**Voice Cloning Technology: Key Points and Issues**

**What is Voice Cloning?

**
Voice cloning is an AI-driven technology that can replicate a person’s unique vocal characteristics, allowing new audio to be generated that sounds as if it was spoken by the original speaker.

This process has rapidly improved recently; now, as little as a three-second audio sample may be enough to produce a realistic clone.

**Development and Capabilities**
Modern tools—such as ElevenLabs—have revolutionized the field by simplifying the cloning process and vastly improving realism and multilingual support.

These systems are trained using thousands of hours of voice data, enabling them to imitate not just the sounds but also the speech patterns, intonations, and even emotional nuances of speakers.

New systems can generate voiceovers in many languages and accents, and even allow for fine-tuned emotion and tone control.

**Use Cases**
- **Entertainment:** Voice cloning is used to create content like songs featuring “deepfaked” celebrity voices (e.g., fake Drake & The Weeknd tracks).

- **Accessibility:** AI voiceovers help create content in multiple languages, enhance voiceover options for documentaries (e.g., China Media Group’s AI-dubbed works), and support training tools (e.g., accent coaching).

- **Communication:** Tools turn scripts into realistic voices or even allow anyone to "speak" in a celebrity’s voice.

- **Education:** AI voice tools offer potential for language instruction, including low-proficiency listening materials.

- **Fraud:** The ability to mimic voices convincingly has led to a surge in AI-driven scams and extortion, with law enforcement warning of potential dangers as cloned voices are used to deceive loved ones.

**Ethical and Legal Implications**
- **Brand and Individual Rights:** There is growing concern about using a person’s voice (especially celebrities) without consent, raising questions of copyright, likeness rights, and privacy.

**Voice Cloning Technology: Key Points and Issues**

**What is Voice Cloning?

Title:

Content: That’s how easily your vote can be stolen – and used for AI fraud

The person on the phone sounded exactly like Ruth Card’s grandson Brandon.

He needed money fast and Ruth, recognizing his voice, went to the bank.

Benjamin Perkins’ parents received a call from a man who said he was a lawyer. Benjamin was alleged to have killed another man and needed bail money. The lawyer handed the phone to someone – who sounded exactly like Benjamin.

In both cases, as Washington Post reported on, it involved a new form of fraud – voices cloned using artificial intelligence.

“Impossible to imagine a year ago”

In the past, large amounts of audio material were required to be able to reliably clone someone’s voice, but AI development is going at a breakneck pace – now it’s faster, easier and more accessible than before.

– What was impossible to imagine a year ago is free today. The companies that make and sell AI want a lot of data – that’s why they give away their services, says Tobias Falk, lecturer at the department of computer and systems science at Stockholm University, to SVT Nyheter.

“Having reached a point where the machines can imitate us”

– Algorithms are trained to imitate how the human brain works. It’s going really fast now, but it’s taken decades to get to the point where the machines can mimic us as well as they do today.

The police’s national fraud center writes in an email to SVT Nyheter that they are “aware of the phenomenon” but that they have not seen any cases in Sweden at the moment. “We monitor this and have communication with international contacts,” writes the police spokesperson.

How many seconds long clip is enough to be able to clone someone’s voice? And how well does it actually work in Swedish?

Watch the video above for our test.

Deepdub, a film dubbing company, uses an AI to process voice and translate into a different language and promises to preserve what?

important vocal nuances
intonation
timbre

**
Voice cloning is an AI-driven technology that can replicate a person’s unique vocal characteristics, allowing new audio to be generated that sounds as if it was spoken by the original speaker.

Title:

Content: Language No Barrier: New AI tool can clone voice and make it say anything in multiple languages

Imagine former US President Donald Trump speaking in flawless Hindi. A new AI voice cloning tool by ElevenLabs can clone voices and make them say anything in a bunch of different languages. All it needs is a three-second sample clip and a bit of text as the prompt.

Mehul Reuben Das May 03, 2023 13:42:20 IST

Imagine former US President Donald Trump speaking in flawless Hindi. A new AI voice cloning tool by ElevenLabs can clone voices and make them say anything in a bunch of different languages. All it needs is a three-second sample clip and a bit of text as the prompt.

As advanced as AI-based voice cloning has been, there were a few limitations to it. For example, voice generators were mainly bound by the language of the source they were trained in or rather the language of the prompt that was given to them. Now, ElevenLabs, an American AI software developing company has come up with a tool that does away with that limitation.

ElevenLabs’ new AI tool can clone the voice of a person and make it say anything in a bunch of different languages. All it needs is a clear voice sample of about 3 seconds, although it also suggests that the longer the sample, the better will be the results. The new tool even manages to maintain the speaker’s original tone of voice.

Limitless possibilities
The creators expect that this would ‘extend the possibilities’ in a variety of industries such as publishing, gaming creation, and media. “Introducing Eleven Multilingual v1: Our New Speech Synthesis Model! We’re thrilled to launch our new model supporting seven new languages: French, German, Hindi, Italian, Polish, Portuguese, and Spanish.”

“This advancement expands the horizons for creators, game developers, and publishers, and it paves the way for using generative media to create more localized, accessible, and imaginative content,” the company said.

Following the announcement, Twitter was flooded with comments, with users testing the software on various famous faces.

To demonstrate just how capable the new voice cloning AI tool is, Eluna AI, a platform for AI-content creators experimented with a sample clip of former US President Donald Trump.

In their demo, Eluna AI showcased a small clip of Donald Trump, speaking in his native tongue, English, followed by French, Spanish, German, Hindi and Italian, almost perfectly. The generated samples even gets the accent right, almost if he was a native speaker of the new target language.

Another user changed David Attenborough’s voice to German while the BBC broadcaster discussed the prospects of AI. “With this tool, anyone can do it,” stated the Twitter user. “It’s also worth noting that fraudsters will undoubtedly exploit this one.”

ElevenLabs says that its model was designed to understand the emotion and reasoning underlying words in order to produce natural-sounding and persuasive audio. ElevenLabs has said that some numerals and symbols are currently spoken wrongly, but that it is striving to rectify this.

Who is this new tool meant to help?
The US-based company believes its technology will be valuable in a variety of areas, including education and journalism.

Game developers and publishers can build engaging, localised experiences for worldwide audiences, breaking through language barriers and connecting with players and listeners to maximise engagement and efficiency while maintaining quality and accuracy.

“Educational institutions now have the ability to develop audio content for varied users in their target languages, enhancing language comprehension and even pronunciation abilities, as well as responding to different teaching methods and learning demands,” says the report.

Because of the model’s capacity to produce unique character-like voices, audiobook and content developers may also find it beneficial.

The conundrum of AI voice genertors
Despite its benefits, ElevenLabs’ launch comes amid widespread concern about the wave of new voice cloning technology. An unidentified TikTok user went popular last month after sharing an AI-generated Drake song starring The Weeknd.

