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Javier Milei backtracks on $4.4B memecoin after 'insiders' pocket $87M

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Re: Javier Milei backtracks on $4.4B memecoin after 'insiders' pocket $87M

#221

Post by andriesm »

coffeebeqn wrote: post #187
JavierFlores09 wrote: post #146

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> If he made such a blunder in finance which supposedly is one of his specialties just imagine how incompetent he and most of the government right now is on other matters. This is a hasty generalization; while I agree on the fact that Milei was incompetent in promoting a memecoin as a financial instrument, that doesn't necessarily mean he is a bad economist all of the sudden, nor that the things he has done for Argen…

How would he not be? If he did zero due diligence on this and then pitched it to his countrymen as an investment. Incredibly poor judgement no?

It's pretty bad, but smart people do stupid things all the time. Hopefully he learns from this mistake. And as pointed out, it does not automatically make all his prior decisions bad - we can actually analyse them each on their individual merit.

Re: Javier Milei backtracks on $4.4B memecoin after 'insiders' pocket $87M

#222

Post by iamnotagenius »

tasuki wrote: post #207
xrd wrote: post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In all honesty, I've read a bunch of positive articles about Millei, and watched the Friedman interview with him. He has multiple economics degrees and really seems to understand economics in a way that Trump does not, IMHO. And, so this is horribly embarassing that he does not understand the basics of cryptocurrencies and tokens and the scoundrels. Understanding economics is not the only point when you are running a…

The Lex Fridman interview was awful. Milei hasn't said a single interesting thing. I was expecting a lot more from (I think) the first politician following the Austrian school of economics.

> I was expecting a lot more from (I think) the first politician following the Austrian school of economics.

This is exactly why you've heard only demagoguery; Austrian school is fringe.

Re: Javier Milei backtracks on $4.4B memecoin after 'insiders' pocket $87M

#223

Post by CraigJPerry »

dysoco wrote: post #69

Just to clarify, here are some important differences compared to the Trump case: 1. Milei did not sell this as a memecoin at all, unlike Trump, he sold it as a "financial instrument to help finance small Argentinan enterprises". 2. Trump tweeted about $TRUMP BEFORE stepping into office, Milei is already the president of Argentina. This constitutes an obvious ethical violation, and possibly a legal one as well. 3. 80%…

>> how he's a genius in economy and he's helping Argentina's economy

If he doesn’t succeed, it’s hard to see how the Austrian school of economics can continue. With heavyweights such as George Selgin endorsing Milei’s performance to date, it’s going to require some very adept use of the reverse gear if things are subsequently judged not to have panned out as planned (which appears to be the typical outcome of other attempts to apply this school of thought throughout history).

The world does seem very accepting of the current increased poverty levels in Argentina - “it’s always been this way”, “it was just under reported before” etc etc. Maybe.

From a purely human point of view I hope they succeed. The timing could be excellent for them, a Return to prosperity given the current global situation wrt world order and demographics could conceivably put Argentina in a very advantageous position economically?

I have grave reservations about the social science called economics though, well specifically “macro economics”. I worry that this experiment just leads to even more suffering.

Re: Javier Milei backtracks on $4.4B memecoin after 'insiders' pocket $87M

#224

Post by andriesm »

littlestymaar wrote: post #210
ttoinou wrote: post #177

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The government spending more money makes money less scarce [0], at any scale (macro, micro etc). That's what we're talking about here. [0] Unless you believe in MMT

You're moving the goalpost. Here's the original quote: > stop spending money the government doesn't have Which has nothing to do with your response.

I interpret "government should stop spending money they don't have" metaphorically as standing in for "don't spend so much money (especially in economically unproductive ways) that it devalues money and misallocates resources so much that it slows down economic growth".

I think simplistic statements "government should not spend money it doesn't have" or "government should stop spending so much money" are all just the normal average person's way of trying to phrase this fundamental economic truth that anyone with a working brain can intuit.

It's obvious that governments cannot just spend any arbitrary large amount of money without consequence.

It's also obvious to anyone, that just like eating too many calories, it's much easier to overspend than to underspend.

So constant calls for governments to go on monetary diets and "make better food choices" are clearly warranted.

Re: Javier Milei backtracks on $4.4B memecoin after 'insiders' pocket $87M

#225

Post by sjsdaiuasgdia »

pjc50 wrote: post #215
timy2shoes wrote: post #55

Earlier quoted context omitted.

A for-profit media company that foreign interests can pile money into for a quid pro quo, that’s somehow not legally a quid pro quo anymore.

Meanwhile there's a quid pro quo to avoid prosecuting Eric Adams for bribery if he changes his policies. Absolute banana republic stuff.

That one is such a clear, obvious case of corruption. I wish more people were screaming it from the rooftops. I've told a number of people about it IRL and it's shocking how few know. But I guess that's part of the "flood the zone" tactic of the fascists.

For those who haven't been following along, here's the highlights.

Adams did some corrupt shit, like really obviously corrupt. Foreign sources made gift offers. Advisors said "no, the mayor definitely doesn't want those gifts because that would be highly inappropriate and illegal." The mayor's office said "actually, we would love those gifts please continue!" All of this is well documented; yes, they took notes on a criminal conspiracy. Naturally, this resulted in criminal charges. Adams screams political persecution because that's what corrupt politicians do when they're caught.

