Javier Milei Is Absolutely Killing It in Argentina

PJ Media ^ | 05/09/2024 | Stephen Green

[SeekAndFind]

President Javier Milei entered office like Jack Nicholson breaking his way into the bathroom in "The Shining" — with an axe. Armed with emergency powers granted by the Argentine Congress, he balanced the country's out-of-control budget in one month, fired government workers by the thousands, eliminated more than 200,000 "corrupt" social welfare programs, and even cozied up to NATO.

“There’s a lot more chainsaw" to come, Milei promised in March, and I momentarily almost became gay.

The usual fearmongers mongered the usual fears.

A few weeks ago, the New York Times ran an opinion piece — complete with a demonic-looking, high-contrast black-and-white photo of Milei — by Argentine author Uki Goñi. According to him, Milei is the "product of a long South American history in which authoritarianism has been the norm and democracy the exception." Of course, Goñi also called Milei "a far-right libertarian," and if you can square "authoritarian" with "libertarian," then cut back on the day-drinking.

Victor Swezey warned in December that "victims of Argentina’s dictatorship see [a] step backward in Milei’s presidency."

And the Columbia Journalism Review's Jon Allsop got his panties particularly twisted over concerns about Milei's "particular hostility toward public media," and the private media, too. But when a conservative or libertarian shows any level of hostility toward the media, he's merely returning the favor.

So who is right? Milei and his axe or his critics with their axes to grind?

Let's look at the numbers.

Wow! Inflation down from 300% to 11%; the first quarterly budget surplus since 2008; interest rates cut three times in three weeks;

[MayflowerMadam]

“I want to see President Trump fire so many bureaucrats that real estate prices in DC take a tumble.”

If only...

[FreedomPoster]

After the 2016 election I said here that a measure of Trump’s success would be if that happened. It did not, but Trump revealed that the swamp is much bigger than we could imagine.

[SamAdams76]

I knew Milei was doing a bang-up job in Argentina as soon as the American lapdog "media" went silent on him.

The way they were branding him "another bombastic Trump populist figure", you just know they were dying for him to fail so that they could gloat, point their fingers at us and say "we told you so".

[SPRINK]

Musk showed the way with Twitter….cut 75% of the workforce and nothing happened……the federal government is even mor bloated

[JohnBovenmyer]

Need mass imports of Argentinian chainsaws!

[Sequoyah101]

We can dream I suppose. Prayer may help. Can’t hurt.

[Owen]

Greece was FORCED to take on more debt, with the newest tranches used to service pre-existing IMF debt.

Argentina will be equally pressured, but his ability to ship oil and gas through pipelines eliminates the IMF’s power to get oil and gas tankers seized at sea.

It’s when a precedent is set to default on the IMF that things get interesting.

[Buckeye Battle Cry]

His life is in danger. He is showing the way out from under the New World Order punks and they will not tolerate that.

They cannot have other countries noticing and acting in a similar fashion.

[Freest Republican]

I understand.

Greece also did not reform a bit and are probably still lying over their GDP as they’ve done since WWII.

He should negotiate and not default.

Paying will bolster the peso and ultimately lower the borrowing costs.

Defaulting will crush the peso and inhibit his plans.

Obv time will tell and it is going to be interesting to watch.