It sparked concerns about the grey area of AI-created music and whether it constitutes a copyright violation. Nonetheless, ElevenLabs claims to be ‘fully committed’ to respecting creators’ rights in the midst of technological advancements.

“At Eleven, we think that we should seek to make the best use of emerging technology, but not at any expense,” it stated.

“As we create them, we make every effort to put suitable controls in place that reduce the possibility of detrimental abuse. With this in mind, we are entirely committed to both protecting intellectual property rights and taking action against infringement.”

Read all the Latest NewsTrending NewsCricket NewsBollywood News,
India News and Entertainment News here. Follow us on FacebookTwitter and Instagram.

Updated Date:

also read

World

Music labels are worried because of AI, thanks to a surprising new song ft. Drake X The Weeknd

Someone used AI to create a whole new song featuring Drake and The Weeknd. But because the singers never sang the song, artists and music labels are worried, how AI voice modulation and AI-generated songs can disrupt the industry.

World

Artificial Imposter: 47% of Indian phone users have experienced AI voice scams, highest in the world

About half of Indian adults, or 47%, have experienced AI voice scams, nearly double the global average of 25%. Furthermore, nearly 69% of adults say they can't differentiate between a real and an AI-generated voice.

Deepdub, a film dubbing company, uses an AI to process voice and translate into a different language and promises to preserve what?

This process has rapidly improved recently; now, as little as a three-second audio sample may be enough to produce a realistic clone.

Title:

Content: Vidnoz AI: The Effortless Tool to Create Stunning AI Videos in Minutes

In Short
  • Vidnoz AI offers tools to create engaging AI videos, including 1000+ AI avatars, 1000+ video templates, and 800+ realistic AI voices.
  • Users can produce 1-3 minutes of AI-generated scripts, create their custom AI avatar, or clone their voice using Vidnoz AI for free.
  • The Vidnoz platform is user-friendly and even a beginner can start creating professional-quality videos in just minutes.

Suppose you are looking for a way to create engaging video content with the help of AI. In that case, Vidnoz AI brings a solid platform where you can produce professional-quality AI videos in minutes. No expensive gear or equipment is required. Vidnoz AI offers hundreds of studio-quality AI avatars, video templates, and an extensive library of AI voices to generate impressive content at a fraction of the cost.

So, if you want to simplify and automate the video production process for your TikTok or YouTube channel, check out all the cool features Vidnoz AI offers below.

Create Videos from Text Scripts

The most compelling feature of Vidnoz AI is that you can create AI videos from text in just a few minutes. You have to select a template from its large library of amazing layouts, and you are good to go.

Now, all you need to do is enter the text you want the AI avatar to narrate or simply generate an AI script. You only have to give basic information about the topic you wish to discuss and the AI Script tool will instantly generate the content for you.

You can even change the tone of the scripts, choosing between formal, professional, friendly, or casual. Moreover, you can also choose a non-English language as Vidnoz AI supports more than 140 languages, both global and regional languages from across the world.

Not only that, you can add a voiceover to your AI video by selecting a voice from its library of 800+ voices. The voices can be filtered based on language, gender, emotion, scenarios, professions, and age. In addition, you can upload your voice and clone that too within minutes. Vidnoz AI voices are powered by Elevenlabs and Microsoft.

Basically, Vidnoz AI provides all kinds of pre-made assets keeping user requirements in mind and, on top of that, allows personalization too. If you’re looking for a service that can generate AI videos in a matter of a few minutes, Vidnoz is a platform you must check out.

Create Custom Virtual AI Avatars

While Vidnoz offers more than 1,000 realistic AI avatars, you can also create your own custom AI avatar. You simply have to shoot a selfie video for 3 to 5 minutes and upload the video to Vidnoz AI. It will process your uploaded video and create a custom AI avatar for you.

Apart from that, you can also create a talking face from your photo. Just upload one of your photos, and Vidnoz removes the background and creates a talking face for videos with a perfect lip sync. This comes in handy for those who want to personalize AI videos in no time.

Clone Your Voice with Emotions

If you want to clone your voice to narrate content in AI videos with your accent and emotions intact, Vidnoz AI allows you to do that too.

Simply record your voice for 1 to 3 minutes in your desired tone and emotion, and upload the audio file on Vidnoz AI. It will process the file and create a clone of your voice in barely a few minutes. To narrate any script, you can use your cloned voice, which will save you a lot of time and effort.

Suitable for All Platforms and Use Cases

What I love the most about Vidnoz AI is that it’s not limited to only making tutorials, but it unlocks applications for a large number of use cases and platforms. For example, Vidnoz AI offers templates for explainer videos, tutorials, breaking news templates for media companies, educational content, social media content, and much more.

Moreover, you can create AI videos for health and medical content, sports, e-commerce, festivals, presentations, invitations, and more. There are so many templates to choose from and it supports both landscape and vertical orientations. For social media platforms like Instagram, TikTok, and YouTube Shorts, vertical content can help you reach out to a large number of audiences.

AI Video Translator

In today’s age, content creators and news platforms have a global audience and videos are watched in many non-English speaking regions. Therefore, you can translate videos in different languages using Vidnoz AI’s powerful AI video translator tool to cater to all kinds of audiences.

You can simply upload the video in the original language and choose the output language of your choice. You can also add subtitles and lip-sync the video based on the new language. During my testing, Vidnoz AI did pretty well and the lip-sync was on point. Within a few minutes, the tool translated the whole video.

Vidnoz AI supports video translation for 140+ languages, including Spanish, French, Arabic, German, Hindi, Bengali, and more.

Easy AI Video Editing

Now, we come to the Vidnoz AI video editor which is frankly the best feature of this tool. It has a clean and straightforward user interface that even beginners can start using instantly. Apart from generating AI scripts, creating custom avatars, and cloning your voice, you can further modify the template according to your preference.

Each element of the template is customizable, you can edit text, change the font, add your logo, insert stickers, shape, add layers, and do much more. The best part is that it brings stock videos and images from other providers as well, including Pexels, Unsplash, Freepik, etc. And for background music, you have a large library of audio available in the video editor itself.

Next, you can add multiple scenes with different layouts and create AI videos, going beyond the given template. Vidnoz AI also supports dual-mode conversation where you can add two AI avatars in a scene and add scripts for each character.

Finally, you can preview the video before exporting, but the lip-syncing video is only generated after you hit the Generate button.

More Vidnoz AI Tools

Apart from creating AI videos, there are many AI tools that Vidnoz AI offers that can aid in various aspects of content creation. You can use AI text-to-speech to convert your text to realistic voice in more than 140+ languages. Next, you can change the presenter’s voice to any celebrity voice such as Barack Obama, Elon Musk, Morgan Freeman, and more.

