The former president and vice president continued the discursive exchange that she has been holding with Javier Miley In recent days, after she published a public letter entitled “It’s the bimonetary economy, stupid” and which was answered by the President in public appearances, as well as in exchanges of tweets from both sides. On this occasion, he did so in an event or “master class” of the same format as those he has been giving over the last year.
There, Cristina Kirchner took the opportunity to try to polarize with the current government, discussing its economic conceptions and also certain historical definitions of the President, such as the unusual vindication of the oligarchic Argentina under the government of the genocidal Roca. Also and as usual, she again vindicated her management as president, although she avoided taking charge of the last four years in which she was vice president, accompanying on the ticket an Alberto Fernández appointed by herself.
Between chicanery and political elements, the former president called Javier Milei a “lunatic” and sought to reposition herself in the political scene at a time when a Major crisis in Peronism as a wholewithout clear leadership and where almost daily there are crossed statements between different sectors, even questioning the until recently undisputed leadership of the former president. Noteworthy were the words of Mayans, until then very close to Cristina, when he asked “What do we do with those who made Alberto President of the party?”
In that vein he placed his mention of the repression of retirees or his congratulations to the deputies who voted for the university financing law that the government is preparing to veto. Also his greeting to sectors of the Peronist youth movement for having won some student centers at the University of Buenos Aires.
Also, in the midst of the internal conflict, he took the opportunity to resume a partial exchange with the leadership of the CGT by stating that “The Family Allowance or the Universal Allowance per Child is very distributive, it is per child. It is one of the most distributive policies. Let us hope that this can be proposed by the CGT, that it is not a tactical move. Let us leave tactical moves behind. Why do I say this about the CGT? (…) Although we maintain the highest unionization rate in Latin America, an informal world has emerged (…) We cannot do like the ostrich, stick our heads in the hole.” However, while she throws the burden to the CGT – whose leadership has persistently ignored the serious situation of unemployed and informal workers – Cristina herself and the Kirchnerist governments as a whole have a fundamental responsibility in the development of these precarious forms of workwith the impetus of various flexible agreements. Even in the last Peronist government that ended last year, there was an increase in poverty. Cristina effectively “sticks her head in the hole” and does not give an answer about the impotence of her governments to solve these structural problems. On the contrary, she continues without putting on the table no alternative plan that contemplates reversing this situation. As we will return later, its priorities remain focused on the payment of the damned foreign debt.
Inflation: “Leave the Austrian school alone, grab the Argentine textbook and sit down to manage the country”
The former president spoke about the inflation and debt. “Milei talks about inflation lagging, which has a lag of 18 to 24 months. I forgive him, but he does not have a stabilization plan,” she said. The former president compared the current situation with the Austral Plan of 1985, pointing out that at that time inflation, which was around 28-30% monthly, was reduced to 5-6% the month after its implementation, stressing that inflation control requires concrete measures, not theories.
Cristina Fernandez questioned the Monetarist vision of the Government and he said “the biggest novelty of these nines is that the creature was born and the father realized that the ideas brought by the Austrians and I don’t know who else, hit the wall of Argentina. He continues to affirm that in reality it is nonsense, but his Minister of Economy says that they cannot devalue, which is what the IMF asks, because otherwise it would impact prices. How? Wasn’t it that inflation was, as Milton Friedman says, an exclusively monetary phenomenon. Look, President, get rid of Friedman, get rid of the Austrian school, find the Argentine manual and please sit down to administer the country.” The Government boasts that in these months inflation has dropped, but in August it rose to 4.2% as confirmed this week by Indec.
Inflation is a complex phenomenon that responds to a set of causes that feed back on each other, where the weakness of the local monetary sign and the recurrent external strangulation are key to understanding the inflationary problem in the country, which cannot be explained only by deficit and emission as the Government says. The Frente de Todos failed to contain prices and inflation accelerated during his term, with the Consumer Price Index jumping from 52.1% (a legacy of the Macri administration) in November 2019 year-on-year to 160.9% in the same month in 2023 year-on-year, according to data from Indec.
Dollar shortage and debt: should we pay for the scams?
In line with the text published last Friday, the former president insisted that the economic crisis is explained by the bimonetary economy and the lack of dollars aggravated by the debt. “In February we warned that the problem was not that, but the bimonetary economy, the shortage of dollars and when the country is in debt in dollars, especially since Macri’s government and the return of the IMF,” said Fernandez.
But also praised Milei “I recognize one thing: he managed to get this Mr. Valdés out, who does not seem to be a great friend of Argentina. I would have liked to see others take on that task… but let’s leave it there,” said the former president in reference to the negotiations with the Fund during the previous government as if she had not endorsed that renegotiation.
Cristina Fernández suggested that “it would also be good to point out that it is not about enabling the tranche of loans that had been enabled for Macri to pay off debt, because we would be in the same boat. I would take advantage of that momentum to achieve a payment schedule that is compatible with the country’s ability to pay. No not paying, no one is talking about not paying. And demanding the elimination of surcharges.” Once again the former president insists on honoring an illegal debt.
In each debt cycle, the country’s governments took on more debt to pay off previous interest and capital, until a change in the international situation or other factors (such as a drought) led creditors to become more cautious with Argentina’s debt, making the debt unpayable and leading to debt and balance of payments crises.
Cristina Fernández boasted of being “serial payers”, And so it was. During the two governments, US$ 200 billion of public debt was paid, but it continued to grow. Millions of resources were destined for speculators and financial capital. But a fraud was endorsed. The debt took a leap with the dictatorship, there is a ruling by Judge Jorge Ballestero on the illegal, illegitimate and fraudulent nature of this debt: 470 illegal acts were proven, including the nationalization, during the dictatorship, of private debt for the benefit of the Macri family, Renault, Pérez Companc, Bridas of the Bulgheroni family, Pescarmona, Ford and many other companies. Each debt renegotiation brought huge profits for financial capital. As pointed out by Éric Toussaint, spokesman for the Committee for the Abolition of Illegitimate Debt (CADTM), this is an odious debt, and it must be repudiated.
It is clear, after this new “master class”, that for Cristina Kirchner it is not about taking advantage of the growing social polarization and the increasingly broad sectors of the opposition to this government to take to the streets to confront it. Nor to attack the underlying causes that resulted in the growth of this extreme right that has been at the head of the executive for nine months now. Far from that, these appearances by the former two-time president seem to point to play inside the internal of the Justicialist Party for next year. Meanwhile, the adjustment continues its course, with its consequent balance of unemployment, poverty and hunger. What is at stake is to organize the anger to Defeat this entire reactionary plan in the streets towards the vast majority.
Source: www.laizquierdadiario.com
