In what is likely the best speech in history at Davos, Javier Milei praised free trade, capitalism, and economic freedom, while denouncing left-wing doxa, socialists, and social justice. 
Please read the Special address by Javier Milei, President of Argentina, which took place during the World Economic Forum’s Annual Meeting in Davos.
Here are a few of my favorites snips, but I encourage everyone to read his entire speech.
Good afternoon. Thank you very much.
Today I’m here to tell you that the Western world is in danger. And it is in danger because those who are supposed to have to defend the values of the West are co-opted by a vision of the world that inexorably leads to socialism and thereby to poverty.
Far from being the cause of our problems, free trade capitalism as an economic system is the only instrument we have to end hunger, poverty and extreme poverty across our planet. The empirical evidence is unquestionable.
Therefore since there is no doubt that free enterprise capitalism is superior in productive terms, the left-wing doxa has attacked capitalism, alleging matters of morality, saying – that’s what the detractors claim – that it’s unjust. They say that capitalism is evil because it’s individualistic and that collectivism is good because it’s altruistic. Of course, with the money of others.
So they therefore advocate for social justice. But this concept, which in the developed world became fashionable in recent times, in my country has been a constant in political discourse for over 80 years. The problem is that social justice is not just, and it doesn’t contribute to general well-being.
Quite on the contrary, it’s an intrinsically unfair idea because it’s violent. It’s unjust because the state is financed through tax and taxes are collected coercively. Or can any one of us say that we voluntarily pay taxes? This means that the state is financed through coercion and that the higher the tax burden, the higher the coercion and the lower the freedom.
Those who promote social justice start with the idea that the whole economy is a pie that can be shared differently. But that pie is not a given. It’s wealth that is generated in what Israel Kirzner, for instance, calls a market discovery process.
So how come academia, international organisations, economic theorists and politicians demonise an economic system that has not only lifted 90% of the world’s population out of extreme poverty but has continued to do this faster and faster?
Thanks to free trade capitalism, the world is now living its best moment. Never in all of mankind or humanity’s history has there been a time of more prosperity than today. This is true for all. The world of today has more freedom, is rich, more peaceful and prosperous. This is particularly true for countries that have more economic freedom and respect the property rights of individuals.
Countries that have more freedom are 12 times richer than those that are repressed. The lowest percentile in free countries is better off than 90% of the population in repressed countries. Poverty is 25 times lower and extreme poverty is 50 times lower. And citizens in free countries live 25% longer than citizens in repressed countries.
And let me quote the words of the greatest authority on freedom in Argentina, Professor Alberto Benegas Lynch Jr, who says that libertarianism is the unrestricted respect for the life project of others based on the principle of non-aggression, in defence of the right to life, liberty and property.
Its fundamental institutions are private property, markets free from state intervention, free competition, and the division of labour and social cooperation, in which success is achieved only by serving others with goods of better quality or at a better price.
In other words, capitalist successful business people are social benefactors who, far from appropriating the wealth of others, contribute to the general well-being. Ultimately, a successful entrepreneur is a hero.
And this is the model that we are advocating for the Argentina of the future. A model based on the fundamental principle of libertarianism. The defence of life, of freedom and of property.
It should never be forgotten that socialism is always and everywhere an impoverishing phenomenon that has failed in all countries where it’s been tried out. It’s been a failure economically, socially, culturally and it also murdered over 100 million human beings.
Under the pretext of a supposed market failure, regulations are introduced. These regulations create distortions in the price system, prevent economic calculus, and therefore also prevent saving, investment and growth.
We have come here today to invite the Western world to get back on the path to prosperity. Economic freedom, limited government and unlimited respect for private property are essential elements for economic growth. The impoverishment produced by collectivism is not a fantasy, nor is it an inescapable fate. It’s a reality that we Argentines know very well.
We have lived through this. We have been through this because, as I said earlier, ever since we decided to abandon the model of freedom that had made us rich, we have been caught up in a downward spiral – a spiral by which we are poorer and poorer, day by day.
