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10 sats \ 3 replies \ @k00b 2h \ on: Is Javier Milei, the "libertarian" president of Argentina, a complete fraud? econ
@didiplaywell has been debunking/providing context to some of Ammous' criticisms. I don't know what to think. In general, we all tend to think other people's jobs are easy and straightforward, and when they don't do what we think they should, we assume they're up to something.
I don't trust Ammous' analysis of Milei. I don't trust the media's. I don't trust Milei's. And I haven't spent time looking very closely at what he's done myself.
- Debunking Saifedean recent Slander against Milei
- My Direct Account on the Situation in Argentina under Milei's Government
- Slander To Debunk (aka STD), The Show - Ep 4: Saifedean, the Gish Galloper
Ammous' was previously in favor of Milei. A little skeptical, a little like "show me", but overall positive.
He had a podcast on Milei in January 2024, generally hopeful: https://saifedean.com/podcast/204-mileis-argentina-with-philip-bagus
Ammous later became more skeptical, and is now a full fledged Milei hater.
Here's one of his later articles on Milei, and the scams that are being perpetuated by him in Argentina right now: https://ronpaulinstitute.org/javier-milei-unraveled-no-crying-in-the-casino/
Here's a quote from that article:
When the ponzi collapses, as it always does, Argentines will have lost their cash savings, and most suckers who invest in bonds will have been ruined, but the fiat cartel banks will walk away well-fed, as they always do.
Milei will discredit Austrian and libertarian ideas for decades to come by associating them with their diametrical opposites: inflation, indebtedness, bond market pump-and-dumps, and genocide. It is only his constant invocation of the Austrians that makes me take time from my busy schedule to discuss this con artist and his unfortunate country.
Socialists of the world, you can now laugh at us libertarians for stealing from you the same line for which we have mocked you for decades: but it wasn’t real libertarianism!
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I agree that if Milei fails his association with libertarianism might have consequences for the movement in general.
Assuming he isn't pretending to be libertarian (I don't think he is), and is merely not a perfect libertarian in practice, I'd guess his tenure will help Argentina and help the movement learn something about switching a country away from socialism under libertarian goal posts.
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Yeah I imagine there's pretty important path dependence and you can't just switch systems from one to another and have it work. The transition itself is a process and if not handled right will simply result in failure
The tricky part is that when things are unbearable, people may not politically accept slow transitions and they may demand instantaneous change, even if not actually possible.
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