If you know nothing else about Argentina’s new president, Javier Milei, you probably know two things: He has weird hair, and he’s a self-described anarcho-capitalist who believes the government should have as little role in society as possible.
Milei, who was sworn into office a week ago, has been in the public eye in Argentina for over a decade as a bombastic libertarian television fixture, dressing up in bizarre costumes and blasting the political elite. He has no real governing experience, save for a mostly absentee term in the lower house of Argentina’s parliament. While his appeal to Argentines battling triple-digit inflation makes some sense when looking at Argentina’s economic history and political dysfunction, whether it means the country will correct course or be consumed by chaos remains to be seen.
Milei took a chainsaw with him to rallies and campaign stops, revving it as a symbol of what he would do to Argentina’s government if elected. And a week into his tenure, he’s already cut nine of 18 government ministries, and promised to stop new infrastructure projects, lay off newly hired government workers, cut transit and energy subsidies, and reduce payments to Argentina’s provinces, the New York Times reported. That, he and his ministers say, will cut Argentina’s unsustainable deficit — hopefully encouraging more foreign investment and pleasing the International Monetary Fund (IMF), which has loaned the country some $44 billion it’s currently unable to repay.
“I welcome the decisive measures announced by President @JMilei and his economic team today to address Argentina’s significant economic challenges—an important step toward restoring stability and rebuilding the country’s economic potential,” Kristalina Georgieva, the head of the IMF, posted on X Monday.
Milei’s economic plans, he has told Argentines, will be extremely painful in the short term, especially in a nation where some 40 percent of people live below…
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