A coffee for $3.50: Argentina is the most expensive country in Latin America

[I Love Mate]

Coffee prices here drive me nuts. So expensive. In the typical place in Soho or Hollywood you will pay as much or more than NYC or Seattle or Miami.

And the coffee in the grocery stores here are dogshit and expensive. When you grab those purple bricks of Cabrales at Coto, you aren't just paying for roasted beans. You are paying for the infamous "Argentine Cost". This is a term locals use to describe the massive web of hidden expenses required to operate a business and move goods inside the country.

@CXA here there are a lot of extra costs. They don't make coffee here and it's 100% imported and 100% taxed.

Unlike your Ribeye, which is produced right here in the Pampas, Argentina does not grow commercial coffee. Every single bean has to cross an international border. Even though the government is slowly opening up trade, those beans are still slapped with import tariffs, customs fees, and administrative costs before they even leave the port of Buenos Aires.

Argentina has one of the most punishing corporate tax structures in the world, specifically because of a provincial tax called Ingresos Brutos (Gross Receipts Tax).

• The importer pays a tax to bring the beans in.
• They sell to Cabrales, and pay a tax.
• Cabrales roasts and packages it, sells it to the supermarket, and pays a tax.
• Coto puts it on the shelf, charges you the 21% IVA (Value Added Tax), and pays another tax. Because this tax cascades at every single step of the supply chain, a massive chunk of that cost is going straight to the government, not the coffee grower.

Logistics in Argentina are crazy expensive. The trucking unions have a virtual monopoly on freight. Moving a container of raw coffee beans from the port to a roasting facility, and then distributing the finished vacuum-sealed packages to supermarkets across the country, costs a fortune in freight fees, toll costs, and required transit insurance.

You aren't just importing coffee; the materials needed to keep it fresh are often imported, too. The specialized aluminum foil, the plastics, and the high-end industrial machinery required to roast and vacuum-seal that specific coffee are all subject to the exact same import friction, taxes, and high domestic utility costs.

Ultimately, the global price of Arabica is just a tiny fraction of the equation. You are paying a premium to drag that coffee through the Argentine bureaucratic and logistical gauntlet. It is a nightmare! My friend owns a coffee shop and when I bust his balls about how expensive it is I have to him explaining all of this to me.

Thank you for this explanation. I am lucky I don't like coffee. I love Mate. But this explains why coffee is so much here.

 

[CXA]

I am a long term resident and not able to vote in presidential elections - But i could vote i dont think I would vote for him.

Mainly because there is no real plane and I feel he is being very economical with the truth as to what will ahppen in the next couple of years.

The 10% inflation target is just one example of a crazy plan that is almost impossible to acheive

That is sad to hear people say they would not vote for the new president. Here in China the news say he doing good job but that opposite of what all you say.

Is inflation target 10% or did he say 0%? It sound both are impossible.

 

[GlasgowJohn]

That is sad to hear people say they would not vote for the new president. Here in China the news say he doing good job but that opposite of what all you say.

Is inflation target 10% or did he say 0%? It sound both are impossible.

10% was the annual target in the governmnet budget for the year

O% was the monthly target originally in April but now August

But a couple of days agao , i read Caputo talking about inflation beginning with a 0... so 0.9% is now the monthly inflation target for August.

 

[lemonade]

10% was the annual target in the governmnet budget for the year

O% was the monthly target originally in April but now August

But a couple of days agao , i read Caputo talking about inflation beginning with a 0... so 0.9% is now the monthly inflation target for August.

But that is hogwash. They will not get there. How will they get there when real monthly inflation is closer to 4% to 5%?

 

[Petey]

Coffee prices here drive me nuts. So expensive. In the typical place in Soho or Hollywood you will pay as much or more than NYC or Seattle or Miami.

And the coffee in the grocery stores here are dogshit and expensive. When you grab those purple bricks of Cabrales at Coto, you aren't just paying for roasted beans. You are paying for the infamous "Argentine Cost". This is a term locals use to describe the massive web of hidden expenses required to operate a business and move goods inside the country.

@CXA here there are a lot of extra costs. They don't make coffee here and it's 100% imported and 100% taxed.

Unlike your Ribeye, which is produced right here in the Pampas, Argentina does not grow commercial coffee. Every single bean has to cross an international border. Even though the government is slowly opening up trade, those beans are still slapped with import tariffs, customs fees, and administrative costs before they even leave the port of Buenos Aires.

