Populist Governments / Poverty / Corruption / Comeuppance

[sesamosinsal]

And in re inflation hurting or not, I think it's safe to say that when dealing with 30% inflation - it does hurt everyone. Even with wage increases, the real buying power has decreased. And at some point (at least for me I'm already there), employers will start to cut back and shoppers will be more careful, etc. Off the top of my head - my taxes on my domestic employee increased from 195 a month to 500. I would have given her an additional raise but now I can't b/c that extra 300 a month is now on taxes. I don't patronize the local butcher in my neighborhood b/c his prices are too expensive. My business is going elsewhere. We are starting to let employees go b/c it quite simply is too expensive, esp when no one pays us on time. Most of our clients are 2+ months in arrears. B/C they are playing the game that with inflation, they are actually paying 5% less if they wait a few months to pay. But that has a ripple affect. Etc, etc.

The inflation is too high, and it would seem that the Central Bank is starting to tackle this problem. Interest rates are at levels not seen since Kirchner became president. For those with dollars wondering why the blue is going down, here's your answer:

At the same time, given the global trend towards deflation and given what happened here for most of a decade:

...It makes sense that the Argentine government isn't too concerned about bringing down inflation. In a deflationary environment, you'd be more worried about if your clients will pay you, not when.