In yesterday’s column, I celebrated the huge victory for Javier Milei and his libertarian LLA party in Argentina’s mid-term elections.

Today, let’s contemplate the consequences. Starting with this video.

The above video is from an interview yesterday with the great Ross Kaminsky of KOA in Denver.

He wanted to know the big-picture meaning of Sunday’s election.

My two cents, as many of you already know, is that Argentina is now the epicenter of the global fight for economic liberty.

Milei is showing people (including weak-kneed Republicans in the U.S.) that free-market policies not only produce great economic results, but also that they can be very popular with voters.

Interestingly, the Washington Post is a big fan of the outcome (Jeff Bezos has had a very positive effect on the paper’s perspecive).

Here are some excerpts from its editorial.

For decades, Argentina’s political leadership has toggled between spendthrift socialists snuffing out economic growth – and would-be free-marketeer reformers undermined by their own timidity. Over the past two years, Argentine President Javier Milei has come closer than anyone to changing the narrative, and voters just gave him permission to keep going. …Since taking office in December 2023, the brash president has made unquestionable progress. The federal budget is now balanced. Two years ago, the fiscal deficit was 4.4 percent of gross domestic product. While inflation exceeded 200 percent in 2023, it is now expected to finish 2025 at about 30 percent. Milei’s approval rating remained high, as voters trusted that the economic pain they felt from austerity measures was necessary to turn the country around. …Milei’s party has secured the number of seats necessary to veto new spending, as well as block attempts to override his presidential decrees. But a positive agenda of tax and labor-market reform would require coalition-building, which isn’t a strength for a politician more comfortable wielding a chainsaw than leading backroom negotiations. On Sunday, he acknowledged the need for cooperation… Milei is a fiscal hawk and free trader in rhetoric and practice. As the new Republican Party flirts with economic intervention and abandons fiscal prudence, Milei shows that someone can look and speak like a populist but still embrace responsible policies.

Now let’s look at some excerpts from the Wall Street Journal‘s editorial.

Mr. Milei’s coalition won more than 40% of the national ballots, the most of any party. Liberty Advances will have about 110 seats in the 257-seat lower house and more than a third of 72 seats in the Senate, enough to uphold vetoes of bad legislation. …the anemic peso remains a threat to Argentine stability, investment and growth. …Argentines don’t trust their currency. They hold some $245 billion outside the financial system and 35% of bank deposits are in dollars. …When the left returns to power, it will return to its spendthrift and inflationary ways without a monetary reform that makes it harder than printing more pesos. As we’ve written, the best option for long-run stability and investor confidence is dollarization. …with two years left in his presidential term, and a renewed mandate, he can afford to attempt reform that would set Argentina on a more stable economic path for years to come.

I wrote about the need for dollarization in Argentina back in 2023, before Milei got elected. I should probably address the issue again since it may be imminent.

And let’s not forget the other reforms (labor liberalization, tax reform, free trade) that may now be realistic if Milei’s party can strike deals with some minor parties in the legislature.

Remember, the Peronists had more than 70 years to ruin Argentina, so there are decades and decades of bad policy to reverse.

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Image credit: World Economic Forum | CC BY-NC-SA 2.0.