Argentina elects 'shock therapy' libertarian Javier Milei as president

Because that's kind of how Latin America has worked for decades. Pivot from shock therapy Chigago school free marketeer to the other end of the spectrum and back again, usually because leaders are either eccentric, strongmen or plain crazy and radical reforms start to cause social upheaval.

What would be an actual change would be just putting a competent, moderate administrator in charge.

I agree that many countries never fall out of the cycle of lurching from bailout to bailout, never implementing the needed reforms because they’re too painful. Pakistan, Egypt, Argentina and others, that’s the norm for countries in IMF programs. But there are success stories too.

It looks like the list of countries besides US that exclusively use USD is small, none with a population over 100k, although I know several economies have de facto dollarized: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Currency_substitution#Countrie...

Maybe that Wikipedia list is out of date. I'd thought Ecuador was running on dollars.

I doubt they can come up with enough dollars in one shot to switch over all at once so that's unlikely.

He said he was planning to pay himself zero as president and that he may apply the same rate to many career politicians (often from second generation btw: being, like monarchs, heir of politicians). Now that I'd like to see.

I guess if your population gets cynical and apathetic enough, democracy becomes a means of entertainment rather than governance.

But Massa lost?

Beyond the well known Austrian school of economics there are Argentinian referents as Juan Bautista Alberdi [1]

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Juan_Bautista_Alberdi?wprov=sf...

It's fun to notice similarities from the past. Did you know that when your economy collapses, the quality of ketchup nosedives and you end up with ketchup having strange color and wrong texture?

But there are of course so many differences too, the first 10 years of Turkey's transformation were mostly for the better. The later 10 so far are 90's Bulgaria level.

Governments usually have priorities and policies that artificially make something valuable - for example rocket scientists. That's why with the collapse of USSR suddenly the very well educated engineers and scientists had to become taxi drivers and this caused huge social issues. It was so widespread that it become a stereotype in the west. Of course it's not just the rocket scientists but pretty much anyone employed or their sector protected by the government.

Because those people don't know how to operate in the new system, they will fail miserably. Another example could be An archeologist who was able to climb their career through their academic success will finding out that archaeology doesn't have much market value and their lives will be ruined. For decades no one smart will want to do this and they will lose a lot of cultural and historical heritage will be eroded by corrupt people who find a market value in it but have no knowledge in the matter or ethics.

It's a stereotype for Eastern European women becoming prostitutes in the West. Apparently Javier Milei promised to legalise selling organs, so it is possible that the Argentinian stereotype be people with missing organs. This happens because sometimes people are desperate and sometimes because they lose fate in their future and want the quick buck.

System changes are extremely stressful and can create huge social issues that can last for generations.

Our Constitution says that everyone in our country has the same rights as an Argentine, even if they are not. So you can get a national ID pretty easily, and in two years (which can take more time if you are living in Buenos Aires City, due to bureaucracy) you can become an Argentine. You must know too that it's impossible to lose the Argentine Nationality. Once an Argentine, never not-an-Argentine.

We are a country that's very open towards immigrants, as most of us are descendants of immigrants, mostly from Italy and Spain.

He never opposed to same sex marriage or denied climate change. What he said is that people treat climate change as religion without any other considerations.

A libertarian is not far right. You could consider it right, but far right is just absurd. A libertarian cannot be anti-liberal in essence. Milei never defended positions of force against others and promotes respect for life, private life (he does not care who you go to the bed with or who you trade with) and private property.

Anyone who knows ehat far right is knows perfectly this is not a far right position at all.

So with that out of the way, let's break down your references one by one:

>His vicepresident has strong ties to the military

This has nothing to do with liberty or even politics, this is about power. Both the left and the right want the military on their side, lest they suffer a military coup and lose power.

>opposed abortion rights

On the opposing hand it's the freedom for a newborn fetus to a prospective life, and on the supporting hand it's the freedom for a mother to do with her body as she pleases. Either way, abortion rights is a question of who's freedoms are being guaranteed and thus liberal/libertarian in nature.

