So we're going to bail out this wacko extreme libertarian—and, remember, the whole point of that philosophy is to get out of the way of markets—while US farmers and small businesses go under?
— Clara Jeffery (@clarajeffery.bsky.social) September 24, 2025 at 11:10 AM
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Even worse: Argentinian farmers & ranchers are selling to China what China used to buy from the US.
— Dana Houle (@danahoule.bsky.social) September 24, 2025 at 12:11 PM
Gil Duran, at The Nerd Reich — “Libertarianism, 13, Dies in Argentina Chainsaw Accident”:
… While it had been around for quite a bit longer, [libertarianism’s] basic concepts never progressed beyond the early stages of adolescent brain development. Libertarianism—which asserted that society would be better off with minimal government, laws, and taxes—succumbed after chainsaw-wielding Argentine President Javier Milei asked the United States for a massive economic bailout due to his catastrophic leadership.
Milei, a werewolf-clown hybrid in a suit who once hired a spirit medium to communicate with his dead dog, swept into office promising a libertarian-inflected miracle in Argentina. In an early preview of Elon Musk’s DOGE, he slashed government and social spending. Earlier this year, an essay published on the website of the libertarian Cato Institute mocked his critics as doomsayers who “warned that the profane self-described libertarian—who looks more like a still-touring ’80s rockabilly singer than the classically trained economist he actually is—would inflict on Argentina’s already-beleaguered economy ‘deep recession,’ ‘devastation,’ ‘economic collapse,’ and all sorts of other economic horribles.”
But the critics were correct. Instead of miracles, the self-described “anarcho capitalist” has delivered shocking disaster: collapsing institutions, chronic inflation, and the awkward realization that screeching about free markets doesn’t put bread on the shelves.
Born from Ayn Rand paperbacks, pulp science fiction novels, and Austrian School daydreams, libertarianism never matured beyond a sophomore debate-club rant. In the 21st century, it briefly experimented with cryptocurrency, “sovereign” sea colonies, and Ron Paul rallies. But it eventually burned out in a haze of political incompetence and incoherence.
Libertarianism is survived by Silicon Valley billionaires, a handful of “think tanks” funded by oil companies, several unmoderated Reddit threads, and Curtis Yarvin. It was preceded in death by conservatism, which fell to a terminal case of fascism in 2016…
(Back in the 1970s, I remember Argentina being widely described as ‘Texas, but as a sovereign nation.’ Wealth of/from natural resources, cowboy culture, and a ruling cadre of autocrats forever complaining that the plebes weren’t actually slaves, which would’ve made everyones’ lives sooo much simpler. Feel free to correct my impression… )
Open Thread: Libertarianism’s Inevitable OutcomePost + Comments (102)
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