The Greatest Political Experiment of Our Age

Nothing is more powerful than an idea whose time has come ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ April 22, 2024 The Greatest Political Experiment of Our Age “Nothing is more powerful than an idea whose time has come.” – Victor Hugo [Reminder: In case you missed [our announcement]( The Essential Investor has merged with legacy contributors to Agora Financial. The new, larger, more inclusive project is called The Grey Swan Investment Fraternity. If you’re interested in the scope and benefits of our new endeavor, please see what prompted us to merge [here](. If you’ve been a member of The Essential Investor, keep an eye out for your new benefits.] Dear [Reader], April 22, 2024 – As you know, we check in from time to time on Javier Milei, president of Argentina, especially since his address before the World Economic Forum in January. We liked the address so much, we included it in the welcome series for The Grey Swan Fraternity. That said, many of the comments and insights we’ve relayed have come first hand by virtue of the fact that Grey Swan Fraternity inductees Joel Bowman and Anya Leonard are growing their small family in Buenos Aires. You may recall that Anya is the Founder of [Classical Wisdom](. We’ve known them both for many years. The various sojourns and misdeeds we’ve gotten ourselves into could fill several listless hours. Ahem. That’s not our purpose, today. Rather, we take a look at a more important movement underway. Below, Joel brings us up to date on The Greatest Political Experiment of Our Time. Enjoy ~ Addison (Please note: We include Joel’s commentary because of the financial, economic, and political predicament of the United States at this point in our collective history. You can read the story of the U.S. dollar, economic booms and busts, and political history of the Empire of Debt in progression, from [Demise of the Dollar]( through [Financial Reckoning Day]( and on to [Empire of Debt]( all three books are available in their third post-pandemic editions.) (Or… simply pre-order [Empire of Debt: We Came, We Saw, We Borrowed]( now available at [Amazon]( and[Barnes & Noble]( or if you prefer one of these sites:[Bookshop.org]( [Books-A-Million]( or [Target]( CONTINUED BELOW... >>ADVERTISEMENT<< 2024 – The Real Election Year Surprise In 2016, the October Election Surprise was Hillary Clinton’s email scandal… In 2020, the October Election Surprise was the suppression of all the dirty material on Hunter Biden’s “forgotten” laptop… Now, in 2024, we’re forecasting an October Election Surprise that almost no one sees coming — and this time it’ll be way more devastating than anything you’ve seen before. [Click here to learn about 2024’s real October Election Surprise »]( It’s not at all what you think. CONTINUED... The Greatest Political Experiment of Our Age By Joel Bowman, [Notes From The End of the World]( Today, I write to you from the End of the World. I mean that both geographically, as in I’m typing this note to you from a little cafe here in Buenos Aires, Argentina, at the very southern tip of the Americas... and metaphorically, in that the Argentine economy is on the very brink of an apocalyptic, End of Days-type collapse. Or at least, it was just a few short months ago...when I began my[Notes From the End of the World]( project on Substack (more about which anon)... By the end of last year, inflation down in the Land of the Gaucho was running at a white-hot 25.6% per month, the highest in the world. Prices on the ground were changing so fast, in fact, stores and restaurants had all but given up ticketing items on shelves and handing out physical menus... the price of your steak lunch might well change while you were busy eating it. Meanwhile, the country also had a trade deficit of $43 billion, as well as $45 billion in debt to the International Monetary Fund, with $10.6 billion due to private and multilateral creditors by April. Politically... economically... socially, the place was a mess. If there wasn’t already blood in the streets, the vultures were certainly circling overhead. But let’s back up a bit, to get a fuller picture of how this once-prosperous nation fell into such dire straits. The geography might be foreign to most readers, but many of the details will be eerily, uncomfortably familiar... The Mob At The End of The World Ever since man first conceived the notion of the modern nation state, he has wrestled with the inextricable tension between such concepts and ideals as liberty vs. security... natural law vs. governmental decree... the unalienable rights and freedoms of the individual vs. the infinite and tireless claims of the collective... In the balance, and at the ballot box, it was often the tyranny of the mobjority that prevailed... and the political elites who made out with the spoils. Perhaps no land on earth has such a destructive tendency been more apparent than right here in Argentina, down at the very end of the world. For three-quarters of a century, the Argentine citizens watched as the parasitic political class feasted on the nation’s vast riches. Since Juan Perón’s rise to power, back in 1946, the socialist Perónists held sway over the political landscape, aside from a dark period of military dictatorship in the late ‘70s to early ‘80s. During the course of three generations, the nation went from being one of the wealthiest on the planet... to one of the poorest. Before Sr. Perón came to power, Argentina’s economy was richer than South Korea, Norway, Chile, Ireland and Germany. Only a handful of western powers were more favorable positioned, economically. But by 2000, after half a century under the Perónist regime, 28% of the population was