Mileinomics

After a honeymoon that lasted far too long, Javier Milei is driving Argentina’s economy into the ground. Because he’s an ideological ally, Trump is lending a hand…

US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent has said a “large and forceful” intervention is on the table to support Argentina through a bout of severe market volatility, throwing a lifeline to libertarian President Javier Milei.  In comments to reporters and on social media on Monday, Bessent said Washington was considering purchases of Argentina’s currency or sovereign debt by a fund controlled by the US Treasury, adding that “all options” were on the table. The US Treasury secretary evoked the words of Mario Draghi, the former president of the European Central Bank during the Eurozone crisis, to say the US would do “whatever it takes” to sustain Argentine financial markets. “We’re sending a message that if you do the right thing, if you follow good policies, that if you’re aligned with the values of the United States . . . we are willing to provide assistance when things move out of equilibrium,” Bessent said. Milei, a close ally of Donald Trump, is trying to contain a run on the peso and a slide in asset prices after a disappointing local election result unnerved markets.

MAGA Dudebros have been quick to point to Argentina as an example of how a President could cause catastrophic damage to the economy without risking becoming unpopular. It worked for a bit, mostly because Argentina’s economy has been chronically mismanaged for most of the 20th and 21st centuries. We’ll see how much US $$$ Trump will let Milei burn through in order to keep the dream alive…