In Argentina, President Javier Milei has screwed the economy up so badly he needs a $20 billion bailout. That’s because his “free market” economics don’t actually work.
Libertarians do care about freedom … their own personal freedom … and it doesn’t matter to them if it costs the freedoms of others
It’s a selfish mentality where they believe that they should have all the ultimate freedom to do whatever they please, regardless if it hurts, degrades or destroys anyone’s or everyone’s freedoms.
In the before times (Trump, COVID, Harambe) Libertarians believed in the Non Aggression Principal or NAP as it was commonly referred to.
After the tea party and preperheads co-opted the libertarian imagery, it seems to have long since been forgotten.
But initially, that ideology was one of not using coercion to rule. Not restricting behavior or actions as long as NAP is not violated. Yes excess taxes are bad but also stay out of my bedroom and my non-binary neighbors garden. You want a coal plant cool, BUT if it is spewing crap into the air that we breath, it violates NAP and not allowed to operate.
Personally, I believe some of the ideals have merit but they require people to not be shit and that seems way too hard an ask. There are other ways to govern and maintain personal freedom not at the expense of others.
As a fun read Dr. Jo Jorgensen (she/her) was an interesting libertarian candidate years ago and huge contrast to what we see in the pork chop sideburns guy from Argentina. A long way from what could have been. They forgot her faster than the NAP.
You want a coal plant cool, BUT if it is spewing crap into the air that we breath, it violates NAP and not allowed to operate.
Most of the libertarians I’ve met don’t seem to believe that sort of thing. They might accept that punching someone is bad, but something complex like pollution they don’t accept.
“I should be free to dump my garbage on my property! It’s mine!”
“Yeah, but then you pollute the river and everyone down stream suffers”
“…it’s my property!”
Most of the self professed ‘libertarians’ that I have met are basically people who think they will be one of the warlords when the fall comes. They are of course sadly mistaken.
The top three priorities of a true libertarian are I, Me, Mine.
All of the self-styled “libertarians” I know are simply looking for an excuse to not pay taxes.
Don’t forget they also want it to be legal for men aged 40+ to fuck teenagers!
Wait a moment, wasn’t Argentina’s economy in the toilet already? If it happens like Mexico in the 80s, this 20 billion loan won’t prop the economy, but the pockets of government officials and robber barons.
Regardless of the state of Argentina’s economy and government, this is a $20 billion gift from one fascist to another. Trump is probably hoping for Millei to back any move against Venezuela the US might make.
He’s not even a libertarian tho. An oaf sure, but he’s been meddling with the economy in extreme ways, something antithetical to libertarianism.
That is all libertarians who gain some semblance of power. Just like “small government conservatives”, all libertarians are lying hypocrites.
And to think that Argentina was one of the ten wealthiest nations on Earth.
They should kirk his ass
$20B here, $20B there, before you know it you’re talking Real Money. /s
The “Free” in “Free Market” apparently stands for “Free falling”
For all the “tHiS dOeSn’T mEaN MiLeI iS fAiLiNg” commenters out there:
Milei is a pimp selling his people’s arse to the highest bidder. The highest bidder happens to have friends in high places that guarantee that some Argentinian arse can be cashed at the expense of US american taxpayer money…
Keep coping.
The US is the most communist country in the world. It’s literally a bunch of dudes spending someone elses money while redirecting it to their pocket. It would make Stalin jealous!
When socialists ruin Latin American economies, we blame the US and World Bank for undermining them. The reality is that pragmatic approaches are good for economies and populist approaches wreak havoc.
The worst part of the Trump Era is that we’ll finally oust him by putting in a populist from the other end of the spectrum and suffer from another pendulum swing.
You’re going to be at the Ryad comedy festival next year. Kudos, keep it up and you’ll be the goat.
The other end of the spectrum isn’t really present in USA, the most left wing that is popular is Social Democrat, and that’s actually quite moderate, and is 100% about regulated but free markets, and works on a balance between economy and protecting workers.
Balance is not extreme opposed to the extreme capitalism Republicans represent, on the contrary it is extremely sensible unless you are a complete sociopath.
The social democratic model is very successful in the Scandinavian countries. That have good economies, higher freedom ratings than USA, and way way happier populations.For instance somehow people aren’t angry about having free healthcare and education and 5 week holidays, and being able to live on a minimum salary!
If you think that the worst part of the Trump era will be when it ends, your opinions don’t matter. Not on any topic at all. Every single one of your opinions is worthless.
Or, Argentina simply has an enormous hole to dig itself out of from its previous mismanagement.
I’m not actually fond of most Libertarian policies myself, I lean socialist in general. But you can’t judge his performance purely on the basis of needing a lot of money, he wasn’t starting from a blank slate. From what I’ve read he’s actually managed to make good progress on a couple of deep economic problems Argentina had.
Except, if we were to read the article, things are materially worse than when he took office:
Milei had predicted a V-like recovery with the creation of new jobs in a more prosperous and stable economy. Instead, the economy stalled out, declining in the second quarter compared with the previous three months. Unemployment is at 7.6%, up from 5.7% when Milei took office. And Argentina has about 200,000 fewer jobs since he took office, government data shows.
And Argentina’s hyperinflation is way down. Argentina had 112% inflation previously. Economies are complicated and you can have good things happening alongside bad things, for various reasons.
Inflation is arguably down mostly because of austerity measures which have not addressed any fundamental problems, only kicked them down the road.
I get what you’re saying and agree with the basic premise, “economies are extremely complicated and it’s hard to ascribe x caused y, when so many other things can go sideways”. It drives me nuts when people think the US president controls oil prices, if they did it would just be perpetually free!
Where I wholeheartedly disagree with your message is because Milei promised quick and easy solutions to Argentina’s economy. He sold the story that 100 years of economic turmoil was due to corruption and gross incompetence. He promised he was not corrupt (which was a lie), and applying some basic economic principals would lead to a roaring economy (which never materialized and never will because economists already know the policies he’s proposing don’t work in the long run).
Yes his austerity measures led to inflation going down which his foreign apologists immediately point to, but the exchange rate skyrocketed offsetting any gains for a typical Argentine (most everything financial in Argentina is measured in USD, even ironically government fees).
If today you go ask typical Argentines “are you better off financially now than 3 years ago” the answer is going to usually be no.
I think it’s important, for at least Americans, to see that those policies don’t work. Yes it’s a valuable lesson at the expense of a ton of people, but hopefully people at least learn from others mistake. And yes I hear that narrator voice right behind me.
My point is that the simple fact that Argentina needed a bailout doesn’t mean that his policies “don’t work.” These things are more complicated than a simple red or black number in an annual balance sheet.
To be clear, I don’t like Milei. But Argentina was in a terrible state for a long time before he came to power, and whether I like a person or not doesn’t have much effect on whether his policies are effective.
And my point being is that, just because America is in tens of trillions in debt, and we’re on the verge of a massive market crash, doesn’t mean that electing an economic libertarian that plays with chainsaws, performs at rock concerts, and is a friend to powerful rich people, will get us out of this mess. Again I state, I hear that screaming narrator voice right behind me.
