Socialism and the Damage Done

[VINO]

I used the title Socialism and the Damage Done as sort of a parody of Neil Young's song about heroin which is another infamously tough cycle to break. The user rarely seeks help until they hit rock bottom, when the money's all gone and friends & family avoid them like the plague. Trust is the hardest thing to get back because people will always look at them as the same person who made all those bad decisions and caused so much pain.

It is a tough bridge to cross when you ask people to suffer while enriching yourself or your friends. They literally had his friends on video going through their safe deposit boxes. Nothing happened as it never does here.

Besides the blatant stealing when you cut back across a bunch of different programs but increase it on intelligence gathering going up 52% makes many feel uneasy.

CEPA: Milei splashed cash on intelligence, slashed social budget in 2025

Report by CEPA think tank reveals cutbacks in sensitive areas; Sharp real-terms cuts to health, science, social development and public works last year, while intelligence funding jumped 52%.

www.batimes.com.ar

 

[Cheap Bastard]

Makes sense. I am hopeful for Argentina but my belief is that the hole is so deep and citizens will eventually tire of the endless sacrifices, especially when their President keeps getting caught in scandals. Sooner or later another charlatan will come along promising lots of goodies and voters will fall for it, and the cycle repeats itself. I wish it were otherwise but that is the history of democratic socialism.

But hey Milei thinks he is a superhero! That is all that matters. 🤣

Ironic that he Is launching in English because I heard he can't speak one word of English.

Milei launches English social media accounts with bizarre superhero animation - Buenos Aires Herald

The Argentine president published a video of a character called ‘General Ancap,’ who announced the new accounts and stated that Milei is a ‘real life hero’

buenosairesherald.com

 

[James Bond]

Awesome song! @James Bond how long did you live in Argentina? I am seeing that plenty of people have left Argentina. I am surprised as I thought Milei was making progress. The school tuition is a complaint I hear often. A friend has two kids and she is paying $2000 a month for both. I just don't know how the typical family with kids makes it here. What was the straw that broke the camels back with you leaving?

Lived in BA for a little over 10 years. Got excited when Milei won but just didn't think life would get easier for me or my girlfriend. Started the move in middle of 2024. I'm glad that they have slowed down inflation but I just thought that prices would go up in dollar terms and my savings are in dollars and Euros. That is exactly what has happened.

My girlfriend has an EU passport and so do I. I can work remotely but she couldn't and there weren't any good opportunities in Argentina for her. People don't want to talk about how the salaries in Argentina are dogshit low. The prices on everything have gone up. I have gone through cycles where it wasn't extremely cheap but it is not sustainable to have prices as high as they are with salaries as low as they are.

I realize that some things were too low. Utilities were very cheap. Same as transportation. But keep in mind my girlfriend was paying about $250 USD per month for her kid. It has jumped up to $1k a month. Healthcare premiums kept going up. General cost of living kept going up and still had to deal with the negatives of Argentina with nothing working.

BA is a fun city and I miss parts of it. But all my mates that were living there have either moved out or some are planning to this year.

Thank you Betsy, I was actually quite surprised that Milei would sacrifice his honor and respect for a few dollars. For awhile he held the world's attention as a crusader and a fresh face in South America, rooting out bureaucracy and corruption. The world was his oyster. Now he's just another bent politician in the eyes of foreigners, basically damaged goods. Articles about him in my newsfeed went from fascination to clickbait. Most of you locals saw this coming, but I did not.

All these politicians are the same. Milei's reputation fell. Even in Argentina about half in the country hate him. Look at the support on Twitter and other platforms and it has fallen. It is only a matter of time to me before people throw in the white flag. Many social programs are getting cut (which his sister got busted stealing from these programs). And now they are increasing the intelligence budget by 50%+.

I hope I am wrong and things turn around for the better. Inflation numbers are positive and that will buy some time but not as hopeful as some are.

 

[CraigM]

All these politicians are the same. Milei's reputation fell. Even in Argentina about half in the country hate him. Look at the support on Twitter and other platforms and it has fallen. It is only a matter of time to me before people throw in the white flag. Many social programs are getting cut (which his sister got busted stealing from these programs). And now they are increasing the intelligence budget by 50%+.

I hope I am wrong and things turn around for the better. Inflation numbers are positive and that will buy some time but not as hopeful as some are.

I hope so too. I still believe Milei's policies are by far the best option for Argentina, but he would have a much longer runway to create change if it wasn't for all the scandals.

 

[Blockchain]

I hope so too. I still believe Milei's policies are by far the best option for Argentina, but he would have a much longer runway to create change if it wasn't for all the scandals.