Argentina has one of the most punishing corporate tax structures in the world, specifically because of a provincial tax called Ingresos Brutos (Gross Receipts Tax).

• The importer pays a tax to bring the beans in.
• They sell to Cabrales, and pay a tax.
• Cabrales roasts and packages it, sells it to the supermarket, and pays a tax.
• Coto puts it on the shelf, charges you the 21% IVA (Value Added Tax), and pays another tax. Because this tax cascades at every single step of the supply chain, a massive chunk of that cost is going straight to the government, not the coffee grower.

Logistics in Argentina are crazy expensive. The trucking unions have a virtual monopoly on freight. Moving a container of raw coffee beans from the port to a roasting facility, and then distributing the finished vacuum-sealed packages to supermarkets across the country, costs a fortune in freight fees, toll costs, and required transit insurance.

You aren't just importing coffee; the materials needed to keep it fresh are often imported, too. The specialized aluminum foil, the plastics, and the high-end industrial machinery required to roast and vacuum-seal that specific coffee are all subject to the exact same import friction, taxes, and high domestic utility costs.

Ultimately, the global price of Arabica is just a tiny fraction of the equation. You are paying a premium to drag that coffee through the Argentine bureaucratic and logistical gauntlet. It is a nightmare! My friend owns a coffee shop and when I bust his balls about how expensive it is I have to him explaining all of this to me.

I would have to think that with a drop in consumption like what we are seeing many of these places will fold. There is only a limit to how much they can raise prices. Many are at American city prices and we have a lot higher inflation in Argentina. Labor costs, rent, utilities will all keep going up here so either they have to reduce profit margins (which I don't see happening) or raise prices. Most seem to rather keep prices high and eventually declare bankruptcy and close vs just price lower and get more volume. It is strange. I only see that here in Argentina.

 

[Cardiac Arrest]

10% was the annual target in the governmnet budget for the year

O% was the monthly target originally in April but now August

But a couple of days agao , i read Caputo talking about inflation beginning with a 0... so 0.9% is now the monthly inflation target for August.

🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣

Now that is really funny. I didn't know Caputo was a comedian.

 

[ben]

I would have to think that with a drop in consumption like what we are seeing many of these places will fold. There is only a limit to how much they can raise prices. Many are at American city prices and we have a lot higher inflation in Argentina. Labor costs, rent, utilities will all keep going up here so either they have to reduce profit margins (which I don't see happening) or raise prices. Most seem to rather keep prices high and eventually declare bankruptcy and close vs just price lower and get more volume. It is strange. I only see that here in Argentina.

Correct! They would rather go out of business. It is interesting reading several Reddit posts.

https://www.quora.com/Why-Argentina-never-takes-off-as-a-world-power-despite-all-of-its-potential-culture-and-natural-resources

 

[Finance Prof]

10% was the annual target in the governmnet budget for the year

O% was the monthly target originally in April but now August

But a couple of days agao , i read Caputo talking about inflation beginning with a 0... so 0.9% is now the monthly inflation target for August.

No way we will see 10% annual any time soon.

JP Morgan doesn't see it either.

JP Morgan tampoco la ve: inflación del 3% para marzo y recién caerá al 1,5% para el segundo semestre

La entidad dice que los datos indican que el IPC de los alimentos se sitúa en un 2% mensual, "una desaceleración respecto al mes anterior".

eleconomista.com.ar

 

[Allah]

No way we will see 10% annual any time soon.

JP Morgan doesn't see it either.

JP Morgan tampoco la ve: inflación del 3% para marzo y recién caerá al 1,5% para el segundo semestre

La entidad dice que los datos indican que el IPC de los alimentos se sitúa en un 2% mensual, "una desaceleración respecto al mes anterior".

eleconomista.com.ar

View attachment 10615

"While we expect additional high-frequency data, higher education prices associated with the start of the school year, along with new regulated price adjustments for electricity, water and fuel, suggest that the overall CPI will also be close to 3% per month in March, despite the fall in food prices," predicted JP Morgan.

The bank warns that in general, it is expected that the anticipation of regulated price increases and persistently high meat prices "to keep monthly general inflation above the 2% threshold until the beginning of the second quarter of 2026."

This doesn't even count the war and what effect it will have. People all tell me it is higher than 3% now. Funny how they magically just keep it the same 2.9% even though the cost of everything has gone up.

