A Light in the Darkness
How ideas can transform the world...
“All changes in the realm of human affairs are brought about by ideas. Ideas and only ideas can light the darkness. They are the main weapons in man’s struggle for survival and advancement.”
~ Ludwig von Mises, from Human Action (1949)
Joel Bowman with today’s Note From the End of the World: Buenos Aires, Argentina...
When we left you earlier this week, we were ruminating on an important subject: ideas. We’re interested in their origin. Their transmission. Their ultimate value, be it good, bad... or ugly.
The subject may appear abstract, even esoteric... but ideas lead to actions, and actions have consequences, sometimes grave ones.
One man has an idea to go to college campuses around America and talk to his political opponents. Another man has the idea to kill him. Now, a young man – a husband and a father – is dead. RIP Charlie Kirk.
That the statement “People should not be murdered for expressing different opinions” even needs to be uttered is indeed a sad commentary on the state of affairs in the world today.
Clearly, not all ideas are created equally. And yet, it is man’s ability to generate ideas, to conceptualize the future before he attempts to shape it, that sets him apart from his fellow creatures. As the great Austrian School economist, Ludwig Von Mises, wrote in his 1949 magnum opus, Human Action:
“The genuine history of mankind is the history of ideas. It is ideas that distinguish man from all other beings. Ideas engender social institutions, political changes, technological methods of production, and all that is called economic conditions. And in searching for their origin we inevitably come to a point at which all that can be asserted is that a man had an idea.”
The question, then, is how to promote and embrace the ideas that serve man best... and jettison those that would drag him asunder, that would threaten his wellbeing, and even end his life?
Deep Deregulation
Down here on the Pampas, the battle of ideas rages on. After testing the idea of collectivism for three generations – and suffering the all-too-predictable results – the Argentine people have chosen to give the idea of liberty a go.
That is, rather than have the State (mis)manage their lives, intervening in their private affairs, regulating their commercial interests, governing their trade, smothering their economy and inflating away the value of their savings, they’ve decided to abrogate the State’s power... and return it to the people.
As of this week, there have been almost 9,000 deregulations across all levels of government. From Minister of Deregulation Fede Sturzenegger’s office:
The “Ley Bases,” or the so-called “Mega Decree” indicated by the dotted line in the graph above, represented hundreds of regulatory changes and rollbacks, including the abolition of entire registries, the repeal of restrictive rent control laws and massive liberation of the labor markets.
Basically, everything Zohran Mamdani would like to see implemented in New York City has been repealed here in Argentina.
The sweeping reforms also extend to the removal of trade barriers (such as import/export taxes, tariffs, licenses and other such meddlesome duties) and deep and ongoing cuts to government staff, including 48,000 public sector jobs axed. (For those keeping score at home, that’s almost 10% of the entire government “work” force... with deeper cuts promised.)
All The Way Down
Meanwhile, over on the economic front, the latest data shows inflation down more than 92% since Milei’s administration came to office. August’s read came in at 1.9%, the fourth consecutive month under 2%. That’s down to 33% per year, from a high of almost 300% in April last year, and equates to an annualized rate of 22.7% over the past 4 months.
Importantly, key sectors came in below the average rate, including Healthcare (1.7%), Food and Drink (1.4%), Homegoods and Maintenance (0.9%) and Recreation and Culture (0.5%). Clothing and Footwear even saw a slight deflation, down 0.3% for the month.
Good news for people who eat, drink, play, dress and shelter, in other words... bad news for people who run peso printing presses and think the solution to being in a hole is to keep digging.
Of course, none of this has come about by accident or happenstance. Rather, it is the logical result of specific actions predicated on very specific ideas. It’s “ideas all the way down,” you might say.
“Every social order is based on ideologies,” wrote Mises, “not on material forces. Even the mightiest material power is nothing but an instrument for the service of ideas.”
It matters a great deal, therefore, which ideas we get right... and which we get wrong.
The idea that individuals ought to be in charge of their own lives, that man (and not someone claiming ownership over him) possesses the right to self-determination, including his right to hold an opinion and express it if he so wishes, is a fundamental concept upon which any free society is founded. At its core, it is the idea that cooperation is preferable to coercion, that freedom trumps force, and that voluntarism prevails over violence.
Liberty, in other words. It may be “just” an idea... but it’s one worth living for.
Stay tuned for more Notes From the End of the World...
Cheers,
Joel Bowman
P.S. Thanks to all our Notes members, whose generous support helps us spread the idea of Free Markets, Free Minds and Free People. We reckon it’s an important message… and we hope you do too!
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RIP Charlie Kirk, indeed.
IMHO, the fundamental problem in America and the cause of most of our anger and strife is:
"Too much governmental interference and control over the lives of the citizens."
Governmental interference and control over the people should be so miniscule that no group or person would be motivated to expend the time, energy and money to have such power unto themselves.
Obviously, that is a reality that never actually existed or was quickly abandoned ages ago.
Today governmental control (money and power) is so pervasive and so insinuated into our lives that groups fight tooth and claw even unto grim Death to control the accumulation and distribution of information, money and power.
We must get government out of our lives to the greatest extent possible. Continue to help us, Charlie....Amen.
Thank you for the tip of the cap for Charlie Kirk. On a locao radio program this morning, a man called in and said that he was in the seventies. He is not a radio call in person. He said that he was at his golf club this morning. Seven unrelated, younger people, employees, came up to him I asked if he knew who Charlie Kirk was and what had happened.
Talk about a positive influence.....?