President Javier Milei did not mince words when referring to the recent vote in the Senate that approved a series of projects that, for the president, put the economic stabilization plan at risk.
During an interview with Radio Mitre from the Rural Society grounds, where she gave the speech at the main event of the official opening of the exhibition, Milei issued a forceful warning: “Those who vote in favor of increasing public spending in this way are murderers of all future generations, because what they are going to end up doing is ruining the lives of all good Argentinians from now on ”.
Milei insisted that the Senate's recent decision implies a permanent increase in public spending, not limited to a single fiscal year."It's not just going up this year; it's going up forever, so to speak," he explained. According to his analysis, this measure represents an increase of almost three percentage points in the Gross Domestic Product (GDP)."That implies, for example, an increase in debt of three hundred and fifty billion dollars. Just to give you an idea of the damage they caused," he pointed out.
The president not only criticized the magnitude of the spending, but also questioned the financing mechanisms, which, in his view, are unsustainable and detrimental to the national economy. Milei outlined the available alternatives:"And how are you going to finance that? If you finance it with taxes, you kill growth. If you finance it with monetary issuance, you generate inflation. And if you finance it with debt, what are you doing? You're taxing future generations," he argued. For Milei, any of these options represents an unacceptable burden, whether for the present or the future of the country.
In his speech, the president went beyond technical criticism and used emotionally charged terms to describe the consequences of the legislative decision."Basically, what you're doing is genocide," he stated, referring to the impact the measure will have on future generations. Milei warned that those defending the presidential veto of the law are, in fact, defending the nation's future:"This applies to those who have to defend the veto; know that you are defending our future," he emphasized.
Regarding tax policy, Milei reiterated his commitment to reducing the tax burden, as long as the economy shows signs of sustained growth. “Obviously, as the Argentine economy grows, as we had committed, we will lower taxes. Last year, we lowered them by two and a half percentage points. We continue with this idea of lowering taxes, and as long as we continue to grow and the people support us, we will not give way to these filthy political parasites who make a living robbing us with taxes,” the president explained. This position, according to Milei, requires a parallel reduction in public spending: “In other words, in order to lower taxes, I need to continue lowering public spending,” he emphasized.
The president did not spare criticism of the political class, which he described as"filthy parasites" and "high politics," accusing them of living at the expense of citizens' efforts."People are understanding and knowing that the real enemies are high politics, the caste politicians, the State Party, who are the ones who live off public spending, ruining the lives of good, hard-working people," Milei said. For the president, defending fiscal balance is not just a technical issue, but an existential struggle:"It's not just a defense of fiscal balance; it's a defense of ourselves, and it's in defense of our future generations that these populists, demagogues, caste politicians, high politics want to ruin the lives of our youth, our children, our grandchildren, and others," he stated.
The president also referred to society's responsibility to control public spending and monitor the political class."Society must be clear that it must be costly for them to engage in demagoguery and deceive people. You can't increase public spending if you don't have the taxes," he warned. Milei posed the question about how the spending increases will be financed:"What do we do if public spending increases? What taxes do we raise? Whose taxes do we raise?" he asked, suggesting that the traditional political response has been to place the burden on the agricultural sector."The State Party solves it easily; it always does it the same way. It puts the blame on the countryside. Well, I'm not willing to do that," he declared.
Milei insisted that the only sustainable way to reduce taxes is to continue reducing state spending. The president emphasized that any attempt to finance increased spending through taxes, monetary issuance, or debt only shifts the problem to future generations, compromising their well-being and development.
Criticism of Villarruel and the alleged internal dispute between Karina Milei and Santiago Caputo
In another section of the lengthy interview, the president spoke directly about the alleged internal dispute between his sister Karina Milei and advisor Santiago Caputo, and also launched harsh criticism toward Vice President Victoria Villarruel.
"That's a huge amount of nonsense. I mean, they're media operations. This is the same as when they say I'm at odds with Minister Toto Caputo. I have a symbiotic relationship with Caputo, but it's literally symbiotic; it's not more or less. And Santiago is like a brother to me, and to Kari too," he emphasized.
“The government has this operating structure. There's the Iron Triangle, with Santiago Caputo leading the strategy. My sister, Chief Karina, with the territory, the political organizer, the team. And Guillermo Francos, who liaises with politics. And at another level, there's me, who's dedicated to management and who basically has two aspects,” he added.
He also took the opportunity to highlight his sister Karina's political influence."I think we're doing a great job, the work my sister is doing in the region. You have to consider that there are people who have spent years trying to establish a provincial party and haven't succeeded. And this week, my sister managed to secure La Libertad Avanza in all 24 districts of Argentina. I don't want to be rude with my response, because as they say, the pastry chef filled it with cream," he concluded.
Then, while explaining what had happened in recent days with the dollar exchange rate and rising interest rates, he took the opportunity to harshly criticize Villarruel again.
“There were people who issued bonds, putting up public securities as collateral, and they converted those LEFIs into pesos and financed the currency run. What a coincidence that this was triggered by the farce of treason in the Senate, which authorized an illegal session. Why? To try to break up the government. They don't give a damn about blowing up the economy just to get to power. That's the level of perversion they have. I mean, they're willing to kick Argentinian asses and screw them over just to have power. And there are accomplices to this, those who, for example, authorize illegal sessions,” he said.
Immediately, when asked if she was referring directly to Villarruel, she was blunt:"Yes, the traitorous brute. She proposed that we finance it with $17 billion and $30 million. I mean, she screwed up 570 times. And then she acts sentimental. Why doesn't she give up her privileged retirement? Since she's so good. Or good to others, that's all," she lashed out.
"Rome doesn't pay traitors; it means exile for the traitor. Because those who were betrayed don't want it because they were betrayed. And those who benefited from the betrayal know you're a traitor. So, if someone who lived in absolute anonymity ended up becoming the vice president of the nation and stabs you, who can give you something of that magnitude? There's no security. So, the only thing we're betting on is that he has institutional responsibility, that he does his job," Milei concluded.