The case of Argentina is an empirical demonstration that no matter how rich you may be, how much you may have in terms of natural resources, how skilled your population may be, how educated, or how many bars of gold you may have in the central bank – if measures are adopted that hinder the free functioning of markets, competition, price systems, trade and ownership of private property, the only possible fate is poverty.
Do not be intimidated by the political caste or by parasites who live off the state. Do not surrender to a political class that only wants to stay in power and retain its privileges. You are social benefactors. You are heroes. You are the creators of the most extraordinary period of prosperity we’ve ever seen.
Let no one tell you that your ambition is immoral. If you make money, it’s because you offer a better product at a better price, thereby contributing to general wellbeing.
Do not surrender to the advance of the state. The state is not the solution. The state is the problem itself. You are the true protagonists of this story and rest assured that as from today, Argentina is your staunch and unconditional ally.
Thank you very much and long live freedom!
Wow. I would vote for him for president of the United States if he was running. Alas, he can’t.
Unfortunately, we have war mongers on the Right and Socialists on the left. Our policies are often the worst of both.
Whereas Milei praises free trade, Trump and Biden are in a competitive race to outdo each other on protectionism. Trade happens if both sides think they get a good deal. And ultimately, trade is between individuals not countries. If trade is your issue, flip a coin. Trump and Biden are equally horrible.
Trump proposes a minimum 10 percent tariff on the world. That is a 10 percent tax on the US. The saving grace for Trump is that overall, Biden is economically much worse.
Biden campaigned on being a healer and a moderate. The last four years have proven he is a liar on both counts. Biden is nearly divisive as Trump, he is just far more polite about it.
Look at jet setter John Kerry who flew a private jet to Davos, Switzerland. And what about all the EU climate hypocrites who could have driven but also flew private jets. Milei took a corporate jet.
And just look at the Republican hypocrites demanding more and more military spending but no way to pay for it.
How Much Will That GOP Deal on Child Tax Credits Really Cost?
In return for piddly tax changes that will also add to the deficit, Republicans sold the farm to the tune of $1.5 trillion over 10 years for Child Tax Credits.
For discussion, please see How Much Will That GOP Deal on Child Tax Credits Really Cost?
The deal was so preposterous, I suspect that’s why the New Zealand Times picked up the story.
Dear Republicans, WTF?!
Some Republicans want more money for Israel. Others want more money for Ukraine. They all want more money for defense.
And to get more money for this, they will all Democrats more money for that. And the result for more of this and more of that speaks for itself.
Debt Jumps Past $34 Trillion, $1 Trillion Interest
On January 4, 2024 I wrote Debt Jumps Past $34 Trillion, $1 Trillion Interest, Another Budget Showdown Looms
What to Expect
The way Congress works is “more of this in return for more of that”.
Biden wants more money for defense, more money for Ukraine, more money for Israel, and more money for the border (not a lot but more, to appease Republicans).
Some Republicans want more money for defense, more money for Ukraine, more money for Israel, and all of them want more money for the border.
A bipartisan majority wants more of this and more of that. So that is what you should expect.
The fallback position is not less of anything. Rather, it’s another clean continuing resolution.
It took less than two weeks for another clean continuing resolution.
What About Entitlements?
Good question.
As with tariffs, Biden and Trump are soulmates. Both Trump and Biden have vowed not to touch Social Security. The money runs out (reduced benefits actually) in 2032 or so. Well so what, that is someone else’s problem, so kick the can, baby.
If you like Trump, you may as well vote for Biden on Social Security, military spending, and tariffs.
Since the abortion issue is resolved and left to the states, the primary practical difference between the two is on the border, energy policy, and student aid. Those are things done by decree.
Most of the other stuff won’t make it through Congress anyway, so it’s irrelevant what their positions are on things like Obamacare. Speaking of which, Trump wasted two full years trying to repeal Obamacare when Republicans had the White House, Senate and House.
How pathetic is that? And Schumer offered Trump a deal for $21 billion for the wall in return for dreamer amnesty. Mr. Art of the Deal demanded more and got nothing.
