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Javier Milei

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2024-11-20
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2024-11-20
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  1. “Now what happens? As we began to achieve fiscal balance and no longer needed to issue money to finance ourselves, and as we also met interest payments and some capital repayments, One of the things that happened is that the debt market began to be recreated, so we were able to take debt out of the central bank and transfer it to the treasury where it should have always been. And that meant an adjustment of approximately ten percent of GDP. Everyone said this would be impossible and couldn't be fixed. Essentially what we did was implement a fiscal adjustment at the central bank amounting to ten percent of GDP. So if you ask me, it's clear that we have not only made the biggest fiscal adjustment in the history of humanity because we made a fiscal adjustment of fifteen points of the GDP, but also”

    2024-11-20 · Lex Fridman Podcast · #453 – Javier Milei: President of Argentina – Freedom, Economics, and Corruption · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  2. “One of the things we did was to eliminate what are known as poverty managers, that is intermediaries. Basically people have a guard through which they receive assistance, but it happens that they had to provide a counter service, and that counter service was verified by a group called the Picateros. So in that context, when they were going to sign, the counter service took away half of the money. So by removing that payoff, they stopped extorting them, stopped stealing their money, and with the same amount of money they received double the resources And of course, we also provided an additional boost. So let's say that this is related to the five adjustment points in the treasury”

    2024-11-20 · Lex Fridman Podcast · #453 – Javier Milei: President of Argentina – Freedom, Economics, and Corruption · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  3. “At the same time, we also cut social plans linked to intermediation. This is very important because we knew we were going to make a very tough adjustment and we knew that this was going to have Goth in social terms, and we knew that we had to offer support during the first month, I mean the first quarter and second quarter in office, and”

    2024-11-20 · Lex Fridman Podcast · #453 – Javier Milei: President of Argentina – Freedom, Economics, and Corruption · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  4. “We have also diluted public sector wages. Also, we have eliminated economic subsidies by restoring utility rates to the right levels. And in that, let's say in this context. We achieved fiscal balance as far as the treasury is concerned. This is very important because in the last 123 years, Argentina had a deficit for $13 of them, and in the ten years it did not have a deficit because it was not paying the debt. So that was absolutely false. And they told us it would be impossible to do that. We had planned to do so within a year. And they said it wasn't possible to adjust by more than one percentage point. And we achieved fiscal balance in the month of January that is the first month of administration.”

    2024-11-20 · Lex Fridman Podcast · #453 – Javier Milei: President of Argentina – Freedom, Economics, and Corruption · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  5. “And by December, the Peronis party would have organized supermarkets lootings and would have done all sorts of things, and would have probably been ousted, and by the first part of the year the Pironis would have gone back to office. So, to us it was crucial to end fiscal deficit. One of the things we promised during the campaign had been to reduce the number of ministries. And indeed we reduced to less than half the number of ministries because we went to nine ministries. Today we have eight. We have also laid off a large number of civil employees today I can say that we have already dismissed about fifty thousand of them. And we practically don't renew any contracts unless the positions are. Absolutely necessary. At the same time, we have stopped public works and we have eliminated discretionary transfers to the provinces.”

    2024-11-20 · Lex Fridman Podcast · #453 – Javier Milei: President of Argentina – Freedom, Economics, and Corruption · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  6. “Serves minus twelve billion dollars. We had commercial debts in the central bank equivalent to fifty billion dollars. There were company dividends held back amounting to ten billion dollars. Therefore, if we If we had instantly opened up, you see, I say we are liberal libertarians, we are not liberal fools That's what some anarchist liberals suggested meaning that we basically open everything on the first day. So, in that context of course, If we had done that, we would have encountered hyperinflation. Therefore that would have led to the number of poor people being around ninety five percent, and probably the”

    2024-11-20 · Lex Fridman Podcast · #453 – Javier Milei: President of Argentina – Freedom, Economics, and Corruption · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  7. “And the reality was that nearly 50% were living in poverty. Now later I will get deeper into that discussion. And the reality is that we had a fiscal deficit which amounted to 15% of GDP. Five points were in the treasury, ten points were in the central bank which was endogenous monetary issuance. And the reality is that we also had interest bearing liabilities at the central bank equivalent to four monetary bases maturing in one day, meaning we could have quinted the amount of money in one day. We had peso denominated maturities amounting to the equivalent of ninety billion dollars. The central bank had negative net currency foreign resources.”