To effortlessly generate a video from an image, you can use its AI image-to-video tool. You can turn a static image into a dancing video as well. Vidnoz AI also brings an AI video enhancer tool to upscale your videos up to 4K resolution. Finally, you have AI vocal remover, background remover, cartoon generator, headshot generator, and more.

Vidnoz AI: Pricing and Plans

Vidnoz AI offers most of its services for free with access to 1000+ AI avatars, video templates, and voices. Under the free plan, you can generate videos for 1-3 minutes per day at 720p resolution.

If you are serious about content creation and making money using AI, I would recommend getting the Starter plan which costs $19.99 per month on a yearly subscription. It unlocks video generation for up to 15 minutes per month with access to a larger library of AI avatars, video templates, and voices. You can also export videos in 1080p resolution. Vidnoz AI doesn’t add a watermark at all when you get the Starter plan.

The Business plan costs $56.99 per month, which allows you to generate 30 minutes of videos per month and throws the Voice Cloning feature into the mix. You have all of the Starter plan features too. So if you are impressed with Vidnoz AI’s features, go ahead and check out the service.

What is necessary for voice cloning to work?

**Development and Capabilities**
Modern tools—such as ElevenLabs—have revolutionized the field by simplifying the cloning process and vastly improving realism and multilingual support.

These systems are trained using thousands of hours of voice data, enabling them to imitate not just the sounds but also the speech patterns, intonations, and even emotional nuances of speakers.

Title:

Content: OpenAI's Johansson gaffe pushes voice cloning into spotlight

Law enforcement warned that AI clones could be used to extort money from loved ones over the phone

By AFP

  • Follow us on

Scarlett Johansson voiced an AI character in the film "Her". — Reuters file

Published: Mon 27 May 2024, 7:51 PM

Last updated: Mon 27 May 2024, 7:52 PM

OpenAI was forced to apologise to actor Scarlett Johansson last week for using her voice -- or something very similar -- on its latest chatbot, throwing the spotlight on to voice-cloning tech.

Although OpenAI denied the voice they used was Johansson's, their case was not helped by CEO Sam Altman flagging the new model with a one-word message on social media -- "Her".

Johansson voiced an AI character in the film "Her", which Altman has previously said is his favourite film about the technology.

Right from the start, AI voice cloning has proved problematic.

Last year, British firm Elevenlabs went viral for all the wrong reasons when it released its voice-cloning software.

Internet pranksters immediately began pushing out deepfaked celebrities -- Harry Potter star Emma Watson was shown reading Hitler's Mein Kampf.

Law enforcement warned that AI clones could be used to extort money from loved ones over the phone.

The technology has developed rapidly in the past year becoming far more realistic and nuanced.

Danish entrepreneur Victor Riparbelli, CEO of British AI firm Synthesia, told AFP it was largely down to a program called Tortoise that was released two years ago.

The program's developers threw thousands of hours of voice data into their model in an unstructured way and discovered it not only learnt what to say but how to say it.

"That was a pretty big paradigm shift," Riparbelli said on the sidelines of last week's VivaTech conference in Paris.

Tortoise was an open source program and Elevenlabs was the first to go to market using it.

OpenAI uses similar systems though they do not release any details.

Much of the controversy around voice cloning has focused on concerns over people misusing the software.

But the claim against OpenAI is unusual because it is the company itself accused of playing fast and loose.

"It was very unfortunate that OpenAI did that -- really not very good," Katya Laine, CEO of TALKR.ai, told AFP at VivaTech.

"If they actually cloned her voice without her knowing then I think that's very very bad," said Riparbelli.

The two entrepreneurs are among hundreds harnessing AI voice programs for uses that they argue will make companies more efficient.

Laine's firm provides virtual voice assistants -- essentially AI customer service agents.

She said her firm's system could now resolve 25 to 30 percent of calls without any human involvement.

Synthesia specialises in video avatars, which Riparbelli said allowed any office worker to turn text or slides into a video performed by a realistic AI.

Both Riparbelli and Laine allow their clients to use their own avatars, off-the-shelf products or those supplied by the likes of OpenAI and Elevenlabs.

Riparbelli said Synthesia used actors whose likenesses and voices were licensed for two years with an option to renew after the initial period.

The problems arise if actors' voices are used without their consent.

The fiasco overshadowed a developer conference in Paris last week when OpenAI was showing off a suite of new tools.

In front of a big screen in an auditorium, Romain Huet, OpenAI's Head of Developer Experience, breezily chatted into his phone.

Seconds later, his short voice sample had been processed and could be heard commentating over a generated video -- in five languages.

The demonstration showed how quickly the field is moving, but the headlines had already been written.

The Washington Post asked in a newsletter "How dumb is OpenAI?", other commentators were suggesting wunderkind Altman was nothing more than a huckster.

Nonetheless, Riparbelli was open to OpenAI's argument that they had used another actor who just sounded liked Johansson.

"If it's not her but someone who sounds a lot like her... where do you draw that line," Riparbelli asked.

"If they're not allowed to use someone who sounds a lot like her, then it sets a very odd precedent."

More news from World

Deepdub, a film dubbing company, uses an AI to process voice and translate into a different language and promises to preserve what?

What has the US Federal Trade Commission warned about the use of voice cloning tools?

Difficult to distinguish from human voice

What is necessary for voice cloning to work?

New systems can generate voiceovers in many languages and accents, and even allow for fine-tuned emotion and tone control.

Deepdub, a film dubbing company, uses an AI to process voice and translate into a different language and promises to preserve what?

How will AI Voice help educators with building courses?

**Use Cases**
- **Entertainment:** Voice cloning is used to create content like songs featuring “deepfaked” celebrity voices (e.g., fake Drake & The Weeknd tracks).

- **Accessibility:** AI voiceovers help create content in multiple languages, enhance voiceover options for documentaries (e.g., China Media Group’s AI-dubbed works), and support training tools (e.g., accent coaching).

Title:

Content: British Text to Speech & Accent Generator

Speak with Authority: British Text-to-Speech Voices for AI Driven Narrations

With a repertoire of over 40 diverse British English accents, effortlessly bring your text to speech with PlayHT`s AI voices and speech synthesis. Whether you`re creating a documentary, creating a health and safety video, or localizing your multimedia ads, convert text to voice in British English using our AI voice generator.

Download your audio files as MP3 or WAV, or access our British English AI voices through our state-of-the-art TTS API.

Excellent150+ reviews on Trustpilot
0/1,000

Trusted by individuals and teams of all sizes

34 Text-to-Speech British English Accents

Take your audience on a journey across the British Isles with cutting-edge AI voices powered by PlayHT, Amazon Polly, Google WaveNet, IBM Watson, and Microsoft Azure.

