Argentina's continued collapse by another Redditor in June 2023

[Lanick]

Let’s put it this way. People who live in most of the western BA, these are Puertt Madero, Recoleta, Palermo, Belgrano, are millionaires. The property they own is around half a million at least plus the Country houses in pilar etc. it’s a city of 14 million so you do the math! Also; Vicente Lopez, Martinez, Olivos! I can guarantee you that everyone living in Nordelta is a multi millionaire! A population of around 40.000. And I’m not counting in the people in other cities. I know it’s hard to believe but I have been going down there since 1996 and married to one and the amount of money they got is unbelievable! They’re saying there’s at least 100k properties owned by Argentines in Florida. There’s economic problems in Argentina for sure like many other places. But there’s a lot of Argentines with a lot of money. I’m talking about the cash and the assets! So my brother; coming from somewhere in North America or Europe and thinking that this person will be in the upper 1% in Argentina by default would be a big insult to this country!

 

[Ronnie Hotdogs]

It's not really what the thread is about anyway, I just think that most expats on here have very little idea what it's like for the overwhelming majority of Argentines.

 

[TWB103]

Let’s put it this way. People who live in most of the western BA, these are Puertt Madero, Recoleta, Palermo, Belgrano, are millionaires. The property they own is around half a million at least plus the Country houses in pilar etc. it’s a city of 14 million so you do the math! Also; Vicente Lopez, Martinez, Olivos! I can guarantee you that everyone living in Nordelta is a multi millionaire! A population of around 40.000. And I’m not counting in the people in other cities. I know it’s hard to believe but I have been going down there since 1996 and married to one and the amount of money they got is unbelievable! They’re saying there’s at least 100k properties owned by Argentines in Florida. There’s economic problems in Argentina for sure like many other places. But there’s a lot of Argentines with a lot of money. I’m talking about the cash and the assets! So my brother; coming from somewhere in North America or Europe and thinking that this person will be in the upper 1% in Argentina by default would be a big insult to this country!

Most expats here own/rent a decent property or properties in good areas and live comfortably and do not fear inflation. That puts them in the 1%.

 

[earlyretirement]

I don't think anyone is saying it's easy for locals because it's clearly not. No one is saying it's a paradise.

However, the points he made are clearly wrong. I dine out about 3 times a day and most places have everything on the menu. Yes, if something sells out then it's not available but most things are available. His "1 out of 10 things on a menu isn't available" is wrong.

He says you can't go to grocery stores as they are down to bare essentials. That's just a lie. Tons and tons of things. He says "fruits and vegetables rotting" is just not the case when you go to all the neighborhood fruit stores. Tons of stuff that is fresh.

One thing that I don't dispute is when he says crime rates have gone up. I agree that's probably the case but I don't notice it more than years ago although I'm sure it is higher now.

Booking.com doesn't "only take cash". That's clearly wrong. Sites like that or Airbnb all take credit cards.

He is saying that "half of the locals are cunts and rude and the other half just want to rip you off". That's just not the case. This guy sounds like a total jerk and my guess is anywhere he goes he has issues.

The typical person won't have this experience in Argentina. I think that's the point that we are making.
I don't think anyone is saying it's any paradise but I think we can all agree it's nothing like he is saying.

Everyone thinks that the USA is some glorious place where life is really easy and full of opportunities. Yes, it's full of opportunities but its also bloody expensive. I have a lot of family that moved to the USA as they thought it would be great. Many of them have 2 or 3 jobs just to make ends meet. They make a lot more than they did in Buenos Aires, but life is also much more expensive in the USA and they don't have much of a quality of life. I honestly think they had a better quality of life in Buenos Aires making relatively nothing compared to their making now but they have to work much harder just to pay bills.

 

[HectorH]

It's not easy for locals of course, but people who have decent stable professional jobs still do well earning in pesos. Travelling, buying stuff like electronics, cars, etc, that's where it gets expensive. I know many people - teachers, designers, lawyers, programmers - all of them do fine even with the inflation, though they all wish they had more capacity to save.

 

[earlyretirement]

It's not easy for locals of course, but people who have decent stable professional jobs still do well earning in pesos. Travelling, buying stuff like electronics, cars, etc, that's where it gets expensive. I know many people - teachers, designers, lawyers, programmers - all of them do fine even with the inflation, though they all wish they had more capacity to save.

Yes, same as me. Where my local friends really are hurting is previously in years past they traveled quite a bit abroad. Now, most of them don't go outside of Argentina too often. Flight prices are crazy expensive after COVID. Plus, it's just expensive for them now.

I agree, most of the local friends that I have aren't able to save much if anything at all. However, many of them managed to scrape together enough money to buy their own place with help from family or by living at home with their parents until they were married. Now, their monthly expenses aren't too bad as they have no rent.

The really smart ones were those that bought PH units many years ago. They always told me that they didn't want to get stuck in a situation with high HOA fees. And now they pay NO monthly HOA at all.

Even my friends that rent manage to get by ok. And I recently had an in-law that is going to medical school here in Palermo and she moved from another country. She is renting a place in Villa Crespo for $425 US dollars per month with ALL expenses including internet and all utilities. That's pretty darn good for as high a calibre city as Buenos Aires.

Try going to the USA in a top tier busy city and rent a decent place and you'll be shocked how bad it is now.

 

[Redpossum]

Most expats here own/rent a decent property or properties in good areas and live comfortably and do not fear inflation. That puts them in the 1%.

Not me. I live in a shitty cockroach-infested fungus pit of a 1-bedroom apartment in Retiro, and apparently cannot afford anything better.

"Most expats" my ass.

 

[TWB103]

Everyone thinks that the USA is some glorious place where life is really easy and full of opportunities.

The poor constantly flooding the US's border still think it's a land of opportunity while the rest of the world either laughs at or weeps for it. That said offer a one way ticket to Miami or Europe and many Argentines would take it.

 

[TWB103]

Not me. I live in a shitty cockroach-infested fungus pit of a 1-bedroom apartment in Retiro, and apparently cannot afford anything better.

"Most expats" my ass.

Ok, anyone else live in a shitty cockroach-infested fungus pit of a 1-bedroom apartment in Retiro?

I go by what expats have posted on this forum over the last decade.

 

[Lanick]

The poor constantly flooding the US's border still think it's a land of opportunity while the rest of the world either laughs at or weeps for it. That said offer a one way ticket to Miami or Europe and many Argentines would take it.

Many Argentines hold EU passports but prefer to stay in AR because they got a great lifestyle and earn/make good money. When the economic crisis hit Argentina like 20 years ago, even though Argentines could travel to US visa free, there hasnt been any cases of mass migration. I know many Spanish or Italian Argentines with great career in EU, they came back to live in AR. Certainly there will be people who’d take this one way ticket but those people will amount to just a few.