Mountains of Gold
Chainsaw cuts, foreign investment and a real estate boom...
“There's gold in them thar hills.”
~ Matthew Fleming Stephenson (1802–1882)... also, Carlos the taxi driver, 2025
Joel Bowman with today’s Note From the End of the World: Buenos Aires, Argentina...
In a swirling sea of news both bad and ugly... it’s refreshing to open the local papers and discover there’s one place where things are looking up.
To imagine ten... five... even two years ago that that one place might be Argentina...a country which has three times more sovereign defaults to its name than it does World Cups... well, they have loony bins and newsletter publications for people who maintain such “open relationships” with reality.
And yet, here we are, down at the very End of the World... with clear skies overhead and fertile, green pampas underfoot. We are truly through the looking glass... where up is down, rich is poor and past is prologue.
Elsewhere, earlier in the week...
“Those hills over there are full of gold, you know,” our driver while in Mendoza, Carlos, pointed to the snow-capped peaks off in the middle distance. “And silver. And copper. And the good Lord knows what else.”
Carlos maneuvered his old taxi – a vehicle that would need a complete overhaul to earn the categorization of “clunker” – along the grated road. Several times he had to pull over and pop the hood, tinkering with the whatchamacallit and fiddling the thingamabob. Still he smiled all the while, offering tidbits of local knowledge here and there to his curious, gringo passengers.
The “hills” to which Carlos referred are none other than the mighty Andes Mountains; a geological marvel that began forming some 200 million years ago (give or take). The folks who live on either side of them – Chileans to the west, Argentines to the east – know the secrets of las montañas, including the seasonal rivers and the passes... where and when not to pass... and what lies beneath them.
“We leave it all there,” he continued, smiling across his kindly, broad face, “where it’s safe.”
“Safe from...?” we wondered, perhaps aloud.
“El gobierno (the government),” he answered with a wry grin, referring to the rapacious political caste, located in far off Buenos Aires. He swept a weathered hand off to the other side of the road, his flannelette shirt sleeve combing over a seemingly endless expanse of lush plantations.
“Peaches... olives... apples... plums... pears... And vino, obviously. Most of the country’s wine comes from right here, irrigated by pure water from the mountaintops and fed by the rich soil underneath. And the sun, of course, which is returning to us today after some rain.”
Besides its many geological blessings, Mendoza also enjoys an average of 300 days of sunshine per year, making it an ideal climate to grow a plethora of crops... and welcome a multitude of visitors.
Remembering our dear Notes readers, we asked what Carlos thought of the new president.
“He’s crazy, of course,” he slow-smiled his answer. “But so is the world of politics. We tried what they called ‘sane’ in the past, and look where that got us. Maybe what they call ‘crazy’ is just what we need.”
Back in the capital, a few days later...
While governments elsewhere insist that they are the solution to every problem, large and small, private and public, ever encountered by mankind... Argentina’s “loco” president understands that it is the State itself that is the problem. His proposed solution – anathema to policy wonks, professional think tankers and rabid career politicians – is not more and better government... but as little as tolerably possible.
And that means cuts. Real cuts. Not snippity snips. Not trimmity trims. Not wimpitty whittles. Deep, fleshy, chainsaw cuts...
Like eliminating 10 federal ministries, 33 secretariats, 55 undersecretariats, and 11 advisory units, firing 40,000 government non-workers, and freezing the salaries of all civil servants, pending review.
For those counting at home, that’s over a third (34.9%) of the entire government... gone. And with promises of plenty more cuts to come.
And how’s that “lunatic” idea working out? According to the latest data released from the Ministry of Economics yesterday, economic activity rose 6.5% year-on-year in January 2025 and 0.6% compared to December.
“That’s one strange recession!” as one pundit remarked under the announcement on Milei’s X account today.
Moreover, according to local consulting firm Orlando J. Ferreres, the economy continued to grow 4.7% year-on-year in February, a monthly improvement of 1.3% compared to January.
The same firm has been tracking foreign direct investment in the country, too. Take a look at the following chart, which shows FDI grew 29.3% year-on-year in February, measured in physical volume, and exceeded US$7.3 billion per month.
It seems that barely a day goes by when another multinational company is not kicking down the doors to invest in this newly liberated nation; like yesterday, when news came from little-known fizzy drink company, Coca-Cola, which announced it will spend $1.4 billion here over the course of Milei’s first term.
Meanwhile, real estate in the nation’s capital is booming, as investor confidences returns to the market. From AMN:
In a remarkable surge, Buenos Aires’ real estate market saw property deeds double in February 2025, with 4,293 transactions recorded—a 94% increase from February 2024, according to the City’s College of Notaries. Compared to January’s 3,645 deeds, February’s figures rose by 17.8%.
This marks the best February in nearly two decades, fueled by a 1,121% spike in mortgage-backed deals, totaling 965 operations. The total transaction value soared by 318% to $500 million, reflecting renewed buyer confidence and accessible financing.
Of course, such data flies in the face of the mainstream narrative. Indeed, the very idea that voluntary individuals operating in private markets might better know how to manage their own affairs than a bureau of politicos is enough to get you locked up in some places.
As we drew near to our destination, deep in the verdant Uco Valley, Carlos let his long gaze fall on the golden mountains, off in the distance. They were backlit by the setting sun by now, glimmering in the day’s soft, fading light. We thought of Bastiat’s “the seen and the unseen” lesson, of untapped wealth just beneath the surface, and the wisdom of those who have lived all this before.
Stay tuned for more Notes From the End of the World...
Cheers,
Joel Bowman
P.S. Did you catch our “Save The Date” announcement yesterday?
We’re hosting our next online event a couple of weeks from now…
The Crisis & Opportunity at the End of the World Virtual Summit
With special guests Chris MacIntosh, from Capitalist Exploits, George Gammon, of Rebel Capitalist, and Charles Sizemore, from The Freeport Society.
Register for our FREE event below…
As usual, space is limited and Notes members will be given preference… as well as access to full audio-video recordings of the event and a complete transcript to watch at their convenience. Not already a member? Join us today and unlock all the benefits here…
Hi …in face for all the world to see how melie is turning govt around in very positive way I would think trump and his ppl would take serious note of it and use it constructively. ..but I have not seen such evidence that he is taking it seriously. .mayb I’m missing reports of it …somehow trump has to see how it’s done in Argentina…is there any evidence of trump acknowledging progress Melie has made?.thx smays
It appears that a significant number of former government office-workers were able to get real jobs in the Argentine economy after all, as they are happily earning an income away from the protections that were afforded in their former phony occupations. Obviously, they are satisfied that they are enjoying honest work without indirectly stealing from their neighbors.
Javier Milei can add a new quote to his repetoire: "I love it when a plan comes together!" Spoken in Spanish, of course!