Argentine’s new President, Javier Milei Cutting off parental relationships, advocating for the abolition of the central bank, supporting Bitcoin.

Argentina's Newest President, Javier Milei, Pushes for Cutting Ties with Parents, Calls for Central Bank Abolition, and Embraces Bitcoin

Author Wu | Cat Brother

Editor for this issue | Colin Wu

On November 19th, Javier Milei, the candidate of the far-right electoral alliance “Avanza Libertad” and a member of the Argentine Congress, was elected president of Argentina. His extreme views include destroying the Argentine Central Bank and full dollarization. He is also a supporter of Bitcoin, emphasizing that Bitcoin is a way to return funds to their original creators. This article is an introduction to his past experiences and main viewpoints.

Image source: aljazeera

Main Experiences

Javier Milei was born in 1972 in Palermo, Buenos Aires. His mother was a housewife and his father was a bus driver who later became a businessman in the public transportation industry. He had a difficult relationship with his parents, claiming that they abused and verbally insulted him. For at least 10 years, he had no contact with them and essentially severed ties, even believing they were dead. During his campaign for Congress in 2021, he chose to reconcile with his parents.

Prior to 1989, Milei was a goalkeeper for the small farmer sports club’s youth team. However, due to severe inflation during Jose Martinez de Hoz’s tenure as Argentina’s Minister of Economy, at the age of 18, he decided not to pursue a career in soccer and instead began studying economics with the aim of making a living from it. He obtained a Bachelor’s degree in Economics from the Belgrano Private University and two Master’s degrees from the Institute for Economic and Social Development and Torquato Di Tella University.

He has served as Chief Economist for Máxima AFJP (a private pension company), Chief Economist for Estudio Broda (a financial consulting firm), and government advisor for the International Investment Dispute Resolution Center. He was also a senior economist at HSBC Bank Argentina. He has been Chief Economist for several national and international government public institutions. Since 2012, Milei has been leading the Economic Research Department of the national think tank Fundación Acordar. He is also a member of B20, the International Chamber of Commerce Economic Policy Group (G20 Advisor), and the World Economic Forum. In addition, he has been a university professor for over twenty years, teaching courses in macroeconomics, economic growth, microeconomics, and the mathematics of economists.

In 2020, Mila joined the Avanza Libertad party and in 2021 ran for a seat in the Argentine Chamber of Deputies. He promised not to support any tax increases or new taxes and also established the Liberty Advances party. He often promotes himself on TV, radio, and YouTube and has gained support from many young people. During his time as a deputy, Mila holds a monthly lottery, and the winner receives his entire monthly salary that he receives from the parliament. Anyone can participate in the lottery.

Image source: ilpost

In 2023, Mila participated in the presidential elections and advocated for the freedom to buy firearms and human organs. He promised to repeal the voluntary termination of pregnancy law and expressed support for the punishment of abortion providers through criminal law. In the August 2023 presidential primary, Mila received 30% of the votes and became the top-ranked presidential candidate. This is the first time since the 1916 Argentine elections that an extreme right-wing candidate has won the primaries. In the second round of voting on November 19th, Mila defeated his opponent and successfully became the new president of Argentina.

Main Points

In terms of economic issues, Mila is a staunch supporter of the Austrian School and has stated, “Keynesian economic theory is everywhere, like a beast.” He believes Argentina is a tax hell and advocates for rapidly cutting government spending to achieve budget balance. He frequently appears on television criticizing the excessive spending and lack of fiscal adjustment by Mauricio Macri’s government, the former president of Argentina. He advocates for the abolition of the Argentine Central Bank, supports currency substitution (allowing the use of the US dollar within Argentina), and favors a return to the gold standard and metallism.

However, due to his frequent use of mathematical formulas and charts to present his views, he has also faced criticism from Austrian School economists (who view economics as a social science) who argue that his concepts are confused and that the formulas he uses are incorrect. In April 2023, Constantino Hevia, an economist at Tokuatodi Tera University, stated, “If you analyze it a bit, you realize that the public greatly overestimates Mila’s understanding of economics… Mila always shouts concepts that he himself doesn’t understand, and the public is misled by him and follows his lead. In reality, Mila doesn’t understand many concepts, you just have to look at his notes.” He concluded, “Mila’s mathematical level is not sufficient, coupled with his immense arrogance, which leads to him frequently making mistakes and inaccuracies in his speeches.”

In terms of political views, Mila is seen by the public as extreme right-wing, right-wing populism, extreme conservatism, right-wing libertarianism, and an advocate of minarchism or classical liberalism, and he supports anarcho-capitalism. On the diplomatic front, he is close to the United States and Israel and advocates for fighting against central authorities and not engaging in any business, therefore he proposes freezing Argentina’s relations with them, but he would respect the agreements Argentina has already signed with those countries.

Cryptocurrency Perspectives

Milei is a supporter of Bitcoin, he has stated that Bitcoin is a tool to return funds to its original creators, as a means to fight against government control and central bank policies. He also openly supports cryptocurrencies as a way for ordinary Argentinians to escape inflation caused by the peso. He praises the limited supply of Bitcoin, seeing it as a safer alternative to gold or silver. (Note: Argentina’s cumulative inflation rate from January to September 2023 is 103.2%, the past 12 months have seen a cumulative inflation rate of 138.3%, and the annual cumulative inflation rate for 2022 was 94.8%)

In addition, in December 2021, he promoted a cryptocurrency Ponzi scheme called Coinx through his Instagram account, claiming that they were “completely changing the way of investing to help Argentinians deal with inflation.” Later, the country’s regulatory agency, the National Securities Commission (CNV), ordered the suspension of Coinx’s operations, and some investors sought compensation from Milei and filed lawsuits against him.

Image Source: Instagram

Despite this, his focus on governance is not closely related to cryptocurrencies, but more about overall liberalization in areas such as central banking, finance, and foreign affairs. Given Milei’s economic liberalist views, it is unlikely that he will utilize state power to intervene in and promote the adoption of cryptocurrencies after being elected president, but he is also unlikely to enforce strict regulatory policies on Bitcoin and cryptocurrencies.

References:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Javier_Milei

https://decrypt.co/152388/argentina-president-candidate-javier-milei-pro-bitcoin

https://www.ccn.com/news/is-javier-milei-nxt-bitcoin-leader/

https://www.reddit.com/r/Bitcoin/comments/102h5fc/javier_milei_argentinian_politician_who_has_an/?rdt=46638&onetap_auto=true

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yByWq8lhDCs

https://protos.com/argentinas-leading-presidential-candidate-sued-for-alleged-crypto-scam/

https://www.reuters.com/world/americas/argentina-set-primary-vote-with-ruling-peronists-fighting-survival-2023-08-13/

https://www.instagram.com/p/CXoGvseA1OG/?hl=en&img_index=1

https://twitter.com/JMilei

Translation:

Here is the link to the Twitter profile of JMilei: https://twitter.com/JMilei.