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sandensea

(21,530 posts)
Sun Jan 6, 2019, 10:07 PM Jan 2019

Argentines stage nationwide protest against new round of Macri tariff hikes

Protesters in Argentina crowded intersections around metro Buenos Aires and cities across the country Friday night to protest the latest round of utility and transport rate hikes decreed by President Mauricio Macri.

The right-wing Macri administration had announced on December 27 that authorized rates would jump on services across the board - with more hikes due later in 2019.

In Buenos Aires these will reach 33% on tollways, 35% on gas, 38% on public transport, and 55% on electricity - in a country going through its sharpest recession since the 2001-02 collapse, and with almost 50% inflation this year (the highest since 1991).

Construction fell 15.9% in November from a year ago, and manufacturing by 13.3% - the sharpest drop in the world.

Tapping in

Rates since late 2015, when Macri took office, are now up 332% for tollways; 500% for public transport; 515% for water; 2136% for electricity; and 3008% for gas.

The hikes have also drawn accusations of self-dealing against Macri, whose family are significant shareholders in Argentina's 2nd-largest electric company and its largest tollway operator.

"People need to know the motives behind this," City Legislator Leandro Santoro, a Macri opponent and academic, said.

"First, there's the IMF's demands that utility and transport subsidies end."

"Second, they want utility firms to earn even more profits than they've been doing already. This is why rates have been dollarized, while our salaries remain in (devalued) pesos."

"And third, there's inflation itself."


Overall prices have risen nearly 170% since late 2015. Real wages have meanwhile dropped by around 18%.

Macri had run largely on beating inflation - already running at 25% annually under his center-left predecessor, Cristina Kirchner.

"It's the easiest thing," he boasted during the 2015 campaign. "Inflation is a sign of government incompetence, and with us it won't be an issue."

At: https://translate.google.com/translate?hl=en&sl=es&tl=en&u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.diarioregistrado.com%2Fsociedad%2Fruidazo-nacional--protestas-en-todo-el-pais-contra-los-tarifazos-del-gobierno_a5c2ff316e734eb6317267f1e



Argentines protest new utility and transport rate hikes averaging around 50% - bringing total rate hikes to up to 3000% since Macri took office.

Seen here are protesters in the Buenos Aires intersection of Callao and Santa Fe Avenues - in the heart of the city's upscale Recoleta district.

Recoleta voters gave Macri 79% of their vote in 2015, and 66% in the 2017 midterms.
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Argentines stage nationwide protest against new round of Macri tariff hikes (Original Post) sandensea Jan 2019 OP
The people gathered at the intersection look very quiet, don't they?Hardly trouble makers or rebels. Judi Lynn Jan 2019 #1
You've got a very observant eye, Judi. sandensea Jan 2019 #2
So pleasant! Loved the street widening into the boulevard, the beautiful trees, Judi Lynn Jan 2019 #3

Judi Lynn

(160,219 posts)
1. The people gathered at the intersection look very quiet, don't they?Hardly trouble makers or rebels.
Mon Jan 7, 2019, 06:06 AM
Jan 2019

They look like people who are almost in shock that someone could have destroyed the economy so fast, while pretending the previous President was ruining it.

They are staid, middle class people, some older people. Their lives are totally turned upside down. They know if they give the government any excuse to start going after them, the war will be on, and the people will suffer horrendous loss, and pain.

What a shame it is when right-wingers get control of the security of a country and can turn the military and the police against the people whenever they want, or be charged with crimes against the state, themselves, and probably be murdered, too.

From the article:

Argentines protest new utility and transport rate hikes averaging around 50% - bringing total rate hikes to up to 3000% since Macri took office.

Shocking.

Thank you for sharing the most recent information here, sandensea. So appreciated.

sandensea

(21,530 posts)
2. You've got a very observant eye, Judi.
Mon Jan 7, 2019, 02:34 PM
Jan 2019

I think you described the typical Recoleta resident very well: because despite its reputation as a "wealthy" neighborhood (and some are), most are simply middle/upper-middle class people trying to do their best.

And besides dealing with the worst inflation in 28 years, Macri raised their income taxes by slyly using bracket creep: Letting inflation itself push people into higher brackets.

Recoleta probably gave him his biggest margin anywhere in Argentina in 2015: a lopsided 79-21. They were doing reasonably well (much better than in 2003, I can tell you); but thought they could do better with these Bush-style miscreants.

"His father's from Italy, like my people - but they made good, and he'll do the same for Argentina," many thought.

"He's not like Cristina's bunch, who give our tax money to lazy indians. He's white and shares our values," others thought.

You know, I wish that had been even half true.

But they don't call him the 'Trump of the Pampas' for nothing.

On a lighter note here's a tour of Recoleta for you, Judi (the first 4:30 minutes). Enjoy:

Judi Lynn

(160,219 posts)
3. So pleasant! Loved the street widening into the boulevard, the beautiful trees,
Tue Jan 8, 2019, 02:05 AM
Jan 2019

wonderful apartment buildings or hotels, etc.

What a well-done city. What a shame they've had some power-mad mayors!

How could anyone not love living there?

Maybe people who had been designated as political enemies by the fascists could start seeing it as a scary place to live, but the city is more beautiful than strangers would every imagine!

Didn't know some idiots had started smearing indigenous people there with the same slurs they have used in this country against almost every ethnic group. Well, it figures. Isn't that disgusting? Such small-minded, idiotic people. Simply shows they are dumb as mud, and not worth much themselves, as human beings.

Looks as if some of those streets are very, very old. They are great.

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