The Ks took the policies that stimulated the economy in the short term and seemed to think they could continue them forever. Then when it`s not working they`ll suddenly cut things off -- instead of gradually taking away subsidies, say at a rate of 10-20% per year, they`ll suddenly introduce a 70% increase or more in ABL etc. Yes the gas, the subte, the electricity etc were very affordable, but you can`t jump things so quickly and not have incomes keep up. These subsidies should have been short term with a slow drop off. Of course the one thing they refuse to cut off are their ridiculous public programmes, which are costing the govt dearly. Of course they wouldn't cut them off because it would lead to violence. Look at what happened with the Illia -- 10 families got kicked off of govt land and in retaliance the villa cut off the Illia until the govt paid them off. If the govt cut off their public programmes they'd find their own lives under threat. However millions of people on the govt paycheque have no right to be there. Up the street from us is a casa tomada for instance. Everyday parked out front are 5-10 motos -- all very high end. Through the falling apart shutters you can see not one but 2 plasmas -- the one in the front room is a 52 inch and the one in a room off that is probably 36" (And let's bet that with another world cup year there will be yet another ridiculous Plasma para todos program introduced, because that's what people need LCD tvs, not legitimate jobs and education!). After Christmas there were also a tonne of boxes from Garbarino in the street out front. The guys at the almacen across the street were telling us that the people from the casa tomada come in there and have bragged about all the free money they get from the govt -- they said that three of the guys even have becas for "studying" that they don't even have to present any evidence that they have ever sat in on a course. These guys have the system worked, and those are the precise type of people the govt is wasting billions on. Matias says it is the middle class and above that are going to put Argentina in the hole because of escaping to the dollar. Sorry Matias, I beg to differ, it is the rest of the country that is abusing the govt programmes that will be the nail in the coffin of the Argentine economy.
I disagree with you like you do with me. The fact that some people that not have a roof (so they occupied one) can get a plasma and motos is in fact a symptom of wealth. The same as villa 31, that expanded alot, not in space but in height. Most of those precarious houses, that are ilegal as the casas tomadas that we have in a lot of buildings of the city, has now an extra room, that they rent for 1000 pesos month. Remember all this people could not eat in 2001.
The sustained economic growth for ten years allowed lots of people to get a lot of stuffs, if you look to the villa 31 from the highway youll see a lot of Directv antennas, and most of them have very good tvs. Yes it would be better education and quality jobs, but thats very difficult to accomplish, plus the people always choose a PLasma over a degree on something. Villas haave consolidated in the last past 10 years, and that is because they live better there than where they come from, poorer parts of Argentina, Paraguay, Bolivia, Peru.
Its n ot that simple to kick them off the casa tomada or the villas (also tierra tomada) you know, basically because Argentina ratified Human Rights conve ntions, and the right of housing is pretty elemental.
People on villas or who live in casas tomadas got a lot of beneffits from Kirchnerismo. Thye dont care about the dollars restrictions or the cepo to import, or the tax to travel abroad, and even with inflation, they got a lot of pesos, they got a lot of plans from the government. Andf also the middle class, the people who went into poverty in 2001 these years bought a plasma, a notebook, a moto, if you go up in the social scale, replace the moto for a car (almost one million brand new cars sold per year, so go picture that 10 millions got a 0km in the last ten years), that without conssiderating the used cars.
So, basically, the situation to the poor have improoved a lot here, thats why they keep cpming from other countries, and the middle class got better too. Now, currently this it must be sshowing its limits, with growing inflation and a very important loss of political power. But Kirchnerismo means 10 years of unsstopping growth, less unemployment, duplicate the middle class, etc. I dont think this will last too much, I believe this is comming to an end, and probably those who got out of poverty will fall again when the recession cycle or devaluation begin.
