Hid additional off-topic post
No, it’s over. It’s time to stop the wishful thinking. We could have stopped it, but we chose not and it is far too late now.
Warning for these pair of posts.
Off-topic in both cases.
Do not post off-topic, even as a reply.
I did not see a recent soccer game, but it sounds like a gong show. Though it’s only the Olympics, few countries or more passionate and if anything is going to increase a sullen mood… of course, the result should possibly not be allowed to stand. What happened?
It’s not going to really affect the mood, the Olympic football medal is considered a nice tournament to win but it’s not the World Cup, not even the Copa America. (And massively celebrating Copa America wins was unheard of until 2021, 28 years without winning anything can make you reevaluate things)
An important point of the Argentinian sports mindset: Only winning counts, and only winning the greatest thing there is to win “Nobody remembers the guy who got to America after Columbus”, “Second place is just the first of the losers”.
The goal was offside, if the game was cancelled due to pitch invasions then it would’ve probably count as there would be no time for VAR to check, but the game was not cancelled, meh, sometimes official decisions go your way, sometimes they don’t.
Copied for your information.
He’s splurging on the army but he’s vetting a small raise to retirees because “we must maintain the budget surplus”.
Nothing sinister here, no sireee.
I haven’t been posting to this thread because the cascade of depressing news is too big for me to want to see it in the same page.
University professors are about to strike again since their wages have been liquated by inflation to ridiculous extremes.
Retirees cannot strike but they would if they could, for the same reason.
Every day we woke up to a new depressing change or decision.
A couple of examples off the top of my head:
- Long distance omnibus lines are no longer required to be insured in case of accident, so if you are travelling and there’s a crash… we’ll you’ll enjoy your freedom I suppose.
- They are advancing a project to deregulate gun ownership and carry, we are going to start needing those “thoughts and prayers” I hear so much about, I think.
New attack on the Falklands?
Nah, the traditional use of the Argentinian armed forces has never been against non-Argentinians.
@frodo, I know you’ve been leery of updating the thread frequently because, well, it often feels like doom-scrolling, but just checking in to see if at least you and your family remain secure. Again, even with some effort, there’s rarely any news that breaks into the US and BBC feeds.
And of course ( 
) the rest of the regional news is full of OTHER South American political disasters, because, seizing a damn plane is big news! (so very much sarcasm, yeah, it’s relevant, but it’s in no way addressing what’s actually going on).
So, I know you’ve still been posting (which is a good sign) but if you can manage it, a minor update on what’s going on to the actual people of the nation that doesn’t make it into the news would be good.
And, as always, stay safe and good luck!
Libertad begs to disagree (link in Spanish, for good reason). Laughing at them is what hurts them the most, so go for it. Call them weird! And man, is Milei weird! Rarillo, raruno, raro! (different shades of weird in Spanish, for the rules of the board)
Thanks for your concern and sorry for not replying earlier, I’ve been swamped at work/life and posting in this thread requires a higher level of thought/time than just quipping something in GD or IMHO 
As for your question as usual with that kind of question there are 2 answers, how me/mine are doing and how the general population is doing because I’m an outlier.
My personal situation is good, I’m about to buy a house, I’m being able to save a substantial amount of dollars every month, it could always be better (I’m not going to buy the house I would want in the neighbourhood I would want for example) but I’m better than 95-98% of the population.
But for the 98% of the population who doesn’t work for a multinational corporation that raises their wage according to inflation once every 3 months things sure look different.
One of the reasons I’m able to buy (so many) dollars each month is that a lot of the middle class is selling their savings just to pay for everyday living thus keeping the price low.
So, knowing that the middle class is having to sell their hard earned savings just to keep afloat you can deduce how the lower class is doing…
Ha! I had forgotten about that particular Mafalda strip.
It has only tangentially to do with your OP. but what is happening between Argentina and Venezuela right now is crazy, don’t you think? It begins with:
And Venezuela’s reply is:
Good that you don’t have a direct border with Venezuela, that makes posturing much easier, but still: What the hell!?!?! What is your/the local point of view on that?
Frankly nobody gives much of damn about that, two men known for their shakey contact with reality posturing for the cameras.
Thanks for the update, I guess we’ll all continue to 
and hold our proverbial breath.
ISTM that there’s of course going to be a breaking point where the waiting for sanity from above cracks (around the time the savings of the population are exhausted) and more serious protests arise, and that Milei is expecting (hoping?) for it based on his military spending. I really, Really hope I’m wrong though.
Okay, I won’t poke any more sore points. Stay safe as you can while keeping your integrity, or making no more compromises than you feel you must. And of course, same to your family and less fortunate fellow citizens as well.
Congress is trying to beat Milei’s veto on the raise to retirees, but a number of representatives that voted for the raise are now abstaining or voting against it, some of them are probably just cowards but others have been evidently bought.
If you want to see how much Argentinians love “The Simpsons” just see what for-the-raise representatives are taunting the traitors with…
The bad news:
The veto stands, for a raise of less than 20 dollars to the minimum retirement wage… but the tax cuts to the rich are sacred and the budget must be balanced on the backs of old people.
The infuriating news:
In the marches against the retirement raise veto a 10 year old girl was pepper sprayed by a cop, the Security Minister, our old acquaintance Patricia Bullrich blamed the parents of the girl for taking her to the march .
She’s lucky she wasn’t in power in 2020/21 when she participated in marches against the COVID quarantine… along with children.
Things developed into (more of?) a farce later with PB and her ministry publicly declaring that the girl had been pepper sprayed by a fellow protester (and sending a video supposedly showing that to the press).
It turned out to be fake, as shown when the police sent the REAL video to the press where you can clearly see the cop spraying the girl.
The good news:
A decree by the president has been overturned by congress for the first time in history, a decree allocating a a hundred billion pesos (about 100 million dollars) to the SIDE (the intelligence apparatus) in “fondos reservados” (meaning without the possibility of congressional review of the use of the funds ) was rejected by the senate and the house, apparently spending that kind of money on espionage (in all possibility internal) while the retirees go hungry was a step too far.
Fascism Watch, day… whatever.
Fires are devouring big parts of Cordoba Province (not the one where the Caliphate ruled, the new one) Milei’s supporters in twitter are posting fake news saying that 15 members of a known Peronist organization have been caught causing the fires, the President retweets them…
I seen to remember another leader who falsely accused their opponents of causing a fire…
I’m very worried that absent any actual benefits, that Milei is moving towards the “scapegoating” phase of the autocrats playbook I mentioned earlier.
Ugh.
The sick feeling in the stomach is growing, and I’m not even directly involved.
Please, continue to take care of yourself Frodo.