Fiscal Prudence
If you think Trump is fiscally prudent, you are delusional. Trump was angry that the Republicans did not give him the fiscally insane Covid package that Democrats did give Biden. Inflation soared as a result.
Both Trump and Biden moaned at the Fed
The biggest advantage of Trump is that he can, without legislation, undo on day one, the regulatory madness of Biden.
Congress? Who needs it? That is so passee.
But a big problem is Republicans are itching to bomb Iran and Trump just might do it this time. Who knows where that might lead?
MAGA Republicans cheer when Trump calls people names and says things like “sh*thole countries in Africa” and “grabbing pu**y”. If someone spoke to their daughters the same way Trump speaks to others, they would be up in arms.
If none of the above was a choice on the ballot, it could conceivably win.
Meanwhile, in Argentina
In Argentina, Milei slashed government spending and fired government workers keeping a campaign promise. Fancy that.
He has a 66 percent popularity rating. Neither Trump nor Biden can get to 50.
I had a friend translate that article and the short synopsis is correct.
Contracts are now in pesos not dollars, the price dropped, supply increased, and people expect the value of the peso to rise vs the US dollar.
This is deregulation at work.
Returning to the US …
Biden Weighs Banning Natural Gas Exports to Save the Climate
Please consider Biden Weighs Banning Natural Gas Exports to Save the Climate
The climate fear mongers are pressuring Biden to ban natural gas exports. Let’s discuss the ramifications.
This is all so sickening.
Milei for President
We would be blessed to have someone like Milei for president.
Unfortunately, we are stuck with Trump vs Biden. What a sorry, sorry state of affairs.
Slight difference: It’s not a free market and it’s not capitalism, if a minority of rich can buy democracy to get huge tax exceptions, paying less than middle class.
Capitalism and free markets would be great!
Sounds promising! Let’s see what he can get done in the next few years
Super speech! But can he neutralize all the forces with vested interests and against change in Argentina? If he can, Argentina might become a world power.
Millie employs simple visual metaphor of a pie.
Simply put, a society can choose equal division of a very small pie via socialism/communism or an unequal division of a much large pie via capitalism.
Consider a bell curve, the tails most often lead to the destruction of a society due to the inherent flaws of human being – greed and idleness.
Capitalism based on merit, with equal opportunity, free of state interference and with a rational tax policy – with winners pay a greater burden of societal infrastructure optimum for a society.
Closest to the ideal – America of the 1950s?
Free trade is great for London bankers to use their fake money.
Free trade is great for everyone in practice, but economic illiterates would rather pay more to get less as long as it is “equal”
Economic illeterates, the 90%, dont have capital to invest, they have debt, the top 1% access all the easy money and grab all assets. What Milley is saying is that the 1% can come to Argentina and gorge themselves with all remaining resources and strategic infrastructures (transportation, etc) so even breathing become a rent. What a great program.
Javier Milei and Argentina are the inspirational story of the year. I hope they are all successful there in restoring Liberty, free markets, individual rights, happiness, and prosperity. Our pathetic regime media financial “news” is completely silent about Argentinian investment opportunities….
Javier Milei looks and sounds like a throwback to the golden age of 1960-tees.
Now cancel, I mean abolish the central bank, and bring back the Beatles.
The US Dollar is headed the way of the Argentine Peso……and rather sooner than expected…..thats all that one needs to know…….
Yes, we peso much and get so little.
Yeah, taxes are coercion. You can go to jail if you don’t pay them–if you’re too poor, that is, to afford good lawyers.
If you are Donald Trump or other rich oligarch, the tax code doesn’t coerce you too much, does it? He’s been “under audit” for decades. Even the House has his tax returns and he’s still “under audit.” What a joke.
If you’re, a billionaire, suppose the IRS decides to prosecute you (did you piss off Joe Biden or fail to bribe someone?) for cheating on your taxes. You can jet to your favorite tax haven.
Milei’s paean against coercion is laughably selective. The basis of all wealth — property rights and contracts — is coercion. What is a “Do Not Trespass” sign, after all? How are poor people evicted from their homes? Coercion.