    2024-11-20 · Lex Fridman Podcast · #453 – Javier Milei: President of Argentina – Freedom, Economics, and Corruption · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  8. “If you allow me, I will first give you a description of the situation we received, and based on that I will tell you each of the things we received. When we first Took office. Basically, what we found was that in the first week of December, inflation was rising at a rate of one percent per day, which means three thousand seven hundred percent annually. In the first half of December, it had accelerated to seven thousand five hundred percent annually. When you look at wholesale inflation in December of last year, it was 54%, which if annualized, would equate to an inflation rate of seventeen thousand percent per year. And in addition, Argentina, for the previous 10 years had not been growing. With a drop in GDP per capita of approximately 15%.”

    2024-11-20 · Lex Fridman Podcast · #453 – Javier Milei: President of Argentina – Freedom, Economics, and Corruption · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  9. “And I remember one of them one day the police showed up. And honestly, he was peeing himself. So, I mean, it's very easy to criticize, propose, and suggest, but if he was truly such an agonist, he should have been willing to endure going to jail. However, when it was time to face the consequences of the idea he was promoting, he froze, wet his pants, and ended up, let's say, accepting all the restrictions because clearly it was better to be out of jail than in jail. But in doing so, he sold out his ideas. So it seems to me that no Not taking into account the restrictions. Of the situation only serves to be functional to socialism because all it does is strike against one's own.”

    2024-11-20 · Lex Fridman Podcast · #453 – Javier Milei: President of Argentina – Freedom, Economics, and Corruption · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  10. “Is a zero sum game, and if we don't have it, then the left will have it. Therefore, if you level your harshest criticism at those in your own ranks, you end up being subservient to socialism probably, and also for instance you have cases. Of strong hypocrisy, let's say I have seen cases of agarists. I mean It's the anarcho capitalists who criticize Rothbard because he said that you have to get into politics otherwise the socialists will advance. And it's interesting because some of them I have seen them criticizing, proposing agorism.”

    2024-11-20 · Lex Fridman Podcast · #453 – Javier Milei: President of Argentina – Freedom, Economics, and Corruption · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  11. “There is a lot of joy people sing songs that are very fun, that are very distinctive, very, it's very much part of Argentine folklore, so to speak. But you see, that beautiful show is external. That is to say, it does not determine the outcome. You place the ball in the middle of the field and no matter how much people shout the ball doesn't move. The one who moves the ball and scores the goals is messy. So what do I mean? If you don't get involved and don't get into it, no, you don't do anything. So, I mean what do I know is that there are many liberals, libertarians, and anarcho-capitalists who are really useless because all they do is criticize, let's say those of us who want to lead the world toward the ideas of freedom and what they don't realize is that power.”

    2024-11-20 · Lex Fridman Podcast · #453 – Javier Milei: President of Argentina – Freedom, Economics, and Corruption · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  12. “That some restrictions you can't change, others you can, and there are institutional restrictions too. There are many anarcho capitalists who are dedicated to criticizing and incredibly they do so with more violence towards liberals And many of them actually criticize me, which truly make no sense because it is precisely the Nirvana fallacy. The reality is that, look, in Argentina, for example, the most popular sport is soccer. When you go to watch an Argentina much, it is beautiful. The stands are full and they're all painted with sky blue and white colors.”