 

[Silvia]

Before Milei took office, I had a good life.

I wasn't wealthy by any means. But I was comfortable.

My husband ran a shop in Flores. 26 years of hard work. 4 people on their payroll. A storefront they finally paid off completely in 2021.

I helped him with the business. Customers came in. It wasn't glamorous, but the books were always in the green by the end of the month.

December 2023: Milei is inaugurated.

January 2024: The devaluation hits.

The exchange rate spikes from 400 to 800 pesos practically overnight.

I had 4,000,000 pesos put away to replenish inventory.

In a span of 24 hours, my purchasing power was slashed in half.

'Don't panic,' I told myself. 'It's just a phase. The economy will stabilize.'

February 2024: Revenue plummets by 65%.

Nobody is spending. The streets are dry. We've hit a recession.

My husband had to let 2 of his workers go. He breaks down in tears. Our son works at the shop and his kids. He has kids to feed.

March 2024: Sales are down 75%.

He can no longer afford the lease on his storage unit. He had to shut it down.

He is sitting on 3,000,000 pesos worth of stock purchased back in November. Now he is forced to liquidate it all at cost just to move it.

April 2024: He let his last employee go.

Now it's just me. Standing in an empty shop with him. Drowning in debt.

May 2024: We are forced to sell our car.

A 2018 Peugeot that meant the world to us. I financed it and finally made the last payment in 2022.

I hand over the keys because I need to put food on the table. And cover my taxes.

June 2024: We shutter the business permanently.

Twenty-six years.

A quarter-century of our life.

Completely wiped out.

I list the commercial space for lease. Zero interest. The district is a ghost town. Seventy percent of the local shops are boarded up.

July 2024: He pivots to selling on MercadoLibre.

Operating out of my living room. Pushing whatever leftover inventory remains.

He is not a businessman anymore. Just a desperate man bleeding money on every sale.

August 2024: He sells the physical store.

The property we earned through two decades of blood and sweat. The one we finally owned outright just a few years prior.

We let it go for exactly half of what it originally cost us.

In USD

Because we are desperate for liquidity. Right this second.

September 2024: My marriage falls apart.

'I can't handle living like this anymore,' he tells me.

'You're not the same person,' he says.

I haven't changed. The system just broke me.

October 2024: I move back into my mother's house.

82 years old. Sleeping in my childhood home.

Clinging to the remains of the property sale: $25,000 dollars.

The sum total of a lifetime of labor.

November 2024: I hit the pavement looking for a job.

Nobody is hiring. 'You're past your prime,' they say. We can't meet your salary expectations.'

I'm only asking for 600,000 pesos. Entry-level wages.

But still, absolutely nothing.

December 2024: The one-year mark of the Milei administration.

The final tally:

• Shop shuttered ✓
• Staff let go ✓
• Vehicle liquidated ✓
• Real estate sold off ✓
• Marriage ruined ✓
• Back under my mother's roof ✓
• Life savings decimated ✓

But on the bright side, monthly inflation cooled from 25% to 3%.

A truly spectacular victory.

January 2025: I sign up to drive for Uber.

A fifty seven -year-old chauffeur.

Driving a leased vehicle.

Twelve-hour shifts.

I bring in 450,000 pesos a month.

I used to clear 2,500,000.

February 2025: I cross paths with my former worker.

The guy who broke down when I handed him his walking papers.

He's living on the pavement. Asking for change.

Alongside his three children.

I can't even toss him a coin. I've got nothing left to give.

March 2025: Here we are today.

I'm behind the wheel for 14 hours straight.

I share a roof with my elderly mother.

I'm down to my last $6,000 dollars (the rest vanished just trying to survive).

The legacy of two and a half decades of labor.

And then I scroll through X and see:

'People complaining are just refusing to evolve' 'Those failing to get ahead simply don't want to work' 'Milei rescued the nation'

I put in twenty-five years of hard labor.

I spent my entire life adapting to this country.

And they decimated my existence in just twelve months.

It wasn't a slow decline.

It wasn't 'global context.'

It was an ATOMIC BOMB dropped squarely on the working middle class.

And now society claims the blame is on me.

That I should have 'made smarter investments.'

That I should have 'expanded my assets.'

I pushed APPLIANCES for a living.

I was never trying to be a Wall Street tycoon.

I was just a working stiff.

And they completely liquidated me.