So, if you’re behind on your rent, your rich landlord calls the police. If the landlord is behind on his bank loan, he walks away. Trump has used that freedom many times. Look where he is now.
The idea that the market is a disciplining mechanism is now laughable. How long will politicians get away with this BS? Example: It will take the coercion of the FAA and NTSB to get Boeing to fix its doors. Boeing still has serious quality control problems years after the Max 8 disaster. No, Boeing is now so big and powerful that poor quality, the occasional crash, and FAA’s slap on the wrist is an acceptable risk.
Sorry, Mish, this mythologizing of capitalism is pretty pathetic. It has devolved to crony capitalism where fraud, bribes, myopia and stupidity are rampant. Friedman and Hayek would not recognize DAVOS-style crony capitalism today. They might even admire aspects of the capitalism of China, where malfeasance by a leader can be–and often is–enforced as a capital crime.
Karl, there is a clear difference between capitalism and crony capitalism. The voluntary free exchange of goods and services (including the honoring of contracts) is what Milei is generally talking about. The ownership of property is not coercive. Politicians tend to impede the exercise of rights associated with property. A “Do Not Trespass” sign on my property is not coercive. It’s letting people know that they are on private property without an invitation. Trespassing on public land is a different issue.
The fact that the exercise of capitalism has devolved is an issue of integrity, not of definition. The practice is corrupted, the principle is sound.
OK this is the capitalism version of “real communism is far better than the current version”
Crony capitalism IS the final evolution of a closed loop. Deal with your buddies, Rig the markets. Maximize your control. Maximize your profit.
It’s as laughable as the “real communism” argument.
People are flawed–greedy and selfish.
If they weren’t we’d be angels and it wouldn’t matter what system there was.
Live life with integrity. Be a model for those around you. Add your voice in describing this integrity. This is all we as individuals can do. As described, capitalism has massively improved the lives of billions of people. Capitalism is not laughable. Recognition of human nature is one thing. Eternal pessimism about human nature allows no room for optimism and change. People can exercise integrity. It happens far more than you apparently believe. I will continue to call out crony capitalism for its faults.
Your version of capitalism is what Hayek and Friedman hoped it would be. Minsky and Polanyi (and more recently Steve Keen among others) have shown that capitalism has all kinds of problems. Even with mostly good actors it is inherently unstable. Minsky called the last phase of the manic upswing the “Ponzi” stage. It’s when the firm takes on so much debt (ahem, siphoned off so much cash) that the firm can’t make interest payments with current cash flow. Like what happened to Sports Illustrated (another story Mish reports on). Well, true, the cash flow forecast was obscenely optimistic. And we did over-inflate assets on the balance sheet. In short, capitalism–and human beings–by their very nature are going to turn to their cronies and fellow crooks to roll the dice one more time. Trump is the perfect example of this phenomenon. His furn has been at the ponzi stage, what, five times? But you have to hand it to Milei–he had everyone at Davos –and even Mish– enjoying the nostalgic trip with Hayek and Friedman again after all these years. Those days are long gone.
“My” version? I recited a central tenet of capitalism. What system doesn’t have problems? The U.S. uses a fiat monetary system. No where does capitalism demand this. Fiat currency is unstable, in ways Mish has pointed out. Please don’t blame capitalism. Blame humans. The trouble has been in how to keep some humans “in line”. Yes, some humans take advantage of other humans. Yes, we need to be vocal about transgressions where they occur. Yes, this is a never ending and thankless job. No, it will never be eradicated. This doesn’t mean we stop trying. Are you saying that Hayek and Friedman are generally wrong? What would you like to replace capitalism with? If “those days are gone”, are you happy with the days to come, because the world you paint will only get worse. What can we do, in our small or otherwise way, to address the ills you see? I applaud Milei and his speech. Define a path toward more individual freedom (which eventually demands more individual responsibility), more personal integrity in life, including business. He has been put in a position of power, and has taken actions in line with his speech. If you dislike his message, what message would you like him to have sent?
