This may seem like a random post on a site dealing almost exclusively with New Mexico politics and policy, but with the election of the free market-oriented Javier Milei as Argentina’s next president, we will see if a formerly great South American nation that sadly pursued socialist policies for decades, can pull out of its tail spin.
It is a nation that RGF president Paul Gessing spent four months from March to June of 2001 living in and working as a fellow with a libertarian/free market think tank.
Argentina was one of the 10 wealthiest nations on earth in 1900, but quasi-socialistic/fascistic Peronist policies embraced in the post-war years led the nation to poverty. In fact, after my departure from Argentina in 2001, the nation suffered a default in which it devalued its currency.
Is Milei a mere “blip” on the radar or will he be able to help his nation pull out of its death spiral? No one knows. But there ARE lessons for even a state like New Mexico which has been poorly governed for much of the past century.
Argentina’s problems are complex and can’t be blamed solely on politics. And if you actually tried going there you’d realize it’s far from a being a socialist country. They had a dictator for many years in the 1900s and a huge scandal where numerous dissidents were taken out and murdered. Putting a right wing Trump like president in power is no guarantee of anything.
I’ve been to Argentina 4 times over the years starting in 1988. One constant in Argentina is a miserable currency. When Argentines receive their paychecks, they immediately go to a currency exchange to change their local currency into dollars or Euros. Even though the exchange costs 3 to 5 percent, the locals are better off because the exchange cost is less than the loss of value of the local currency until the next payday.
Dollarization would help a lot. El Salvador, Panama and Ecuador use the US dollar and their inflation rates are manageable. Dollarization has prevented the printing funny money in the named countries.
Argentina was supposed to be the shining star of The Americas. US wasn’t even an afterthought back then, wasn’t even a country. Is sad really. So many resources. Squandered horribly. Now is an afterthought unfortunately like everything south. Horrible waste of talent.
Chile is another country descending into socialist hell. These people never learn. I think Dave Willard is wrong. They are socialist countries with all the ills that socialism comes with. He has the wrong take on history.