Argentina’s Javier Milei is racking up some solid wins, with the fiscal basketcase seeing its first monthly budget surplus in 12 years.
Apparently it took Milei just 9 and a half weeks to balance a budget that was projected at 5% of GDP under the previous government. In US terms, he turned a 1.2 trillion dollar annual deficit into a 400 billion surplus. In 9 and a half weeks.
Here is the part of the story you may not know. In 1900, Argentina was the 12th wealthiest country in the world as measured by per capita GDP. They were just a whisker behind Canada and France and ahead of Sweden and Ireland. The United States ranked third.
In 1950, Argentina held its position as the 12th wealthiest country, and the United States had climbed to be the wealthiest nation.
By 2012, Argentina had fallen to the 74th wealthiest country. The United States fell from the first to the 18th.
Peronism is Argentina’s brand of authoritarian collectivism. Under primarily Peronist governments, the standard of living in Argentina took a precipitous fall that has lasted for almost 75 years.
Argentinians went along with collectivists, who told them over and over if they stayed the course, collectivist policies would finally succeed. It took 75 years of suffering for Argentinians to consider that there had to be a better way than collectivism.
Which brings us to the United States. Could what Milei did in Argentina happen in the United States? What would bureaucrats likely do if the administrative state were subject to huge budget cuts? Would they cut what little service they deliver and not their own bloat? For instance, if the Department of Agriculture's budget were slashed by 50%, might bureaucrats prioritize cutting food stamp programs by 80%?
Apparently it took Milei just 9 and a half weeks to balance a budget that was projected at 5% of GDP under the previous government. In US terms, he turned a 1.2 trillion dollar annual deficit into a 400 billion surplus. In 9 and a half weeks.
Here is the part of the story you may not know. In 1900, Argentina was the 12th wealthiest country in the world as measured by per capita GDP. They were just a whisker behind Canada and France and ahead of Sweden and Ireland. The United States ranked third.
In 1950, Argentina held its position as the 12th wealthiest country, and the United States had climbed to be the wealthiest nation.
By 2012, Argentina had fallen to the 74th wealthiest country. The United States fell from the first to the 18th.
Peronism is Argentina’s brand of authoritarian collectivism. Under primarily Peronist governments, the standard of living in Argentina took a precipitous fall that has lasted for almost 75 years.
Argentinians went along with collectivists
Which brings us to the United States. Could what Milei did in Argentina happen in the United States? What would bureaucrats likely do if the administrative state were subject to huge budget cuts? Would they cut what little service they deliver and not their own bloat? For instance, if the Department of Agriculture's budget were slashed by 50%, might bureaucrats prioritize cutting food stamp programs by 80%?
