Food prices are amongst the highest of the planet

[hankscott]

Sounds like no one here has gone shopping recently in New York City or Los Angeles

 

[Rich One]

You bring some interesting points, however I think there you are conflating two separate factors. Domestic inflation (within Argentina) and foreign exchange rates (Peso / USD). Some here (like myself) who thought that the economy was essentially dollarized before Milei bought into the blue rate as a justification for inflationary increases...until the dollar froze....and the peso increases kept coming regardless. Obviously there a complicated factors for each of these phenomenon which sometimes intertwine and sometimes not.

The Banco Central's decision to reduce the federal interest rate causing renewed interest in the dollar as an investment vehicle, could explain the recent blue rate bump, but has little to do with the price of Orange Juice (which is from collapsing production in both Brazil & Florida). The overvalued peso can cause domestic costs to increase for food production but also should decrease the cost of foreign imports for food productions such as fertilizer or equipment. IMO the ecosystem of raw producers, refineries/factories, distributors, middle men, grocery stores, restaurants, and ultimately private buyers are all squeezing whatever profit loss they can bear until something eventually breaks (costs exceed available capital) up the food chain.

Restaurants will go out of business, grocery stores will pare down unsellable offerings, factories will limit processing of unprofitable selections, producers will adjust crops or product to only profitable essentials. In time, this shedding of nonessential product offering (or belt tightening across all strata) may overproduce in enough overlapping sectors to reduce prices. It takes time for the whole chain to pivot and retool to recessionary forces. Again, just my thoughts. The peso/dollar dynamic I think deserves a whole separate analysis as a foreign trade mechanism and how politics have sought to highjack foreign reserves to disguise inflation for political gain.

 

[ErrolFlynn]

I'm sure if I do some research I can find a place in Palermo to sell me a $20 bland tiny burger. Meanwhile a burgershop next to my office in the centro sells a huge double patty, triple cheese, plus a small amount of what they call bacon burger for 6k pesos. It comes with fries and a bottled drink.

The best fried chicken I've had here is "Posho" at lavalle and libertad. 10k pesos for 3 thick pieces of chicken, coleslaw, fries and green sauce.

A parilla next to my apartment sells a vaciopan for 5k pesos, a huge bread roll with an enormous slab of meat, You could literally throw away the bread and eat the meat with some salad and it would be a great deal.

The desperation of some expats to say Buenos Aires is starving and at the point of total breakdown because they hate Milei is disgusting. As a foreigner you should support the country or get out. Just my opinion.

By the way I know a hotel in NYC that will sell you a $40 (plus tip) breakfast of two toast, one egg and a little bacon. I bet even the biggest Milei hater cant find something to match that here

 

[antipodean]

Unless foreign reserves were so negative that it was about to cripple the foreign import sector.

Interesting perspectives. One point to add.
To some extent they were. Last year to import supplies or services essential for a business here before you had to wait from central bank approval which was at times up to 6 months but rarely less than 60 days for your bank to be allowed to pay yout foreign supplier, and obtaining this approval was a pretty discretional affair that depended a lot on your sector and your connections… after the devaluation it has been within 30 days and zero discretionality.

Personally I am not so sure that an abrupt devaluation of the official could have been avoided by whoever was taking over the reigns, and am not convinced that the days of further sharp devaluations of the peso are over either. Reducing the devaluation and speeding up the crawling peg would have likely just lead to higher levels of speculation and uncertainty making everything far more complicated from inflation to resolving the Leliqs / bank debt issue. It is worth remembering that by the end of the term of Alberto/CFK/Massa they had already devalued the official by 500% and parallel dollars by 1300% vs what they started with - meaning someone might have been able to put up a sea wall to slow the tsunami but it would do nothing to change the size of the waves or stop it eventually spilling over the top of said wall when the big one hits, nor offer any guarantee of causing less damage.

 

[FrankPintor]

The desperation of some expats to say Buenos Aires is starving and at the point of total breakdown because they hate Milei is disgusting. As a foreigner you should support the country or get out. Just my opinion.

Just out of interest, where did you get the "desperation of some expats to say Buenos Aires is starving"?

 

[ErrolFlynn]

Just out of interest, where did you get the "desperation of some expats to say Buenos Aires is starving"?

In this thread. Read the last 8 pages. People screaming about $20 burgers and fried chicken which isn't reality.

 

[FrankPintor]

In this thread. Read the last 8 pages. People screaming about $20 burgers and fried chicken which isn't reality.

I read the last 8 pages, I even contributed to some of them. Nobody mentioned starvation (or "starve" or "starving" for about a year or so on the forum) until you came along and accused others of "screaming" about it. Not a good first post.

 

[Ronnie Hotdogs]

Everyone's just a bit put out because they can't eat out 3 times a week any more, don't think anyone is saying they're starving.

 

[ErrolFlynn]

I read the last 8 pages, I even contributed to some of them. Nobody mentioned starvation (or "starve" or "starving" for about a year or so on the forum) until you came along and accused others of "screaming" about it. Not a good first post.

Wrong. "Porteños cant afford to eat anymore"

"Levels of desperation I've never seen before"

"Everybody has to eat and porteños are at the point they cant eat (starving)."

Not a good defense of this panic mongering thread.

 

[Redpossum]

Amazon is the second largest employer in the US. Is Jeff Bezos a feudal lord for leveraging the internet to make shopping more convenient? Is the proletariat oppressed by the bourgeoisie having everything delivered to their doorstep? I would say things are much more complicated than such broad ideological brush strokes.

Strawman

I don't know anyone who objects to the convenience. What people object to are the beastly working conditions to which Amazon employees are subjected, such that they have to pee in a bottle because the company won't allow them time to go to the bathroom, having to work all bundled up in scarf and parka because the warehouses are freezing cold in the winter, things like that. And then when, in response to such horrid working conditions, Amazon employees attempted to unionize, Amazon management went to outrageous and in some cases outright illegal extremes to prevent that unionization from taking place. This is exploitation.

So, no, it's not "much more complicated", but congratulations on managing to work in the word "ideological".