Argentina’s dollar craze

The US dollar is a key issue in Argentina’s election on Sunday [View in browser]( [Bloomberg]( Welcome to Balance of Power, bringing you the latest in global politics. If you haven’t yet, sign up [here](. In many countries, people expect long lines to cast their vote at the ballot box. In Argentina, locals queue up at bank branches to withdraw their cash. Presidential election frontrunner Javier Milei, who describes himself as an “anarcho-capitalist,” wants to ditch the peso for the US dollar. The incumbent, Peronist party candidate Sergio Massa, plans to stay with the national currency, while conservative opposition contender Patricia Bullrich wants the peso and the greenback to co-exist as two types of legal tender. All the money talk in Argentina is sparking doomsday warnings about hyperinflation and furious dinner-table debates. With [inflation already topping 130%](, many voters go wild for Milei — who has vowed to take a chainsaw to public spending — hoisting fake dollar billboards with his face on them at his rallies. But Argentines, desperate for change, perhaps don’t quite grasp what it means to effectively ditch their economic independence. What’s clear is few people want the national currency. Argentines save in dollars, buy homes in greenbacks and are offloading their pesos before a possible devaluation after Sunday’s first-round vote. Businesses are suspending sales of everything from car parts to toilet paper. Gas stations are halting sales at the pump in remote provinces, while supermarkets are receiving notice of no new supplies until after the election. The faces on the increasingly worthless notes also keep changing. Some portray endangered wildlife, but a new 2,000-peso bill features two doctors who few recognize. Swapping currencies still won’t address Argentina’s root problem: a gargantuan-sized government growing ever bigger within an economy constantly shrinking, a hollowed out shell of its former wealthy self. More than 40% of Argentines now live in poverty, a social crisis in the making unless the next president delivers results fast. The reality is slashing spending on subsidies in the short term means higher inflation, a deeper recession and more destitute Argentines before things turn around — if ever. — [Patrick Gillespie]( Milei during a closing campaign rally in Buenos Aires on Wednesday. Photographer: Anita Pouchard Serra/Bloomberg Global Must Reads US President Joe Biden directly appealed to the American people to support funding for Israel and Ukraine’s war efforts, warning that Hamas and Russian President Vladimir Putin [pose parallel threats to US democracy](. His address from the Oval Office came as the White House is asking Congress to provide about $100 billion in resources for Israel, Ukraine, Taiwan and the US southern border. Stepped-up drone attacks against American bases in Syria and Iraq prompted fresh concerns that Israel’s war with Hamas [may spark a bigger conflict]( and pull in the US. An American destroyer in the Red Sea also intercepted cruise missiles and drones fired toward Israel by Houthi rebels in Yemen. WATCH: Middle East Shockwave looks at the human cost of the Israel-Hamas war. Source: Bloomberg Keir Starmer’s hopes of ousting Rishi Sunak as UK prime minister in an election expected next year [received a major boost]( as his opposition Labour Party overturned huge Conservative majorities to win two parliamentary seats. The resultsof special elections in Mid Bedfordshire, which had voted Conservative since 1931, and in Tamworth suggest Labour can win back power from the Tories for the first time since 2010. Dozens of Canadian diplomats left India after New Delhi [threatened to revoke their immunity]( in an “unreasonable and escalatory” violation of international law, Foreign Affairs Minister Melanie Joly said in Ottawa. It’s the latest development in a diplomatic dispute that erupted last month when Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said there was “credible” evidence India’s government helped orchestrate the killing of Sikh activist Hardeep Singh Nijjar on Canadian soil. Australian politicians are struggling to identify a clear next step for First Nations people following last week’s overwhelming rejection of a proposal pushed by Prime Minister Anthony Albanese to [write Indigenous citizens into the constitution](. As Ben Wescott reports, the failed referendum leaves policy toward the nation’s most marginalized population in limbo. Putin traveled to the headquarters of Russia’s Southern Military District [near the border with Ukraine](, following his return from talks with Chinese leader Xi Jinping in Beijing. India is rejecting pressure from Russian oil suppliers to pay for [crude imports in the Chinese currency]( as tensions between New Delhi and Beijing continue to simmer. Switzerland’s anti-immigrant People’s Party is set to consolidate its position as [the nation’s strongest political force]( in an election on Sunday. Washington Dispatch Former President Donald Trump [faces a new legal conundrum]( after Sidney Powell, a conservative lawyer and former federal prosecutor who played a major role in his campaign to overturn the 2020 election, pleaded guilty to charges in Georgia related to that effort. Powell, 68, has testified that the then-president wanted her appointed as a special counsel to conduct an investigation into the allegations of voter fraud. Her organization, Defending the Republic, lists among its causes “Election Fraud” and “Fighting Lawfare,” and its website offers autographed copies of her book Licensed to Lie: Exposing Corruption in the Department of Justice. The numerous and unsuccessful lawsuits she filed contesting Biden’s victories in battleground states were widely mocked for their wild conspiracy theories. Powell pleaded guilty to six misdemeanor counts of intentionally interfering with the performance of election duties and faces six years of probation, a fine and must write a letter of apology to the people of Georgia. No trial date has been set for Trump, the frontrunner for the Republican presidential nomination. One person to watch today: Biden will hold a summit at the White House with the European Union’s Ursula von der Leyen and Charles Michel. [Sign up for the Washington Edition newsletter]( for more from the US capital and watch Balance of Power at 5pm ET weekdays on Bloomberg Television. Chart of the Day Solar power is set to dominate global electricity markets within the next few decades, and may have already reached an “[irreversible tipping point](,” according to a study published this week in Nature Communications. The energy source is playing an important role in countries’ plans to meet emissions-reduction goals set by the Paris Agreement on climate change, and as wind-power projects contend with rising costs. And Finally There’s bad news for those who love traditional southern European dishes such as pizza and paella. Prices for olive oil, [a key ingredient](, have roughly doubled in the past year after drought hurt harvests in key growers, and pests and disease have thrived as the climate warms. Soaring prices in Europe, home to two-thirds of the world’s olive oil production, will hold for another season, forcing consumer cutbacks of the beloved staple. Olive groves in Fara in Sabina, Italy. Photographer: Alessia Pierdomenico/Bloomberg Pop quiz (no cheating!) 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