Argentina’s Javier ‘Chainsaw’ Milei Slashes 15 Thousand Taxpayer-Funded State Jobs, Fulfilling Campaign Promise – Unions Stage Protests
When he was elected President of Argentina, the libertarian economist and TV personality Javier Milei became responsible for tackling a very serious problem: how to turn around an economy destroyed by the Peronist socialists who drove almost 60% of the citizens below the poverty line.
And what’s worse: how to do that while being maligned non-stop by the leftist MSM that helps fuel the internal opposition.
The Milei response has been to plow along and try to implement his policies as fast and as broadly as possible.
Yesterday (3), another step in this direction was taken, as Argentina announced that it had cut 15,000 taxpayer-funded state jobs.
It’s ‘the chainsaw’ in action, as promised during the campaign.
Milei’s aggressive campaign to slash spending put his government on a collision course with angry protesters and powerful trade unions.
Associated Press reported:
“Presidential spokesperson Manuel Adorni announced the job cuts in a news conference, portraying them as key to Milei’s promised shake-up of Argentina’s bloated public sector.
“It’s part of the work we are doing to reduce state expenses,” he told reporters, describing the dismissed workers as a drag on taxpayers. “They perhaps did not have a very defined job,” he said.”
Employees stormed some state companies in Buenos Aires and nearby cities, while the Association of State Workers, or ATE, brought a crowd of protesters to ministries.
“Workers at ministries that Mileli has vowed to close, such as the National Institute Against Discrimination, along with a range of state agencies — including the ministries for the economy, energy and social security — received the latest layoff notices.”
Critics say the impact of the laid off workers is combined with the reduction of social programs, to create a critical situation.
“Milei campaigned for president while brandishing a chainsaw — promising to fix Argentina’s long-troubled economy by chopping down the size of the state. Determined to balance the country’s budget, he has slashed energy and transportation subsidies, halted public works, cut payments to provincial governments and devalued the peso by over 50% to close the gap between the official exchange rate and the black market rate.”
The inflation has spiked, making it even harder for Argentines to manage.
The confrontation will make it harder to achieve a zero budget deficit by the year’s end.
“’They are walking a very thin line’, said Martin Planes from Cefeidas, a Buenos Aires-based political advisory group. ‘They need to go deeper with their measures to cut spending, but they need to prevent social unrest’.”
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