There are facts that do not allow interpretation. Results that leave traditional politics without rhetorical refuge. The second consecutive year of primary and financial fiscal surplus is not just a technical achievement: it is the definitive demolition of the foundational myth of Kirchnerism and of the entire local left. For decades they told us that balance was impossible, that tightening the belt was immoral, that bringing order meant "starving people". Today, with numbers, Milei proves exactly the opposite.
The year 2025 closed with a primary and financial surplus, something that Argentina had not achieved for more than fifteen years, and that it had never achieved while fully meeting public debt service obligations. There was no covert default, there was no erosion via inflation, there was no discretionary grab. There was a simple and brutal political decision: to spend less than what comes in. Something so basic that statism turned it into heresy.
The most uncomfortable fact for progressivism is not just the fiscal result. It is how it was achieved. Primary spending fell by 27% in real terms compared with 2023, but direct social spending —without ward heelers, without intermediaries— covered almost the entirety of the basic food basket. Pettovello tightened the belt on those who lived off the poor and not on the vulnerable. That distinction, as obvious as it is revolutionary, explains the hatred.
There is something even more disruptive: the surplus was achieved by cutting taxes. Elimination of the PAIS tax, reduction of export duties, tariff relief, end of distortionary taxes. More than 2.5 percentage points of GDP returned to the private sector. For the local Keynesian handbook, this was impossible. For Milei, it was the necessary condition. The fiscal anchor is not a whim: it is the heart of the economic program. It is shielded in the 2026 Budget. There is no turning back.
This fiscal order is not an Excel spreadsheet. It has political, cultural, and symbolic consequences. When the State stops looting via inflation, when it cuts taxes and meets its commitments without spin or tricks, something happens that Kirchnerism never knew how to manage: social legitimacy without clientelism.
