Rise of the Argentine Empire

Presidential Palace, North Hall of the Rose Palace, President's Office.

The Argentine Presidential Palace is located at 50 Balcarce Street in the Montserrat district of Buenos Aires, flanked by the Ministry of Economy, the National Tax Center, the Central Bank, and other important national departments.

The North Hall is where the President and the Prime Minister convene government ministers to discuss national affairs. The President and the Prime Minister also meet with political figures from various Argentine provinces and hold press conferences here.

Perón was reviewing various national information and intelligence reports that had been gathered. The office's decor was quite luxurious, contrary to the simple image most Argentinian commoners imagined. The decoration here was exquisite.

He had just met with reporters from various Argentine newspapers and held a brief press conference to share some views on his second consecutive presidential term, while also making some necessary responses and leaving behind many memorable quotes.

At this press conference, Perón wore a tailcoat and a bow tie, appearing very enthusiastic, with his signature wide grin. At least, in the eyes of many, Perón was indeed very charming.

There were not many reporters present, and most of them were from newspapers that leaned towards him. The 'New Argentina' newspaper also participated, as well as the workers' newspaper he controlled. After a brief opening statement,

"From 1943 to 1952, the number of workers eligible for social insurance increased from 500,000 to 5 million. Union members can receive more benefits because some welfare funds are only available to members. Everyone is welcome to join the Argentine General Confederation of Labor."

"Many of you know that I asked my administrative secretary to bring in my lunch: a plate of Argentine beef. The beef produced in Argentina is the best, which keeps me healthy and strong, unlike the British Prime Minister Attlee, who stepped down last year. His poor physique is due to the lack of Argentine beef, and the weather in London is always disappointing, unlike the good weather in Buenos Aires."

"Furthermore, the Americans have seized our agricultural market in Spain and Western Europe. We must resist American imperialist ideology and hope that U.S. President Truman can respond positively to this issue and allow us to join the Marshall Plan. We Argentines must continue to implement economic independence, which means breaking the shackles of capitalist imperialism and international capitalism."

"Recently, I rarely go out for lunch because it is usually a waste of time. Before deciding to participate in the second presidential election, it was because I did a good job during my first term as president, but I think I am still doing okay now, because as far as I know, no matter what, I am still the President of Argentina."

"We are natural friends with the Europeans. Our Argentine ancestors came from Europe, especially friendly countries like Germany, France, and Italy. We welcome Europeans to work in Argentina and make economic investments in our country."

"Domestic factories like Rioro Industries and La Plata Steel Plant are doing very well. They are role models for Argentine companies. In the future, Argentina will be more open. The support of Europeans for Argentina is admirable."

"For this Argentine Import and Export Association, I hope they become an official association organization, which will help the Argentine people better supervise them, and we can also improve customs tariff policies."

"Also, please, Argentine people, do not believe the report in the Socialist Party's newspaper 'La Vanguardia'. It is purely fabricated. It is a fake newspaper. The socialists write fake news, almost like the Republicans, as disgusting as rats in the sewers. Their leader was once arrested by the police for some crimes."

"But I just want to say that it is very sad when someone writes fake news. For example, in this case, I think it mainly comes from 'La Vanguardia'. This newspaper is extremely… I mean, if there were defamation laws, they probably would have gone bankrupt before they even had a chance. Everyone is welcome to read good newspapers like 'El Mundo' and 'The New Argentine Daily'. They are the attitude that journalists should have."

"I don't mind controversy. I think controversy is a good thing, not a bad thing, but their unfounded rumors are really disappointing. They do not have the kindness, humility, and integrity possessed by the vast majority of the Argentine people. Our Argentine economy is currently operating well. I hope everyone does not strike often, as this is a loss for our country."

"Also, I want to reiterate that the people of Latin America should unite. The Americas are not the Americas for the Americans, but the Americas for the Americans. Strive for the unity of Latin America and achieve economic and cultural independence, and colonial companies like United Fruit should leave Central America."

Perón responded to the attack from La Vanguardia regarding the Eva Perón Foundation not disclosing various expenditures, and secretly ordered the police force to seal up La Vanguardia.

As for the others, they were some policies he often talked about: uniting Latin America to confront the United States, and uniting Europe to confront the United States and the Soviet Union, except that Europeans generally treated his words as farting.

Germany and Argentina really had deals, especially the materials Argentina exported to Germany, which made a small contribution to Germany's, especially West Germany's, recovery.

This speech will also be published in El Mundo and other newspapers controlled by Perón, as well as radio stations. El Mundo is Perón's most important mouthpiece newspaper, affiliated with the official national news agency.

The State Intelligence Secretariat, as Argentina's official intelligence agency, was also his important source of information. This intelligence organization was indispensable for his second term as president.

Also, the General Confederation of Labor is a military force that he can control. In addition to the police force, this is Argentina's third-largest military force, possessing tanks and various heavy artillery, and is hostile to the military, which has been seeking to eliminate this thorn in its side.

The Minister of Foreign Affairs, the Minister of Interior, the Minister of Finance, the Minister of Labor, and the Minister of Health were all his confidants and labor leaders.

