Posted on 08/14/2023 4:07:23 AM PDT by RandFan
A far-right libertarian candidate won Argentina’s open presidential primary election on Sunday, a surprising showing for a politician who wants to adopt the U.S. dollar as Argentina’s official currency and embraces comparisons to Donald Trump.
Javier Milei, 52, a congressman, economist and former television pundit, secured 30 percent of the vote with 96 percent of the ballots counted, making him the front-runner for the presidency in the fall general election.
Polls had suggested that Mr. Milei’s support was at about 20 percent, and political analysts had predicted that his radical policy proposals — including abolishing the country’s central bank — would prevent him from attracting many more voters.
But the vote on Sunday made clear that Mr. Milei now has a clear shot at leading Argentina, a South American nation of 46 million with some of the world’s largest reserves of oil, gas and lithium.
“I think these results are surprising even to him,” said Pablo Touzon, an Argentine political consultant. “Up until now, he was a protest candidate.”
Argentina’s general election in October, which could go to a November runoff, will now become a new test of the strength of the far right around the world. Although hard-right forces have gained new influence in several powerful nations in recent years....
Mr. Milei has pitched himself as the radical change that the collapsing Argentine economy needs, and he could be a shock to the system if elected. Besides his ideas about the currency and the central bank, he has proposed drastically lowering taxes and cutting public spending, including by charging people to use the public health care system; closing or privatizing all state-owned enterprises; and eliminating the health, education and environment ministries.
(Excerpt) Read more at nytimes.com ...
I was listening to NPR during a drive through a radio-free rural area, and one of the reports was about the efforts of some Argentines to reclaim their European ancestry, and a European passport, as a way to work and live in Europe.
They wanted to escape the 100% inflation, high taxes, high unemployment, rising crime, and political corruption and violence. Spain and Italy have an ancestry loophole for immigration, and while the red tape is as horrible as expected, those countries favor immigrants from South America over those from Africa and the Middle East.
That fascination resulted in:
- The economic growth that ended poverty and creative malaise in this country and yes — I compare 1978 to 1988 and SAW with my two eyes that the only poor people left walking around then were folks that declined to participate.
- Ending the cold war and letting me dream of a world where MY kids never got something I lived — a reminder once a month that they were one crazy old man’s bad mood away from being ended.
- Setting the stage for REAL GOP participation in Congress — I was in my 30’s before a House majority was rino.
People like being free Jim. Too bad that folks like you can’t handle how others of us enjoy ours. A dude in a dress in the clubs and neighborhoods that like that sort of stuff and isn’t an issue for reasonable people... Until your taxes fund a school that tells you THOU SHALT LOVE THE DUDE IN THE DRESS. 100% Nope on that.
There are few ways to prevent the problem of regulatory capture except through limiting the ability of government to regulate commerce. The Founders saw regulation of commerce as entirely a state matter except with respect to foreign commerce, which was a Federal matter. There was always an issue with state governments showing favor to certain businessmen and companies and attacking others. Balancing that issue was the ability of a business to leave an unfriendly state to a friendlier one, a pattern we see in our day; as an example, gun manufacturers leaving unfriendly Connecticut for Southern states.
Banning “revolving doors”—and I mean a lifetime ban—would be a step in the right direction.
No federal employee should be permitted to ever work for a business they regulated—directly or indirectly.
Nobody in an industry should ever be allowed to work for any agency that regulates that industry—directly or indirectly.
That would probably resolve over half of the regulatory capture.
Argentina has long been a country with two left-wing parties, so this is overdue.
“Far right” is now a meaningless way of referring to those who liberals/progressives don’t like.
I agree.
The main effect of libertarians is to give leftists even greater victories down the road.
Someone on Twitter dug up this memo from Reagan people on how they wanted to distance Reagan from Solzhenitsyn.
https://twitter.com/RWApodcast/status/1690363620612247552
And who would take that step, and how do you imagine it coming about?
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