Free Markets, Free Minds, Free People

On the continuing experiment in liberty at the End of the World

“The advantage of a free market is that it allows millions of decision-makers to respond individually to freely determined prices, allocating resources - labor, capital and human ingenuity - in a manner that can't be mimicked by a central plan, however brilliant the central planner.”

~ Friedrich August von Hayek, The Road to Serfdom (1944)

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

Free markets... free minds... free people.

That’s our beat here in these pages. Today, a brief update concerning our adopted home of Argentina, where a long-awaited experiment in anarcho-capitalism is playing out in real time.

Long time readers will recall that the southernmost nation in the Americas elected a president who, alone among his peers, believes in the radical notion that “we, the people,” are not the property of the State.

“The State is not the solution to our problems,” says Javier Milei, often to rooms full of knaves, thieves and career politicians (but we repeat ourselves). “The State is the problem.”

And so, in late December of 2023, Sr. Milei set about dismantling his nation’s malignant government from the inside. Tens of thousands of public non-workers were fired... whole ministries axed... entire sectors of the ossified economy privatized, liberalized… liberated.

So, how’s the grand old laissez-faire experiment going thus far?

Anarchy Unleashed

To the undisguised chagrin of the hyperventilating blowhards peopling the mainstream media, who prophesied a collapsing economy, widespread misery and a Mad Max-style, statewide collapse, the long-suffering citizens of Argentina were spared their ghoulish fantasies.

Take the national carrier, Aerolíneas Argentinas, as a simple case study. In a major legislative victory late last year, the Milei administration was able to pave the road (or is it, clear the skies?) for privatizing the nose-diving, cash-hemorrhaging airline.

Naturally, the popular presses sided with the powerful and notoriously corrupt unions, who weren’t exactly keen on seeing their gravy plane grounded.

From USAID-funded bullhorn, Reuters:

Argentina’s state airline cuts staff, routes, passenger perks ahead of possible sale

BUENOS AIRES - Argentina's state airline, Aerolineas Argentinas, is slimming down for a potential sale, shedding 13% of its staff, cutting money-losing domestic routes and even removing snacks formerly available to passengers, according to sources and documents seen by Reuters.

The cutbacks, many of whose details were previously unreported, are part of a backdoor attempt to trim the airline's burden on the state and lure private investment. The drive is progressing, even though libertarian President Javier Milei's plans to privatize the firm have generated pushback.

The carrier, with Argentina's blue and white colors, is a major test case of Milei's pro-market reforms, which are yanking South America's second-largest economy in a sharply different direction after years of big government. They have improved the state's finances, but stunted economic growth and pushed up poverty.

Now, hold up just a second...

We’ll return to Aerolíneas Argentinas in a jiffy... but first, did you catch those last two claims – that Milei’s pro-market reforms have “stunted economic growth” and “pushed up poverty” – flippantly tossed in there at the end, just for bad measure?

They are what’s known as “verifyable.” So, let’s do just that, shall we?

First, Argentina’s “stunted growth.”

Lies of Commission

Rather than collapse into a greater depression, as the presstards claim, the Argentine economy is actually, measurably, verifiably, roaring back to life.

Even the The BA Times was obliged to cite the latest data from INDEC:

Argentina’s economy grew more than expected in February

Economic activity rose 5.7% in February year-on-year, reveals data from the INDEC national statistics bureau.

Argentina’s economy grew more than expected in February, solidifying the country’s bounceback under President Javier Milei a week after he clinched a US$20-billion deal with the International Monetary Fund.

Economic activity rose 5.7 percent from the same month a year ago, compared with the median estimate of 5.5 percent, according to government data published Tuesday. On the month, activity rose 0.8 percent after a 0.6 percent rise in January.

And this, all while keeping a lid on public enemy #1: Inflation. Although the monthly rate ticked up slightly in March, the yearly rate is down roughly ~80% from what it was a year ago, from almost 290% to 55%.

Here’s the official stats, again from INDEC...

As for the dangling “pushed up poverty” claim, official data show those figures collapsing, too... right alongside inflation, as any economist worth his pesos might expect.

Even the Associated Press printed the story, albeit through gritted teeth and weak, anecdotal asides:

Argentina reports a drop in poverty under President Milei, but many say life is harder

Argentina’s poverty rate dropped to 38.1% in libertarian President Javier Milei ‘s first year in office, the nation’s official statistics agency reported on Monday, a closely watched measure reflecting the government’s progress wrestling down what had been among the world’s highest inflation rates.

The decline in poverty for the second half of 2024 — from July to December — marks an improvement from the 41.7% that Milei’s left-wing populist predecessors delivered for the second half of 2023. Milei swept to office late that year with a mandate to reverse the country’s economic decline brought about by years of reckless borrowing.

Ivy League Idiocy

So... massive growth and sharply falling rates of poverty (tracking plummeting inflation). It takes an Ivy League degree in journalism, and a paycheck from a top tier newspaper, to translate this to “stunted economic growth” and “pushed up poverty.”

As for Aerolíneas Argentinas, industry publication, Aviacion Al Dia had the hard figures when the 2024 earnings report came around:

Aerolíneas Argentinas Records First Annual Profit Since 2008

For the first time since its nationalization in 2008, Aerolíneas Argentinas reported a positive annual financial result. According to data from the National Budget Office, the company closed the year 2024 with a favorable balance of $156,323.9 million.

In operational terms, the company achieved a profit of US$20.7 million, measured by EBIT (Earnings Before Interest and Taxes).

Free markets... free minds... free people. Don’t trust those who tell you there’s nothing to them.

And stay tuned for more Notes From the End of the World...

Cheers,

Joel Bowman

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