Me, a person operating in PESOS her entire career...

I wound up with nothing but the clothes on my back.

Yet they insist the economic model is a success.

A success for whom exactly?

I don't follow the Kirchners.

I have no loyalty to Peronism.

I cast my ballot for Milei because he sold us a vision of liberty and growth.

He handed me POVERTY.

That is my reality.

Feel free to doubt every word.

Go ahead and claim I'm being dramatic.

 

[globetrot]

This is absolutely insane. I'm not paying on average $20 bucks for a meal. How do Argentines on Argentine salaries survive?

 

[ElQueso]

Before Milei took office, I had a good life.

I wasn't wealthy by any means. But I was comfortable.

My husband ran a shop in Flores. 26 years of hard work. 4 people on their payroll. A storefront they finally paid off completely in 2021.

I helped him with the business. Customers came in. It wasn't glamorous, but the books were always in the green by the end of the month.

December 2023: Milei is inaugurated.

January 2024: The devaluation hits.

The exchange rate spikes from 400 to 800 pesos practically overnight.

I had 4,000,000 pesos put away to replenish inventory.

In a span of 24 hours, my purchasing power was slashed in half.

'Don't panic,' I told myself. 'It's just a phase. The economy will stabilize.'

February 2024: Revenue plummets by 65%.

Nobody is spending. The streets are dry. We've hit a recession.

My husband had to let 2 of his workers go. He breaks down in tears. Our son works at the shop and his kids. He has kids to feed.

March 2024: Sales are down 75%.

He can no longer afford the lease on his storage unit. He had to shut it down.

He is sitting on 3,000,000 pesos worth of stock purchased back in November. Now he is forced to liquidate it all at cost just to move it.

April 2024: He let his last employee go.

Now it's just me. Standing in an empty shop with him. Drowning in debt.

May 2024: We are forced to sell our car.

A 2018 Peugeot that meant the world to us. I financed it and finally made the last payment in 2022.

I hand over the keys because I need to put food on the table. And cover my taxes.

June 2024: We shutter the business permanently.

Twenty-six years.

A quarter-century of our life.

Completely wiped out.

I list the commercial space for lease. Zero interest. The district is a ghost town. Seventy percent of the local shops are boarded up.

July 2024: He pivots to selling on MercadoLibre.

Operating out of my living room. Pushing whatever leftover inventory remains.

He is not a businessman anymore. Just a desperate man bleeding money on every sale.

August 2024: He sells the physical store.

The property we earned through two decades of blood and sweat. The one we finally owned outright just a few years prior.

We let it go for exactly half of what it originally cost us.

In USD

Because we are desperate for liquidity. Right this second.

September 2024: My marriage falls apart.

'I can't handle living like this anymore,' he tells me.

'You're not the same person,' he says.

I haven't changed. The system just broke me.

October 2024: I move back into my mother's house.

82 years old. Sleeping in my childhood home.

Clinging to the remains of the property sale: $25,000 dollars.

The sum total of a lifetime of labor.

November 2024: I hit the pavement looking for a job.

Nobody is hiring. 'You're past your prime,' they say. We can't meet your salary expectations.'

I'm only asking for 600,000 pesos. Entry-level wages.

But still, absolutely nothing.

December 2024: The one-year mark of the Milei administration.

The final tally:

• Shop shuttered ✓
• Staff let go ✓
• Vehicle liquidated ✓
• Real estate sold off ✓
• Marriage ruined ✓
• Back under my mother's roof ✓
• Life savings decimated ✓

But on the bright side, monthly inflation cooled from 25% to 3%.

A truly spectacular victory.

January 2025: I sign up to drive for Uber.

A fifty seven -year-old chauffeur.

Driving a leased vehicle.

Twelve-hour shifts.

I bring in 450,000 pesos a month.

I used to clear 2,500,000.

February 2025: I cross paths with my former worker.

The guy who broke down when I handed him his walking papers.

He's living on the pavement. Asking for change.

Alongside his three children.

I can't even toss him a coin. I've got nothing left to give.

March 2025: Here we are today.

I'm behind the wheel for 14 hours straight.

I share a roof with my elderly mother.

I'm down to my last $6,000 dollars (the rest vanished just trying to survive).

The legacy of two and a half decades of labor.

And then I scroll through X and see:

'People complaining are just refusing to evolve' 'Those failing to get ahead simply don't want to work' 'Milei rescued the nation'

I put in twenty-five years of hard labor.

