Argentina's Milei: "At some point people are going to die of hunger, and they are going to decide not to die"

[peppertree]

Speaking at Stanford University's Hoover Institution, far-right Argentine President Javier Milei declared that "people are going to die of hunger, and they are going to decide not to die."

The comment was made while attempting to explain "market externalities" to an audience that included former Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice (who introduced Milei).

"There are other types of supposed market failures - [such as] externalities, " the increasingly agitated Milei began.

"Do you think people are so stupid that they won't be able to decide? At some point people are going to die of hunger, and they are going to decide not to die."

"So I don't need anyone to intervene to resolve the consumption externality - someone will solve it!"

The statement was made in what has been Milei's fifth visit to the United States since taking office six months ago, in which he has posed for photo-ops with big tech CEOs such as Elon Musk of Tesla, Mark Zuckerberg of Meta, Sundar Pichai of Google, Sam Altman of Open AI, and Tim Cook of Apple - in a thus far failed bid to attract investments and position Argentina as a hub for artificial intelligence.

The country's IT and electronic sector has so far been among the most severely affected since Milei was elected in November - with production in the sector collapsing by 65.6% in January-April, compared to the same period in 2023.

And while Milei, 53, posed with former President Donald Trump backstage at the CPAC convention in February, President Joe Biden has refused to meet with the volatile Argentine authoritarian - who has dismissed Biden as a "moderate socialist."

Demand in the country's 40,000 soup kitchens has meanwhile burgeoned since Milei took office - with income poverty rising from 45% to 55%, and hunger rising from 9.5% to 18% in one of the world's agricultural powerhouses.

His administration was rocked by revelations last week that it had been sitting on 5,000 tons of packaged food purchased in the closing days of his predecessor's term for distribution among the soup kitchens.

At: https://www-cronista-com.translate.goog/economia-politica/milei-en-standford-la-gente-va-a-estar-por-morir-de-hambre-y-va-a-decidir-para-no-morirse/?utm_source=ground.news&utm_medium=referral&_x_tr_sl=es&_x_tr_tl=en&_x_tr_hl=en&_x_tr_pto=wapp

Hunger games: Argentine President Javier Milei makes a point while speaking recently at the right-wing Hoover Institution.

"People," Milei scoffed, "are going to die of hunger, and they are going to decide not to die."

[Joinfortmill]

1. ???.

[peppertree]

2. Milei has made a sport of inflicting cruelty on people - and his point is that people will fend for themselves

So - why should the state intervene?

It's a very extreme (and coked-up) version of what you always hear from Republicans.

And like Trump in 2016, it actually helped get him elected - because he convinced many voters (mainly younger men) that "all your problems are because there are millions of parasites living off your hard-earned money!"

But now that real wages have plummeted by over 25% in six months - and everything from industrial production, to business investment and retail sales falling by almost as much - a lot of voters are having second thoughts about the guy the affectionately called El Loco (The Madman).

Elections have consequences - and this one will take years to recover from (in a country that had already gone through a lot).

[drmeow]

3. I think this guy doesn't remember that

when they decided not to die of hunger the French also decided that they would execute the people who didn't give a f**k about the fact that they were dying of hunger.

[peppertree]

4. No problemo

That's why he has a coterie of pro-dictatorship hard-liners heading all the security-related posts.

Starting with the Security Minister herself, the surveillance (and wine) enthusiast Patricia Bullrich:

[drmeow]

5. Didn't save Gaddafi

Although it did take a long time!

[peppertree]

6. True - but Milei's counting on Cheeto's winning in November, and then saving his ass

Trump, you might recall, forced the IMF to give his pal Macri a record, $45 billion bailout on the eve of Macri's (failed) 2019 re-election bid.

An estimated 80% of that loan went out the back door in the form of frantic offshoring by Argentina's elites (as well as short-term fly-by-nighters such as BlackRock, Franklin Templeton, and JP Morgan) - leaving Argentines the tab.

Nice work if you can get it.

[drmeow]

7. Just one more reason

to add to the millions of reasons not to vote for the MF!

[peppertree]

8. Exactly. Trump's demented judgment is, among other things, a major foreign policy liability

Jar-Jar, and his newfound billions, is living proof of that.

[shrike3]

9. He's a charmer, isn't he?

[peppertree]

10. That Chucky doll learned from the best: the GOP - with whom he's pretty much lockstep

Milei's a numbskull - but he did learn this from Republicans: Blame all the country's ills on negros vagos - "dark-skinned freeloaders."

And it worked - especially with male voters, among whom he won by almost 20 points (compared to around 4 points among women).

Though now - with a 20%+ sudden drop in living standards and mass layoffs, voters are having second thoughts.

Moreover - the sequestered food scandal (5,000 tons of packaged food meant for soup kitchens, which Milei was letting rot - in hopes said soup kitchens would shut down), has become a real headache for the manic-depressive pill-popper.

Not least because he's since entrusted a medievalist Catholic grifter (Abel Albino) to "distribute" the food - and sure enough, so far half of it has gone to Albino's home province (to his "foundation," naturally).

Argentina's RW media has done a good job at gaslighting voters - many of whom are still willing to "give it a chance because it's never been tried before" (not true - but Argentines have poor memories, and aren't usually the sharpest tools besides).

But with no light at the end of the tunnel (the promised "deluge of business investment," of course, never materialized), that will only prop him up for so long.

Cry for Argentina.