English (UK)

34 voices
These are the most realistic and natural sounding voices, built using AI and Machine Learning.
Abbi
Alfie
Anna
Bella
Charlie
Charlotte
Elliot
Emilia
Ethan
Hannah
Harry
Hollie
Isla
James
Kathy
Libby
Lily
Logan
Maisie
Noah
Oliver
Olivia
Ryan
Sonia
Thomas

High quality voices that don’t sound robotic, built using computer generated algorithms without AI.

Amelia
Amy
Brian
Emma
Isabella
Jack
Mia
Sandy
Thomas

Explore Additional English TTS Voices

How it works

How to Generate Speech with British English Text-to-Speech Voices

  • Go to the PlayHT Studio
  • Choose your voice
  • Type your text or paste your script into the TTS Editor
  • Customize the voice by adjusting the speech or pitch. Include any pauses or emphasis, if necessary
  • Click generate audio
  • Preview your generation or regenerate audio and choose your preferred generation
  • Download your audio

British English Text-to-Speech Use Cases

Curate an immersive auditory experience for your audience with PlayHT’s British English accent generator. Narrate your audiobooks, voice your e-learning modules, and get creative with your documentary voiceovers.

  • Accent Training

    Have you ever wanted to speak with a British accent? You can use our AI voices as part of your accent training. Convert your text to speech with one of our British English AI voices and use the audio as a training guide to perfect your accent.

    Create stable, reliable accent drills and exercises using any British English AI voice of your choice. Record your voice and compare your audio with audio generated by PlayHT.

    Voice
  • Documentary Voiceovers

    Inspired by David Attenborough’s clear, authoritative, yet precise documentary voiceovers? Choose one of our Ultra-realistic narrative-style British English AI voices for your documentary voiceovers. Import your video to the PlayHT studio and add the voiceover directly to your video.

    Voice
  • E-learning

    The clarity and richness of British accents make British accents the perfect choice for e-learning audio content. Whether it’s educational tutorials or corporate training modules, the crisp British English accent is a great choice for your learning materials.

    Voice
  • Language Learning

    Perfect your language skills with authentic British text-to-speech voices. Master English pronunciation, intonation, and rhythm with our ultra-realistic British text-to-speech voices. Build a dialogue simulation with multiple British accents to enhance conversational fluency.

    Voice
  • IVR Systems

    Impress callers with clear, natural sounding voice prompts with our ultra-realistic British text-to-speech voices. Whether your call center is based in the United Kingdom or you’re addressing an English speaking market, a clear, articulate voice is a must.

    Voice

Start Creating Today

Frequently Asked Questions

How many British English accents can I generate?

What is the most realistic British English accent generator?

How do I download my British English accent files?

What other accents can I generate?

How will AI Voice help educators with building courses?

How will educational institutions benefit from developing AI voice audio content for languages learners?

- **Communication:** Tools turn scripts into realistic voices or even allow anyone to "speak" in a celebrity’s voice.

- **Education:** AI voice tools offer potential for language instruction, including low-proficiency listening materials.

How will educational institutions benefit from developing AI voice audio content for languages learners?

- **Fraud:** The ability to mimic voices convincingly has led to a surge in AI-driven scams and extortion, with law enforcement warning of potential dangers as cloned voices are used to deceive loved ones.

**Ethical and Legal Implications**
- **Brand and Individual Rights:** There is growing concern about using a person’s voice (especially celebrities) without consent, raising questions of copyright, likeness rights, and privacy.


**Summary of President Javier Milei’s Policy Agenda, Approach, and Implications:**

Javier Milei’s rise to Argentina’s presidency marks a sharp libertarian and market-oriented turn for the country’s political, economic, and institutional frameworks.

Presenting himself as a crusader against state excess and political elites, Milei views the state as an “enemy” and promises radical reforms aimed at dismantling Argentina’s entrenched welfare and interventionist systems.

**Key Economic Reforms:**
- **Fiscal Austerity:** Milei uses the chainsaw as a symbol of his intention to drastically cut public spending.

His administration pursues an unprecedented goal for Argentina: eliminating the fiscal deficit and achieving a budget surplus, a break from decades of spending-driven mismanagement.

- **Currency Policy:** He has called for eliminating the Central Bank and was a vocal proponent of replacing the Argentine peso with the US dollar (dollarization)—though implementation faces Congressional resistance.

- **Immediate Measures:** Since taking office, Milei devalued the currency, cut thousands of public sector jobs by terminating recent hires, and hiked prices for public services and transportation, increasing the burden on the population.

- **Trade Realignment:** He announced plans to sever or downscale ties with China and align more closely to the “free world,” notably the US and Israel.

**Political and Institutional Reforms:**
- **Weak Congressional Support:** Milei’s coalition has only minority representation (10% in Senate, 15% in the lower house), forcing him to compromise and negotiate on his ambitious agenda, often diluting original proposals.

- **Attitude Toward Unions and Protest:** He is on a collision course with Argentina’s powerful labor unions and faces mass protests due to spending cuts and rising costs, but he has continued to pursue his reforms.

**Summary of President Javier Milei’s Policy Agenda, Approach, and Implications:**

Javier Milei’s rise to Argentina’s presidency marks a sharp libertarian and market-oriented turn for the country’s political, economic, and institutional frameworks.

Title:

Content: Milei Experiment

In the tangled web of Argentine politics and economics, one figure has emerged as both a lightning rod for controversy and a beacon of hope ~ President Javier Milei.

In the tangled web of Argentine politics and economics, one figure has emerged as both a lightning rod for controversy and a beacon of hope ~ President Javier Milei. His first 100 days in office have been marked by a whirlwind of fiscal manoeuvres, bold policy shifts, and commitment to economic reform. But as Argentina teeters on the edge of uncertainty, Mr Milei’s ambitious agenda raises questions even it offers solutions. At the heart of Mr Milei’s strategy lies a radical departure from conventional wisdom.

Brandishing a chainsaw as a symbol of fiscal austerity, he has pledged to slash spending and achieve a budget surplus, a feat unheard of in a country plagued by decades of fiscal mismanagement. His unorthodox approach has garnered both praise and scepticism, as Argentines grapple with the harsh realities of rising poverty and economic contraction. The cornerstone of Mr Milei’s economic vision is the elimination of money-printing and the pursuit of a unified exchange rate. By devaluing the peso and cutting interest rates, he aims to rein in inflation and restore confidence in the economy.