>[opposed] same-sex marriage

This is squarely authoritarian and is in opposition to liberal and libertarian politics.

EDIT: It would appear this claim was made in ignorance or bad faith, so I'm striking this part out.

>[opposed] feminism in general

Assuming that "feminism" here actually refers to the phenomenon and movement of certain people wanting women to be more equal (read: more powerful) than men, this is guaranteeing the freedoms of the individual regardless of their gender and thus their equality.

>publicly denies climate change

Imposing policies based off nebulous scientific models of questionable accuracy and encouraged by pundits of questionable motivations is authoritarian.

>is against gun control

Guaranteeing the people's freedom and right to bear arms by opposing top-down regulations and policies is squarely liberal and libertarian.

>and a large government

See above.

>He is not only economically but also socially on the far right of the polítical spectrum here.

Seeing as Milei is in favor of liberal and libertarian policies, and seeing as the left likes calling themselves liberals, Milei is quite correct in saying that he's only considered "(far) right" by virtue of the left labeling everything they disagree with "(far) right".

“Si vos querés estar con un elefante... Si tenés el consentimiento del elefante, es tu problema y del elefante. No me opongo a que dos personas del mismo sexo se casen”, remarcó. Y sumó: “Para mí, el matrimonio es un contrato. Puede ser de dos partes, tres partes o 50 si uno quiere”.

My translation:

"If you want to be with an elephant... If you have the elephant's consent, it's your problem and the elephant's. I'm not opposed to two people of the same sex marrying," he remarked. And, he added, "For me, marriage is a contract. It can be between two parties, three parties, or fifty if one wants."

Edit: Another quote from the article:

“Es un contrato entre partes. ¿Qué tengo que opinar yo? Vos casate con quien quieras. El liberalismo es el respeto irrestricto del proyecto de vida del prójimo basado en el principio de no agresión y en defensa del derecho a la vida, la libertad y la propiedad. ¿En qué me agrede a mi que dos personas del mismo sexo se casen? En nada, punto uno afuera. ¿Afecta la vida de alguien? A nadie. ¿En la libertad? A nadie ¿En la propiedad? a nadie”.

It's a contract between parties. What do I think? Marry whoever you want. Liberalism is unconditional respect of the life plan of our fellow man based on the principle of non-aggression and in defense of the right to life, liberty, and property. What harm does it do to me that two people of the same sex marry? Nothing. Does it affect someone's life? No one's. Their libery? No one's. Their property? No one's.

https://www.lanacion.com.ar/politica/javier-milei-aclaro-su-...

You see? I didn't need to mention him. As I wrote he is the most obvious one. :-)

But the truth is that the US doesn't have an history of populist demagogues as rich as 3rd world countries. There is Trump and nothing as him before.

Italy might be a first world country. But it's political institutions are very dysfunctional.

This movie has been repeated in South America far too many times.

This is just the next disaster in the making. Was not the first one, will not be the last one.

Austerity kills.

> "Si fuera por vos, suponete que querés estar con un elefante. Bueno, si tenés consentimiento del elefante es problema tuyo y del elefante", resumió Milei y, cuando el periodista le preguntó si tenía amigos gay, remarcó: "Yo no los califico en esos términos".

"If it were up to you, suppose you'd like to be in a relationship with an elephant. Well, if you had the elephant's consent then the matter is between you and the elephant's."

I really hope this works out well for Argentina. Everyone deserves to live in a healthy and thriving society. I'd just have more confidence if the candidate's scientific views aligned with mine, but that's implicit. :)

The US train pulled into that station right around 2016.

Have you seen the other candidate? Milei was the objective better of the 2, the other guy had been the de facto president over the past 18 months, inflation rose to 140%, poverty is over 40%, child poverty is over 60%. It’s not emotional comfort, it’s a rational decision.

I am half-Argentine and a student of history. Both things tell me it will be a disaster.

For what it's worth, I'm utterly opposed to the corrupt useless Peronists. Their centre right rivals are pretty awful too. Argentina was lead to the abyss by decades of political failure and corruption. Now, in desperation, they've rolled the dice and summoned a catastrophe.