Trump takes office, and this creates an opportunity for further corruption. Adams and Trump make a deal. Adams will facilitate anything Trump wants to do in NYC vis a vis immigration (which may include tactics of questionable legality), Trump's DOJ will drop the charges.

DOJ lawyers who were in the meetings discussing this arrangement were told not to take notes. Hm. Then DOJ leadership directs the lawyers assigned to the case to file a dismissal. They burn through 7 DOJ lawyers who resign rather than sign a dismissal.

The dismissal was eventually signed by Emil Bove, who had been recently appointed to the #2 position in the DOJ by Trump. Bove's previous role was as one of Trump's criminal defense lawyers.

Absolutely fucking corrupt.

Re: Javier Milei backtracks on $4.4B memecoin after 'insiders' pocket $87M

#226

Post by llamaimperative »

EGreg wrote: post #130
llamaimperative wrote: post #79

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Obviously existing middlemen are rent seekers. The question is why anyone should eat the cost of switching to a new, less proven rent seeker. To the hopeful new rent seeker, the pitch is obvious. To everyone else, the provided rationales tend to sound like a whole lot of bullshit.

Why should people use automation at all? This is like asking why people should switch from telephone switchboard operators, to automatic switchboards. Or why should anyone switch from livery cab services to Uber. Technology may be "less proven" initially, but it's far more reliable in the end. It also removes a whole class of inefficiencies and conflicts that won't be possible with smart contracts, the same way that…

Okay but 1) arbitration is often desirable, which is why these systems allow it, and 2) traditional software can automate just about anything web3 can if you have the same degree of coordination among counterparties

Re: Javier Milei backtracks on $4.4B memecoin after 'insiders' pocket $87M

#227

Post by littlestymaar »

andriesm wrote: post #224
littlestymaar wrote: post #210

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You're moving the goalpost. Here's the original quote: > stop spending money the government doesn't have Which has nothing to do with your response.

I interpret "government should stop spending money they don't have" metaphorically as standing in for "don't spend so much money (especially in economically unproductive ways) that it devalues money and misallocates resources so much that it slows down economic growth". I think simplistic statements "government should not spend money it doesn't have" or "government should stop spending so much money" are all just the…

> I think simplistic statements "government should not spend money it doesn't have" or "government should stop spending so much money" are all just the normal average person's way of trying to phrase this fundamental economic truth that anyone with a working brain can intuit.

There Is Always a Well-Known Solution to Every Human Problem—Neat, Plausible, and Wrong

> It's also obvious to anyone, that just like eating too many calories, it's much eadier to overspend than to underspend.

You accidentally came up with the best possible illustration for the topic, and it's a really good illustration that actually goes against your argument:

- If you eat too much, you'll get fat and unhealthy.

- If you eat too little, you'll die from starvation.

And you're right, it's exactly the same for government spending: if the government spends too much, it's not good, but if it's spends too little the economy's dead.

Re: Javier Milei backtracks on $4.4B memecoin after 'insiders' pocket $87M

#228

Post by tim333 »

CraigJPerry wrote: post #223
dysoco wrote: post #69

Just to clarify, here are some important differences compared to the Trump case: 1. Milei did not sell this as a memecoin at all, unlike Trump, he sold it as a "financial instrument to help finance small Argentinan enterprises". 2. Trump tweeted about $TRUMP BEFORE stepping into office, Milei is already the president of Argentina. This constitutes an obvious ethical violation, and possibly a legal one as well. 3. 80%…

>> how he's a genius in economy and he's helping Argentina's economy If he doesn’t succeed, it’s hard to see how the Austrian school of economics can continue. With heavyweights such as George Selgin endorsing Milei’s performance to date, it’s going to require some very adept use of the reverse gear if things are subsequently judged not to have panned out as planned (which appears to be the typical outcome of other a…

It's been a very messy experiment - he is limited politically in what he can actually do. As as result it's going to be hard to draw firm conclusions about Austrian economics.

Re: Javier Milei backtracks on $4.4B memecoin after 'insiders' pocket $87M

#229

Post by tasuki »

iamnotagenius wrote: post #222
tasuki wrote: post #207

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The Lex Fridman interview was awful. Milei hasn't said a single interesting thing. I was expecting a lot more from (I think) the first politician following the Austrian school of economics.

> I was expecting a lot more from (I think) the first politician following the Austrian school of economics. This is exactly why you've heard only demagoguery; Austrian school is fringe.

I don't see how that follows.

Many of the people who appear to me to talk the most sense (eg: Tyler Cowen) follow the Austrian school. It being fringe does not mean they're wrong. It could be the mainstream is wrong. I'm not an economist and don't know.

Re: Javier Milei backtracks on $4.4B memecoin after 'insiders' pocket $87M

#230

Post by ImHereToVote »

Aurornis wrote: post #106

> the company informed him about the Libra blockchain project and its aims to finance private ventures in the country. I can’t believe people are still falling for these claims. Every single time someone launches a coin with claims that purchasing it will help fund some special cause, there is no basis to the claim. If you want to fund or finance a cause, give your money to that cause. If you buy a meme coin, you’re…

The dying frog asks the scorpion why it stung despite knowing the consequence, to which the scorpion replies: "I am sorry, but I couldn't help myself. It's my character."
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