The character is a medieval English legend from the 12th century. That of the nobleman who rebels against the tyranny of the Sheriff of Nottingham, and takes refuge in the forests to resist. That of Robin Hood, to whom popular wisdom has assigned over time the famous merit of “taking from the richest to give to the poorest.”
The same culture has popularized its perfect antithesis. The one of an ideal character named “Hood Robin”. The one who takes resources from the poor to give them to the highest sectors in the social pyramid. Someone whose social sensitivity is inverted, and feels more empathy for the powerful than for the most vulnerable.
This last is the symptom that seems to characterize the time in present-day Argentina. A social stage of paralysis in the face of extreme need that is born in obscurantism and ideological dogmatism from the top of politics, and has its correlation in the apathy of majorities who find no reaction and little by little normalize an increasingly broken social fabric.
If there were the possibility of rising above the silver juncture to observe from above the complete panorama of the set of decisions, debates, discussions and policies that take place today in our country, something could be appreciated that is beginning to become more and more evident.
The cost of the adjustment and corrections that are intended to be applied to the entire national economy is faced by the middle and low income sectors.while those who hold a high-income position maintain each and every one of their privileges, and even have prospects of adding to them an extensive list of privileges that they did not enjoy until now.
The world of Hood Robin. That where those who have the least are those who contribute to maintain without alterations the position of whoever governs, whoever governs, they never lose.
Contrast
The set of political decisions of recent weeks, the initiatives of the Executive Branch, the public expressions of President Javier Milei, the statistical data for the first half of the year 2024, and the legislative debate, are extremely revealing.
It is inevitable to refer to the scandal unleashed around the non-distribution of six million kilos of food, in a context of extreme needs for millions of people.
The government’s intransigence regarding something as sensitive as access to a plate of food is something never seen in a democracy. Especially if one takes into account that the worsening of the state of deprivation in which a large portion of the Argentine population finds itself is a product of the adjustment that the government itself has decided to carry out.
Far from trying to bring at least a minimum of “relief” to those who face the brunt of public cuts, the government prioritizes ideological prejudice and the construction of a narrative over the food emergency. In short, the resources to decide “how” food is distributed continue to rest with the Executive Branch. What is striking is the refusal to “distribute them however they wish,” to the point of reaching the point where justice forces them to do so under penalty of “disobedience to justice.”
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The retirement chapter is one more example. It is of little use to the beneficiary of “the minimum” to review each and every one of the moments in recent history in which the governments in power appealed to the formula for updating pension assets to find the resources that were denied from other countries. financing sources.
The truth is that since Milei has been president, the minimum retirement, including bonuses, has increased by 97% compared to inflation that has already accumulated 120% from December to May. Retirees have once again been the stone guests. AND It was precisely the liquefaction of pension benefits that largely made it possible for Milei to establish himself as the champion of the fiscal surplus in the first quarter of the year.
Definitely, what the Chamber of Deputies endorsed with two-thirds of the votes this week, is nothing more than a late update due to inflation. The possibility that those who receive a pension that today is equivalent to a quarter of the poverty basket, continue to lose a little more. In other words, retirees should stop being the financiers of the adjustment.
Far from showing at least a hint of empathy with older adults, The president instead attacked the legislators, and threatened to “veto” the new formula update.
In his direct message to the deputies, the president thought he was announcing that the opposition would not be able to twist his political arm. Actually What he did was warn that he will not allow retirements to stop falling in real terms, and that his plan is to continue liquefying minimum assets to sustain his program..
The other side is at the same time cruel and eloquent. The so-called “Bases Law” that will be discussed this week in the Senate, includes two elements that by themselves complete an otherwise regressive policy configuration in social matters.
The first is the Large Investment Incentive Regime (RIGI). The government tries to offer, as a novelty, a premise that has appeared for decades in the decalogue of economic orthodoxy: incentives must be given to those who invest, those who invest pour resources into the economy, greater production is generated, more supply of goods and services, then more employment, and finally when there is more work there is more demand.
Said in the best known way, The RIGI is nothing more than the factual expression of the “spill theory” in the format of a framework of laws that give “legal security” to those who must “spread” wealth downwards.
