The national deputy Carlos Heller has disruptive opinions when explaining economic phenomena such as inflation or the development of the country in terms of the Nation.
As a leader of the Solidarity Party, he visited Neuquén to accompany the campaign of Ramón Rioseco, Darío Martínez and Daniel Figueroa of the Frente de Todos Neuquino for governor, deputy and mayor in the elections on Sunday the 16th.
In his opinion, inflation is a matter of distributive bid and expectations because the country grew and there is interest from the sectors to keep a larger portion of the pie. In the opinion of being considered unfriendly in Neuquén, He is a defender of the concept of the Nation as director of the harmonious development of the country and for this reason he believes that the ownership of natural resources in the hands of the provinces was misguided.
When asked if his position in relation to inflation was advice that he gives to Alberto Fernández, the president, he was on his guard and said that he is not the one to give advice to the president and when he was told that if he maintained the position once morest from the economistic orthodoxy might receive a call from the Casa Rosada to take charge of the Ministry of Economy, he said: “There is already a good Minister of Economy” in reference to Sergio Massa.
Below is a part of the dialogue that this newspaper had with the national deputy and president of the Budget and Finance Commission.
Q: Why do you say that inflation is a matter of expectations?
A: The phenomenon does not respond to any of the parameters that historically told us that it generates inflation. The neoliberal conception says that it is the monetary issue. Between February 2023 and February 2022 the monetary issue did not reach 40% and prices grew 100%, therefore it was not the monetary issue. Nor was it the exchange rate because it has been corrected every day trying to ensure that it does not lose value so that the price that exporters receive is compensatory. There was no devaluation, but rather the exchange rate adjusts because prices rise. Neither are wages because they adjust backwards trying to lose less. Rates increase from behind. What do we have left? Two things: distributive bidding and speculation, both are cousins of the same situation.
Q: What is distributive bidding?
A: It is a phenomenon of a country that has grown: a little more than 10% in 2021 and a little more than 5% in 2022. We have a bigger pie and there is a fight for portions of the pie, that is the bid distributive. What part are those who work, those who finance, those who speculate, etc. The other is speculation or expectations, journalist Diego Cabot dHe says that importers import at 200 and sell at 450 because they assume that when they have to replace they will need 450. They set the price with the expectation of how much it will be worth when they have to import. It seems that inflation is an autonomous phenomenon that occurs for no reason and causes other variables to move. It is hardly credible, it obeys a distributive bid.
Q: In other countries where there is inflation, does this distributive struggle also take place?
A: There is a range issue. There is a problem in the world that was generated by the combination of what happened with the pandemic and then with the war that altered the prices of food and fuel. The issue of the rise in the price of fuel caused that last year we had to disburse 5000 million, if instead of importers we had been exporters, it isThe unfortunate situation would have given us a benefit.
Q: Darío Martínez, as Secretary of Energy, did not build the gas pipeline, it was his fault.
A: The fault lies with those who privatized YPF and gave it to Repsol, who delayed the development plans, and that was before Martínez. If we were an energy-exporting country, it would be something else. We have to go out and offer the export sector a preferential exchange rate because the country needs those currencies. Society makes an effort and gives a sector a larger amount than would correspond in a normal situation. It is the lowest possible cost to face that crisis. If the country accumulates reserves, many of these devaluation expectations lose consistency because the lack of foreign currency is argued. We have to become a value-added exporting country, that energy be transformed into added value for export.
Q: But there are countries that buy cheaper energy, such as Germany, which uses coal.
A: They buy gas from Russia because they don’t have any. The absurd thing is when one buys what one has.
Q: Why shouldn’t we devalue?
A: I ask why you have to devalue, what is the need. In 2022, Argentina had a historical export record, therefore exporters did not do so badly. It wasn’t for sport, there was activity and interest and a benefit. The exchange rate that Argentina has is not uncompetitive for companies.
Q: Is it competitive?
