Argentinian inflation saw an enormous year-on-year surge to 104.3% in March, marking the highest annual rate since 1991, according to data released by the National Institute for Statistics and Census (INDEC) on Friday.

The inflation-rate reading for the month came in at 7.7%, higher than the median forecast of 7% among analysts polled by Bloomberg. Economists surveyed by Reuters had provided a more pessimistic outlook of 7.1%.

Total inflation for the first three months of the year was 21.7%. In February, the inflation rate hit 102.5%, meaning the price of many consumer goods has more than doubled since the same period a year ago.

The highest increase and the biggest influence on the overall index came from the cost of education, which saw a month-on-month surge of 29.1%. The massive increase was attributed to the start of the school year.

Clothing as well as food and non-alcoholic beverages, where the hike was caused mainly by the cost of meat, dairy products and eggs, increased by 9.4% and 9.3% month-on-month respectively. Also, due to a breakout of avian flu in Argentina, prices for chicken and eggs soared over 25%.

Argentina has been among the countries with the highest inflation rates for several years in a row. Buenos Aires has long tried to contain inflation but divisions have marred the nation’s economic policy. Last summer, three economy ministers succeeded one another in the space of just four weeks as the economic crisis deepened.

In December, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) approved another $6 billion of bailout money. It was the latest payout for Argentina in a 30-month programme that is expected to reach a total of $44 billion.

RT 15/4/23

DC

 One of the talks at this year’s  Summer School! will be given by Bill Martin.  He will entertain and enlighten us on ‘The Mysteries of the Pyramids’.   These ancient monuments are a testament to the skills and abilities of humanity through the ages: and they are also clues as to how and why people laboured in the past. This talk will look at some of this evidence, and use it to discuss how human labour time is a constant factor in historical modes of production whilst also varying in how and why it was used. It will also look at how this evidence of human ingenuity is refracted through a modern ideological prism.

 According to Karl Marx, the Marxist revolution would be led by enlightened leaders, known as “the vanguard of the proletariat.” 

There are only two things certain in life – death and taxes. Christopher Bullock (1716)

With the transition to a money-free, class-free society one of these will no longer exist.

“Progressive” politicians, and their supporters, can often be heard hollering the slogan, ‘Tax the rich!’  Labour politician Denis Healey said, ‘until the pips squeak.’ It is not surprising that  the capitalist class should resist attempts to reduce the wealth accumulated from the exploitation of the working class.

“A  record number of super-rich Norwegians are abandoning Norway for low-tax countries after the centre-left government increased wealth taxes to 1.1%.

More than 30 Norwegian billionaires and multimillionaires left Norway in 2022, according to research by the newspaper Dagens Naeringsliv. This was more than the total number of super-rich people who left the country during the previous 13 years, it added. Even more super-rich individuals are expected to leave this year because of the increase in wealth tax in November, costing the government tens of millions in lost tax receipts.”

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2023/apr/10/super-rich-abandoning-norway-at-record-rate-as-wealth-tax-rises-slightly

The Socialist Party of Great Britain provides a more relevant solution to the problem of the capitalist class and their continued clinging to wealth and to power.

Don’t tax the rich – Abolish them 

http://socialiststandardmyspace.blogspot.com/2022/04/dont-tax-rich-abolish-them-2021.html

 The price Kiwis pay for nationwide overnight postage is “ridiculously cheap” and should cost at least twice as much, the chief executive of listed company Freightways says.

Mark Troughear said on the Herald’s Stock Takes podcast that overnight $3 postage to get a small parcel from the North Island to the South was “chronically underpriced” for the undertaking required, using expensive aircraft and often unsuitable roads.

“The reality is we have some services that are just chronically underpriced. It’s nuts.

“It’s a phenomenally high level of service … For a ridiculously cheap price.”

https://www.nzherald.co.nz/business/stock-takes-postage-in-nz-chronically-underpriced-freight-ceo-warns/NZBO7GGBEJHP3OXCKD3UJNZFGE/

 ‘Chomsky: The Global South is calling for some negotiated settlement to put an end to the horrors before they get worse. Of course, the Russian invasion was a criminal act of aggression. No question about that. Ukrainians have a right to defend themselves. I don’t think there should be any question about that either...

Barsamian: The lunatics seemingly control the asylum. What signs of sanity are out there to counter the lunatics?

Chomsky: Plenty. There’s lots of popular activism. It’s in the streets. Young people calling for the decent treatment of others. A lot of it is very solid and serious. Extinction Rebellion..’.

Once upon a time he had some better ideas including:

‘Presupposing that there have to be states is like saying, what kind of feudal system should we have that would be the best one? What kind of slavery would be the best kind?’ (Manufacturing Consent, 1988).

‘A democratic revolution would take place when it is supported by the great mass of the people, when they know what they are doing and they know why they are doing it and they know what they want to see come into existence. Maybe not in detail but at least in some manner. A revolution is something that great masses of people have to understand and be personally committed to’ (Linguistics and Politics, September–October 1969, New Left Review).

 CHARITIES are warning the increase in state pension will be wiped out by a soaring cost of living.

From today (April 10), pensioners will see their weekly payments rise by almost £19 after the government increased the rate by 10.1%.

But charity bosses have warned the rising cost of essentials such as food, energy, fuel, social care and accommodation will cancel out the boost, reports The Daily Mail.

https://www.thesun.co.uk/money/21994818/warning-state-pension-cost-of-living-benefits/

 “….Likewise, the scattered anti-war actions that have been reported so far—protests in Russia, soldiers disobeying their orders in Ukraine, refusals to handle shipments by dockers in the UK and Italy, sabotage by railway workers in Belarus—need to take on an autonomous working-class perspective to be truly anti-war, otherwise, they will be ripe for manipulation by one of the warring capitalist powers. Support for Russia or Ukraine in this conflict means support for war. The only way to end this nightmare is not for workers to line up on one side of it, but to fraternize across borders to bring down the war machine.

This is why we say, emphatically: no war but the class war! The ruling classes are already waging their war on us and the planet. If they want more war and bloodletting, let them march on the battlefields themselves, rifles in hand, and fight it out amongst themselves. The working people of the world must not allow ourselves to become cannon fodder for their wars. Rather, it is up to us—the great majority without whom everything grinds to a halt—to stop our rulers’ war plans and create the alternative.”

No War but the Class War: Statement from NWBCW Miami

The Landlord

 Inflation seems inexorable,

No prospect it might relent.

Where’s the cash for heat and food bills,

School uniforms and the rent?

The landlord’s not unreasonable,

His property well maintained,

But it’s not his fault or concern

If tenants’ incomes are drained.

It’s just a matter of business,

Not moral dereliction;

He is not unsympathetic,

But still pursues eviction.

For him, the house is not a home,

But an asset that must earn.

Yet, if rent’s unpaid, then it’s just

Capital without return.

D. A.