t know if any survival school will teach our ways but if you are interested better study how cockroaches do.
Forget about the guy who made a bundle back in 2001 selling fiction. Never happened.

Thank you all for your concern.

0-0

quote:

Originally posted by Sig2340:

quote:

Originally posted by tacfoley:

quote:

Originally posted by DaveL:
Is it allowed for people in the US to send you things you are unable to buy? If so, I’d be happy to do so.

Same goes for us stuck in UK.

Do you need things or are you giving aid to 0-0, our resident Argentinian?

I’d be happy to send Christmas gifts to you both.

You are very kind, Sir and I thank you for it. My post was also an offer of help for 0-0, not a call for it.

Here in UK most of us are doing just fine, as, in spite of rumours to the contrary, we do not live in an autocratic semi-dictatorship on the verge of disintegration like friend 0-0. In spite of some major differences in the past, I have a couple of Argentinian long-range friends, one of whom had the misfortune to see his brother blown into bloody tatters on the wind right in front of him at San Carlos Water when his Skyhawk collected a Rapier SAM. The other guy moved to Paraguay a few years back, where he helps run a grocery store on a commune nowhere near anywhere.

My thoughts are with 0-0 and his country's seemingly endless predicaments.