For two decades Argentina has been under extreme liberal policies slipping more and more into a socialist country. The Government grew along with many unnecessary public works projects designed only to create jobs. Free market businesses declined.

In Argentina, a nation of 47 million people, inflation was running at about 25 percent per year, while the poverty rate soared to 57 percent.

In 2023, the people had had enough and elected a free market small government leader: Javier Milei.  He campaigned holding up a chainsaw, promising to cut government spending and lower taxes.

In just a few months, Milei removed price controls for food and rent, froze all public works projects and cut fuel subsidies. Milei cut government spending by laying off nearly 70,000 government workers. He reduced the number of federal agencies from 18 to 9!

For the first time in 16 years, the Argentina government income exceeds spending. He balanced the budget by cutting spending.

The first positive results of his plan were disclosed in May 2024. Inflation down to 4.2 percent compared to 25+ percent in 2023.

Poverty dropped from 57 percent of the Argentina population to 45 percent.

Milei said “Many twenty-first-century leaders see every failure of an economic model as proof of a market failure warranting government intervention. Let us not allow the fatally conceited [politicians] to destroy our lives with regulations.”

Joseph Humire, of the Heritage foundation explains: “Milei wants to turn Argentina into a beacon of economic prosperity based on economic freedom. A lot of these cuts that he’s done in the public sector — it’s not that he’s trying to erase those functions inside the Argentine economy as a whole – he’s trying to transition them to the private sector.”

In June 2024, protesters took to the streets of Buenos Aires, the capital city of Argentina while the Congress debated implementing more of Milei’s smaller government agenda.

The free market president warned early on that things would have to get worse before they would get better. Patience is required to give free markets a chance.  His honesty about the need for short term pain for long term gain has kept his popularity at relatively high numbers.

If the people continue to support Milei and his free market policies, this will be one of the rare times in history when socialism was defeated peacefully. It usually takes a war.

At a recent breakfast table discussion, the topic of local welfare in our county came up: Food Pantry, Food Stamps, Subsidies (It appears more residents in our county get some kind of subsidy than do not when you count in business, farming, healthcare…) Clearly some truly in need are helped while others become dependent on handouts.

In the past 10 years, our federal budget has doubled, our state budget has doubled and locally our number of Dekalb County employees have doubled. America and Missouri are heading towards socialism while countries suffering from the results of socialism are once again turning to free markets for economic success.

“Capitalism has been the only system in history where wealth was not acquired by looting, but by production, not by force, but by trade, and has opened the field for human ingenuity and talent.

– Ayn Rand