One part of my message would be that government is essential to make capitalism work at all (as Polanyi explained), and that all public policy decisions explicitly understand and account for the impacts of that policy on different income/wealth classes. Example: basing Argentina’s currency on the dollar, as Milei proposes, sacrifices sovereignty to the short-run interests of the wealthy classes and to the whims of D.C. politics. There are less drastic ways to address inflation.
Thank you Karl. I’ve never heard of Polanyi prior to this discussion (most people haven’t heard of most, if any, economists). I’ve briefly looked into him and will need to do some more investigation. My observation is the opposite of what you’ve state (i.e., that all public policy decisions explicitly DO NOT understand and account for the impacts of that policy on different income/wealth classes). I believe that history shows that government policy makers rarely understand the impact and unintended consequences of their actions, but believe that they do. It’s this meddling in the affairs of others, in an attempt to “fix” social situations (among a great number of other things) that causes great and unnecessary legal and social policy complexity.
Upon a second read, I may have misinterpreted what you meant. You may have meant that policy makers need to (better) understand the impact of their policies. I still disagree that government is required to make capitalism work. Again, I’ll look into Polanyi.
link to themilitant.com
Whichever candidate wins the presidential election in Argentina in October will only mean more hardships for working people. In the midst of the deep capitalist crisis shaking the country, the solutions offered by all the capitalist politicians foreshadow belt-tightening measures, continued inflation and more attacks on wages and pensions, as the Argentine rulers seek to satisfy the demands of foreign investors and creditors as well as of domestic capitalists.
Widespread frustration with worsening conditions and the absence of any working-class political leadership opened the door to a narrow win in the Aug. 13 primary election for Javier Milei. His appeal is his claim to stand outside the two traditional political coalitions. Milei took 30% of the vote, with Patricia Bullrich of the conservative Together for Change coming in second and the candidate of the ruling coalition of Peronist parties, Sergio Massa, third. They will now face off in October.
Alongside cuts in social spending, Milei says he will meet the crisis by closing the central bank and abandoning the currency, the peso, in favor of the dollar.
The current president, Alberto Fernández, has a 75% disapproval rating. In an attempt to boost support for his Peronist coalition, Fernández announced a 23% increase in payments to retirees before the primary. The day after the vote, however, his government devalued the peso by 20%, wiping out almost all of the raise.
Inflation ran at a staggering 113% in July. While I was recently there, I was able to witness the impact on the daily life of working people. Fruit and vegetable vendors at sidewalk stalls regularly stop selling selected items at mid-morning, and resume sales mid-afternoon, with prices adjusted to the daily, and sometimes hourly, fluctuation in the dollar-peso exchange rate. Many other products have the same kind of price gyrations.
Items ordered and prepaid in full at major stores often require payment of the inflation-driven price increase at time of pickup.
As a result of the worst economic crisis since 2001, some 40% of Argentinians now live below the poverty level. The official unemployment figures are at a relatively low 6.9%, but this hides the fact that of the total number of workers currently employed, only half are registered as full time with access to benefits.
Economy Minister Massa traveled to Washington in mid-August to ask for loans from the World Bank and Inter-American Development Bank, which would further shackle the country in debt. Argentina is the largest debtor to the International Monetary Fund. The country’s foreign debt currently stands at an unpayable $275 billion.
IMF is not helping Argentina but by making poor by debt trap.
SPY breached Jan 2022 [H]. Will it close > 479.98
I hear Klaus is having a hard time finding a successor as the WEF chair. He tried a couple proteges but they bowed out. Even his own kids don’t want the crown. With this speech however Klaus likely has found his man in Milei. Ha!
I agree Javier Milei gave a speech for the ages. However, I would not be so quick to attack Trump’s protectionist policies – free trade capitalism is not inconsistent with some level of protectionism.
Tariffs appropriate in response to unfair state support of an industry. Tariffs intended to level the playing field.
Tariffs “level” the paying field by making everyone pay more to get less.
And people cheer
I agree, yet dismisisng all tarriffs is to absolutist. How do we deal with a non-level playing field, where IP is coerced, labour can be linked to slavery and finance can be distorted through state aid or implicid support?
