Borrowing can pay for itself several times over and provide long term economic benefits, so long as the money goes to the right programs/support for the right people. Argentina seems to have a problem with self-serving grifters being elected to office more than anything else, and Milei has yet to prove he's any different in that regard. Whether it's from foreign private investors or taxes collected in exchange for only vague and uncertain promises of a better future, there are plenty of opportunities to take a substantial cut for himself.
There’s a breaking point at which “you gotta spend money to make money” no longer works, and that’s the point where your interest surpasses the amount of money you could possibly make. Taking a risk in the present is one thing, selling the future to feed the present is another. I agree with you that loans and debt are, in and out of themselves, not a bad thing - loans put roofs over people’s heads. The problem is how you spend the loaned money, and if it’s the government borrowing it, it better damn well be spent in a way that produces a return on investment because it is *not* the government’s money - it’s *your* money. The collateral is the future of your children.
As an American you’re probably used to frivolous spending left and right so it doesn’t shock you, but the rest of the world is in a state of absolute panic watching the U.S. debt clock spin like casino slots, and you live in a superpower that had Silicon Valley, Hollywood and other *major* cash cows generating steady income. Argentina doesn’t have that because, despite sitting on some of the world’s most valuable resources, they’ve cut their industry at the hamstrings. They are *not* in a position to fund a welfare state at this time, their currency is worth less than the paper it’s printed on. They *have* to course correct or you’re right, they will be facing a violent revolution, but not for the reasons you think.
Milei is not in a comfortable position - he will not fix the problem during his term because he’s not God. It will take multiple presidencies, multiple cabinets, all staying the course and trying their damndest, to dig them out of the hole they’ve put themselves in, and no economist on the planet is optimistic enough to think otherwise. Milei has one job - lay the groundwork for recovery. He will be absolutely despised for it, and more likely than not, his contribution won’t be fully appreciated until long after he’s gone, and that’s *if* he’s even moderately successful. Argentina is very much in the “cross your fingers and tune back in again in around 10 years” category. I’m sorry, but that’s just the truth.
I should know - in 1990, one year after I was born, inflation in Poland was sitting at *585.5%*. It took years of reform before we started using currency that wasn’t Monopoly Money - we switched from the old Złoty (PLZ) to the new Złoty (PLN) in 1995, and we just had to let the market stabilise. Those were wild times, times of big booms and big busts, but we persevered. Argentina will have to go through the same process.