Argentina has indeed elected a libertarian president.
Javier Milei campaigned with a chainsaw, promising to reduce the size of government.
Argentina’s left has so clogged the country’s economic arteries with regulations that what was once one of the richest countries in the world is now one of the poorest.
Inflation is over 200%.
People save their entire lives and then find that their savings are worth next to nothing.
They got so fed up that they did something never done before in modern history: they elected a full-fledged libertarian.
Milei understands that government cannot create wealth.
This month he surprised diplomats at the World Economic Forum by saying: “The state is the problem!”
He spoke in favor of capitalism: “Do not be intimidated by the political caste or by the parasites who live off the state… If you make money it is because you offer a better product at a better price, thus contributing to general well-being. Don’t give in to the advance of the State. The State is not the solution.”
Go, Milei! I wish current American politicians would talk this way.
In the West, young people become socialists. In Argentina they live according to socialist policies. They voted for Milei.
69% of voters under 25 voted for him. This helped him win by as many as 3 million votes.
He won by promising to reverse “decades of decadence”. He told the Economic Forum: “If measures are taken that impede the free functioning of markets, competition, pricing systems, trade and private property ownership, the only possible fate is poverty.”
Right.
Poor countries prove this again and again.
The media says Milei will never approve his reforms, and the left could still stop him.
But he has already “succeeded in repealing rent and price controls,” says economist Daniel Di Martino in my new video. He points out that Milei has already “eliminated all restrictions on exports and imports, all with the flick of a pen.”
“Can you do it without Congress?” I ask.
“The president of Argentina has much more power than the president of the United States.”
Milei also loosened rules limiting where airlines can fly.
“Now [some] Airfares are cheaper than bus fares!” says Di Martino.
He abolished laws that say, “Buy in Argentina.” I emphasize that America has “Buy America” rules.
“It makes the poor even poorer because it increases costs!” Di Martino replies: “Why shouldn’t Argentinians be able to buy Brazilian pencils or Chilean grapes?”
“To support Argentina,” I reply.
“Guess what?” Says Di Martino: “Not every country is able to produce everything at the lowest cost. Imagine if you had to produce bananas in America.”
Argentina’s left-wing governments have tried to control virtually everything.
“The rules were such that anything that wasn’t explicitly legal was illegal,” Di Martino laughs. “Now… everything that isn’t illegal is legal.”
One government agency demoted by Milei was a “Department of Women, Gender and Diversity”. DiMartino says this reminds him of Venezuela’s Deputy Ministry for Supreme Social Happiness. “These agencies exist only so government officials can hire their friends.”
Cutting government jobs and subsidies to interest groups is risky for vote-seeking politicians. There are often riots in countries where politicians cut subsidies. Sometimes politicians are eliminated. Or incarcerated.
“The incredible thing about Milei – notes Di Martino – is that he managed to win on promise to cut subsidies.”
That AND remarkable. Why would Argentines vote for cuts?
“Argentinians are fed up with the status quo,” replies Di Martino.
Milei is an economist. He named his dogs after Milton Friedman, Murray Rothbard and Robert Lucas, all libertarian economists.
I point out that most Americans don’t know who those men were.
“The fact that he names his dogs after these famous economists,” replies Di Martino, “shows that he is truly a nerd. It’s a great thing to have an economics nerd as president of a country.”
“What can Americans learn from Argentina?”
“Keep America prosperous. That way we will never be where Argentina was. That requires free markets.”
YES.
In reality, free markets plus rule of law. When people have these things, prosperity comes.
It’s good that once again a country can try.
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