I just came back from a big Cato conference in Buenos Aires, 11-12 June about “The Rebirth of Liberty in Argentina and Beyond.” The rebirth is the first six months of President Javier Milei’s mandate. The liberty is equality of permission, something that Argentina and Brazil very much need. Milei is providing some of it. Argentina is one of the most regulated economies in the world, and in both Argentina and Brazil you are prevented from buying outside Mercosur—that rip-off by statist politicians.
My ten-minute talk on equality of permission started the two days, and President Milei’s one hour talk ended it. Half of his hour was devoted to a highly technical exposition of what his government has accomplished, especially in monetary and fiscal policy. By the way, the peaceful transition of power in Argentina, from the statism of the Peronists to the liberalism of Partido Libertario, could serve as a model for your country and mine. No big riots. No government buildings trashed. True, when on the 12th of this June the Senate voted favorably on some of Milei’s reforms, rioters fought the police. The Associated Press and others gave top billing to burning cars. But unlike January 6 in the U.S., and January 8 in Brazil, the disturbance was minor, no threat to the constitution.
Argentinians, including Milei himself, are showing that they are beginning to grow up. I worried before his election that he was not fully adult. But he has shown that he is, and is teaching Argentinians to be so, too. His “Viva la libertad carajo” exhibits his use of populist rhetoric. But it’s in aid of an adultism very far from the childish Peronism that has run the country into the ground since 1946. Peronism says that if the state taxes Mateo to give a subsidy to Emma, and then taxes Emma to subsidize Mateo, both are better off. Take money out of your left pocket and put it in you right pocket, and you are better off. Ha, ha.
Milei’s half hour of technical economics was to say, “Look, I am a real economist” which he certainly is. “Trust me.” I do.
Lula and Milei did not meet at the G7 just after. Come on boys, grow up.
Weekly column in Folha de São Paulo, Brazil
Translated into Portuguese for the newspaper.