Back in Black

Argentina defies the odds to post budget surplus... but is the west catching on?

(Source: Getty Images)

“Politicians have to understand that the people voted for change and that we are going to give our lives to bring it forward. We did not come to play the mediocre game of politics. We came to change the country.” 

~ Javier Milei

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

Don’t look now, dear reader, but the political wheels are turning... and the global elites don’t like it one little bit. Boo-hoo!

Down here at the end of the world, where we’ve been enjoying our front row seats to the “Greatest Political Experiment of Our Time,” President Javier Milei has just delivered the nation’s first monthly budget surplus in over 12 years. 

Much to the unconcealed chagrin of the gnashing hacks in the popular press, who clutch their saliva-soaked blankies at night dreaming of Milei’s imminent failure, the nation’s January monthly budget ended $589 million in the black. 

The news came on the back of a marked slowdown in eye-popping inflation during Milei’s first full month in office, down from 25.5% in Dec. to 20.6% in Jan. ... and projections of an even steeper cooling in February. It’s amazing what can happen when you just stop printing money...

Trans, Dogs and Radicals

You might think the international press would be all over such exciting developments, especially given that they fly in the face of the enuretic prognostications their experts offered in the days and weeks following Milei’s landslide election. 

And yet, rather than walking on the bright side of the street, Pavlov’s pooches were busily obfuscating, bloviating and generally bombilating after their usual fashion. Here, a smattering of their lapdog coverage of Sr. Milei’s progress from the past week...

Milei government bans gender-inclusive language in Argentina's military ~ griped the BA Times

Argentina’s New President Loves His Dogs. People, Not So Much. ~ groaned The Wall Street Journal

Javier Milei went to the Vatican. Does anyone care? ~ groused Le Monde

Undeterred, Señor explained his “radical” economic plan during an interview with local news channel, Todo Noticias, last Thursday (translated).

“We have a strong commitment in the fiscal area, zero deficit is not negotiable,” Milei said. “If you have zero deficit, you do not take on more debt. By not taking on more debt, the debt – product ratio becomes constant or decreasing and the counterpart of that is that you become more solvent.”

Not a man of half measures, Sr. Milei also announced that he would introduce a bill to congress criminalizing any government official caught printing money to finance fiscal deficits. 

“The bill will define seigniorage as a criminal offense and in case the Central Bank finances the treasury, either directly or indirectly, the president of the Central Bank, the board of directors, the president of the Nation and the officials who vote for it would end up in jail,” Milei said.

Nightmarish Scenario

Hmm... reining in inflation... sending crooked politicians to jail... insisting on a government that actually spends less than it steals? 

We know what you’re thinking, dear reader: What kind of “authoritarian dictator” is this guy? 

Shouldn’t he be clipping the coins, gauging gargantuan deficits out of the nation’s budget and rewarding his bankster cronies with cushy appointments and golden parachutes, the way his counterparts in the west so dutifully do? It’s almost as if being a libertarian is not “far-right” after all... that prudence is actually preferable to profligacy... solvency to insolvency... common sense to (alleged) elite enlightenment.   

Of course, all this good news wouldn’t have been so “bad” (for those in the mainstream media hoping and praying for Milei to go down in flames)... except for the fact that some in the west are daring to take notice. 

Here’s independent presidential candidate, RFK, Jr., on X...

A Rose is a Rose

One wonders what nightmarish scenario might unfold if, say, the United States of America were to elect a leader who had the cajones to balance the budget, to take the proverbial chainsaw to the administrative state, to roll the Leviathan off the shoulders of ordinary working people and back out to sea? 

Javier Milei is daily delivering on his promise to cut the Argentine government down to size... and yet, the sun still rises over the Atlantic and sets behind the Andes. The economy is now open to free market currency competition... and still there will only ever be 21 million Bitcoins mined. The Ministry of Non-Binary Two-Spirit Alicorns went the way of other mythical animals... and yet, still a rose smells just as sweet.

Next we’ll learn that Australia’s Great Barrier Reef is not cooked (it grew to reach record coverage last year)... that polar bear populations are actually increasing in the Arctic (new reporting shows the numbers have grown dramatically since the ‘60s)... and that Substack doesn’t have a Nazi problem after all (although Google’s Gemini sure does!)

Ah, but let us spare a thought for those poor pessimistic progressives... the mopey world-improvers just can’t seem to catch a break. Maybe another endless foreign war, or lab-leaked global pandemic, or worldwide climate lockdown will come along to excite their little black hearts. 

In the meantime, you will kindly excuse us while we tune the world’s tiniest violin. 

Watch this space for more Notes From the End of the World...

Cheers,

Joel Bowman

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