I spent my entire life adapting to this country.

And they decimated my existence in just twelve months.

It wasn't a slow decline.

It wasn't 'global context.'

It was an ATOMIC BOMB dropped squarely on the working middle class.

And now society claims the blame is on me.

That I should have 'made smarter investments.'

That I should have 'expanded my assets.'

I pushed APPLIANCES for a living.

I was never trying to be a Wall Street tycoon.

I was just a working stiff.

And they completely liquidated me.

Me, a person operating in PESOS her entire career...

I wound up with nothing but the clothes on my back.

Yet they insist the economic model is a success.

A success for whom exactly?

I don't follow the Kirchners.

I have no loyalty to Peronism.

I cast my ballot for Milei because he sold us a vision of liberty and growth.

He handed me POVERTY.

That is my reality.

Feel free to doubt every word.

Go ahead and claim I'm being dramatic.

Very sorry to hear you are going through this Silvia. I will pray for you and your family. Hard times.

 

[Avocado]

Before Milei took office, I had a good life.

I wasn't wealthy by any means. But I was comfortable.

My husband ran a shop in Flores. 26 years of hard work. 4 people on their payroll. A storefront they finally paid off completely in 2021.

I helped him with the business. Customers came in. It wasn't glamorous, but the books were always in the green by the end of the month.

December 2023: Milei is inaugurated.

January 2024: The devaluation hits.

The exchange rate spikes from 400 to 800 pesos practically overnight.

I had 4,000,000 pesos put away to replenish inventory.

In a span of 24 hours, my purchasing power was slashed in half.

'Don't panic,' I told myself. 'It's just a phase. The economy will stabilize.'

February 2024: Revenue plummets by 65%.

Nobody is spending. The streets are dry. We've hit a recession.

My husband had to let 2 of his workers go. He breaks down in tears. Our son works at the shop and his kids. He has kids to feed.

March 2024: Sales are down 75%.

He can no longer afford the lease on his storage unit. He had to shut it down.

He is sitting on 3,000,000 pesos worth of stock purchased back in November. Now he is forced to liquidate it all at cost just to move it.

April 2024: He let his last employee go.

Now it's just me. Standing in an empty shop with him. Drowning in debt.

May 2024: We are forced to sell our car.

A 2018 Peugeot that meant the world to us. I financed it and finally made the last payment in 2022.

I hand over the keys because I need to put food on the table. And cover my taxes.

June 2024: We shutter the business permanently.

Twenty-six years.

A quarter-century of our life.

Completely wiped out.

I list the commercial space for lease. Zero interest. The district is a ghost town. Seventy percent of the local shops are boarded up.

July 2024: He pivots to selling on MercadoLibre.

Operating out of my living room. Pushing whatever leftover inventory remains.

He is not a businessman anymore. Just a desperate man bleeding money on every sale.

August 2024: He sells the physical store.

The property we earned through two decades of blood and sweat. The one we finally owned outright just a few years prior.

We let it go for exactly half of what it originally cost us.

In USD

Because we are desperate for liquidity. Right this second.

September 2024: My marriage falls apart.

'I can't handle living like this anymore,' he tells me.

'You're not the same person,' he says.

I haven't changed. The system just broke me.

October 2024: I move back into my mother's house.

82 years old. Sleeping in my childhood home.

Clinging to the remains of the property sale: $25,000 dollars.

The sum total of a lifetime of labor.

November 2024: I hit the pavement looking for a job.

Nobody is hiring. 'You're past your prime,' they say. We can't meet your salary expectations.'

I'm only asking for 600,000 pesos. Entry-level wages.

But still, absolutely nothing.

December 2024: The one-year mark of the Milei administration.

The final tally:

• Shop shuttered ✓
• Staff let go ✓
• Vehicle liquidated ✓
• Real estate sold off ✓
• Marriage ruined ✓
• Back under my mother's roof ✓
• Life savings decimated ✓

But on the bright side, monthly inflation cooled from 25% to 3%.

A truly spectacular victory.

January 2025: I sign up to drive for Uber.

A fifty seven -year-old chauffeur.

Driving a leased vehicle.

Twelve-hour shifts.

I bring in 450,000 pesos a month.

I used to clear 2,500,000.

February 2025: I cross paths with my former worker.

The guy who broke down when I handed him his walking papers.

He's living on the pavement. Asking for change.