He was wearing a custom-made suit, with a slicked-back hairstyle, leaning back in his chair. His belly was somewhat protruding due to some obesity, and a double chin was visible. There was not much of a smile on his face. He wore a wide ring on the index finger of his left hand and held a cigar in his right hand, fully displaying the president's majesty.

In his youth, Perón was intelligent and studious, not only studying military science but also being proficient in several foreign languages such as Italian, French, and English. At that time, he was energetic and fond of sports. After graduating from the Army Military College in 1915, he also engaged in military teaching and research.

This year he is already 57 years old. In terms of his political career, such a national leader is not too old, after all, the current British Prime Minister Churchill is 77 years old. In comparison, he is in his prime.

In the media's image, Perón always has a toothy smile and curved eyebrows, but at this moment, Perón's eyes were sharp and his face was serious. He was arranging some necessary decisions, which concerned the nation's treasury funds.

The workers had started demonstrating again, giving him a headache. The United Officers Group under his leadership had also begun to try to oppose him. Union strikes were endless. Last year, in order to cope with the railway workers' strike, he even used the weapons of the Labor Federation.

Today, he found the Minister of Finance and the Governor of the Central Bank of Argentina. He was preparing to carry out Argentina's second Five-Year Plan.

Outside the office door, the administrative secretary brought in the Minister of Finance and the Governor of the Central Bank.

"Mr. President, we only have less than 500 million U.S. dollars left in the national treasury, which may not be enough to cope with the next Five-Year Plan... Perhaps doing so is a military deployment."

The Minister of Finance said with some worry, feeling somewhat at a loss. This was too difficult. Normal government operations required a lot of money. When Perón came to power, Argentina's national treasury had more than 1.6 billion U.S. dollars. The president spent them bit by bit, but he dared not say anything.

"No, no one understands Argentina's economy better than I do. Governor of the Central Bank, you are responsible for transferring last year's central bank profits to the Ministry of Finance. Also, do you have anything to say about printing more pesos?"

Perón frowned unhappily and said earnestly to the Minister of Finance, raising his voice a lot. He took out his handwritten plan for Argentina to start the printing press from the table and handed it to the two of them.

"Our central bank may need to hold a meeting to discuss and study it... I think there shouldn't be a big problem. They will support this plan," the Governor of the Central Bank of Argentina said cautiously after a moment of silence.

The Central Bank of Argentina cannot freely give money to the Ministry of Finance, but transferring the central bank's profits to the Ministry of Finance is constitutionally permitted. This is a type of temporary advance payment and another newly invented way of printing money, similar to a company distributing profits to shareholders, and the sole shareholder of the Central Bank of Argentina is the Argentine National Treasury.

"Then that's the decision. This year, strive to print an extra 15 billion pesos, and prepare a report for me on the remaining eight months of the banknote plan," Perón solemnly issued the final order.

"Yes, Great President."

The Minister of Finance and the Governor of the Central Bank exchanged glances, nodded, and said with wry smiles. They turned to bid farewell to Perón and left the President's office. The two first went to the restroom to wash their faces.

When Perón lectured his subordinates, spittle always flew everywhere, and he enjoyed the feeling of persuading others with his eloquence.

Even though the two were frowning, and the new fiscal plan and banknote plan were despairing, they could only bite the bullet and have their respective teams implement the policy. After all, the benefits of power are always addictive.

The two then left in quick succession. If they really opposed this policy, they believed they would soon be replaced. After retirement, they would have nothing left, and might even end up in prison. They believed Perón was capable of that.

If José was on the scene, he probably would have said,

"You're using this to test the cadres? Which cadre can withstand such a test?"

Yes, to be honest, the current Minister of Finance and the Governor of the Central Bank of Argentina would only resist slightly and pretend to be persuaded by Perón. They had already figured out Perón's methods.

At the central bank's printing plant, the Governor of the Central Bank directly announced the new banknote printing plan.

"Director, it seems your working days this month are insufficient. Double the number of banknotes printed next month..." The Governor of the Central Bank walked past the banknote printing cutting machine, looked at the idle workers, and immediately said loudly.

"God, this plan will seriously damage the wallets of the Argentine people," the director replied subconsciously, frowning upon receiving the order.

Running the printing plant every day would be madness.

"No, you must execute it seriously, otherwise we will have to replace the director."

"Very well, Mr. Governor, I will execute it immediately." The director of the printing plant immediately changed his attitude, becoming serious and earnest.

"Well, I'll leave first. Take a careful look at the document, and then go to the meeting."

"Yes, Mr. Governor."

The director of the printing plant steeled himself and increased the banknote printing plan for the second half of the year at the meeting. This was already the second increase this year, and he planned to quickly withdraw his peso savings from the bank and exchange them for hard currency like gold. He estimated that this wave would devalue the currency by at least thirty percent.

Faced with declining economic development and reduced tax revenue, the Argentine Ministry of Finance needed more cash, and the Argentine Central Bank could only play the role of a printing press.

The assets of the Argentine Central Bank mainly consist of foreign exchange reserves, liabilities, cash in circulation, and central bank bills.

......