    2024-11-20 · Lex Fridman Podcast · #453 – Javier Milei: President of Argentina – Freedom, Economics, and Corruption · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  13. “And the table is rectangular. You like a circular table, a round one, but there isn't one. What you have is a rectangular table. So either we do the interview here or we just can't do it. So what do you do? You adapt to the current conditions. This is what there is. Now, so then you have some restrictions that you can change and others that you cannot. The idea is to modify all the ones that can be changed in the short term and start working on those that can be modified in the medium or long term. For example, if you really like round tables, perhaps the next interview we may do at round table, we're going to try and solve it. But today it's something that we couldn't possibly solve. So that's basically the idea, right? Let's say it's about understanding.”

    2024-11-20 · Lex Fridman Podcast · #453 – Javier Milei: President of Argentina – Freedom, Economics, and Corruption · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  14. “There are two dimensions. One is where I want to go. And the topic is where I stand. So the most important thing is to try each day to advance further toward that ideal of anarcho-capitalism. In that sense, the Sometimes we face strong and harsh criticism regarding that ideal vision. I think that Sinavana fallacy, if you compare yourself against paradise, everything is horrible and miserable, but you don't live in paradise. You live on earth. Basically, what you need to understand is something called the state conditions. Let's suppose that you don't like rectangular tables. You prefer circular tables. Now, the reality is I have only a few hours until I go and catch my flight.”

    2024-11-20 · Lex Fridman Podcast · #453 – Javier Milei: President of Argentina – Freedom, Economics, and Corruption · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  15. “First, I would like to quote Milton Friedman. There is a moment when they do an interview with Milton Friedman and they ask him about liberals, and then he says that there are three types of liberals there are the classical liberals, where for example Adam Smith or Milton Friedman himself could fit. Some say that Hayek could fit into that category. For me Hayek is a monarchist, then you have the minarchis where you could clearly find in that place Mises Hayek. One could find in philosophical terms no sick. And basically Ayn Rand, and at one point Milton Friedman based on his own son, he says, But if you look closely there are some who are anarchists. Let's say probably from my point of view the person who has been the greatest inspiration in my life is essentially Murray Newton Rothbard. So therefore”

    2024-11-20 · Lex Fridman Podcast · #453 – Javier Milei: President of Argentina – Freedom, Economics, and Corruption · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  16. “Where basically every day we eliminate between one and five regulations, on the other hand we have three thousand two hundred additional structural reforms pending to the point that the day we finish all these reforms we will be the freest country on the planet with the consequences they have in terms of well being. Think about this. When Ireland started market reforms just over forty years ago, it was the poorest country in Europe. Today, its GDP per capita is fifty percent higher than that of So This, I have a current situation and what I am constantly looking for, whether from my academic works and my outreach notes and books, is the world we have today, that every day we are closer, that every day we gain more freedom. Because there are some very interesting things here”

    2024-11-20 · Lex Fridman Podcast · #453 – Javier Milei: President of Argentina – Freedom, Economics, and Corruption · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  17. “And what that describes, it is an idea which represents my ideal world. I mean that is the ideal world now real life poses a whole lot of restraints, and some of those you can lift, and those restrictions and others you can't. So in real life I am a minarchist. I advocate for minimizing state size. I try to remove as many regulations as possible. In fact, that is what I used to say during my campaign, and let's say that is what I'm now carrying out. We have just carried out the largest structural reform in Argentine history. It is a structural reform that is eight times larger than men's, which had been the largest structural reform in history, and we did that with fifteen percent of the representatives and ten percent of the senators. Furthermore, we have a deregulation ministry.”

    2024-11-20 · Lex Fridman Podcast · #453 – Javier Milei: President of Argentina – Freedom, Economics, and Corruption · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  18. “Strictly speaking, I am an anarcho capitalist. I despise the state, government, I despise violence, let us suppose we take the definition of liberalism, I usually use the definition of liberalism given by Alberto Venegas Lincoln, which is very much in line with the definition of John Locke, which essentially matches the definition by Alberto Benegas Lynch Jr., who said that liberalism is the unrestricted respect for the life project of others based on the principle of non aggression and in defense of the right to life, liberty and property. So I frame all of the discussions within those terms, and the fact is that when you get to that notion, I would dare say that you become an anarcho capitalist de facto.”