A: Absolutely. He official exchange rate. What is now is limited in time. We are buying currencies, we are telling the gentlemen that they have raw material convertible into currencies. We tell the person who has soybeans that if they sell it in the foreign market, we will give them 300 pesos for every dollar they pay. It is a premium that is paid between now and the end of May. In the case of regional economies, conditions are established such as maintaining employment, signing the fair price agreement, and thirdly, supplying the domestic market and exporting what remains. That is thinking of an inclusive country and that not everyone does what they want.
Q: Given the objective of exporting gas from Vaca Muerta, is it a problem that the province owns the resource?
A: It is a question thate answering it in Neuquén is unfriendly. Frankly, I believe that the resources should be national in all cases and that the provinces that have those resources should have the corresponding compensation. I think that the reform of the constitution of 1994 was a setback in that sense. ANDThose who have lithium have lithium, those who have oil have oil. We should have more of a concept of Nation but with participation. We proposed a national entity for the exploitation of lithium with representation from the provinces with lithium, it is not that someone is going to decide from outside. How those local and legitimate interests are balanced once morest the national interest. There are provinces that receive more from co-participation than from their own collection, if the co-participation did not exist they would have to disappear like the plan of (Domingo) Cavallo. That is not a country. We need provinces that do not have natural resources to have other types of production that are federalized. It is a world problem like northern and southern Italy, Spain with the Basque Country, there is the same discussion. We have to integrate vertically to achieve that we can have global resources that allow us to compete equally and equally. Faced with the US, Europe and China, it cannot be thought that each country can negotiate, we have to think of a South American union of nations. It’s not like you push a button and it’s out. It took years for Europe to have a common currency. Take a look at what it would be like for Argentina, we would get out of the bimonetarism in which we are trapped. The exit is from above, not from below, nothing is for tomorrow, they are long processes.
talk at the university
In the economics auditorium of the National University of Comahue, national deputy Carlos Heller gave a talk where he spoke regarding economics and energy together with Darío Martínez, first candidate for provincial deputy for the Frente de Todos, and members of the Solidarity Party, which Heller chairs.
During the day, the founder and president of Banco Credicoop, offered his support to the Frente de Todos list headed by Ramón Rioseco governor, Ayelén Gutierrez vice governor, Darío Martínez first provincial deputy and Daniel Figueroa candidate for mayor of the city of Neuquén.
The candidate for deputy Darío Martínez, exposed the Plan “Energize Neuquen”, the program that seeks to plan and increase the production of hydrocarbons, generate new jobs and that more SMEs join the value chain.
In his presentation, he stressed that “the The most important thing is that we think regarding the province with planning, because there are the resources and If we do not do it once and for all, we will not be able to take advantage of the potential that our province has with Vaca Muerta”.
In addition, he thanked Heller’s visit and support for the Frente de Todos for these elections on April 16, highlighting the time they shared as colleagues and friends in the Chamber of Deputiess.
He ended by saying:What is there to do? Plan, manage well and on April 16 vote for the Frente de Todos”.
The candidate for mayor, Daniel Figueroa, pointed out that “we are very happy with the presence and support received by Carlos Heller from the Frente de Todos Neuquino. His commitment and track record in defending national interests is proven. We have a great challenge this Sunday. Neuquén needs its growth to be planned so that it is a city with equal opportunities, with social justice, inclusive and egalitarian”.
For his part, Heller highlighted the Solidarity Contribution of Great Fortunes, a law that he promoted together with deputy Máximo Kirchner and in which Darío Martínez also worked when he was a deputy.
In addition, he questioned those who insult politics, said that “what those who insult politics want is for there to be no laws that regulate the powerful” and assured that reality is transformed from politics and in that sense he strongly supported Ramón Rioseco for governor of Neuquén, Daniel Figueroa for the mayor and Darío Martínez who heads the list of deputies of the Frente de Todos.
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