When Javier Milei was elected president of Argentina last year, the libertarian was both mocked and vilified by the media for his promises to slash runaway spending in Buenos Aires as well as other measures introduced to curb hyperinflation in the South American country.
Lo and behold, even the media has to admit that the former economist’s plans are working.
According to the Buenos Aires Times, Milei’s government has been successful in reducing inflation to 13.2 percent in February.
While that sounds high, consider that price increases over the past 12 months totaled 276.2 percent.
“The news is a boost for President Javier Milei, whose government is gradually bringing down inflation. Argentines suffered increases of 20.6 percent in January and 25.5 percent in December,” the Buenos Aires Times reported earlier this week after data from INDEC was released Monday.
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Milei’s office said that the results were “the result of the national government’s work to impose strong fiscal discipline.”
However, Milei warned that the country, which is recovering from hyperinflation and rampant underspending under the prior administration of Cristina Fernández de Kirchner and others, still isn’t out of the woods yet.
“March is going to be very complicated because it has a very dense seasonality issue, but I do not rule out that in April there will be a sharp drop in inflation,” Milei said.
Milei’s success comes after an eventful first few months of the year where the leader was excoriated for slashing the size of government and derided both for a speech at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, and for warmly greeting former U.S. President Donald Trump during an appearance at the Conservative Political Action Conference outside of Washington, D.C., earlier this year.
Does the size of the U.S. government need to be reduced drastically?
During the WEF speech, Milei warned that a “privileged caste” of global elite had destroyed countries like Argentina with “collectivism,” a “cruel … environmental agenda” and “radical feminism.”
“The case of Argentina is an empirical demonstration that no matter how rich you may be, or how much you may have in terms of natural resource … if measures are adopted that hinder the free function of markets … the only possible fate is poverty,” Milei told the audience at Davos.
“Today, I’m here to tell you that the Western world is in danger, and it is endangered because those who are supposed to have to defend the values of the West are co-opted by a vision of the world that inextricably leads to socialism and thereby to poverty,” he added.
“Unfortunately, in recent decades, motivated by some well-meaning individuals willing to help others and others motivated by the wish to belong to a privileged caste, the main leaders of the Western world have abandoned the model of freedom for different versions of what we call collectivism.
“We are here to tell you that collectivist experiments are never the solution to the problems that afflict the citizens of the world. Rather, they are the root cause.”
NEW: President of Argentina Javier Milei demolishes socialism in front of a bunch of socialists at the World Economic Forum.
🔥🔥🔥
“I’m here to tell you that the western world is in danger and it is endangered because those who are supposed to have to defend the values of the… pic.twitter.com/Bcnq3V94mO
— Collin Rugg (@CollinRugg) January 17, 2024
And then came his meeting with Trump; footage shows Milei warmly calling him “president!”
“I’m very happy. You are very generous to me. Thank you very much, it’s a very big pleasure [to meet you],” Milei said.
“You are doing a great job. I’m very proud of you,” Trump said.
Trump added that “MAGA,” in his case, meant “Make Argentina Great Again!”
HAPPENING NOW!🇺🇸🇦🇷 @realDonaldTrump @JMilei pic.twitter.com/Aye7Rd1yH8
— Dan Scavino Jr.🇺🇸🦅 (@DanScavino) February 24, 2024
And now, as The Associated Press reports, Milei’s government says it is reaping the rewards of “strong fiscal discipline.”
Not that you’d know it from the AP’s report, considering the language the wire service used to describe him: “A self-described anarcho-capitalist, Milei assumed power in December and almost immediately announced a series of shock measures, including a 50% devaluation of the nation’s currency in hopes of eventually bringing the country’s roaring inflation under control,” their report read. “It is estimated that around 40% of the population live in poverty.”
It’s a wonder, of course, that the reports from the country when it was bleeding money didn’t give rough figures on poverty and what subsidies were being alleviated. This is roughly the same hyperbolic language they used before Milei took office. And, now that he’s had results, the media is set to get even more furious. Funny, I remember them treating another president the same way.