The Justicialist Party is not entirely the same as general bourgeois political parties. It is actually a very large organization, including almost all officials, large capitalists, merchants, religious representatives, and unionized workers from national institutions and economic sectors.

In other words, they are not, in fact, a unified interest group, and various ambitious individuals have joined Perón's Justicialist Party.

Although nominally the leader of Perón's Justicialist Party is Senator and Admiral Teisaire, an ardent supporter of Perón, the actual leadership is entirely in Perón's hands.

It can be said that Perón's Justicialist Party is a hodgepodge, large but not strong, a monstrous political party cobbled together.

In Argentina, the lower-class people who support Perón are called "Descamisados" (shirtless ones), which has the same meaning as the "sans-culottes" (without breeches) during the French Revolution. The old demeaning term has become a glorious synonym, and Perón's wife, Eva, has become the de facto spiritual leader of the Descamisados. The two can be said to be a community of shared interests.

Last year, Perón moved the Descamisados from the countryside to the cities, in exchange for a large number of presidential votes. At the same time, he opened up women's suffrage rights, nominated dozens of female candidates at once, and also established the Female Peronist Party. In this regard, the Democratic Union of the Radical Party - Republican Party - Socialist Party, as the opposition, made almost no achievements.

According to José's view, Perón can indeed be said to have made no achievements in agricultural issues. He dared not let go and launch land reform, which led to Argentina becoming a country with rapid urbanization, with the proportion of the capital and cities further increasing.

The Perón government focused too much on the so-called industrialization plan and was unable to solve related rural issues such as reforming the land system. Rural life in Argentina has still not undergone substantial changes, and Argentine farmers still lack land.

This caused a decline in agricultural and livestock production, a loss of the agricultural population, a surge in the urban population, and the rapid expansion of the industrial sector, leading to shortages of materials and energy such as food, oil, natural gas, and electricity in Argentina. The government tried to increase the domestic production of materials and energy, but the existing reserves and production could not meet the growing demand.

This again led to a series of economic difficulties in Argentina, a slowdown in economic growth, rising prices, rising food and rent prices, and the outbreak of inflation.

Now, having to start the printing press for the national treasury is really adding insult to injury.

Now is actually an important period when Perón's prestige is at its peak and beginning to decline. His wife, Evita's, health is not very good, which makes him somewhat worried. She is his prestige amplifier. Evita's prestige among the laboring masses even exceeds his.

In order to expand his military base and contain the army that was beginning to deviate from him, Perón simultaneously suppressed the labor unions. Last year, he had already developed the membership of the General Confederation of Labor to more than 3 million, becoming Argentina's third-largest paramilitary force.

… …

For Argentina, printing money is more convenient than collecting taxes, and the 'convenience' of fiscal revenue induces the relaxation of fiscal expenditure, and the relaxation of fiscal expenditure further increases the need to collect 'seigniorage tax'. Compared to the IRS in the United States, Argentina is even more of a younger brother. The IRS in the United States is armed to collect taxes.

In any country in the world, a president generally needs to have a very important skill, which is to develop the economy. Except for the first two years after Perón took office, when he overspent the future and developed the Argentine economy well, in the last three years, Argentina has tasted the bitter fruit. The economy has declined, the unemployment rate has soared, especially a large number of private companies have gone bankrupt, and the state-owned factories are not doing well, with parades happening every day.

Because of the depleted finances, the high wages demanded by workers can be solved by printing more banknotes, but it is the entire Argentina that bears the inflation. In the past year, Argentina's inflation has devalued the currency by about 14%, which is very outrageous.

In other words, if you had 1 small goal last year, you only have 0.88 small goals left this year, and this trend is still continuing to decline. The Argentine people, especially those at the bottom, are full of complaints.

Normally, if a country wants to develop, the inflation rate cannot be too fast. 2% - 5% is the normal value, and the actual economic growth rate must also exceed 5% or more to ensure a stable increase in national income and an increase in currency purchasing power.

Moreover, the Perón government is printing banknotes in a sudden rush. For example, in March this year, 30% more pesos were printed than in February, which is simply a bit speechless.

In April of this year, Argentina's inflation rate had reached 15%. Living expenses increased by 33%, while wages only increased by 15%.

José read the newspaper "Le Monde" and could only scold Perón as a坑货 (pit-digger/scammer). Fortunately, he mainly does foreign trade exports, and pays low tariffs through smuggling. As for Rheinmetall Military Industries, which has a large domestic sales share, it has already been through inflation. In order to prevent incorrect purchase amounts, US dollars are now used for domestic commodity transactions. After all, such a rate of depreciation is treating people like fools.

"National credit is being bankrupted step by step like this. You can clearly feel that the amount of Argentine currency issued is obviously increasing."

José said speechlessly. He didn't dare to show off in this regard.

As for Perón's official collection of fees from import and export associations, if he really takes action, there is nothing he can do. For Rheinmetall Industries and La Plata Steel Plant, it just so happens that there is a little bit that needs to be used for publicity.

"Perón is ruining the country, what a sin." José slowly exhaled the smoke ring from his mouth, and slapped the table, startling Aragon next to him.