There are few things likely to cause greater public resentment in difficult times than the perception that ‘we are not all in it together’. Argentina’s President Javier Milei has been urging people to ever-greater sacrifice, even as inflation exceeds 270% and poverty approaches 60%, while presenting himself as the antithesis of the political elite, or caste, he accuses of being the cause of all of the country’s woes. When the news broke, therefore, that he had signed a decree significantly raising his own salary and that of senior cabinet ministers he went into full crisis mode, repealing the decree, for which he abnegated all responsibility, and searching for a scapegoat, fixing upon a previous government for building in automatic wage increases for senior officials, and his hapless labour secretary, who was promptly dismissed.End of preview - This article contains approximately 1408 words.
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