    2024-11-20 · Lex Fridman Podcast · #453 – Javier Milei: President of Argentina – Freedom, Economics, and Corruption · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  19. “So that paved the way for me to approach the ideas of freedom. And another book that was a very significant influence and impact on me was The Principles of Political Economics by Menger. It was truly eye-opening, or let's say for reading Ogen von Biombawk, these were things that really passed. That really challenged all of my former thinking. I had a vague idea and poor about the Austrian school. The only thing I had read about the Austrian school until then had been money and time, a very good book. By Garrison But now that I understand a little bit more about Austrian economics, I know that it was rather poor. This doesn't mean that the book isn't good, but there were a whole lot of things to read that ended up being truly fascinating.”

    2024-11-20 · Lex Fridman Podcast · #453 – Javier Milei: President of Argentina – Freedom, Economics, and Corruption · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  20. “And I remember, for example, the experience of reading human action. By Mises, and this was a book that I didn't know about. And I remember that on the following weekend I started to read this book right from the first page and I didn't stop until I finished it and that was a true revolution in my head. And having the chance to read Austrian authors like Rothbard, Misis, Hayek, Hoppe and Jesus Huerta de Soto or others like Juan Ramon Ralo, Philip Bagus, and Walter Bloch, for example That was very inspirational, and at one point I got the opportunity to read related to the works of Alberto Venegas Lincho, and I also had the pleasure and honor to meet him, and today we are actually friends.”

    2024-11-20 · Lex Fridman Podcast · #453 – Javier Milei: President of Argentina – Freedom, Economics, and Corruption · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  21. “And after reading it carefully, I said, Everything I've taught about market structure in the last twenty years in courses on microeconomics is wrong. This caused a very strong internal commotion in me, so I called this person who used to work with me, and they recommended a place to buy Austrian school of economics books, and I remember I bought at least twenty or thirty books which I went to pick up one Saturday afternoon, and when I visited the bookstore, I was fascinated by all the stuff they had there. So I went back the next day and I started calculating how much money I needed to pay for my dog's food That's my four legged child, and how much I needed to spend on the taxi fare and food, and then with what I have left, I spent all of it on more books, and then I started to read very intensively.”

    2024-11-20 · Lex Fridman Podcast · #453 – Javier Milei: President of Argentina – Freedom, Economics, and Corruption · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  22. “But at the same time, one could see that living standards had increased tremendously, and that middle income people ended up living far better than emperors did in the Roman era. And the population had gone from having 95% of people in extreme poverty to less than 10%. And in that context, the question was how it could be that something that had lifted so many people out of poverty that had improved human condition so much could be something bad for economic theory, meaning something was not right. So in the context, I remember that one of the People who worked on my team suggested I read an article by Murray Newton Rothbard called Monopoly and Competition, I remember reading it like it was today.”

    2024-11-20 · Lex Fridman Podcast · #453 – Javier Milei: President of Argentina – Freedom, Economics, and Corruption · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  23. “Actually, I came to understand the ideas of freedom. An economic growth specialist back in the years of twenty thirteen to twenty fourteen. Could see that per capita GDP statistics over the last two thousand years of the Christian era Essentially look like a Indicating that per capita GDP Remained almost Until arriving. 1800 after which it accelerated shocks. In the same Of that phenomenal increase in productivity and per capita GDP. So basically, in economics, that means you get increasing returns and the presence of increasing returns implies the existence of monopolies, concentrated structures and according to traditional neoclassical economic theory, the presence of monopolies and concentrated structures is not a good thing.”

    2024-11-20 · Lex Fridman Podcast · #453 – Javier Milei: President of Argentina – Freedom, Economics, and Corruption · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source