Javier Milei: New President for Argentina

The electoral success of Javier Milei was such that Sergio Massa - the Justicialista contender - spoke before official data was published to concede.

It was essential for Sergio Massa to make vows for a peaceful and proper transition indicating that dialogue and peaceful coexistence are the rule in a country with extraordinary high inflation rates.

The key word is change. 'We need change. We cannot expect improvements if we keep implementing the same policies over and over again'. 

On December 10th, 2023, the new President will be officially, formally, inaugurated. Time to have a look at the new Argentinian Parliament. Javier Milei was successful in most Argentinian provinces and this includes Buenos Aires where he was successful in areas that had traditionally supported Justicialismo (Peronismo).

It is foreseen that from this evening within Justicialismo a leadership struggle is just beginning and that former President and now also former Vice President Cristina Fernandez will lead Justicialismo once Sergio Massa lost the Presidential Election.

There will also be a new balance of forces within the Union Civica Radical that divided itself. Some chose to support Sergio Massa and most of them chose to support Javier Milei. It is also said that, in spite of getting 56% of the votes, given the need to reach agreements in Parliament to be able to govern, the new President will have to be more moderate than he appeared to be during the electoral campaign.

The size and role of the state will be at stake. The general philosophy is to reduce the Welfare State to promote employment, to stop paying people not to work. There will be both ideological and financial changes. With three digit inflation rates, a huge effort will have to be made to generate enough jobs to be able to cut the Welfare State without a major upheaval and this indicates that any changes will have to be gradual in a country in which a very high percentage of its population lives below poverty levels.

Javier Milei indicated that he has in mind a different idea regarding Mercosur, but this will have to wait while the new President tries to sort out the internal situation in Argentina.

Commentators define Javier Milei as a charismatic leader and that charisma is based on success and that the electorate chose Javier Milei because they expect miracles and that to be able to produce miracles the new President will soon be in a collision course with traditional political forces that chose to support him to defeat Justicialismo. 

Argentina is a country in which both Cristina Fernandez and Mauricio Macri (one Justicialista and another Radical) have still a strong power base. Regardless of the electoral success (56%), the new President will have to navigate in a country in which he will have to deal with powerful foes and friends that have their own political agendas. It has been said that younger generations belonging to the upper middle class are leaving the country and that a high number of the younger generations that belong to the lower middle class no longer believe in democracy.

Covid-19: Walk. Don't run. We do need a health MOT.

The fact that people are being vaccinated and that more than 15 million people living in the United Kingdom have received the first doses of several vaccines used doesn't change the fact that the NHS is still working over-capacity with many thousands of patients that require special treatment to keep those seriously affected by Covid-19 alive.

We should not be overly pessimistic, but we shouldn't be overly optimistic either. I am fully aware of the damage done to the economy and of the negative repercussions of the quarantine measures put in place to prevent the spread of the disease. Other diseases have gone untreated. The number of those suffering from some form of mental illness has skyrocketted. 

The idea of implementing better coordination of different services within the so called Welfare State could be one of the best ideas being considered. NHS, Social Services, the services that care of old and the disabled, and every other branch of the Welfare State need to work together.

For a very long time, we have cared more about the transit of animals, plants and minerals in and out of the country than about the transit of human beings that can carry diseases with them. For many years, animals brought into the country have gone into quarantine to ensure that they were healthy enough to be allowed in. For far too long, any human being coming from abroad could enter the country freely without any health checks to protect public health. What Covid-19 has done is to prove how foolish we have been. A virus coming from China has killed more than 100,000 people in the United Kingdom. Cars have MOT. Why shouldn't human beings have some form of health MOT to prove that they do not constitute a risk for the rest of the population?

Covid-19 didn't exist in the United Kingdom. It was brought in via ports of entry (Airports, Harbours, Railway Stations). There should have been sanitary controls at each port of entry. The sanitary controls established because of Covid-19 should become the norm and be enforced to prevent any future catastrophe.

 

 

HMRC: Employment Figures are Fake

HMRC: Employment Figures are Fake

Statistics about employment figures are the biggest con in history:

• People who are in temporary employment and often earning amounts that are below legal standards are considered employed. 
• People who are on temporary and often unstable and predictable employment are classified as employed.
• People who are on Zero Hour Contracts who never know how much they are going to earn and/or how long or how often they will be able to work are classified as employed.

The records of those seen as employed are fake and have nothing to do with reality. HM Revenue & Customs HMRC are fake and have nothing to do with reality. HMRC doesn't have a clue about how many people are truly employed. By the time employment figures are released such employment figures do not reflect what is really happening. 

Her Majesty's Government couldn't care less as long as the ruling party can boast about positive figures and pretend that everything is fine and that we are moving forward.

The Welfare State is a mess but it is mess that was created on the basis of value for money. Different services were amalgamated as a way to reduce the number of public jobs. Taxation is a mess and the Welfare State is a mess. 

One of the direct consequences of such a mess is that more and more people are now in what is called the Black Economy. They are not registered anywhere, they are not paying taxes and many are paid a lot less than they should be paid because not been registered and working cash in hand they are not protected by existing legislation.

As always, VALUE FOR MONEY has turned into VALUE FOR RUBBISH.