A lot of wannabes, these days, claim to be Libertarian. Earlier I asked Mr Google what the relationship was between Peter Thiel (of antichrist fame) and Javier Milei (of Argentina Actor-President fame) and the answer suggested that both were Libertarians and had met from time to time. The answer also suggested that Peter Thiel was a Libertarian inspired by Ayn Rand.
Those members of the PayPal mafia who style themselves as ‘Libertarians’ (e.g. Elon Musk) like to be associated with Thiel and other notable Libertarians like Milton Friedman or Murray Rothbard. But it’s interesting that Rand, herself, didn’t like Libertarianism. She saw the Libertarian ‘movement’ as a political one and she didn’t have much time for politicians or ideologies. In particular, Rand rejected anarcho-capitalism, a strain of libertarianism that advocates for the complete abolition of the state, viewing it as a naive and subjective theory that would lead to chaos.
The highest profile Anarcho-Capitalist these days, of course, is the Argentine President Javier Milei. Many Libertarians are cheering his recent success in Argentina’s mid-term elections as vindication of his “Libertarian” policies.
But under Milei’s ‘leadership’ Argentina’s economic performance has been woeful. Admittedly, it’s not easy to make a silk purse out of a basket-case but, even so, Argentina is in a dreadful state.
Part of the problem seems to be that Milei has just given-up on the Argentine peso. Inflation is rampant and the percentage of the population that is in abject poverty has increased under his tenure (to around 50%). The Peso has lost 40% of its value against the dollar so far this year.
This means, effectively, that the poorest in Argentinian society - unable to access foreign exchange and paid in pesos - are having to muddle along as best they can in an economy with an inflation rate projected to be over 40% this year. Meanwhile, in good Peronist tradition, the Argentinian elite now routinely uses dollars - or, rather, dollar stablecoins by Tether - now one of the biggest buyers of US Treasury Debt to ‘back’ their tokens. And Milei was recently in receipt of a $40billion bailout - ostensibly to support the Peso, but more likely to provide Argentina with much needed dollar reserves in an environment that’s increasingly peso non grata.
In short, Argentina, under Milei, is a key participant in the South American dollarization project - which is more to do with extending the US dollar footprint internationally, and vicariously extending the US debt base well beyond North America. In that respect, the USA is as much a basket-case as Argentina.