Protesters clash with police as Milei’s radical overhaul advances in Argentina’s Senate
NBCJun 20
Argentina: Pres. Milei to Veto Pension Reform Bill
Above: Pres. Javier Milei waves as he arrives at the 136th Expo Rural at La Rural Exhibition and Conference Centre on July 28, 2024, in Buenos Aires, Argentina. Image copyright: Tomas Cuesta/Stringer/Getty Images News via Getty Images
The Facts
Argentine Pres. Javier Milei said on Friday he would veto a pension reform bill estimated to increase pension spending by between 0.44% and 1.2% of the gross domestic product, with his office reasserting his pledge to "maintain a fiscal surplus at all costs."
The bill, passed by the Senate in a 61-8 vote, includes cost-of-living adjustments for pension benefits. The minimum monthly pension is nearly $233, while the cost of the basket of goods and services used to measure inflation costs more than $300 a month.
The Spin
Left narrative
The brutal austerity program of the self-declared anarcho-capitalist Javier Milei has so far increased poverty to 55% and further aggravated annual inflation. And yet he continues to attack pensioners as if destroying their purchasing power was a silver bullet for solving Argentina's economic issues.
Right narrative
Milei took over a country in the depths of unprecedented economic and political turmoil, and he's already turning it around in six months. His market-based reforms are saving Argentina, and a veto on this new pension formula is the only way to protect the real purchasing power of pensions.