Argentina’s New President, Javier Milei, Stuns Davos With Attack on Secret ‘Socialist’ Agenda of Moneyed Western Elites
Just when you thought it was safe to write off Davos as irremediably dull — think Antony Blinken with a side order of Tom Friedman — along comes the self-described “anarcho-capitalist” president of Argentina, Javier Milei, to shake up the Swiss town with a one-two punch to what he perceives to be the “socialist agenda” of various elites.
The tirade came in the form of a half-hour long speech to a full house of policy wonks and boldfaced names in the business world who were advised by Mr. Milei to choose freedom over socialist-style state control, “dammit.”
With a late-career Elvis-style haircut that makes Boris Johnson’s unruly locks look tame, and his dim view of taxes — Jesus didn’t pay them, he says — Mr. Milei had all of Davos buzzing even before he touched down in Switzerland on Tuesday.
His mission, he said before departing Argentina, was to “plant the idea of freedom in a forum polluted by the socialist 2030 agenda.” He elaborated on that to a packed conference room Wednesday afternoon, declaring that “socialism is an impoverishing phenomenon and a failure whenever it has been attempted.”
Warning that the Western world is imperiled, he said that “those who are meant to defend the values of the West have been co-opted by a vision of the world that inexorably leads to socialism, and therefore poverty.” He added, “It may sound ridiculous to say that the West is turning to socialism, but you need to update the definition,” he said, adding that through mundane activities such as states’ adjusting of interest rates “the lives of millions of people” are impacted.
Arguing that only free market capitalism can truly tackle poverty, Mr. Milei evoked Argentina’s early prosperity and how the country’s remarkable early wealth was later squandered by dalliances with collectivism and the nationalization of key industries. Some of his remarks were likely geared for a domestic audience. At Buenos Aires, the Financial Times reported, the iconoclastic president’s vast, rapid reform program is meeting with opposition from lawmakers.
That challenge will come soon enough. The sojourn at Davos is Mr. Milei’s first official trip abroad since taking office on December 10, and he can afford to bask in the spotlight of global fascination for a few hours before heading home.
To say that Argentina’s economy is not in finest fettle would be a gross understatement — last year inflation skyrocketed to 211 percent, surpassing even Venezuela’s. In December the shock treatment began with the Casa Rosada’s announcement that a peso devaluation of 50 percent would be coming.
Mr. Milei’s measures to deregulate the teetering Argentine economy are sweeping. They have been described as ultraliberal, even though Mr. Milei himself is labeled by many a “far right” politician. But he defies easy classification. Whatever description one chooses, the economy is front and center on the political menu: last week the IMF unlocked $4.7 billion in funds for Argentina. That should make at least a slight dent in the country’s $44 billion debt.
Well, leave the accounting to another day. The 53-year-old Mr. Milei is more or less officially this year’s it-boy of Davos. While Ukraine’s President Zelensky also delivered remarks at the forum, Mr. Milei’s speech was the hottest ticket in town. At Buenos Aires his presidential office said there were “over 60 requests for bilateral meetings” with Mr. Milei — and that was before he even left Argentina.
He did so via commercial airplane, incidentally, in keeping with his libertarian take on capitalism and the noteworthy slogan, “there’s no money.” By contrast, President Biden’s point man on climate, John Kerry, was also at Davos. Mr. Kerry has in the past defended so-called climate activists who fly to Davos on carbon footprint-heavy private jets.
All this comes as some 300 public figures and 1,600 business leaders descend on the Alpine hamlet this week for the 54th annual World Economic Forum — and more than a few are openly questioning its utility. The Financial Times recently averred that in this age of simmering resentment of the über-wealthy, the so-called “Davos Man” and “Davos Woman” do not strut with quite the same swagger as they used to. The newspaper practically dismissed the entire confab as “an echo chamber.”
But on Wednesday, it was Mr. Milei’s words that echoed across the Alps. “Do not be intimidated, either by the political class or by parasites who live off the state. Do not surrender to a political class that only wants to stay in power and retain its privileges,” he stated. Equating entrepreneurship and investors as true social benefactors and “heroes,” he told his Davos audience, “You’re the creators of the most extraordinary period of prosperity we’ve ever seen.”
He assured his avid listeners that Argentina will be their “staunch , unconditional ally” — then he thanked them, and with an unambiguous “Long live freedom, dammit,” he left the stage.
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