Yet the path to stability is fraught with pitfalls, as the spectre of recession looms large and investors remain wary of the government’s opaque monetary policies. While Mr Milei’s commitment to reform is commendable, his political isolation poses a significant obstacle to meaningful change. With little support in the Argentine Congress and a fragmented coalition, he faces an uphill battle. The recent defeat of a sprawling omnibus bill highlights the challenges ahead, as competing interests and entrenched political factions threaten to derail Mr Milei’s ambitions. Moreover, the uncertainty surrounding Argentina’s future monetary regime adds another layer of complexity to the equation. Will Mr Milei pivot towards dollarization or pursue a more gradual approach to currency reform? The lack of clarity on this front only serves to fuel investor anxieties and exacerbate economic volatility. Amidst these challenges, Mr Milei’s fate hangs in the balance. How much economic pain can Argentines endure before turning on their unconventional leader? And can Mr Milei muster the political support needed to navigate the treacherous waters of Argentine politics?

Advertisement

In the end, the trajectory of Mr Milei’s presidency hinges on the delicate balance between economic resilience and political manoeuvring. Should he manage to maintain public support and secure crucial alliances, Mr Milei could emerge as a formidable force in next year’s mid-term elections. However, any slip in popularity could spell disaster for his ambitious agenda, opening the door for his adversaries to dismantle his presidency. Whether Mr Milei’s gamble will pay off remains to be seen. But one thing is certain. In a country accustomed to political upheaval and economic turmoil, the journey towards reform is bound to be fraught with uncertainty and adversity. Only time will tell whether Mr Milei’s vision for Argentina’s future will lead to prosperity or further hardship

Advertisement

Presenting himself as a crusader against state excess and political elites, Milei views the state as an “enemy” and promises radical reforms aimed at dismantling Argentina’s entrenched welfare and interventionist systems.

Title:

Content:   1. Skip to content
  2. Skip to main menu
  3. Skip to more DW sites

Argentina presidential election: A runoff of economic ideals

Tobias Käufer
November 17, 2023

Argentina's Economic Minister Sergio Massa and libertarian Javier Milei face off in a nail-biting presidential runoff. The two candidates have radically different solutions to Argentina's economic woes.

https://p.dw.com/p/4YuiH

Economic policy is the key issue in Argentina's runoff election on Sunday, as voters decide between the economic policy of current Economy Minister Sergio Massa and his rival Javier Milei, a far-right libertarian economist known for his radical free-market liberalism.

Argentina's dire economic figures recently reported by the National Statistics Institute (INDEC) may speak for a change after the depressed Latin American country's cost of living surged a staggering 142.7% over the year. The poverty rate in September stood at 38.9%, according to the Buenos Aires-based Pontificia Universidad Catolica (UCA).

Argentina unveils new 2,000-peso bill as inflation bites

Milei's radical ideas for Argentina's economy

Argentina has for decades been plagued by financial chaos and weak economic growth which opposition candidate Javier Milei says is the result of successive left-leaning governments and their failed socialist economic policy.

"Those who have led us into inflation and poverty are now trying to instigate fear [among the population]. Argentina was a world power at the end of the 19th century, then came the decline under the socialist governments," Milei said this week at a campaign event in Rosario in the province of Santa Fe.

He's repeatedly accused his center-left rival of running a fear campaign that would denounce him as an ultra-right hardliner who would seek to undo basic rights and democracy in Argentina. In his campaign, Milei is styling himself as the defender of the country against populism as he aims to "reduce privileges, not rights."

Milei has attracted a lot of attention for his promises to radically overhaul the Argentine government and economy with a plan to eliminate the nation's central bank and replace its currency with the US dollar. He wants to significantly reduce the state apparatus, lift laws and regulations on the economy, and privatize state services. Other controversial proposals from his camp include liberalizing organ trade and privatizing Argentina's territorial waters.

With his radical free-market orthodoxy, Milei hopes to spur economic growth and subsequently lift more Argentines out of widespread poverty.

Massa's gentler economic reforms for Argentina

Sergio Massa is a veteran of Argentine politics and the new leader of the Peronist political movement which is based on the left-wing ideas of former President Juan Peron, who ruled Argentina several times between the 1940s and 1970s. The so-called Peronists have won nine of the last 12 free and fair presidential elections.

Massa has replaced Alberto Fernandez as the Peronist frontrunner after the hapless president voluntarily resigned in April this year. He was the winner of the first round of voting in October after making a surprise comeback from poor pre-election polls capturing nearly 37% of the vote, compared with 30% for Milei.

Massa, who has led Argentina's economy for more than a year, pushed through several policies in support of his candidacy, including programs that return sales tax to certain workers and eliminate income tax for others. He has promised to maintain some economic policies that conservative economists criticize, such as large subsidies for Argentines' energy costs.

In addition, he hopes to generate enough tax and trade surpluses to help negotiations with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) on restructuring Argentina's massive debt.

Argentina's untapped economic potential

Argentina has much to offer to the rest of the world but has yet to leverage it for the benefit of the entire population. This includes large lithium deposits crucial for the transition to e-mobility, as well as offshore oil reserves and abundant natural gas reserves. Moreover, it has the potential to produce green hydrogen, its farming sector is competitive, and the country has a young, well-educated population.

"The biggest challenge for the next government is to develop an initial stabilization plan and then push through a series of structural reforms to profoundly change the economic system," Agustin Etchebarne, director of the Libertad y Progreso Foundation in Buenos Aires, told DW.

Etchebarne is part of a group of economists who condone radical structural changes to the economy to lift Argentina out of its current crisis. Others, including about 100 renowned international economic experts, are more skeptical.

In an open letter recently, some high-profile economists the likes of Thomas Piketty from France, Jayati Ghosh from India, and the former Finance Minister of Colombia, Jose Antonio Ocampo, have warned Milei's proposals are "full of risks that could potentially be very harmful to the Argentine economy and the Argentine people."

This article was originally written in German.

How will Milei's reforms impact workers?

What does Milei promote in terms of healthcare and education?

Individuals to pay for their own services

**Key Economic Reforms:**
- **Fiscal Austerity:** Milei uses the chainsaw as a symbol of his intention to drastically cut public spending.

What issue did Milei want to address without printing money?

His administration pursues an unprecedented goal for Argentina: eliminating the fiscal deficit and achieving a budget surplus, a break from decades of spending-driven mismanagement.

What issue did Milei want to address without printing money?

- **Currency Policy:** He has called for eliminating the Central Bank and was a vocal proponent of replacing the Argentine peso with the US dollar (dollarization)—though implementation faces Congressional resistance.

dollarizing the Argentinian currency
closing the central bank

- **Immediate Measures:** Since taking office, Milei devalued the currency, cut thousands of public sector jobs by terminating recent hires, and hiked prices for public services and transportation, increasing the burden on the population.

Title:

Content: Streets of Argentina Ablaze with Dissent as Milei’s Controversial Reforms Ignite Outrage

In a stunning turn of events, Argentina has become a battleground for public discontent following President Javier Milei’s introduction of a series of controversial proposals. Thousands of Argentinians have taken to the streets, enraged by the president’s push for drastic cuts to public spending.

