How many of us are still here?

[Redpossum]

Have a look at this chart:

View attachment 10339

What do you see? While cuevas may operate in cash allowing a premium, the majority of the dollar market operates on MEP. Your western union transfers, credit card exchange rates, etc follow MEP (or CCL), not blue. For most expats, this will be the rate they will get unless they have physical bills. This MEP rate will not go higher than $1400. That is the peg.

If that is the case, why did Macri and now Milei blow through billions of dollars keeping the Blue down? Why didn't they just use the MEP to control it?

 

[AdrianB]

If that is the case, why did Macri and now Milei blow through billions of dollars keeping the Blue down? Why didn't they just use the MEP to control it?

Are you sure they didn't blow through billions to keep MEP and CCL down?

 

[Redpossum]

Are you sure they didn't blow through billions to keep MEP and CCL down?

If that is the case, why would they be able to hold down the MEP without spending dollars now? See what I mean?

If it was necessary then, it's necessary now. Unless you can point to something huge that's changed.

 

[AdrianB]

Why do you think they aren't spending dollars now? They just got a fresh IMF loan to keep doing it.

 

[LuckyLuke]

If that is the case, why did Macri and now Milei blow through billions of dollars keeping the Blue down? Why didn't they just use the MEP to control it?

Yes, Milei will do the same thing Macri did. Blow through billions keeping the dollar value down by selling dollars into the MEP market. During that time, your dollars will buy the same amount of pesos ($1,400) and the whole time the peg is maintained at $1,400 your argentine expenses will still continue rising. I'm not sure how else to explain it...

 

[steveinbsas]

...I keep reading posts on this site about how reasonable prices are, especially compared to the US. The problem is most Argentinos live in Argentina and from what I can tell some of the US people in Argentina are working and earning local salaries

Perhaps you are referring to my post about what I am paying to live in Argentina compared to what I would have to pay if I was living in the USA. I made that post with the title of the thread in mind...and as an expat with a desire to explain why I am still here.

While I am deeply concerned about my Argentine friend who is struggling to support his family on a monthly Argentine salary in pesos which is.only about $450 USD and post about the problems he is dealing with, my posts about my current cost of living are meant to explain why I would not be able to return to the US to live.

I indicated that my current monthly cost of living is very close to $600 USD and that includes food, utilities (electricity, nafta, LP gas, water), car maintainence and insurance, as well as house insurance. I combined annual taxes, government fees and medical exams and divided by twelve.

I have only researched the present cost of food in the USA, and rhe cost of almost everything that I consume on a daily basis costs significantly less here. My exclusive source for US prices is Walmart and most of the prices are for the Great Value brand, which is apparently the cheapest Walmart has to offer.

I have not recently researched the costs of utilites, insurance, medical exams or car maintainence in the US, but I seriously doubt that car insurance would be less than the $20 USD per month I am currently paying or that my house insurance would be less than the current rate which is lesd than $50 USD per month.

PS: I recently had some work done on my car for the annual VTV inspection. The repairs included completely replacing the exhaust system (no converter), replacing some front suspension, steering, and brake components, an oil change, and "completely rebuilding" the carburador. The total cost of the parts was about $300 USD and the total for labor was about $150. The mechanic also cleaned the motor so it would look better for the inspection. I shudder to think what the cost of the same repairs would be in the USA today, even if the parts for a 30 year old car were still readily available (of course they aren't).

 

[jantango]

Argentina offers:
+ free health care at public hospitals
+ University education is free at public universities in Argentina, both for domestic and international students, at the undergraduate level.
+ free concerts in CABA
+ inexpensive public transportation
I have no reason to leave after 26 years.

 

[Vossos]

Argentina offers:
+ free health care at public hospitals
+ University education is free at public universities in Argentina, both for domestic and international students, at the undergraduate level.
+ free concerts in CABA
+ inexpensive public transportation
I have no reason to leave after 26 years.

One thing to note is that as of last month, CABA no longer provides free non-emergency healthcare to those without residency or a DNI.

Sadly, I don’t know how it works in practice. I’d booked some physiotherapy at a public hospital and shortly afterwards the law was announced and came into effect. I was getting radio silence from the hospital as to inquiring about pricing and since it was so far from where I am, I ended up cancelling and opting for a closer but private physiotherapist

 

[Cordoba]

Winners:

Locals that want to buy real estate. Real estate prices have not gone up much and are still way below their 2017 peak. Salaries in USD have gone way up from their 2023 bottom and now there is a mortgage market available to some people. Real estate is by far the most important asset class for 95% of the population here.

Some of the farmland has held a stable usd price. It's been hovering around $10k per hectare for the last 15 years I been here. It has gone up but nothing more than keeping pace with usd inflation. Years ago I thought it was so crazy and out of reach because everything else was so cheap in comparison.

Regular Houses have went up around me significantly. Nothing is selling but everyone is asking at least double from a few years ago.

 

[Quilombo]

Hey, Steve

I find this much easier to believe than that pyramid nonsense above. I'm not faulting the member who posted it, but it's based on government economic figures, and I don't believe those at all.

No offense taken; I don't think it's accurate either as it's likely worse given the percentage of people working en negro as was stated by other members, the only problem is we don't have any alternative, accurate metrics so it's as close to reality as we can get out hands on for now, and Milei already is taking a page out of Moreno's playbook and announced a bunch of changes to the IPC to make inflation look lower.

Speaking from my own household, our largest expense is rent. If we owned our home (or could access a mortgage to be owners) we wouldn't be looking to leave, and I think is a common experience with our retired (but not tired) members: those who rent while receiving SS are struggling, not as bad as in the US or Argentines collecting ANSES pensions, but the inflation in dollars has hit them the hardest. Our members who receive SS but own their home, while having their incomes impacted by the high dollar inflation, have more ability to absorb such an increase since they're not paying rent, and if things get really bad, they could in theory sell their home (I don't think reverse mortgages/home equity loans are a thing here, but I could be wrong).

This is a problem the world over, and why I believe so fervently in ensuring people have homeownership. Sure, it wouldn't fix every problem Argentina, the US, Europe, etc. have, but if you have that security, you're able to better adapt to what life and the economy throw at you, but at some point societies decided to commodify one of humanity's basic needs and now we live in the world both Adam Smith and Karl Marx warned us about.