American Gnocchis

Plus, Milei's plan to fire 70,000 government "workers," America's own bloated federal payrolls and plenty more...

“There’s a lot more chainsaw.”

~ Javier Milei speaking at the IEFA Latam Forum in Buenos Aires this week

Joel Bowman, with today’s Note From the End of the World...

We begin today’s installment with a definition of terms. What, in colloquial parlance, is a “gnocchi”? 

Ñoquis (noun; English “Gnocchi”) – slang, informal: 

A person who is legally registered as a worker, usually for the government, and receives a monthly wage, but who performs little or no work.

A bottom-feeding bureaucrat whose work is of little-to-no value and who secures a government paycheck by means of legerdemain and knavery.

See also: sinecure; no-show jobs; ghost worker; nepo-babies; and the entire, guilt-based industry centered around Diversity Equity Inclusion (DEI).

The etymology of the term ñoquis derives from the traditional practice – here in Argentina...and across the Rio de la Plata, in neighboring Uruguay – of eating the Italian-style dumplings on the 29th of each month. Back in “the day,” workers received their wages at the end of the month. By the time the 29th rolled around, many were struggling to make ends meet. Hence the inexpensive, potato-based pasta dish, made to fill the stomach, if not quite satisfy the appetite. 

(Government workers head to the office here in Argentina… Source: Getty)

Make Work, Fake Work

In the middle of the 20th Century, when “to be rich like an Argentine” was something people said with a straight face, the country enjoyed the productivity of a thriving private sector. Having never met a golden goose it did not want to swallow, whole, those in the governing public sector were soon sharpening their knives and tucking in their napkins. 

Alas, as the centralizing power of the state swelled, it drew to its bloated center all manner of parasites, hangers-on and bottom-feeding leeches, the so-called “political caste.”

It is these “workers,” whose only reliable action is to show up on the 29th day of the month in order to collect their paycheck, to whom the honest workers of Argentina refer to as “ñoquis.” 

Of course, the phenomenon is not unique to Argentina. In Americas North and South, in Canada and Australia, the UK and New Zealand, and elsewhere around the world, government offices are choked full of potato-based “workers,” whose very presence distends the gut while providing very little of caloric value to the greater economy. 

Our old friend, Byron King, sends a note from the U.S. of A. According to one number-cruncher on X (née Twitter), the average salary of a federal employee in America is $94,430 per year. With roughly 2,950,000 federal employees on the boil, the salary pot weighs in at a soporific $278,568,500,000 annually. 

Add in healthcare plans, and you’re looking at an additional $22,532,100,000...or ~300 billion worth of ñoquis. That’s a lot on anyone’s plate... especially a nation already stooping under the weight of a $34 trillion (and counting) national debt burden. 

“That’s a lot of payroll,” as Byron put it. “Especially for a country that’s broke!”

Specifically, that would be enough to hire 4 million nurses... or 4.8 million kindergarten teachers... or to support 4.2 billion annual subscriptions to our humble Notes From the End of the World publication. (Ahem...)

“¡Afuera!”

Were the federal government to trim just half of the (non military) payrolls, it would save 150 billion (that’s $150,000,000,000) over a four year period. Or, when accounting for local, state and federal employees, a saving of 600 billion ($600,000,000,000) over that same olympiad. 

Can’t be done, claim some (whose doughy butter breath betrays their allegiance).

Hold that thought for a second. Now, lean in a little closer...

Or this...

Leading From the End (of the World)

Just this week, down here in the Land of the Ñoqui, President Milei told those gathered at the IEFA Latam Forum in Buenos Aires that he plans to say “¡afuera!” to another 70,000 government jobs over the coming months, including 15,000 that will be terminated this week (by March 31). 

The chainsaw will also come down on 12,000 so-called “cooperativas,” or public-private “partnerships,” whereby moochers in the government award sweetheart deals to cronies and “social justice” groups, siphoning off federal funds and lining corporate pockets in the kind of ongoing, insider heist. 

As part of his “non-negotiable” commitment to fiscal balance by year’s end, Milei also announced Tuesday that he’s frozen public works, cut off pipelines of (slush)funding to provincial governments and terminated more than 200,000 social welfare plans, which he labeled as “corrupt.” (Many government “workers” were caught “double-dipping” – receiving state pensions while simultaneously working for private firms receiving state funding.)

Although the head of the ATE (state workers’ union) threatened a national strike (neglecting to provide further details), Milei holds firm in his promise to the Argentine people...

“There’s a lot more chainsaw,” he declared. “People have hope, they’re seeing the light at the end of the tunnel.” 

Indeed, if El Señor’s approval ratings are anything to go by, the more ñoquis he cuts, the happier actual workers are with the job he’s doing. The following chart comes courtesy of DC Consultores. 

Asked whether they preferred the Milei chainsaw or the Peronist printing press, respondents were unequivocal in their position.

• 67.2% of those surveyed prefer to continue holding on and supporting the government of Javier Milei

• 32.8% prefer Peronism to govern

Would-be world leaders across the west would do well to heed the obvious lesson here. When it comes to useless bureaucrats, public parasites and the rest of the butter-bellied ñoqui class, there’s plenty of fat to trim. Indeed, the people may well thank you for doing so.

As for the rest of the bloated Leviathan, be forewarned: 

First comes the chainsaw. Then the bone saw. 

Stay tuned for more Notes From the End of the World...

Cheers,

Joel Bowman

P.S. What do you reckon, dear reader? Got a particularly wasteful dot-gov bureau you’d like to see given the Milei treatment? A government agency you’d happily see retired? A good and/or service currently enjoying a state-protected monopoly that the free market might do a better job providing? 

Grab your chainsaw and let loose in the comments section below... 

P.P.S. As a free market advocate – one who believes in voluntary transactions and persuasion over coercion – we’re particularly grateful to our Notes Members, whose generous annual dues enable the work we do here in these pages. 

So if you’re enjoying our scribbles, and would like to contribute to the cause, please consider becoming a member today. Cheers! JB