The wages are lower today in 2024 than in 2002 making these arguments obselete . The minimum wage in the USA is over 9 times higher than Argentina but food prices are virtiually the same !
The problem is that wages in Argentina haven't followed suit, measured in foreign currencies like US$, SFR or EU€. There are now about 30% more people living under the poverty limit, a total of 55% who have less than the price of the basic canasta. You don't have to be a Milei hater to observe that.
Having already read what you wrote at the end of your post, I think it's time that the entire audience of the forum, especially any of the members who may not be fully aware of what expats with families trying to live on local salaries or retired expats wirh low dollar incomes are dealing with now compared to six to nine months ago.
Like someone (who may not have realized that Perry's concerns were never about himself) told him to leave Argentina after he (Perry) repeatedly (over time) expressed his concerns that food costs in Argentina have become increasingly (and alarmingly) high for Argentines trying to feed theír families?.
Less than a week ago, my closest (35 y.o.) neighbor told me it now costs $20.000 per day to feed his family of four. He doesn't pay rent, but his salary as a police officer at the naval base is strecthed to the limit. He and his lady had been making craft items to sell on weekends in the plaza in Punta Alta, but in the past few months, their sales revenue often can't cover their fuel costs.
A few different places in LA County; LA itself, Burbank, Glendale, Malibu, etc. and it was the same everywhere, some things more expensive, other things much, much cheaper. The reason why is import tariffs, variety, and gouging. There's no competition here, and the government protects Argentine companies while they have consumers over a barrel. I don't know why people thought this would stop when Milei became president, especially with the tax increases on imports.
Thank you for participating and telling your story.
You are at that point where boys would eat a whole pizza each and over a pound of milanesas, etc. It must be tough indeed. not sure why you think you do not belong to the audience though. In my household we had through the years a mixture of sources of income: from good freelance foreign income, to local salaries ( considered above average ), to being lucky and flipping a property, to being unemployed, to having crappy foreign income, a bit of everything really. In my eyes, food has never been this expensive ( not even in 2001 ) compared to local salaries.
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