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“Argentina elected right-wing libertarian Javier Milei as its new president [last] Sunday… Milei is pledging economic shock therapy. His plans include shutting the central bank, ditching the peso, and slashing spending, potentially painful reforms that resonated with voters angry at the economic malaise.” Reuters
The right is supportive of Milei, arguing that Argentina's desperate economic situation calls for radical change.
“Argentina faces a 12.4% monthly inflation rate, meaning its annual inflation rate exceeds 100%. It also has a 40.1% poverty rate — up nearly 4 points from 2022. Big government spending from left-of-center parties has been disastrous for the country… If backing freer trade, less government spending, and dollarization proves to be an effective way to reduce widespread poverty and hyperinflation in a developing country, Milei could show the world that libertarianism is not an unrealistic political ideology.”
Tom Joyce, Washington Examiner
“[Milei] has called for vast cuts to Argentina's government — a necessity, since Argentina has defaulted on its debts three times since 2001… Argentina's trajectory has been a total disaster area for decades, despite the glorification of Peronism at the hands of Hollywood. And, in fact, the markets are treating Milei's election as they should: Argentine stocks and bonds have jumped on Milei's election, mainly because he is the first leader of Argentina in generations who has a plan to actually avoid economic default.”
Ben Shapiro, Creators
“With a big personality, outsider persona and unique hair, Milei draws comparisons to former President Donald Trump — but make no mistake: Voters put him in office because of his ideas… When it comes down to brass tacks, voters will put their wallets and their families’ welfare first every time. In Argentina, as in America: It’s the economy, stupid.”
Editorial Board, New York Post
Some argue, “Economic libertarians who detest Trump for his trade, immigration, and cultural protectionism sought to rebuff the Milei-Trump comparison in an effort to claim the Argentine’s victory as their own. While Trump sought tariffs, Milei seeks free trade; while Trump protected entitlements like Social Security and Medicare, Milei wants to slash Argentina’s social safety net; while Trump is tough on drugs, Milei is pro-legalization…
“[Yet this analysis] misses the forest for the trees. Political movements gain character and take shape not simply through policy, but through the lived experiences of the voters. The geopolitical environment that finds Milei ascendant has undeniably been shaped by Trump’s gravitational pull. Trump fully exposed the rot of the neoliberal order and the mediocrity of the managerial class… Milei’s movement capitalized on what Trump set in motion nearly a decade ago.”
Bradley Devlin, American Conservative
The left is skeptical of Milei, arguing that his plans are likely to make Argentina's economy worse.
The left is skeptical of Milei, arguing that his plans are likely to make Argentina's economy worse.
“Milei has pledged to enact an austerity plan even more draconian than the one the International Monetary Fund has prescribed as part of Argentina’s repayment on a $44 billion line of credit…
“This includes cuts he claims will equal 15 percent of the country’s gross domestic product, privatizing ‘as many public companies as he can,’ in Milei’s words, ending free public healthcare, and replacing public education with a voucher system, the details of which remain murky at best. For a country with over 40 percent poverty through the first half of 2023, these proposals are nothing short of devastating.”
Jacob Sugarman, The Nation
“As much as Milei likes to think otherwise, his views are not original. The last Argentine military dictatorship came to power with the slogan ‘Downsizing the state is making the nation bigger.’ Its minister of economy, José Alfredo Martinez de Hoz, was a pre-Thatcher neoliberal who tried to deregulate the economy only for it to end up in disaster…
“In the 1990s, President Carlos Menem tried the same using a different political formula: He forced his own movement, Peronism, to embrace its historical nemesis, neoliberalism. His longest-serving minister of economy, Domingo Cavallo, deregulated the economy, while pegging the Argentine peso to the U.S. dollar to tame inflation. These policies resulted in the dramatic crisis of 2001-2002, with private savings frozen, the peso devalued and more than half the country living under the poverty line.”
Gabriel Pasquini, Washington Post
“Argentina’s vote feeds into a question coursing across the Americas, and indeed, the wider world: How will voter anger, justified and otherwise, transform politics? Facing low growth, rising crime and corruption — on top of the coronavirus pandemic, which hit South America particularly hard, disenchanted voters in Latin America clearly feel an overriding urge to kick the bums out…
“Democratic norms throughout the region are weakening. A Latinobarómetro poll this past summer surveyed thousands across Latin America, finding that only 48 percent of respondents said democracy is preferable to any other form of government, the lowest share since the poll began in 1995… Mr. Milei’s election should remind the Biden administration to pay more attention to Latin America’s unstable politics.”
Editorial Board, Washington Post