Milei’s latest measures, unveiled on Wednesday evening, aim to revolutionize Argentina’s struggling economy through a variety of initiatives. These include deregulating the government and opening up state-run industries for privatization in order to spur both exports and investment.

However, the people’s outrage has manifested in widespread protests, often met with a heavy police presence. Gathering in front of the Argentine Congress, hundreds of demonstrators made their opposition to Milei’s proposals known.

Undeterred by the dissent, Milei appeared on national television to defend his agenda and offer reassurances of a prosperous future. He asserted, “Our objective is to rebuild our nation, restore individual freedom and autonomy, and dismantle the myriad of regulations that have impeded our economic growth for far too long.”

Acknowledging the mounting protests, Milei’s security minister, Patricia Bullrich, announced new measures aimed at maintaining public order. These measures grant federal forces the power to disperse protesters blocking streets without requiring a judicial order, and authorize the police to use video or digital evidence to identify and hold accountable those obstructing public thoroughfares. Moreover, the legislation empowers the state to apportion the costs of mobilizing security forces to the protesters themselves.

Milei’s presidential victory was built upon a campaign centered around reducing public spending. Since assuming office, he has already made significant changes to the country’s financial landscape. The value of the Argentinian currency has been adjusted, contracts of public employees with less than one year of service have been terminated, and the prices of basic services and public transportation have seen notable increases.

FAQ:

Q: What are President Milei’s proposals?

A: President Milei’s proposals include deregulating the government and allowing the privatization of state-run industries to boost exports and investment.

Q: Why are Argentinians protesting?

A: Thousands of Argentinians are protesting against Milei’s proposals due to their belief that the drastic cuts to public spending will adversely impact their lives.

Q: How is the government responding to the protests?

A: In response to the protests, the government has announced new measures to maintain public order, empowering federal forces to disperse protesters without a judicial order and enabling the identification of those obstructing public thoroughfares through video or digital means.

Q: What changes has Milei already implemented?

A: Since taking office, Milei has adjusted the value of the Argentinian currency, terminated contracts of public employees with less than one year of service, and increased the prices of basic services and public transportation.

(Sources: Information gathered from local news outlets)

How will Milei's reforms impact workers?

- **Trade Realignment:** He announced plans to sever or downscale ties with China and align more closely to the “free world,” notably the US and Israel.

Title:

Content: International News

Who Is Javier Milei?

Alex Paszkowicz

Brandishing a chainsaw throughout his electoral campaign, the libertarian and self-proclaimed ‘anarcho-capitalist’ Javier Milei won the Argentine general election on 19th November 2023. Milei’s policies and personality cause controversy, so who is the television pundit turned politician?

Beating his rival Sergio Massa with 14.4 million votes to Massa’s 11.5 million, Milei will begin his 4-year mandate starting on 10th of December. After winning a majority of just 4 out of the twenty-four Argentine provinces, Massa conceded defeat at the Unión por la Patria‘s campaign house before the results were officially published.

The centre-left finance minister admits that “obviously these are not the results we hoped for, and I have spoken to Javier Milei to congratulate him because he’s the president that the majority of Argentines have chosen for the next four years”.

Massa has also hinted that he will retire from front-line politics.

The Peronist political movement has been pushed out of government

Milei’s victory has dismantled the left-wing political establishment, even ending Argentina’s 2-party political system. Created in the 1940s by Juan and Eva Perón, the Peronist political movement has been pushed out of government, despite ruling for sixteen out of the last twenty years. His campaign fell short despite Massa continuously appealing to voters’ fears surrounding Milei’s volatile character and risky economic policies.

Compared with Massa, and judging by the election result, Milei is seen as the lesser of two evils in Argentina, as the previous Peronist government could not provide economic stability.

The third-largest Latin American economy has almost reached inflation of 150%, and 40% of Argentina’s 45 million population is in poverty. Furthermore, the International Monetary Fund has rescued the Argentine state twenty-two times, with the most recent loan of $44 billion in 2018.

Milei used his platform […] to circulate conspiracy theories

Economist Sergio Armella believes, “it is indisputable that a swift change from the failed economic policies of the past is imperative. The accumulated economic imbalances have grown too large and must be addressed promptly”.

Nicknamed ‘El Loco’ and before running for president, Milei used his platform on television to circulate conspiracy theories around election fraud and Argentina’s economic problems.

Combined with his extravagant personality and viral TikTok videos, he targeted a younger audience who had grown up through economic hardship and strict Coronavirus lockdowns. Milei’s camp is also known to question the national consensus, which has lasted four decades, over the crimes of its 1976 to 1983 dictatorship, which killed around 30,000 people.

“The reconstruction of Argentina begins” [Milei]

The man with five cloned dogs, each named after a different right-wing economist, claims that with his new mandate, ‘“the reconstruction of Argentina begins”. Calling the result a “miracle” in his victory speech, he says that the result “marks the end of decadence in Argentina”.

He believes Argentina will return to being a “global power”, while alluding to those conspiracies he supported in his past where previous governments, “shared the state amonpoliticians and their friends”.

Although he abandoned his chainsaw to improve his public image, the symbol refers to his promise to decrease inflation by cutting public spending by 15% and privatising state companies, while reducing fuel and electricity subsidies.

Milei wants to abolish the central bank and adopt the US dollar as its official currency, to stop the country from printing more money like previous governments. If the dollar’s value continues to devalue, then inflation could rise with a risk of hyperinflation, which could return after three decades.

Aims to sever ties with China

Milei has no interest in joining the BRICS alliance, and aims to sever ties with China to help move towards privatising state-led companies like the oil industry.

According to economist Elizabeth Bacigalupo, this includes an estimated $10 billion in annual savings on energy imports through a new gas pipeline in Vaca Muerta. Also, this year, the drought in Argentina reduced its agricultural exports from $39 billion in 2022 to $23 billion. But with next year’s predictions, exports could be up to $40 billion.

The problem Milei faces is how fragmented the Argentine Congress is. The coalition he formed with the conservatives after the first round only has 10% of the Senate and 15% of the lower house, meaning he will have to negotiate with his political rivals to push through his complicated reforms.

Any delay in economic progress could lead to more inflation and social unrest.

Despite insults hurled at Brazil’s President, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, by Milel throughout his campaign, he wished him support on social media, saying “democracy is the voice of the people and must always be respected”.

Donald Trump believes Milei will “Make Argentina Great Again”

Former US president Donald Trump believes Milei will ‘Make Argentina Great Again’. Businessman Elon Musk expressed a similar sentiment and posted, ‘prosperity is ahead for Argentina’.

Reactions from Milei supporters are varied, with voters desperate for change. A supporter named Michelle Chelsea in Buenos Aires says, “economic policies have led us to this situation. Today, more than half of the population has voted for a different option, and I hope that things will change a lot”.

