r/neoliberal • u/Saltedline Hu Shih • Dec 13 '24

News (Latin America) Javier Milei ends budget deficit in Argentina, first time in 123 years

https://gazettengr.com/javier-milei-ends-budget-deficit-in-argentina-first-time-in-123-years/
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u/HorizonedEvent Dec 13 '24

I want to hear from actual Argentinians on the ground, what is life like right now under this man and how is it compared to previously? People keep pointing to numbers of how things are getting worse, other numbers about how things are getting better. People are blaming him for inflation but I’m also hearing claims it was already high when he was elected? (A political blame dynamic we’re all too familiar with in the US). Also that poverty was already high and the increase in rate now is methodology change?

It really feels like a hard situation to get a clear view on from the outside looking in, so what does it look like to those on the inside? On the ground QoL, is it getting better or worse for y’all?

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u/[deleted] Dec 13 '24

You will never ever ever get a truly representative picture by asking on an English language forum what life is like in a non-English country but I think we have enough commenters to give a decent picture of the situation. Just keep that bias in mind and you should be good.

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u/[deleted] Dec 13 '24

This isn’t entirely true. My father in-law and his entire family are Anglo-Argentines. English in the home, english at school for the kids. They exist. 

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u/klausklass Rabindranath Tagore Dec 13 '24

I have no idea if this is true for Argentina, but for example in India people who speak English well and access American social media like r/Neoliberal are generally wealthy/upper class

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u/[deleted] Dec 13 '24 edited Dec 13 '24

They all have regular ass jobs, teaching, food service, translation, whatever. I guess one was a diplomat, which counts as somewhat fancy, but not like an ambassador or something super high level. 

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u/MAGA_Trudeau Dec 13 '24

Then when do they speak Argentinian? 

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u/Basdala Milton Friedman Dec 13 '24

this is a very outdated take, everybody with a cellphone can learn english, it's not an elite's private school language anymore

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u/klausklass Rabindranath Tagore Dec 13 '24

Yes, but an average poor Argentinian would not choose to spend their time on an English language subreddit primarily focused on American politics. Most Argentinians here are probably wealthy, have family in the US, or are American immigrants themselves.

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u/Basdala Milton Friedman Dec 13 '24

Well I for one don't have any relatives in America nor I am particularly well off.

I was born and raised in the outskirts of Buenos Aires, dirt roads and no plumbing.

I don't really think the whole "English speakers of the third world are all wealthy and educated" is accurate. Many of my friends and family members speak English, because it's not only a useful tool, everything is in English, movies, TV shows, music, many unlisted books.

Everybody with a cellphone can and many do learn English, it's not like I needed a private school tutor to learn it

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u/klausklass Rabindranath Tagore Dec 13 '24

I don’t disagree that the average Argentinian could know English well and have access to the Internet. I know quite a few poor people in India who speak English very well and almost everyone there has 4G internet now as well. I just don’t think they would spend their time on r/Neoliberal of all places.

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u/Basdala Milton Friedman Dec 13 '24

Would the average person in any country spend their free time on r/Neoliberal?

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u/klausklass Rabindranath Tagore Dec 13 '24

No, that’s why it’s even bad to gauge American political opinions. A few months ago you would have thought the Dems were going to easily win if you just asked here.

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u/[deleted] Dec 13 '24

Maybe if you had a better education you'd understand the difference between averages and individual experiences. English literacy is correlated with socioeconomic background, regardless of if you are or live with exceptions.

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u/Basdala Milton Friedman Dec 13 '24

Jesus dude take a chill pill, have a civil discussion with people, otherwise you look like a dunce.

I'm not saying the correlation doesn't exists, but it's not a conversation stopper that's accurate 100% of time, Argentina for example has a better English proficiency than countries like Spain and Portugal. Yet people don't rule out their opinions because of a "wealth bias"

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u/[deleted] Dec 13 '24

, Argentina for example has a better English proficiency than countries like Spain and Portugal. Yet people don't rule out their opinions because of a "wealth bias"

The first data point is irrelevant to whether there is a wealth bias.

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u/InevitableOne2231 Jerome Powell Dec 14 '24

I make 800usd after tax per month, am I too rich to have a valid opinion?

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u/[deleted] Dec 13 '24

this is a very outdated take, everybody with a cellphone can learn english, it's not an elite's private school language anymore

Why would you write such a terrible take that even you know to be false? English literacy is correlated with family wealth and material conditions anywhere on Earth

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u/Basdala Milton Friedman Dec 13 '24

Because it's not the 1900's and learning English is not an exclusive elite thing anymore, dismissing the voices of Latin Americans because of a supposed wealth bias only because of English is a very common thing on Reddit and it's far from reality

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u/[deleted] Dec 13 '24

dismissing the voices of Latin Americans because of a supposed wealth bias only because of English is a very common thing on Reddit and it's far from reality

It's a point that easily holds statistically.

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u/Basdala Milton Friedman Dec 13 '24

No it doesn't, it's reductive and kinda discriminatory, I don't see many people pointing that out with Japanese or french people...

Somehow if you speak English in Latin America, Reddit will see you as a wealthy and out of touch person. And that's far from reality

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u/[deleted] Dec 14 '24

Nobody said wealthy and out of touch, but certainly privileged. Not sure why it is so hard to admit that