Short of war, or accepting to be trampled on, i don’t think we always have a choice. Although I agree we should avoid if at all possible.
The socialized Covid lockdowns increased the number of people in extreme poverty. Economies were upended for an agenda that had nothing to do with public health. Supposedly free countries submitted to authoritarianism, under the guise of protecting public health.
Milei spoke to Great Reset authoritarians at Davos. We saw what Great Reset authoritarian Trudeau did during Covid. That was just a hint of what they have planned for us. Climate alarmism is just a means to a Great Reset authoritarian end for WEF alumni.
Macy’s is laying off 2,350 workers, closing 5 stores, two in CA. WMT is raising
store mgr average base pay from 117K to 128K, plus bonuses for profitable stores. The new base pay will range between 90K and 170K. Hourly wages are up from 17.5/h to 18/h. Last year WMT cut the online pickers salary by 1 dollar. The auto centers mechies earn the most.
Anyone even getting an invite to a WEF event should be regarded with suspicion let alone actually attending. As should a politician showing such obsequiousness to Israel.
Experience shows that such politicians WILL sell out their voters anytime their interests and those of Israel conflict regardless of party or ideology.
… and only HE can save us!
Cultists gonna cult.
What is the #1 purpose of government?
Defense.
Without defense you don’t have a country.
The US should be glad it has the best weapons in the world.
In order to have the best weapons you need the best Military Industrial Complex.
The US should be thankful for their weapons industry, not whining about it.
The problem now is that USA is about offense (nowadays via proxies) not defense. We still have troops in Iraq and Syria. We have covert ops people in Ukraine and Gaza. We are making things hotter in the Red Sea and Taiwan Straits. Please tell me how we are engaged in “defense” in these far-away places. We should be “defending” our own borders, but we aren’t.
Great minds must think alike.
America Decides To Cancel Election And Just Draft That Argentinian Guy For President | Babylon Bee
“If none of the above was a choice on the ballot, it could conceivably win.”
C’mon Mish, you know better than that.
The LP has been on all (or nearly all) state presidential ballots for decades; other parties have been on in some years too. LP candidates rarely show single digits. The average voter doesn’t want what the LP offers – leave you alone to run your life. The average voter likes to see wealth stolen from others, murder of foreigners, and their neighbors to suffer.
I’ll give you 100:1 odds that the LP won’t show double digits in a single state this coming presidential election. It won’t matter who their candidate is.
“Unfortunately, we have war mongers on the Right and Socialists on the left.”
This false notion of having war mongers on the Right has far out lived its usefulness. Pat Buchanan was undoubtedly a Right winger. He was adamantly against the Iraq war. Ron Paul is a Right wing libertarian and very much antiwar.
It’s the neoconservative who are the war mongers and they infest both parties. Furthermore, the neoconservatives have their origin in the left. Many of the founders were ex=Trotskyites. Here is a good background on the subject and why for the past 20+ years we have been plunged into endless wars.
link to lobelog.com
There was no transfer money and SS in ancient Egypt. If u can’t pay Joe, u
become Pharaoh’s slave. Free trade : there are over 1B slaves in the world.
Nice speach but he is wrong.
First, Argentina had been an economic disaster for decades. Excessive spending, low savings and over reliance on exports. They are not ones to lecture on how to run a country and I suspect this is a political speach meant to help him at home.
He evidently does not understand the difference between socialism and communism. He is mostly speaking about the problems with communism. In that respect he would be right. It is a concept that looks good on paper but will never work -it goes too far against human nature.
For the large part, socialist countries are better off than the USA. Look at Northern Europe. Countries like Denmark, Norway, Sweden and the like see citizens that are generally richer per capita and happiness ratings are the highest in the world. On paper, the USA looks rich but wealth is so highly concentrated among a much smaller group of ultra rich while the lower and middle classes have been routed in the last 30 years. The USA is increasingly a police state and becoming ungouvornable. It ranks verly low in the world for democracy. The average ceo has gone from making 40 times the lowest tier workers to 400 times in that period.