A Food Service Worker, Alejandro Bravo, is hopeful for the future. “It’s an incredible joy. It’s the end of a never-ending decline, so to corrupt politicians, we say, “get lost”‘.

“We’ve had enough corruption, enough insecurity, enough inflation, enough poverty. We were very tired, we wanted something new, we wanted to see new faces”, states supporter Barbara Rubin.

Alex Paszkowicz

Featured image courtesy of Angelica Reyes via Unsplash. Image license found here. No changes were made to this image.

For more content including Uni News, Reviews, Entertainment, Lifestyle, Features and so much more, follow us on Twitter and Instagram, and like our Facebook page for more articles and information on how to get involved.

To keep up to date with all the latest Impact News, you can also follow us on the Impact News’  FacebookInstagram and Twitter page.

Categories
International NewsNews

What are some of the "liberal democracies" that the Milei administration prioritizes partnerships?

**Political and Institutional Reforms:**
- **Weak Congressional Support:** Milei’s coalition has only minority representation (10% in Senate, 15% in the lower house), forcing him to compromise and negotiate on his ambitious agenda, often diluting original proposals.

Title:

Content: Argentina’s Javier Milei’s “Instant Democracy” and Neoliberalism

Javier Milei, YouTube screen grab.

Self-described “anarcho-capitalist,” Javier Milei became the president of Argentina in December 2023 promising “drastic” measures to temper the inflation crisis that has gripped the country. In the weeks since his election, Milei has brought forward an ambitious neoliberal restructuring program encompassing almost every aspect of the government.

Milei’s agenda confronts considerable opposition in Congress, where his governing coalition, Libertad Avanza, holds only a fraction of the seats. To adjust to these circumstances, Milei has cultivated a strategy of “turbo-politics,” bypassing legislative processes that risk delaying the implementation of his state reorganization plans.

Milei’s approach to Congress is symbolic of a decades-old strategy I have elsewhere called “neoliberal parliamentarism.” This concept describes a pattern of deliberate efforts to reform or subvert legislative institutions as a means of facilitating neoliberal reforms that do not have sufficient popular support to be actualized through usual democratic channels. These changes, even when temporary, often leave long-term scars on institutions by weakening norms of institutional forbearance.

The Emergency Decree and the Omnibus Bill

Milei has followed this blueprint, insulating the core elements of his agenda from democratic influence. The dismantling of the Argentine state began in earnest in mid-December when the executive branch presented an 83 page Necessity and Urgency Decree (NDU) aimed at repealing over 300 various laws and regulations, facilitating the privatization of core public assets.

This “mega-decree,” Milei claimed, was necessary to “start to undo the huge number of regulations that have held back and prevented economic growth”. It includes sweeping economic deregulation, such as the elimination of regulations on Argentina’s supermarket laws, which required the guarantee of low prices on basic products. It also includes measures to eliminate rent controls. Suggested labour reforms to cut pregnancy leave and increase the job probation period were suspended by the courts in January 2024.

Less than a week after issuing the NDU, the executive branch sent a massive omnibus bill titled Foundations and Starting Points for the Freedom of the Argentine People to Congress for consideration. The bill bundles the major elements of Milei’s neoliberal restructuring initiatives under the heading of a single piece of legislation with 664 articles. It will enable the government to carry out, in a matter of weeks, what would normally take years to achieve if these reforms were considered independently and subjected to the usual legislative scrutiny.

Reforms from the 351 page bill include an extraordinary provision declaring a state of public emergency on matters related to the economy, fiscal balance, social security, defence, health, and administration.

The emergency declaration delegates more than 1,000 extraordinary powers from the legislative to the executive until December 31, 2025, with the possibility of a two-year extension. This provision would enable Milei to make major reforms without having to consult Congress, thus eliminating a major hurdle to the implementation of neoliberal reforms.

Authors of the bill are attempting to facilitate the privatization of 41 state-owned companies across various sectors including energy, aviation, port administration, and agriculture. They also enable the reorganization of public administration, including embedding regulatory cuts from the NDU into law.

Additionally, the omnibus legislation proposes substantial reforms to environmental protection laws. These changes include the weakening of the Glacier Protection Law, allowing the mining of sensitive “periglacial” areas. The bill is presently being rushed through the legislative process by way of Extraordinary sessions of Congress, leading to marathon sittings during Argentina’s usual summer recess period.

“It’s impossible for people to have an idea of the enormous number of proposals Milei has sent,” said Ricardo Gil Laverda, a constitutional lawyer and former Argentine Justice Minister. “They cover dozens and dozens and dozens of laws, often on deep topics.”

To influence negotiations, Milei has threatened to put forward a non-binding referendum if the opposition parties do not agree to the main terms of his restructuring plan. Milei has also threatened to take away social welfare rights from protesters who block streets.

Despite these efforts, however, the reality of Milei’s lack of Congressional support has led him to compromise on some elements of his agenda as it makes its way through the legislative process. Although the structure of the bill remains, opposition politicians have made more than 100 changes to it, including curtailing the scope of the President’s emergency powers to one year rather than two, and retaining YPF, the national oil and gas company, in public hands, despite allowing most other state-owned companies to remain subject to privatization.

Neoliberalism and the Decline of the Legislature

Argentina is not unique. This most recent example of legislative subversion is a familiar tactic used to accommodate neoliberal restructuring, that has been utilized repeatedly by neoliberal reformers in recent decades, including the IMF-sanctioned omnibus bill rammed through Greece’s parliament in 2014.

This approach to the legislature is the consequence of the political limitations of neoliberal policy, which is opposed by considerable segments of society. A blueprint for this strategy is spelled out by former New Zealand Minister of Finance Roger Douglas in his 1993 book, Unfinished Business. The book recalls lessons from his experience implementing a neoliberal agenda dubbed ‘Rogernomics’ in the 1980s against the headwinds of widespread social and political opposition.

Douglas claimed it is “uncertainty, not speed, that endangers the success of structural reform programmes.” Neoliberal reforms should not be passed incrementally, but as a rupture, moving in “quantum leaps” to overcome popular opposition.

Democratic processes are typically slow and deliberate, designed to enable the legislative body to scrutinize the executive, foster compromise, and encourage debate. It was necessary, therefore, to streamline the democratic process to ensure that politicians could neither interfere with, nor demand meaningful changes to, neoliberal reorganization efforts.

Neoliberal governments should confront the legislature, not as an essential element of the process of democracy, but an instrument used by politicians and vested interests to interfere with the operations of the marketplace. “Speed is essential. It is almost impossible to go too fast,” Douglas said. “Once the programme begins to be implemented, don’t stop until you have completed it.”

