Argentina election: front runner vows to slash science funding
Argentina election: front runner vows to slash science funding
If elected president, economist Javier Milei has pledged to eliminate government spending on research and shut down the environment and health ministries.
"On environmental issues, he is equally provocative, calling climate change “a socialist hoax”, and saying that a company should be able to pollute a river as it sees fit."
It's amazing how much damage can be done in a short amount of time when people like this get in charge. This isn't even getting into the fact that he wants to end investments in research, when investments in US research generate 2.6x in economic output. I'm guessing it's not too different in Argentina, but guys like this have no interest in facts.
124Here in Argentina, science funding is not working because the investments made in any research are too stupid: (some examples from CONICET)
"Los Cumpleaños en los Mc Donalds."
"El fútbol como espectáculo de masas."
"Jóvenes travestis en la escuela secundaria."
"Vidas Queer, nazismo y dictadura: sexualidad en textos alemanes y argentinos."-2
This world has a real right-wing moron-asshole problem.
96It's funny how you can have 10 or more years of right wing government fuckin up the country, and next election people at best would elect some centrist, or if they feel very progressive someone center left.
But when you a have bad left wing government or even a mediocre one, people swing fuckin hard on the other direction and starts electing these turds.
64Something else I've noticed in general around the world is: having a right-wing government gravely hurt them economically (while benefiting a chosen few) but only feeling the bulk of those effects during the term of the next government (be it center-left, left-wing, center-right or sometimes even another different right-wing gov) so they blame it on that government and go back to voting the original culprits during the third term.
11Oh yeah, Macri was a neoliberal rat through and through.
3
What do we want?
Stupid!
When do we want it?
Yes!
49Depressing.
41All you have to do is hear the things he says and you'll know how crazy he is. Not just about his future plans as possible president but this his personal life as well.
He hired a medium to talk to his dead dog and those alive as well...
21How to fail a nation: speed run edition
15!noahgetthebo ... mb
0Unfortunately people here do not understand Argentinian reality.
This guy is the only candidate who actually has a very detailed plan on how he can end Argentina’s fiscal deficit, which has been prevalent for over 100 years and has caused 20 of our 22 economic crises.
While I do not agree with everything he says, it is fucking refreshing to have someone come and argue with facts and plans instead of “I’m gonna solve all these problems, I’m the best at this and that, vote for me” (like Mr. Orange if you know that I mean).
It really seems he will win. And I sincerely hope so, not because I hate science or people, but because dollarazing the economy might just be what can save Argentina once and for all. That’s actually his main proposal and not even mentioned in the article.
It may not work, but a Peronist government hasn’t work for almost a century.
-4This guy is the only candidate who actually has a very detailed plan on how he can end Argentina’s fiscal deficit, which has been prevalent for over 100 years and has caused 20 of our 22 economic crises.
It seems extremely naive and dangerous to trust that the crazy anti-science right wing populist actually having a working plan for anything, much less ending a national deficit.
50It really seems he will win. And I sincerely hope so, not because I hate science or people, but because dollarazing the economy might just be what can save Argentina once and for all.
It really seems he will win. And I sincerely hope so, not because I hate science or people, but because dollarazing the economy might just be what can save Argentina once and for all.
Again, extremely deluded belief in the words of a pahtological liar.
1He’s been around for over 10 years repeating the same stuff, and when you take a look at it, it does make sense. I don’t trust him completely, but I like this proposal a lot. Ecuador had a great experience after dollarizing, this can be seen in the inflation data and I have also heard good things from fellow Ecuadorians.
-15
You can have a very detailed, impractical plan.
For example, his plan for dollarization requires going into a lot of debt, when we're already drowning in it and no one wants to buy our bonds.
Of course, he says that he will regain investors's trust but that seems unlikely given our track record, how Milei is perceived internationally, and the fact that major investment banks have argued against dollarization.
39I don't understand why they think dollarization is the silver bullet to solve all argentinean economic problems, like what country om earth dollarized their economy and are doing right?
10
It's funny reading this and then the next comment is about him calling climate change a hoax
38Newton believed and experimented with alchemy. So even the brightest people can have odd opinions
Edit: the lack of self awareness is pretty sad. The point is that the very people that downvote this comment would have rejected classical physics because he also espoused beliefs that were at odds with what people believed
-28
Googles him and his plans. Looks like you're all set for another 100 years of fiscal deficit
24Argentinians already do everything possible to get paid in dollars, so they might as well make it their official currency, assuming that doesn't have any negative consequences for the dollar overall. I know some people who live in Argentina and they said that if they got paid in pesos, their paycheck would be worthless within a few days. If they don't get paid in dollars then they have to pay fees to convert pesos to dollars for any money they're not going to immediately spend, and there's a very small limit on how much they can convert at a time. It sounds like a really fucked up financial situation over there. On top of all of that, they're facing a housing price crisis, just like the rest of the world.
1Unfortunately the Dollar is going Endgame. We're trapped in a debt spiral that's either going to blow up interest rates to unstable proportions causing Global Instability, or be forced to drop interest rates back to nothing causing hyper inflation for America.
The USA will most likely transition to a central bank backed digital currency (CBDC) as the dollar implodes and I don't understand how that might affect countries still using the dollar.
-9
I mean, is Argentina really gonna advance science more than any of the richer Western nations. If I lived there, I would absolutely prefer that the government focus more in housing, agriculture, education, and infrastructure.
-30I would absolutely prefer that the government focus more in housing, agriculture, education, and infrastructure.
How do you think improvements in building materials and construction techniques are developed? Science!
How do you think we develop more hardy crops that can withstand diseases and produce higher yields? Science!
How do you think we improve infrastructure design to do things like improve traffic flow or get higher yield from water recycling plants? Science!
Saying that the government should focus on certain issues rather than science misses the point that science is a part of how you make improvements and change over time.
26I think you‘re not getting the point of their comment: argentina is not going to lead the world in science, let them focus on getting back up from the ground.
Edit: since the metaphor seems to be going over people‘s heads: I think the commenter meant to say science is important but a country that has many more pressing issues should be allowed to focus on using the knowledge it already has instead of being forced to contribute to advancing humanity by spending a lot on science for the moment. Obviously, I‘m not the commenter. I‘m just seeing something in the comment that the person answering didn’t comment on.
-18