Generally speaking world trade has helped lower in come countries but at the expense of poorer people in the west. Covid showed us how reliance on world trade leaves us vulnerable to supply issues. It highlighted how few things are actually made where they are consumed. Countries who are less self reliant are often at the mercy of dealing with countries who have terrible human rights records, horrible environmental standards and often even desire to one day conquor us. Independence is power and we my friends have voluntarily given that up in a lot of the west.
The ideal pure capitalism is unsustainable. It relies on infinate population growth and unchecked exploitation of resources. Controlled capitalism though some measure of watching out for the public good – socialism – is much more sustainable. But socialism too has limits. Reasonble spending is required. Long term vision is required. Recent huge spending by north american governments is out of control political vote buying. Massive infrastructure spending like the so called “inflation reduction act” is very poorly timed. Injecting that kind of capital in the market while the economy is at record full employment and the central bank is trying to curb inflation was very poor judgement. Even though reshoring of industries is a great long therm idea for ensuing security, the timing is a disaster.
We need a political middle in both Canada and the US. Something more akin to northern europe. Fiscally responsible socialism. The current system has two parties on both ends. One that wants to make everyone reliable on the government and will spend generations of money that will eventually cripple us. And the other end that would ultimately result in a few very large “survival of the fittest” companies control all wealth while limiting rights like abortion, and women’s rights (in 2024 as a reminder, women still do not have legal equal rights in the US).The “capitalism” that many conservatives want looks a hell of a lot like communism where a small group of corporations control the country- which is why the USA already ranks low on democracy among the worlds democratic nations.
I will allow this comment but it is total bullshit.
link to ourworldindata.org
link to worldpopulationreview.com
link to epi.org.
Longevity is another good measure for comparisons.
In N America you should never talk about socialism.
Instead, you should talk about economic democracy & autonomy.
Corporations are usually quite like the army … hierarchical institutions where people are subject to the whims of their lords.
Yeah, well his policy is to “burn the peasants to stay warm”
The 200% plus inflation rate in Argentina is now higher than Venezuela
The monthly inflation rate in Argentina is now over 25%
The wailing and moaning of people here over a short term 9% annualized inflation rate in the US should give you a glimmer of an idea of the effects of his policy with people even fewer resources
No, he holds few answers for the US
Hilarious . Anyone with any critical thinking would realize he hasn’t been in power long enough for any of his policies to affect inflation one way or the other . Likely the inflation rate is coming from prevous policies
He has said from the outset that things will get worse before the new policies take effect. He’s firing a great many civil servants adding to the unemployment rate. He’s already devalued once so far and it’ll probably require more.
Even in his inaugural speech it was stated that the people of Argentina will need to endure hardship to shake off the damaging socialist policies beset on the country for decades.
Put down this wall, build a bridge to the world, free trade, free debt.
Please name one example of a capitalist economy without a state.
The term ‘capitalism’ was coined by Marx, the first to analyze the economy in terms of historical development, that is, 19th century industrializing economies.
People pushing a 200 year old pre-critical doctrinaire ahistorical economic concept lack analytical vigor. Did they have free markets in Ancient Egypt? Were they ‘capitalists’ then?
“…Unfortunately, we have war mongers on the Right and Socialists on the left. Our policies are often the worst of both…
…Trump proposes a minimum 10 percent tariff on the world. That is a 10 percent tax on the US. The saving grace for Trump is that overall, Biden is economically much worse…”
With respect, the American voters never seem to reject either of these two postions despite what polling shows on these topics. If the American public valued free trade, balanced budgets, and peace, then we would have more candidates that reflect that. In fact we did have a candidate that relfected those values some years ago in Ron Paul and he was rejected outright.
The problem isn’t the politicians it’s the body politic. George Carlin did a great set on this topic some years ago. It’s on youtube if you’d like to see it.
In my view, things (the economy, crime, the affects of war) are going to have to get really bad before the public wakes up. Even then there’s no guarantee they will embrace a more freedom-centric political stance.