The policies look ok. The robbing from the social programs not so much. I would have to believe that people's patience are wearing thin when you are asked to sacrifice but then taking their money. That only lasts so long before people cry fowl.

 

[Betsy Ross]

I hope so too. I still believe Milei's policies are by far the best option for Argentina, but he would have a much longer runway to create change if it wasn't for all the scandals.

They are the best option for Argentina policy wise. Totally agree on the runway and time people will wait if you don't have scandal after scandal. Argentineans are a fickle bunch. You wait long enough and things can change quickly.

 

[Top Chef Fan]

But hey Milei thinks he is a superhero! That is all that matters. 🤣

Ironic that he Is launching in English because I heard he can't speak one word of English.

Milei launches English social media accounts with bizarre superhero animation - Buenos Aires Herald

The Argentine president published a video of a character called ‘General Ancap,’ who announced the new accounts and stated that Milei is a ‘real life hero’

buenosairesherald.com

Is it just me or does anyone think the guy has some mental issues? I think he actually thinks he is a real life superhero.

 

[Cheap Bastard]

I hope so too. I still believe Milei's policies are by far the best option for Argentina, but he would have a much longer runway to create change if it wasn't for all the scandals.

Hopefully they can stay away from scandals for the rest of the term before election season.

 

[Opera Fan]

I hope so too. I still believe Milei's policies are by far the best option for Argentina, but he would have a much longer runway to create change if it wasn't for all the scandals.

As long as salaries stay on pace with inflation, the runway will continue but this doesn't seem to be the case judging by what friends are telling me with their salaries. Most of my friends are falling behind on bills.

 

[Robert]

But hey Milei thinks he is a superhero! That is all that matters. 🤣

Ironic that he Is launching in English because I heard he can't speak one word of English.

Milei launches English social media accounts with bizarre superhero animation - Buenos Aires Herald

The Argentine president published a video of a character called ‘General Ancap,’ who announced the new accounts and stated that Milei is a ‘real life hero’

buenosairesherald.com

Hey give the guy a break. Here is a superhero in his mind.

 

[Uncle Wong]

Hey give the guy a break. Here is a superhero in his mind.

Milei fan or not. I doubt ANYONE wants to see his ass crack.

 

[Starfish]

https://finance.yahoo.com/news/houston-oil-ceo-calls-venezuela-230656306.html

"Venezuela is uninvestable" - Exxon CEO

For those of you with a soft spot for socialism, Kirchner, Kiciloff and the like, this is the kind of long term damage that socialism will do to a country. The US President is telling major oil companies "we're in control, the oil is bubbling to the surface, go get it" and the oil companies are saying "no way". The reason is that operations like natural resource extraction and distribution require enormous amounts of upfront capital and you need to know that your ability to recoup it all is protected by law, not just now but decades into the future. Like Argentina, Venezuela has outright seized assets and the population has deep socialist leanings and keeps electing people like Kiciloff. So nobody trusts them. Chile and Argentina share many of the same natural resource deposits yet only one of them is benefitting from it. The long term damage to Argentina's economy from this sort of mindset and behavior is mind-boggling when you think of foreign investment, jobs (real ones), exports (bringing in dollars), tax revenues etc.

Socialism is like heroin, feels so good until it feels so bad.

International companies don't invest in communist or socialist countries. I just posted this post about Starlink entering Argentina once Milei won.

Newcomer Post in thread 'Starlink in Argentina'

Sunday at 4:57 PM

Many of my friends that did not support President Milei grudgingly admit many things have drastically improved. No one misses all of the protestors blocking the street which was a weekly occurrence before. My friends in the South also LOVE the technology that has come into Argentina. It is difficult to believe that Argentina banned Starlink in the country before. Just 10 DAYS after coming into office Starlink came to Argentina. It went from nothing to over 700,000 subscriptions in less than 2 years.

You can see below the number of subscriptions in 2024 and again in 2025 for...

• Starfish

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• 
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[Silvia]

International companies don't invest in communist or socialist countries. I just posted this post about Starlink entering Argentina once Milei won.

Newcomer Post in thread 'Starlink in Argentina'

Sunday at 4:57 PM

Many of my friends that did not support President Milei grudgingly admit many things have drastically improved. No one misses all of the protestors blocking the street which was a weekly occurrence before. My friends in the South also LOVE the technology that has come into Argentina. It is difficult to believe that Argentina banned Starlink in the country before. Just 10 DAYS after coming into office Starlink came to Argentina. It went from nothing to over 700,000 subscriptions in less than 2 years.

You can see below the number of subscriptions in 2024 and again in 2025 for...

• Starfish

• 
• 
• 

But many Milei supporters also aren't logical. I laugh at interviews like this with people that are unemployed and lost their jobs. Let's see how much patience these people have.