A couple of months ago, Argentina posted its first budget surplus in 16 years after gutting the government.
But those numbers, well, they're not good enough.
Milei has now announced that he will be laying off 50,000 more government employees, effectively cutting the state in half.
This latest round of cuts follows a March announcement in which Milei proposed slashing 70,000 jobs from Argentina's public sector work force, which employs approximately 3.5 million people. According to Infobae, 25,000 positions have been cut since March's announcement.
As a result, public employees rejected the measure and some of the largest unions in the country have called for protests. 'We knew that the program was going to generate social tension. Bringing the number of ministries to half was not free,' the president said during his speech at the Latam Economic Forum in Buenos Aires.
You know how Elon fired 90% of Twitter and no noticeable changes happened and, in many ways, things got better?
Milei is applying that principle to Argentinian politics. You don't need most of the government. You cut it in half? Yeah, things will probably get better.
This latest move requires congressional approval; however, Milei's team believes that they will be able to get the votes.
The revised package now faces further challenges in the Senate, with a critical vote expected next week. Opposition senators are gathering votes to block Milei's proposals aimed at overhauling taxes and privatizing state-owned companies, Bloomberg reports.
Despite these hurdles, Luis Caputo, Argentina's minister of economy, said that the bill will be approved eventually. 'It's a matter of time,' he said on Wednesday. 'We are not going to stray from the goal we have set.'
Milei, you're an inspiration!
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