Milei Ain't No "Miracle Worker"

markets always work, every time they are tried

I happen to know an Argentine family and gently asked them what they thought of Milei, starting about a year ago. The wife didn’t answer: she was clearly opposed. The husband noted that everyone back in Argentina does nothing but complain about him.

Back in the day, according to National Review,

“Over 100 Economists” signed a letter in 2023 saying that Milei’s policy proposals were “fraught with risks that make them potentially very harmful for the Argentine economy and the Argentine people.”

Now that Argentine annual GDP growth is up over 7 percent, nobody is asking the economists for their wisdom.

There have been other “miracles” over the years.

The Miracle on the Rhine was Konrad Adenauer and Ludwig Erhard’s resurrection of the West German economy after the Allied occupation ended. They were told by the professors and the social engineers that removing price controls immediately would be too big a shock.

The professors and the social engineers were wrong.

Poland is in the middle of its own “miracle,” which has made it a top-20 global economy, ahead of Switzerland and Taiwan. Leaders of post-communist Poland were told by the professors and social engineers that the free-market shock therapy of economist Leszek Balcerowicz would be dangerous.

On the other hand, the New Deal of FDR and the “stimulus” of Barack Obama and the Inflation Reduction Act of Joe Biden did not work. But for some reason their reputations are not in the cellar. How does that work, experts?

The Milei miracle is not a miracle. The economy always heads into the stratosphere when

people are made free to buy, sell, produce, and consume as they see fit

and the weight of government spending, regulation, and handouts are reduced. Every time it is tried.

But the reality on the ground is that the women wail about some acquaintance that has lost her benefits, and the men all complain. And then there are the special interests…

But here’s what staggered me. It was the immediate effect of the miracle on the housing rental market.

Milei eliminated rent controls in Buenos Aires, and the apartment market was flooded with new properties and the average real price went down.

I must say that surprised me. Obviously, a lot of apartment owners were keeping their apartments off the market. The reason? I suppose that landlords figured that renting with rent controls Does Not Pay. But that they would all suddenly decide to get in the market again and that rents would go down. That is surprising, even to a market enthusiast like me.

Hey there Zohran Mamdani and New York City twentysomething renters. You paying attention, kiddies?