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Javier Milei: "My contempt for the state is infinite"

economist.com

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Re: Javier Milei: "My contempt for the state is infinite"

#31

Post by wslh »

rodrigobellusci wrote: post #18
wslh wrote: post #7

Beyond the traditional dichotomy of right and left, it's always insightful to contrast real politics and media narratives with reality. Javier Milei is introducing several changes in Argentina, but it will take time to assess their effectiveness. As of now, some key issues remain: - The USD/ARS exchange rate is still tightly controlled by the state, which is neither libertarian nor liberal in practice. - There are no…

Regarding you first point, that's expected to change sometime during next year. Let's hope they keep their word. Personally I don't think it would have been a good idea to let the value of the USD run free. If Milei and co. had done that from day one everyone would have rushed to buy dollars. My 2 cents: I like that inflation is lower than ever, and hope that it keeps going down. I want our currency and country to be…

> Personally I don't think it would have been a good idea to let the value of the USD run free. If Milei and co. had done that from day one everyone would have rushed to buy dollars.

You are, of course, free to express your opinion. However, the issue I see with your argument is that if a libertarian, pro-Austrian economics government decides to control the USD/ARS exchange rate, it contradicts the principles on which they were elected. This is not what the people voted for.

Re: Javier Milei: "My contempt for the state is infinite"

#33

Post by drexlspivey »

avidphantasm wrote: post #21

There wouldn’t be free markets without the state. So he either doesn’t actually want free markets and wants to run a mafia state like Putin, or he is a complete idiot.

Why would a state be needed for a free market? The old American west is a recent example of no formal state with a free market.

Re: Javier Milei: "My contempt for the state is infinite"

#34

Post by marcosdumay »

never_inline wrote: post #4

Average Haskell programmer.

Not to detract from the joke, but The Haskell Way is that state should be restricted and made explicit, not destroyed.

Milei's discourse is about destroying the State. Even though the Argentinian institutions have been stable enough to stop him and force him into the "restrict and make explicit" mode instead.

Re: Javier Milei: "My contempt for the state is infinite"

#35

Post by luzojeda »

meiraleal wrote: post #22

What people don't talk about is that the good things the new administration achieved came with a big price: an expected drop of close to 4% in GDP. With the expectation of recovering it fast next year. So next year is the turning point for Milei, if the recession ends or intensifies. A shrinking economy with smaller inflation but in recession is worse than a growing economy with higher inflation. Also the GDP drop sh…

Almost everyone I know and all newspapers I read here, in Argentina, do talk about that. The cost is an inevitable one when you reach 3 digits inflation. Hope we learn our lesson though we didn't in the 2000s when we brought inflation again.

To give anyone reading this perspective, Argentina had inflation for almost 80 years, only a brief pause in the 90s and then again since the 2003. What other way is there?

Re: Javier Milei: "My contempt for the state is infinite"

#36

Post by marcosdumay »

meiraleal wrote: post #22

What people don't talk about is that the good things the new administration achieved came with a big price: an expected drop of close to 4% in GDP. With the expectation of recovering it fast next year. So next year is the turning point for Milei, if the recession ends or intensifies. A shrinking economy with smaller inflation but in recession is worse than a growing economy with higher inflation. Also the GDP drop sh…

When in borderline hyperinflation, the GDP number is meaningless.

Also, a shrinking economy with normal inflation is better than a growing economy with hyperinflation, because that second is never really growing, just the meaningless number is going up.

Re: Javier Milei: "My contempt for the state is infinite"

#37

Post by wslh »

luzojeda wrote: post #9
wslh wrote: post #7

Beyond the traditional dichotomy of right and left, it's always insightful to contrast real politics and media narratives with reality. Javier Milei is introducing several changes in Argentina, but it will take time to assess their effectiveness. As of now, some key issues remain: - The USD/ARS exchange rate is still tightly controlled by the state, which is neither libertarian nor liberal in practice. - There are no…

My two cents even tho I'm afraid this thread might become a political battleground: I'm from Argentina and 30 years old, of course he led us to a recession but for the first time in my adult life I can keep prices in my head and I know next month they'll be pretty much the same. Some people who never experienced +10% inflation in a month can't even imagine that and I understand it. I for one like this stability, dunn…

> I'm from Argentina and 30 years old..

There’s a saying: “In Argentina, everything changes every day, but if you come back after ten years, nothing has changed.” In your case, you were born around 1994. Until you were about six years old, if you went to the supermarket with your family, you could probably keep track of prices in your head. By the time you were 16, the inflation rate was likely double what it is now. If you ask someone at ~70 years old they will tell you similar stories about cycles of high and "stability".

Re: Javier Milei: "My contempt for the state is infinite"

#38

Post by Xunjin »

meiraleal wrote: post #22

What people don't talk about is that the good things the new administration achieved came with a big price: an expected drop of close to 4% in GDP. With the expectation of recovering it fast next year. So next year is the turning point for Milei, if the recession ends or intensifies. A shrinking economy with smaller inflation but in recession is worse than a growing economy with higher inflation. Also the GDP drop sh…

Let's not forget the social numbers.

Reuters:

BUENOS AIRES, Sept 26 (Reuters) - Argentina's poverty rate rocketed to 52.9% in the first half of 2024, the government's INDEC statistics agency said on Thursday, surging from 40.1% a year earlier.

https://www.reuters.com/world/americas/argentina-poverty-rat...

Re: Javier Milei: "My contempt for the state is infinite"

#39

Post by marcosdumay »

luzojeda wrote: post #35
meiraleal wrote: post #22

What people don't talk about is that the good things the new administration achieved came with a big price: an expected drop of close to 4% in GDP. With the expectation of recovering it fast next year. So next year is the turning point for Milei, if the recession ends or intensifies. A shrinking economy with smaller inflation but in recession is worse than a growing economy with higher inflation. Also the GDP drop sh…

Almost everyone I know and all newspapers I read here, in Argentina, do talk about that. The cost is an inevitable one when you reach 3 digits inflation. Hope we learn our lesson though we didn't in the 2000s when we brought inflation again. To give anyone reading this perspective, Argentina had inflation for almost 80 years, only a brief pause in the 90s and then again since the 2003. What other way is there?

> What other way is there?

Remember that inflation is something the government chooses to create. It's not some natural disaster.

The other way is to remove the power to create it from the executive leader and give it to some institution that is more stable.

Re: Javier Milei: "My contempt for the state is infinite"

#40

Post by Xunjin »

drexlspivey wrote: post #33
avidphantasm wrote: post #21

There wouldn’t be free markets without the state. So he either doesn’t actually want free markets and wants to run a mafia state like Putin, or he is a complete idiot.

Why would a state be needed for a free market? The old American west is a recent example of no formal state with a free market.

When you mean old is when? Also would love you to expand on this too.
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