I was excited when Javier Milei became president of Argentina. Wow, I thought. Amazing! An anarcho-capitalist president who promises to shut down the central bank. The world is getting better!
Then I saw that Saifedean Ammous, the author of the famous Bitcoin classic The Bitcoin Standard, was posting some very sharp critiques of Javier Milei, after being on his side for some time. I respect Saifedean Ammous very much, so I pay attention to what he says.
Hmm, I thought. That's strange. I chalked it up to "the world is a complicated place". And "maybe Ammous should give him some grace, things take time", etc.
Then I did some more research. Saifedean Ammous is not the only one who has some very negative things to say about Milei and his policies.
And here's another thing. I had zero knowledge about this - most people don't - but for an Argentinian president, Javier Milei is, very oddly, extremely strongly aligned to Israel. Dig for yourself if you want, but here's some articles on this odd link.
https://www.haaretz.com/jewish/2024-10-15/ty-article-magazine/.premium/moses-of-argentina-inside-javier-mileis-strange-obsession-with-judaism-and-israel/00000192-8abe-d222-ab9a-cfff79900000
(archive link: https://archive.is/slu8R)
And then I did a little more research. Saifedean Ammous is Palestinian, and of course opposed to the genocide in Gaza. So no wonder he looks a little more closely, when it turns out that Milei is so oddly aligned to Israel, and specifically the war criminal Bibi Netanyahu.
Here's Ammous on Javier Milei (summary from Grok):
Saifedean Ammous, a prominent Austrian economist and Bitcoin advocate, has evolved from early praise for Milei's 2023 election as a libertarian breakthrough to vehement criticism by 2025. He accuses Milei of betraying core principles by failing to shut down the Banco Central de la República Argentina (BCRA), instead quadrupling money supply (e.g., M0 up 344% since Dec 2023) to sustain a "carry trade Ponzi scheme." This involves printing pesos to roll over high-interest bonds (up to 88%), enriching bankers and speculators while fueling inflation, devaluing the peso (down 10%+ recently), and deepening debt reliance on IMF/U.S. bailouts. Ammous calls it "fiat fraud," "Keynesian nonsense," and a "nationwide gambling scam" that diverts capital from productive uses, discredits Austrian economics, and ensures future crises. He urges Bitcoin adoption over peso tinkering, framing Milei's inaction as deliberate corruption tied to cronies like Luis Caputo.
Here's a very detailed post from Saifedean Ammous on Milei's money printing
https://x.com/saifedean/status/1965101959259771303
Also Milei just got 40 billion USD from the United States. Just a few days before the elections in Argentina, which he won. https://x.com/saifedean/status/1979193041505202215