In two years in power, Javier Milei ratified the old formula of bread and circuses imposed by the ancient Roman emperors to entertain the plebs. In his case, it is true, little bread and a lot of circuses. Because the President’s high-sounding style, his daily fights, the recitals at the Movistar Arena and the shows of his troops in Congress and other areas – that is, the circus – are contrasted with an economy that shows consolidated numbers in the macro with the flags of fiscal surplus and inflation under control, but that in the micro remains unstarted and shows rising unemployment and a recession that does not come to an end: the part of little bread.
If you look at the glass half full, the October elections meant a plebiscitary boost for a ruler who had been exhibiting signs of exhaustion and corruption scandals such as bribery in Disability and the $Libra cryptocurrency scam. If you look at the glass half empty, however, the 40 points he obtained in the midterm elections are almost 15 less than those that made him President.
The same thing happens on the economic level. While the Government continues to announce an economy that “flies” or that rises “like a diver’s fart”, the long stagnation of consumption and the volatility of the dollar that returns from time to time show a much more complex scenario: so much so that Minister Luis Caputo has already resorted to two international bailouts, first with the IMF and then with the United States Treasury, and yet the Central Bank’s reserves remain weak and the market’s doubts about the economic plan persist.
Two years is a long time and at the same time a short time to judge a government and its achievements. The next two will determine whether the Milei experiment was just another failure or the beginning of a lasting country project.
