Consumption of food and medicines falls due to inflation: the "hunger rows"

“Sales of food and beverages had a collapse of 37.1% in January compared to the previous year at constant prices, and registered a decline of 13.2% in the monthly comparison. It was a month of very few sales, where even the highest-income sectors turned to second and third brand products.” The report is not from any “progressive” institute. It is from the Argentine Confederation of Medium Enterprises (CAME), which sent representatives to Milei’s tour of Italy. Imagining a student from Recoleta making fernet with Manaus may sound funny, but behind that scene there are millions who have suspended a daily meal or trick their stomachs with tortillas and cooked mate, with polenta on 35° days. Much more than before.

The CAME report ensures that in January 2024, retail sales of small and medium-sized companies had a decrease of 28.5% compared to the same period of the previous year, measured at constant prices.

But there are areas much more affected. Precisely the most “vital”. Food consumption, as we said, fell by a third. In other words, a family consumes in 30 days what it previously consumed in 20. Eat less.

If we add to this the withdrawal of assistance to neighborhood soup kitchens by the Ministry of Human Capital, we are faced with a conscious and criminal hunger plan. The budget items for food and assistance were not executed! That is why this Monday there were lines of up to 27 blocks long demanding to be attended to by Minister Sandra Pettovello, who last week wanted to make a fool of herself by denying the adjustment and proposing that they come personally.

Lines of more than 20 blocks in demand for food at the Ministry of Human Capital | . https://t.co/DNxVVWMtOE pic.twitter.com/FUDe6vePYy

— Digital BA Politics (@Pol_DigitalBA) February 5, 2024

#NOW 🔴Ministry of Human Capital: there are 27 blocks in line for Sandra Pettovello to receive them.

📌The hundreds of people hope to be able to ask the national official for State assistance and food for soup kitchens. pic.twitter.com/BSIjpWKmPY

— IP news (@_IPNoticias) February 5, 2024

Another of the most punished items is medicines. Again we use business sources. “Sales plummeted 45.8% annually in January, at constant prices and 7.9% in the month-on-month comparison. It was a bad month for pharmacies, which were left with a significant amount of stock. Some businessmen consulted pointed out that the January figures look like a month where no one got sick.” It is obvious that there were no fewer diseases. The increase in covid cases, outbreaks of gastroenteritis, dengue, the effects of the heat wave, the increase in anxiety and other conditions related to mental health, and the millions who have permanent treatments, have been proven by different sources. Although part of this drop is in “personal care” (which in many cases is also important), another has to do with lower consumption of prescription and over-the-counter medications.

Another robbery. They take the bread out of the kids’ mouths, they take the pill from those who are sick that relieves them, that improves their quality of life, that cures them.

We are ruled by criminals.

The laws being discussed in Congress point to greater deregulation and benefits for large food companies, supermarkets and laboratories. The fight for food and health has as its banner the increase in salaries, pensions and social programs, as well as the freezing of prices and the cancellation of increases. But it is also a political fight, against Milei’s plan and the big businessmen.

Let’s take to the streets for our lives.