The unusual request of a deputy to Alberto Fernández: demands that he identify the enemy of the “war on inflation”

Minutes ago, Juntos for Change MP Gerardo Milman posted on his official Twitter account a draft resolution calling on President Alberto Fernández to identify who is the enemy he intends to declare war on, as well as the “speculators”.

The unusual document refers to the statements made by the president last Tuesday. “I hope that this week we can begin to bring order to the issue of the tremendous debt we inherited. And on Friday the war against inflation begins in Argentina; we are going to end the speculators”, the president slipped as he led the opening ceremony of the renovated Tortuguitas station on the Belgrano Norte railway line, in the Buenos Aires party of Malvinas Argentinas.

Milman's draft resolution is endorsed by Carlos Zapata, Karina Bachey and José Núñez, who are also members of Together for Change and specifically demand 6 things, namely:

1. Identify who is the enemy you intend to declare war on.

2. Who are the speculators they are going to “end up” with

3. What scope is assigned to the verb “end” in this “war”.

4. Who are the speculators they are going to “end up” with.

5. What is the ultimate goal of it.

6. If, as provided for in article 99 paragraph 15 of the national constitution, it requests the Congress of the nation the appropriate authorization for such a declaration.

As can be seen, the deputies took the literal nature of Fernández's unfortunate words - bearing in mind that an armed conflict is taking place in Ukraine and that inflation in Argentina is not something recent, but is growing every month - to demand that he, according to the National Constitution, define, specify and approve the alleged declaration of war.

“Inflation has become unstoppable and the government insists on recipes that have failed - price controls, export restrictions, increased withholding -, instead of operating on the causes of this phenomenon such as stopping issuing money and lowering public spending to eliminate the fiscal deficit,” reads Milman's document.

Local economists spoke about it in dialogue with Infobae. “These are the same old ideas and they will produce the same results,” said Agustín Etchebarne, economist and general director of the Freedom and Progress Foundation, who also stressed that “every year they announce 'fighting inflation', with the same people and ideas. Einstein would say that it is one of the symptoms of madness to do the same thing thinking that it will give you different results: the reality is that you are going to have the same results. Inflation continues to rise, from 30% annual inflation you went to 50%. This year we are going to have inflation of at least 60% per year and it will probably rise again next year because they still have the same ideas, the same economic measures, the same price controls and the same tariff delays.”

In the same vein, economist Rodrigo Álvarez said, emphasizing that “in terms of credibility and ability to anchor politics and expectations, the Government has very little room. There is no room to trust that a consistent anti-inflation policy will be implemented.”

After Alberto Fernández's remarks, INDEC published the consumer price index that revealed a cumulative increase of 8.8% in the first two months of the year, which positions the country as the fifth highest price increase in the world. The food sector registered an increase of 7.5%, providing the highest incidence on variation. “The president who came to 'fill the Argentineans refrigerator' has only managed to empty it more and more during his term,” says Milman.

At the end of the text, the deputy appeals to the theorizations of Carl von Clausewitz in the book “Of War”, according to Milman, the president's sayings were not only unfortunate but also dangerous, since talking about war can lead to real physical violence, not only symbolic, “if the one who directs the destinies of the country encourages the violence, nothing ends well, ever”, he says.

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