living in poverty. Today, four in ten Argentines find themselves mired in poverty... with one in ten (4.6 million people) suffering what’s called “extreme poverty,” unable to even afford to eat. It is of course no coincidence that the growth of the state mirrors almost exactly the relentless plight of the middle and working class people. At the turn of the 20th Century, the Argentine government consumed 25% of the nation’s total GDP. Two decades later, by 2020, that figure was 40%. And by the time world-weary Argentine voters went to the polls last November, their bloated administrative state had grown to consume no less than 45% of the entire nation’s total economic output. Then something phenomenal happened... something I’ve been calling “The Greatest Political Experiment of Our Time.” “Viva La Libertad, Carajo!” When I first began writing about Señor Javier Milei, almost 18 months ago, the brash econo-nerd was not yet even considered a political outsider. In fact, among those in the capital’s “cocktail class,” he was barely considered a clown. The “political caste” scoffed at him... the media mocked him... the celebrities jeered and shook their empty heads. Still, I recognized the power of Milei’s ideas... ideas that I had been writing about and studying since I first moved here, back in 2010, when I was working with Addison and Bill Bonner on The Daily Reckoning. Ideas like Austrian School economics... Anarcho-capitalism... Voluntarism... Decentralization... Free Markets... ... in a word, Liberty.  When I spoke to people here on the streets in Argentina, these ideas seemed to resonate in a way that people in other countries – countries that were not as far gone as this one – found unintelligible, even offensive. They hadn’t gone “Full Argentina” yet. (Just wait...) But the people down here at the End of the World... squashed under three-quarters of a century of misery and statist quo... understood something was afoot. And once Sr. Milei’s ideas began to take hold, I knew there would be no stopping them. As the great French novelist, Victor Hugo, once proclaimed: “Nothing is more powerful than an idea whose time has come.” Here was a man, standing in front of a broken nation, echoing the philosophy of men like Friedrich Hayek, Ludwig von Mises and Murray Rothbard, among other luminaries well outside the prevailing, groupthink majority. And what did these men have to say about government, about the administrative state, about social justice, collectivism, Diversity Equity & Inclusion and all the rest? I do not think it is an exaggeration to say history is largely a history of inflation, usually inflations engineered by governments for the gain of governments. ~ Friedrich Hayek The worship of the state is the worship of force. There is no more dangerous menace to civilization than a government of incompetent, corrupt, or vile men. The worst evils which mankind ever had to endure were inflicted by governments. ~ Ludwig von Mises The State is, and always has been, the great single enemy of the human race, its liberty, happiness, and progress. ~ Murray Rothbard And so, wielding his trademark chainsaw... ...and proclaiming his trademark slogan, “Viva la libertad, carajo!” (Long live liberty, damnit!) ... Sr. Milei promised to hack back the wretched overgrowth of the Peronist Leviathan, to oust the socialist political caste and to return the riches and opportunities of the nation to her hard-working people. It was an idea whose time had come. Hearing the message of liberty, as echoed through the voice of one political outsider, the Argentine voters decided to embark on the greatest political experiment of our time. Milei won in a landslide not seen since the country was returned to democracy forty years ago.  ~ Joel Bowman  So it goes, Addison Wiggin, The Wiggin Sessions P.S. In tomorrow’s missive, Mr. Bowman shares a recap of Sr. Milei’s first ~120 days in office... what he’s achieved so far, and the (many) challenges that remain... as well as some “front and center” insights from a conference at which Joel was in attendance a few short weeks ago.  “What began with an unlikely political outsider down here in Argentina,” Joel comments by e-mail, “is slowly spreading around the world.” “From one end of the Americas to the other... from Australia and New Zealand to Canada... from the UK and all across Europe, honest, hard-working people are beginning to realize that their own “political caste” is not only not the solution they are looking for... but rather, the very problems they claim to be solving! “As such, decent folks are saying ‘no’ to crooked politicians, captured government agencies, mainstream media presstitutes and woke corporations... and instead turning onto the message of freedom in a big way. If it can happen in a basket case nation like Argentina, they reason, perhaps it’s worth a shot in our backyard, too!” [The Greatest Political Experiment in Our Age]( is part of a larger project… don’t forget to follow Joel’s [Notes From the End of the World]( on Substack, right here:[Join today](.  (You can also read about the story of the U.S. dollar, economic booms and busts, and political history of the Empire of Debt in progression, from [Demise of the Dollar]( through [Financial Reckoning Day]( and on to [Empire of Debt]( all three books are available in their third post-pandemic editions.) (Or… simply pre-order [Empire of Debt: We Came, We Saw, We Borrowed]( now available at [Amazon]( and[Barnes & Noble]( or if you prefer one of these sites:[Bookshop.org]( [Books-A-Million]( or [Target]( Please send your comments, reactions, opprobrium, vitriol and praise to: addison@greyswanfraternity.com. 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