Alongside his three children.

I can't even toss him a coin. I've got nothing left to give.

March 2025: Here we are today.

I'm behind the wheel for 14 hours straight.

I share a roof with my elderly mother.

I'm down to my last $6,000 dollars (the rest vanished just trying to survive).

The legacy of two and a half decades of labor.

And then I scroll through X and see:

'People complaining are just refusing to evolve' 'Those failing to get ahead simply don't want to work' 'Milei rescued the nation'

I put in twenty-five years of hard labor.

I spent my entire life adapting to this country.

And they decimated my existence in just twelve months.

It wasn't a slow decline.

It wasn't 'global context.'

It was an ATOMIC BOMB dropped squarely on the working middle class.

And now society claims the blame is on me.

That I should have 'made smarter investments.'

That I should have 'expanded my assets.'

I pushed APPLIANCES for a living.

I was never trying to be a Wall Street tycoon.

I was just a working stiff.

And they completely liquidated me.

Me, a person operating in PESOS her entire career...

I wound up with nothing but the clothes on my back.

Yet they insist the economic model is a success.

A success for whom exactly?

I don't follow the Kirchners.

I have no loyalty to Peronism.

I cast my ballot for Milei because he sold us a vision of liberty and growth.

He handed me POVERTY.

That is my reality.

Feel free to doubt every word.

Go ahead and claim I'm being dramatic.

Terrible. So many similar stories out there. Milei did this.

 

[PhilipDT]

@Matt G , Milei is still in place beacuse the opposition are in even more of a mess . The opposition has no leader to debate with Milei . Insults do not work - they need someone with an alternative plan to onvince the floating voter.

At th emoment I cannt see anyone good enough to do that.

This seems to be a common thing I hear. It sounds like many aren't happy with the state of things but what choice do they have? Even some of my friends that strongly supported Milei in the beginning aren't so sure things will shake out well now. I don't think there is any alternative?

@GlasgowJohn what do you think of Villaruel? She has been through so much with Milei but it seems like that relationship is not repairable and his base does not support her. I saw her approval rating was less than 15% which would be impossible now. It seems like if she just towed the party line she would be President after him. Oh well.

 

[ben]

Before Milei took office, I had a good life.

I wasn't wealthy by any means. But I was comfortable.

My husband ran a shop in Flores. 26 years of hard work. 4 people on their payroll. A storefront they finally paid off completely in 2021.

I helped him with the business. Customers came in. It wasn't glamorous, but the books were always in the green by the end of the month.

December 2023: Milei is inaugurated.

January 2024: The devaluation hits.

The exchange rate spikes from 400 to 800 pesos practically overnight.

I had 4,000,000 pesos put away to replenish inventory.

In a span of 24 hours, my purchasing power was slashed in half.

'Don't panic,' I told myself. 'It's just a phase. The economy will stabilize.'

February 2024: Revenue plummets by 65%.

Nobody is spending. The streets are dry. We've hit a recession.

My husband had to let 2 of his workers go. He breaks down in tears. Our son works at the shop and his kids. He has kids to feed.

March 2024: Sales are down 75%.

He can no longer afford the lease on his storage unit. He had to shut it down.

He is sitting on 3,000,000 pesos worth of stock purchased back in November. Now he is forced to liquidate it all at cost just to move it.

April 2024: He let his last employee go.

Now it's just me. Standing in an empty shop with him. Drowning in debt.

May 2024: We are forced to sell our car.

A 2018 Peugeot that meant the world to us. I financed it and finally made the last payment in 2022.

I hand over the keys because I need to put food on the table. And cover my taxes.

June 2024: We shutter the business permanently.

Twenty-six years.

A quarter-century of our life.

Completely wiped out.

I list the commercial space for lease. Zero interest. The district is a ghost town. Seventy percent of the local shops are boarded up.

July 2024: He pivots to selling on MercadoLibre.

Operating out of my living room. Pushing whatever leftover inventory remains.

He is not a businessman anymore. Just a desperate man bleeding money on every sale.

August 2024: He sells the physical store.

The property we earned through two decades of blood and sweat. The one we finally owned outright just a few years prior.

We let it go for exactly half of what it originally cost us.

In USD

Because we are desperate for liquidity. Right this second.

September 2024: My marriage falls apart.

'I can't handle living like this anymore,' he tells me.

'You're not the same person,' he says.

