The phrase was said by Mauricio Macri to the podcast La Fábrica and it immediately went viral: “A poor person today lives as well or better than a king from a hundred years ago,” the former president theorized to imply that the drama of poverty was inflated by the media. Because, according to him, we are living in “the era of the revolution of expectations” and, instead of settling for what we have, “everyone is crazy for more.” Then, Macri explains that today’s poor “have sewers, running water, education and public health,” which is why they surely live better than the monarchs of yesteryear.
This column is not intended to respond to such foolishness, but rather to focus on one of the most notorious traits of the former president’s personality, his proverbial insensitivity, which makes even Javier Milei seem like a charitable soul at his side. Here is a very quick review of what Macri said when he governed. In winter, if it was cold and gas multiplied its price by six, he publicly recommended not using it and also not “walking around in a T-shirt and on your legs.” In summer, when the heat became unbearable, he asked everyone to set the air conditioning to 24 degrees, not one less. As for the supermarket, if the food price increased too much, he advised not buying it so that the merchants would reconsider or, in other words, lose money. He also did not want Argentines to use the car if they did not agree with the gasoline increases, since the bicycle was ultimately healthier and polluted less. In addition, he maintained that it would be necessary to work on Saturdays and Sundays.
For the “cartonero” – as Diego Maradona nicknamed him for his taste for scarcity – he could live perfectly without gas, gasoline, air conditioning or top supermarket brands, especially working seven days a week.
Macri has an issue with money. At the age of 12, when he spent the summer in Tandil and spent the entire day at the “Los 50” club, his father Franco’s Mercedes Benz was always waiting for him outside the establishment, the first of those luxury cars that was seen in the town.
The pastime on those hot days was the pool for the little ones and the rounds of Mirinda with beer for those who were over 15, something that was still forbidden to young Mauricio.
The first time his friends from the club saw the family’s Mercedes, with the driver behind the wheel, he didn’t have a good time.
His partner Mauricio D’Alessandro, the now media lawyer, pointed his finger at him to smear him:
–Hey, tell me, how much does your old man earn? A million pesos?
Laughter from the rest of the group accompanied the comment.
Macri remained silent.
He felt ashamed. They were stigmatizing him for being the rich kid of the place. For traveling in a Mercedes instead of an ordinary bicycle.
To understand how deeply the mockery penetrated him, you have to finish telling the story.
A few days later, the rich boy’s mother, Alicia Blanco Villegas, the one with the high-born surname, went to talk to Mrs. D’Alessandro.
From mother to mother she told him:
–Do you know what your son said to mine?
–No, what? –asked the other.
–He asked her how much my husband earns, a total misplacement. You should know that those things are not talked about…
And she returned home in the Mercedes, without waiting for the other’s apology.
The boy had told mom everything, and mom went to defend him.
At 12.
–Che, did you come in the Mercedes? –His friends at the club continued making fun of him.
That boy who was driving a Mercedes in Tandil is the one who today compares poor people to kings.
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