This tactic did not occur in a vacuum, but emerged intrinsically from the content of a neoliberal theoretical framework that views democratic institutions as an additional layer of state administration to be overcome. Neoliberal thought is deeply skeptical in the capabilities of reason to infer or predict causality. Given the limitations of the mind, society should be governed, not by conscious modelling and careful planning, but according to spontaneous or “invisible hand” forms of social organization, which are the outcome of independent, unplanned individual decisions.

This position is most clearly expressed by Friedrich Hayek, who claimed that parliamentary sovereignty was in fact the “root of the evil” in modern society, since it facilitated the growth of the state. Legislatures constituted one limb of what Milton Friedman called the “iron triangle” of politicians, bureaucrats, as well as corporate and individual special interests that were perpetually reliant upon the government for rents, and therefore had an interest in obstructing market reforms.

‘Instant Democracy’ and the Rise of ‘Neoliberal Populism’

What should we make of Milei’s approach to Congress, then? Is it reflective of a new pattern in neoliberal governance, or merely the extension of an old one? The answer is both. While Milei’s approach clearly shares categorial similarities with the neoliberal legislative blueprint built for speed, his blending of these ideas with a coarse, populist rhetoric grounded in anti-statism, signifies an intensification of these patterns.

Milei’s populist neoliberal worldview contributes to a rising trend among far-right governments around the world to use this rhetoric to rationalize the subversion of democracy. This kind of “neoliberal populism” conflates democratic institutions with political actors, claiming that they are instruments of obstruction for self-serving politicians and bureaucrats.

This is a view Milei has proudly declared. “For me, the state is an enemy, as are the politicians who live off it,” he said. “We will put an end to the parasitic, stupid, useless political caste that is sinking this country.”

Grounded in the same logic as neoliberalism’s conventional demand for freedom from the state, democratic institutions increasingly appear as impediments to the logic of the marketplace. The elimination of cumbersome legislative processes, then, removes the obstacles that restrain market forces, generating popular economic independence, and restoring common-sense. This inverts the logic of democracy, making it appear as though executive rule is necessary to protect the interests of “the People” from Friedman’s “iron triangle.”

The anti-parliamentarism at the core of the neoliberal theoretical outlook has increasingly transformed into a populist program that mobilizes a general dissatisfaction with politicians against democratic institutions as such. Neoliberal politicians, such as Milei, use this reasoning to manufacture the conditions for the ongoing use of emergency powers and the concentration of authority in the executive branch.

The global elite, sensing “the smell of a big privatization wave coming,” are said to be “infatuated” with his take-no-prisoners approach to Congress. Thus, although not a new phenomenon, Milei’s brand of “instant democracy,” which conceives of speed and flexibility as the essence of legislative governance, has the support of both the financial elite as well as a growing populist dimension, giving it the hallmarks of a burgeoning political movement of the most regressive kind.

As the institutional forbearance that restrained most neoliberal governments to stay within the confines of liberal democratic constitutional structures continues to give way to a logic that sees the legislature as subordinate to the market, it is likely that we will continue to see the erosion of democratic standards.

Tom McDowell is a Lecturer in the Department of Politics and Public Administration at Toronto Metropolitan University. He is the author of Neoliberal Parliamentarism: The Decline of Parliament at the Ontario Legislature (University of Toronto Press, 2021).

- **Attitude Toward Unions and Protest:** He is on a collision course with Argentina’s powerful labor unions and faces mass protests due to spending cuts and rising costs, but he has continued to pursue his reforms.

Title:

Content: Argentina’s New Libertarian President, Javier Milei, Is on a Collision Course With His Country’s Powerful Labor Unions

Unions have promised a ‘total strike’ across the country Wednesday to protest Mr. Milei’s efforts to rein in a once-powerful central government and put Argentina on a path to prosperity.

Argentina’s new Libertarian president, Javier Milei, is on a collision course with his country’s powerful labor unions, a conflict that will come to a head Wednesday when the unions have promised a nationwide “total strike” to protest austerity measures enacted by Mr. Milei since he took office last month.

Union leaders speaking to the Financial Times say they expect as many as 200,000 people to take to the streets of Buenos Aires because the new president is “breaking the social contract” by passing an emergency decree that rolled back worker protections, deregulated many industries and began allowing employees to opt out of union-provided health care.

Around 40 percent of the country’s 13 million workers belong to labor unions that have for decades enjoyed considerable political clout under successive governments headed by leaders of the Peronist movement launched by strongman Juan Peron in the 1950s. That power evaporated overnight when Mr. Milei moved into the Casa Rosada, Argentina’s equivalent of the White House, on December 10.

The leader of Argentina’s Construction Workers Union, Gerardo Martínez, told the Financial Times that he hopes the strike —the earliest ever faced by a newly elected president — will force Mr. Milei to roll back some of his reforms and come to the bargaining table with the unions.

“We are aware that inflation [needs to come down.] We are embarrassed to have a country with this level of poverty,” Mr. Martínez said. “But we can’t accept that the cost of reaching economic stability falls solely on the backs of workers and the middle class.”

The tousle-headed Mr. Milei, who famously brandished a chainsaw during the campaign while promising to slash government spending and eliminate entire departments, has made good on some of those promises early in his tenure. He has slashed energy and transport subsidies and sent a bill to Congress that would privatize many of Argentina’s poorly managed state-run enterprises.

Mr. Milei already has backtracked on other issues, however, in an effort to secure the support of moderates in Congress, including taking off the table a plan to privatize the state-run oil giant, YPF.

While perhaps not exactly enamored by some of his fellow countrymen, Mr. Milei has become the darling of international free-marketeers since his full-throated defense of capitalism and the power of entrepreneurship to lift countries out of poverty during the annual World Economic Forum at Davos last week.

In a speech that has since been translated into dozens of languages, Mr. Milei stunned the normally left-leaning audience at Davos by blaming the decades of economic malaise that has plagued Argentina on the “collectivist” policies of his predecessors. Government, he said, is not the solution to what ails societies. Government is the problem, he said.

“The case of Argentina is an empirical demonstration that no matter how rich you may be, how much you may have in terms of natural resources, how skilled your population may be, how educated, or how many bars of gold you may have in the central bank — if measures are adopted that hinder the free functioning of markets, competition, price systems, trade and ownership of private property, the only possible fate is poverty,” he said.

As much as 40 percent of Argentina’s population is described as living in poverty, and inflation is currently running at a rate of 211 percent annually, the highest rate in 32 years. In Latin America, only Venezuela faces worse inflation than Argentina.

© 2024 The New York Sun Company, LLC. All rights reserved.

Use of this site constitutes acceptance of our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy. The material on this site is protected by copyright law and may not be reproduced, distributed, transmitted, cached or otherwise used.

Sign in or  Create a free account

By continuing you agree to our Privacy Policy and Terms of Use

How will Milei's reforms impact workers?

Who has opposed Milei's proposed layoff order?