Last October, as Argentina headed into its 2023 presidential election, The New York Times provided an in-depth look at the controversial front-runner Javier Milei in an article titled “Javier Milei, a ‘Mini-Trump,’ Could Be Argentina’s Next President.”
Written by Jack Nicas, the Times’ Brazil bureau chief, the piece drew striking parallels between Milei and former President Donald Trump. It portrayed Milei as a brash, outsider candidate, with an unruly hairdo and penchant for harsh attacks, who was surprising pollsters with his meteoric rise despite not being taken seriously early on.
During his campaign, the self-proclaimed anarcho-capitalist often brandished a chainsaw at campaign events as a provocative symbol of his defiant crusade to slash Argentina‘s bloated state bureaucracy and upend what he called “the political caste,” according to the Associated Press.
Milei first unveiled his “Chainsaw Plan” in 2022, explaining that it was “all about tightening the reins on the spending of corrupt politicians” and laying out his vision to enact wholesale reforms to slash public spending, scrap half of government ministries, privatize state firms, and abolish the central bank.
Analysis-Argentina’s Milei revs up chainsaw and blender in fiscal deficit attack https://t.co/fzfjoDNLAE
— Kamal Mustafa ✪ (@MeKamalMustafa) April 23, 2024
Supporters embraced the chainsaw metaphor, showing up to rallies carrying their prop saws made of cardboard.
“He is quite clearly a mini-Trump,” Federico Finchelstein, chair of the history department at the New School in New York, told the New York Times at the time.
Since taking office in December, this “mini-Trump” seems to have kept his promise.
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On Monday, Milei announced that Argentina achieved its first quarterly fiscal surplus since 2008.
In a televised national address, the libertarian economist hailed the 0.2 percent GDP surplus in the first quarter as “the cornerstone from which we are building a new era of prosperity.” He vowed that his commitment to reining in spending wouldn’t waver despite opposition from “politics, unions, the media and most economic actors,” Bloomberg reported.
“Against the predictions of most political leaders, professional economists on television, and loudmouthed commentators, specialized journalists and a good part of the Argentine establishment, I want to announce that the national public sector recorded a financial surplus of more than 275 billion pesos [roughly $16.2 billion] during the month of March, thus achieving after almost 20 years, a financial surplus of 0.2 percent GDP during the first quarter of the year,” Milei said.
Argentina 1st surplus in 20 years!
Milei declares war on wasteful spending: “Politicians free ride is over. For us, the State’s sole duty is protecting lives, freedoms, and property. No more inflation theft or fiscal deficits. Zero deficit isn’t just talk, it’s our mission!”… pic.twitter.com/uClC4wmsvC
— LibertariumX (@Libertarium_arg) April 23, 2024
Promising to take on cronyism and wasteful spending, Milei stated bluntly, “Politicians want to spend a lot because they are the main beneficiaries of that spending. That is over with us,” he said.
Argentine bonds rallied ahead of Milei’s speech, leading gains across emerging markets Monday, Bloomberg reported.
Diego Ferro, founder of M2M Capital in New York, seemed cautiously optimistic about Argentinian trading, telling Bloomberg that what Milei accomplished was “impressive” but warning that “unless it changes into structural changes, it will likely become another ‘I told you so story’ ending in tears.”
Milei’s speech resounded with traditional American values that seem to have been lost in our political culture.
“For us, the only task of the State is to protect lives, freedoms, and property of Argentines, so that each one can be the architect of their own destiny,” he said.
“To all those, both in the world of politics and the economic establishment, who believe that these successes are temporary and that eventually we will have to start increasing spending, I want to tell them that will never happen in our government because for us inflation is robbery and fiscal deficit is the cause of inflation,” the Argentinian president said, flanked by his economic team at the presidential palace.
“Therefore, zero deficit is not just a marketing slogan for this government, but it is a commandment.”
Ending the speech with a blessing, Milei said, “With the commitment that those of us who are part of this government will give our lives to take this country out of the hell we have received … may God bless the Argentines and may the forces of heaven accompany us.”
Milei’s speech, with its focus on fiscal conservatism, small government, pro-market economics, and individual liberty, was reminiscent of the tone of the founding fathers of America and evoked their revolutionary zeal to uproot an existing corrupt power structure.
Milei is attempting what many economists might consider “shock therapy” for Argentina’s fiscal problems.
Some economists like Adriana Dupita of Bloomberg Economics say that “this strategy cannot last long,” Bloomberg reported.
But if he pulls it off, as he promises to, the question may be asked — why can’t America’s politicians show such strength to get our nation’s debt under control?
Of course, it would need to start with considering “zero deficit” as a commandment, not a fantasy, and with real leaders who are willing to “give their lives to take this country out of the hell we have received.”