I haven't changed. The system just broke me.

October 2024: I move back into my mother's house.

82 years old. Sleeping in my childhood home.

Clinging to the remains of the property sale: $25,000 dollars.

The sum total of a lifetime of labor.

November 2024: I hit the pavement looking for a job.

Nobody is hiring. 'You're past your prime,' they say. We can't meet your salary expectations.'

I'm only asking for 600,000 pesos. Entry-level wages.

But still, absolutely nothing.

December 2024: The one-year mark of the Milei administration.

The final tally:

• Shop shuttered ✓
• Staff let go ✓
• Vehicle liquidated ✓
• Real estate sold off ✓
• Marriage ruined ✓
• Back under my mother's roof ✓
• Life savings decimated ✓

But on the bright side, monthly inflation cooled from 25% to 3%.

A truly spectacular victory.

January 2025: I sign up to drive for Uber.

A fifty seven -year-old chauffeur.

Driving a leased vehicle.

Twelve-hour shifts.

I bring in 450,000 pesos a month.

I used to clear 2,500,000.

February 2025: I cross paths with my former worker.

The guy who broke down when I handed him his walking papers.

He's living on the pavement. Asking for change.

Alongside his three children.

I can't even toss him a coin. I've got nothing left to give.

March 2025: Here we are today.

I'm behind the wheel for 14 hours straight.

I share a roof with my elderly mother.

I'm down to my last $6,000 dollars (the rest vanished just trying to survive).

The legacy of two and a half decades of labor.

And then I scroll through X and see:

'People complaining are just refusing to evolve' 'Those failing to get ahead simply don't want to work' 'Milei rescued the nation'

I put in twenty-five years of hard labor.

I spent my entire life adapting to this country.

And they decimated my existence in just twelve months.

It wasn't a slow decline.

It wasn't 'global context.'

It was an ATOMIC BOMB dropped squarely on the working middle class.

And now society claims the blame is on me.

That I should have 'made smarter investments.'

That I should have 'expanded my assets.'

I pushed APPLIANCES for a living.

I was never trying to be a Wall Street tycoon.

I was just a working stiff.

And they completely liquidated me.

Me, a person operating in PESOS her entire career...

I wound up with nothing but the clothes on my back.

Yet they insist the economic model is a success.

A success for whom exactly?

I don't follow the Kirchners.

I have no loyalty to Peronism.

I cast my ballot for Milei because he sold us a vision of liberty and growth.

He handed me POVERTY.

That is my reality.

Feel free to doubt every word.

Go ahead and claim I'm being dramatic.

This is so sad to hear @Silvia. Hang on there.

 

[GlasgowJohn]

This seems to be a common thing I hear. It sounds like many aren't happy with the state of things but what choice do they have? Even some of my friends that strongly supported Milei in the beginning aren't so sure things will shake out well now. I don't think there is any alternative?

@GlasgowJohn what do you think of Villaruel? She has been through so much with Milei but it seems like that relationship is not repairable and his base does not support her. I saw her approval rating was less than 15% which would be impossible now. It seems like if she just towed the party line she would be President after him. Oh well.

@PhilipDT , Milei wants Villaruel to resign but she wont do that. The word in the streets is that she wants to be a candidate for the big job at the next elections. She is a shrewd politician but at the moment she has no major backer.

 

[Betsy Ross]

@PhilipDT , Milei wants Villaruel to resign but she wont do that. The word in the streets is that she wants to be a candidate for the big job at the next elections. She is a shrewd politician but at the moment she has no major backer.

I don't think she has any shot at all based on the polls. Most think she is a traitor.

 

[GlasgowJohn]

I don't think she has any shot at all based on the polls. Most think she is a traitor.

Milei and his team say she is a traitor.

She says she is carrying out the role of VP of Argentina . Not the VP of one party but the VP of all Argentines

 

[import export]

Milei and his team say she is a traitor.

She says she is carrying out the role of VP of Argentina . Not the VP of one party but the VP of all Argentines

I actually know many people in Argentina that say she is very level headed. It is a good distinction that Milei is the one saying she is a traitor. Most of his base will do whatever he says or think. Kind of like Trump's base.

 

[GlasgowJohn]

I actually know many people in Argentina that say she is very level headed. It is a good distinction that Milei is the one saying she is a traitor. Most of his base will do whatever he says or think. Kind of like Trump's base.

@import export , but will his base stay loyal to him?