Downside-Up World

Plus unpopular western values, radical rationalism and a bet on the End of the World...

“Argentina has all the conditions to be the new mecca of the West.”
~ Javier Milei, May 2024

Joel Bowman, with today’s Note From the End of the World: Port Campbell, Australia...

Don’t look now, dear and patient reader, but the world is slowly turning downside-up... where first shall be last, and the last shall be first. 

That is to say, the Greatest Political Experiment of Our Age is proceeding apace. 

Addressing the Milken Institute’s Global Conference in Los Angeles yesterday, the president of a third world “sh!thole” told investors in the Land of the Free that the time had come to bet on the End of the World (geographically speaking, of course). Declared Argentina’s self-professed “anarcho-capitalist” president, Javier Milei:

“Today, for the first time in 150 years, and against the backdrop of an increasingly less free world, Argentina is becoming a freer country day-by-day.”

Socialism’s Siren Song

With characteristic flair, Sr. Milei warned of the looming threat of “global socialism” as he called for (trigger warning!) a return to western values of individual liberties and free market economics. Unlike the stunned silence similar remarks inspired when he spoke at the World Economic Forum (WEF) last year, addressing Darth Schwab and his slimy minions, investors and entrepreneurs in Beverly Hills offered enthusiastic applause. 

“Instead of defending the ideas that generated the prosperity that everyone here enjoys,” rallied Milei, “they listen to siren songs that lead inexorably to socialism and consequently to poverty.”

Summoning the ghost of Mr. Jefferson, and thereby recalling sentiments every red-blooded American will recognize, Milei continued:

“For us, the only task of the state is to protect the life, liberty and property of Argentines, so that everyone can be the architect of their own destiny. It is a vision similar to the one held by all the prosperous countries of the West in the great moments of their history.”

As for those western values, it’s nice to hear that some are not ashamed to articulate them, loud and clear. 

“Merit, ambition, freedom, innovation and optimism are essential values,” announced Milei. “I want to invite you to bet on Argentina.”

As it happens, these values are also contagious, whereby ambition begets ambition... freedom inspires freedom... optimism sparks optimism. Though we are only at the beginning of this experiment, the pace of change, the momentum, the energy... is exhilarating. 

The Long Road to Freedom

None of this is to ignore the fact that Argentina is coming off a low baseline, that the long-suffering citizens have endured their fill of hardship. As readers of these pages well know, Argentina’s government has long been a world leader in controlled currency implosion, manufactured economic crises and ruthless impoverishment of the masses. 

There is scarcely a bone-headed collectivist fancy that the political caste in Buenos Aires has not undertaken... and repeated... in earnest. Indeed, just last year Argentina beat out Venezuela for top spot of the world inflation table, a dubious honor to be sure. 

But lo! According to data tracked by analysts, by the end of the first quarter of 2024, the long-abused Argentine peso had become the World’s #1 Currency. Bloomberg has the story… and the rather atypical table:

Four months into office, Argentine President Javier Milei has pulled off a critical feat in a country long ravaged by runaway inflation: He stabilized the currency.

The peso has, in fact, not only stopped plunging day after day but in one key foreign-exchange market — there are many of them here, a byproduct of the country’s web of byzantine rules — it’s actually rallying sharply. The peso has soared 25% against the dollar over the past three months in the market, known as the blue-chip swap, that is used by many investors and companies. That’s more than the gains posted by any of the 148 currencies that Bloomberg tracks against the dollar.

By Their Fruits

For avoidance of doubt, the “Parallel Argentine Peso” is the peso exchange rate people actually use, as opposed to the “Official Argentine Peso,” which everyone dutifully ignores. A classic lesson in du jure vs de facto government policy, where reality is measured by the action and behaviors of actual human beings...rather than the green-blooded mutants who claim the right to govern us. 

Life, liberty, private property... it’s almost as if these tried and true “western values” really do bear fruit. Who’d have thunk?

But could it be that these unpopular ideas and radically rational concepts are enjoying a resurgence outside Argentina? From South America to constituencies north of the Rio Grande? Maybe even here in Australia, too? 

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

Cheers,

Joel Bowman

P.S. Might unpopular ideas – free markets, civil liberties, common sense – be enjoying a resurgence… even in the woke West?

Might thoughtful individuals be ready to ditch the ‘statist quo’ in favor of a more peaceful, voluntary existence?

Might citizens be ready to shrug off the illusion of choice proffered by their would-be political leaders and their puerile porters in the mainstream press?

Such a reality might be closer than you think. Already, millions of people in hundreds of countries have tuned out of state propaganda, meant only to divide, conquer and impoverish people.

How do we know?

Well, we don’t… but we have reason to be cautiously optimistic. Even these humble Notes now reach dear readers in all 50 states across the US… and in 130 countries around the world. Not bad, given that we only just kicked off this year.

Of course, the ideas of freedom, liberty and independence are not going to spread themselves. And that’s where our dear members come in. Thanks to their support, we are able to remain fully independent… which means no advertisements, no bosses and no bias.

Just free markets, free minds and free people… all the time.

If you’d like to support our work and join the growing community of folks interested in these lately resurgent ideas, please consider becoming a Notes member today. Cheers!