If you can sit through a three-hour interview of Donald Trump or JD Vance, head over to FEE to listen to Lex Fridman's 2-hour interview of Javier Milei.
The journalists, who have vested interests and are corrupt, are professional torturers (1:18:00)
[Trump] is a true warrior! He's truly, he's a Viking! He's a Viking! He's literally a Viking! (1:19:45)
FEE's Daphne Posadas has the following comment: During
Javier Milei’s two-hour interview with Lex Fridman … Argentina’s libertarian president reflected on the first few months of his administration following his historic electoral victory on November 19, 2023.
Milei has been called many things, but his methods and philosophy thrive under scrutiny. In a free society, being questioned is both a challenge and an opportunity. What sets Milei apart is his ability to answer tough questions with logic, evidence, and, most importantly, results.
His anarchist rhetoric is—as he said—rooted in a libertarianism that has an “unrestricted respect for the life project of others based on the principle of non-aggression and in defense of the rights to life, liberty, and property,” a definition championed by Alberto Benegas Lynch, Jr., and that follows John Locke’s ideas.
A Model Exported
Milei’s reforms haven’t gone unnoticed in the U.S., especially after the announcement of the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), to be led by Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy.
In the interview, Milei highlighted how Argentina’s Ministry of Deregulation and State Transformation, led by Federico Sturzenegger, is systematically dismantling protectionism and privilege by eliminating 1 to 5 economic restrictions daily.
This approach is catching attention worldwide, as Musk and Ramaswamy have hinted at adapting this “chainsaw” strategy. Ramaswamy recently posted on X: “A reasonable formula to fix the U.S. government: Milei-style cuts, on steroids.”
The Chainsaw Reforms
If there’s one image that defined Milei’s 2023 campaign, it’s the chainsaw. He carried a real chainsaw to his rallies, chanting “¡Motosierra! ¡Motosierra!” (Spanish for “chainsaw”) as a symbol of his promise to slash Argentina’s bloated bureaucracy.
When Milei took office, Argentina’s inflation was out of control, climbing at almost 1% per day. Fixing the fiscal deficit became his top priority, knowing nothing else would work without a solution on that front. In just a few months, he made drastic changes: cutting over 50,000 government jobs, shutting down more than half of the ministries, slashing regulations, and removing subsidies. …/…
Milei: A Former Academic
As a former economics professor, Milei excels at breaking down complex economic concepts. Early in the interview, he provided a roadmap for those interested in understanding Austrian economics with big references: Human Action by Ludwig von Mises and Principles of Economics by Carl Menger, two starting points for him. He also name-dropped other thinkers, including Murray Rothbard, Friedrich Hayek, Hans-Hermann Hoppe, Jesús Huerta de Soto, Juan Ramón Rallo, Philipp Bagus, and Walter Block—a quick guide to both Anglo and Hispanic perspectives on libertarian thought. …/…
Key Takeaways
There are two main takeaways from Milei’s interview with Fridman. First, Milei knows what he’s talking about. Too many politicians don’t really understand economics, but Milei clearly does. He doesn’t just memorize numbers; he explains the reasoning behind his decisions, and it makes sense. Second, market-driven reforms can deliver results. Contrary to popular belief or experts’ advice, these changes don’t require decades to show their impact.
Will these reforms catch on all the way to the White House? Only time will tell. …/…
If you cannot, or do not want to, listen to the entire thing, there is an outline of 18 subjects (such as 38:05 Poverty - 44:37 Corruption - 53:14 Donald Trump - 1:20:56 US and Argentina relations - or even 1:28:05 Messi vs Maradona), where you can jump to the issue of your choice…
On peut aussi lire une partie de l'élocution en français…
1 comment:
Thank you for providing access to the YouTube video interview. I could listen in in Spanish and, to check my comprehension, look at the English subtitles. I will break it down into 20 minute episodes.
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