Or Milei could have shortened his speech to, “The problem with socialism is that you eventually run out of other people’s money.” (Margaret Thatcher) but that would have been less dramatic.
Maggie was wrong. Socialists just crank up the printing press and conjure up all the “money” they need out of thin air. That’s how the US has accumulated over $34,000,000,000,000 in national debt.
Or, to make it more useful and meaningful:
Gold.
No non-voluntary taxes. At all.
Instead of just more feelgood, but ultimately undefined “we’re, like, kind of, like, in favor of, you know, like free but, like, yabut yabut.”
Just Gold. And noone forced to pay a dime unless they want to. And you’re 90% of the way there, economically.
The way the world’s terror states are militarizing: He’d also honestly need to include a similarly absolutist stance on the US 2nd to have much real staying power, but I suppose he can be forgiven for that not being top of current-day Argentina’s stack of immediate issues. Gold, and voluntary-only, are non-negotiables though. There is no libertarianism, hence no freedom at all, absent those two pillars. Officially robbing people; whether at gunpoint or by debasement, will never, ever, under any possible circumstance, a free country make.
I have considered the idea of taxpayer allocated funding. The government sets the tax rates, and publishes a proposed budget with 20 different buckets where money will be spent. The taxpayer then directs his tax bill to the the different buckets in the percent of his choosing. The debt bucket is a required minimum percentage (about 25% today) to guarantee debt is reduced within the durations of the loans. If you favor welfare over warfare, then allocate 50% to welfare and 25% to warfare. If you like none of the buckets, then use it to pay down the debt. If you want to put more money than you tax bill comes to, then you can make additional payments. The default outcome would be to allocate one’s tax bill based on the government’s proposed budget. Once a bucket receives less than 1% of support, it gets dropped from the list. This only a concept and I fully expect debate.
I hope he has a good security team, he just called out some powerful interests. Do we have to hit rock bottom, like Argentina, before this attitude prevails? I hope not.
“Do we have to hit rock bottom, like Argentina,..”
We have. Many of “us” are just a bit slow on the uptake. Argentina, courtesy of Peron, also had a 20-50 year head start on the Northern West in full-scale adopting what is now universally the “Western” political system.
He has talked a good talk for a long time. Argentinians have always been famously good talkers.
As is always the case in Argentina: Jury’s still out on execution, though: Debasing productive people in order to pay; of all anti-capitalistic, antifreedom institutions; the IMF, is sure as heck not a good start. Neither is not simply hard-defining the Peso as a given weight of Gold.
And while piddling around the edges a bit wrt Buenos Aires apartments may be better than not at all: Unless supply is freed up; meaning anyone build anything anywhere anytime and nothing short of that; Buenos Aires rents, housing and office/industrial-space prices will still remain artificially propped up, choking off any potential productive boom.
By what is still a socialistic/Peronistic government. And still for the exact same purpose it is done in every such country: To aid connected, incompetent and uncompetitive leeching classes in sitting on their useless rears while extracting above market rent from their superior, more competent and productive fellow Argentinians. You’d still have to be an idiot to set up shop producing anything in Buenos Aires, when all manners of space is much cheaper in locations with much better infrastructure and human capital of all sorts, in Asia.
As of yet, there has been hardly any uptick in major bankruptcies and liquidations. Despite something on the order of 98+% of all larger-than-tiny “businesses” in Argentina being utterly insolvent in any reasonably free market.
All the same clowns who “owned” everything pre Milei, still do so today. If any of them as much as suspected they’d be exposed to free competition; they’d all be in Miami by yesterday; with everything of value they could stuff in their bags. Which truthfully isn’t much by now. But still: That they still stay put, is a pretty good sign that noone expects Milei to be much more than just the latest member of the currently fashionable “Same guy, different Hairdo” club; alongside Trump and BoJo.
Of course, he _could_ turn out to really be different in a meaningful way. But as of current, he’s just the latest in a long line who, no doubt, talks like an Argie; but also unfortunately walks like one.
Fiscal Prudence are 2 words that do not exist in Washington . . .
Undoubtedly the personal and ad hominem attacks on Milei will begin in earnest.