But beyond the adhesion that can generate utopia of believing that someone powerful will feel motivated to pour out “of their own” to generate better situations in the lower links of the value chain, the point goes through the huge tax incentives that RIGI offers to investors billionaires, at the same time With the most cruel coldness, he tells the pensioners of the minimum that these benefits will be financed with the liquefaction of pension assets.
Indeed, Everything that the State will no longer collect through the RIGI constitutes fewer resources to sustain the surplus on the income side. This list includes a reduction from 35% to 25% of the Profit rate, an accelerated amortization of investments, zero tariff on the import of machines (new and used) and the no obligation to settle 20% of the resulting foreign exchange during the first year, 40% in the second year, and 100% from the third year.
While offering enormous tax incentives to multimillionaire investors, at the same time and with the most cruel coldness, Milei anticipates to low-income retirees that these benefits will be financed with the liquidation of pension assets.
The second element included in the Base Law is money laundering. The possibility for those who hid their assets and State funds in order to evade paying taxes, to put them in plain sight.
It’s not new. From Cristina Kirchner to Mauricio Macri or Alberto Fernández, In all governments there was the fantasy that “Argentines who have money abroad bet on Argentina,” and that in Argentina translates as “laundering.”.
What is distinctive in this case is the generous incentive to repatriate assets. Those who launder up to US$100,000 (the equivalent of $100 million) will pay 0% (yes, zero) as a penalty. And if you agree to leave the funds frozen until December 2025, laundering is free for any amount.
Added to this is the Personal Assets chapter, which allows the tax to be paid in advance until 2027 (end of Milei’s mandate) with a special rate of 0.45%. Whoever accesses this modality, “fiscal stability” is ensured until 2038. That is, it is ensured that no other government will be able to tax and/or modify the tax burden on said assets for up to 15 years.
The complete image is too similar to that of that mythical character called Hood Robin. While the distribution of food to those most in need is denied and resources are taken from the pockets of retirees to finance the adjustment, A number of tax benefits are offered to those at the top of the income structure.
Cruel pop-up
Any political or ideological position is eclipsed when what comes first is extreme necessity. Or at least that’s how it used to be.
There used to be an unspoken code in which society as a whole could come together in consensus: You cannot turn your face away from hunger and extreme needs. That basic agreement seems to be breaking with a cruelty rarely seen.
A few days before his last trip to the United States, a journalist approached the president as he left the Rural Society. “President, people don’t make ends meet,” he questioned. The answer is a description of the government’s roadmap to address the shortcomings of thousands of Argentine families. “That’s not true,” Milei responded. “If people didn’t make ends meet, they would be dying in the streets,” she said. Such is the threshold of suffering that the government seems to be willing to meet.
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But it is the data that emerges from the social fabric that in just six months of management certify the profound deterioration that is registered in distribution matters. The transfer of resources from those who have the least to the highest-income segments is undeniable.
The first to point this out this week was the Argentine Catholic University (UCA), through its Argentine Social Debt Observatory.
As published by the study house this week based on the measurements that are carried out in conjunction with the annual Cáritas collection, during the first quarter of 2024, Poverty went from 44% to 55%, and indigence went from 9.6% to 17.5%. The figure is equivalent to 25 million poor people and 7.8% million people who cannot even eat.
A second piece of information that completes that of the UCA, was released this week by the consulting firm Moiguer. Private study reveals how The adjustment has translated into changes in consumption habits in the middle-income segments, which have been forced to cut expenses.
Among other things, the report indicates that 45% of those consulted in its study had to reduce consumption of household appliances this year, 32% stopped building, 30% stopped buying clothing, and 25% stopped visiting a shopping center. . A stark photo of the middle class setting.
A segment that aspirationally would like to belong to the top of the income structure, but that during the adjustment period is stalked “from below.” The “fight” that the middle class carries out today is actually not to “fall” below the poverty line.
That is the other image that Moiguer’s study includes, and it illustrates like no other the state of distributive deterioration in the social fabric. Today’s “social pyramid” in Argentina contains 56% of people who make up the “lower class”. They are those who receive monthly income less than $828,138.
At the other extreme, the “upper class” remains unchanged, and continues to represent only 5% of the population, earning from $5 million a month.
In the middle is the “middle class”, getting smaller and smaller at the pace of an adjustment that was intended to be for the caste, and ended up being its own.
