4 ms·

In all honesty, I've read a bunch of positive articles about Millei, and watched the Friedman interview with him. He has multiple economics degrees and really s

• imiric 2y ago
  You don't seem to be considering the possibility that he knew perfectly well what he was doing, and that this was intentional. Rug pulls are popular among celebrities.
  • xrd 2y ago
    You are right, I assumed he was principled and dedicated to the good of the country above all else. Should I reconsider that? Like I said, I read positive things about him and thought was a sincere person. If you have something else I should read, I would be very interested to know what to add to my list. I've been following Argentina's struggles for a while given my time in Brazil and the parallels to hyperinflation so I was willing to consider his unorthodox approach, but perhaps it blinded me?
    • throwaway314155 2y ago
      [flagged]
      • catlover76 2y ago
        He is talking about Argentinian President, not Trump
        • throwaway314155 2y ago
          I don't think that's right.
          • comp_throw7 2y ago
            > I've been following Argentina's struggles for a while given my time in Brazil and the parallels to hyperinflation so I was willing to consider his unorthodox approach, but perhaps it blinded me? ???
      • deleted 2y ago
        [deleted]
      • xrd 2y ago
        I really appreciate your comment. I'm being totally sincere. I did see the news reports about him with a chainsaw. He seemed like a nut when I saw that. And I then watched the Lex Friedman interview and read the profile in the New Yorker. I was surprised in that my initial glance at him was not positive but my opinions shifted. Please give me other nuanced and intelligent discussions. I'm sorry I missed the ones you read. I am a us citizen. I will say the fact that Milei seems very enthusiastic about Trump is very damaging to his brand for me.
        • throwaway314155 2y ago
          I don't know how productive it would be to give you random examples as I am wuite biased and find just about all of his actions to be despicable. It sounds like you may be living in something of an echo chamber of sorts. I recommend seeking out news sources that may challenge your beliefs and relying less on social media and YouTube videos. I'm not really sure how to help you to be honest though. Are you watching/reading some form of news on the regular? For me it's NPR but I try to watch some conservative news as well to see what the other side is up to, how they're reacting.
        • donavanm 2y ago
          Check out some of the reporting from before the election https://www.economist.com/the-americas/2023/09/07/meet-javier-milei-the-frontrunner-to-be-argentinas-next-president https://www.economist.com/the-americas/2023/09/07/meet-javie... Look at some of the actual details around his wish list, the fantasy of dollarization is a favorite of mine https://english.elpais.com/economy-and-business/2023-11-24/dollarizing-the-economy-what-does-it-mean-and-which-countries-have-implemented-javier-mileis-proposal.html https://english.elpais.com/economy-and-business/2023-11-24/d... Compare what's promised to what actually occurs. Did he attack the privileged, were the poor lifted out of poverty, has free enterprise restored a moribund economy? https://www.npr.org/2025/02/09/nx-s1-5280631/argentinas-recent-economic-growth-has-come-at-the-cost-of-the-countrys-poor https://www.npr.org/2025/02/09/nx-s1-5280631/argentinas-rece...
        • wolfcola 2y ago
          that you mention lex and the new yorker in the same sentence is very damaging to your brand for me.
    • imiric 2y ago
      I also had a good impression from hearing him speak. He's clearly highly educated and intelligent. But he's also a supporter of Carlos Menem, a famously corrupt politician in the long history of corruption in Argentina. Whether or not Milei truly wishes to help his country, or if he's using his power for personal gain, is difficult to say. As an outsider, I don't have an informed opinion. But I'm inclined to believe that the truth is somewhere in the middle. The reality is that the vast majority of people who seek political power are egomaniacs and sociopaths. Very few actually want to help their country.
    • probably_wrong 2y ago
      There are some good takes in both directions throughout this thread. Based on talks I had with friends and family living there: Reasons for liking him: he's bringing inflation down, he has been keeping his promises towards retirees, and he's been reigning in some egregious examples of corruption that previous administrations ignored because it gave them political power. Reasons for not liking him: he's strangling Universities, rent prices are out of control and not properly reflected in the inflation index, and after being first row during Trump's inauguration he decided to withdraw Argentina from the WHO. A friend of mine who doesn't like him described his policies as "Ron Swanson from Parks & Rec". I think there's a lot to it.
      • argentinian 2y ago
        That rent prices are out of control is not true https://www.infobae.com/economia/2025/02/17/sin-ley-de-alquileres-por-primera-vez-desde-2020-en-febrero-los-precios-en-buenos-aires-no-aumentaron/ https://www.infobae.com/economia/2025/02/17/sin-ley-de-alqui...
        • probably_wrong 2y ago
          The article explains that this is the first time since 2020 that prices stopped increasing, which doesn't mean they are at a level where people can afford them - the article itself attributes the lower purchase power of the average family as one of the main drivers for why they stopped raising. The article also explains that maintenance (expensas) are 22% of the final rent price and those increased 170% from last year. "We stopped raising prices because we priced everyone out" is definitely what I'd call "out of control". Anecdotally I also know three families who had to move back to their parent's house because they were priced out of the rental market. I won't say that all of this is Milei's fault (although I do have thoughts about his handling of the Rents law), but nonetheless the current situation is far from good.
• JumpCrisscross 2y ago
  > this is horribly embarassing He made a mistake and backtracked instead of instinctively doubling down. Count your blessings.
  • xrd 2y ago
    Sorry, when you are the president you don't get that leeway to make mistakes and then correct them by saying "sorry, my bad!" No way. If I'm just a blogger on Twitter, then sure. It is hard to tell whether the US president is more than an effective tweeter. That distinction is important to me.
    • idunnoman1222 2y ago
      His approval rating says otherwise
    • comp_throw7 2y ago
      > Sorry, when you are the president you don't get that leeway to make mistakes and then correct them by saying "sorry, my bad!" No way. What does "don't get to" mean? Descriptively, this is false; normatively, this seems like a completely impossible standard to hold presidents to. You want them to literally never make any mistakes?
      • notahacker 2y ago
        I think not endorsing specific crypto rugpulls as a solution to help small businesses [on the day they rugpull] in the first place isn't a particularly high normative standard to hold public officials to, especially not public officials who claim to be experts in economic revitalisation. Owning mistakes feels like "with hindsight, I probably shouldn't have pursued this tax policy", not "with hindsight I probably shouldn't have been the prime pumper in a pump and dump scam, but now I'd like to put this experience behind me"... (cf some fashion blogger with no understanding genuinely being able to claim that promoting crypto was an easily-made mistake)
        • 2y ago
• santoshalper 2y ago
  Or, perhaps he was just lying.
• Daishiman 2y ago
  You got conned. Anyone who watches his actual interviews first hand can see that he’s mentally unstable, holds a degree from a third-rate university, and is more concerned with his own narcissistic tendencies than actually governing.
  • xrd 2y ago
    I do have to admit more and more Friedman seems like he is more intent on building his subscriber count than actually asking tough questions. I can't say I feel like his fact checking is worth anything if it ever was. I should have known better.
    • Daishiman 2y ago
      Friedman is, like many people in this age of podcasters and influencers, another fool who's not only out of his depth in most interviews, but too self-centered to do anything to change it. His political analysis when interviewing people in that area is laughable. When interviewing chess players it's clear even to me, a mediocre player who barely reaches 1500 in lichess, that he's totally out of his depth and wasting precious time asking generic questions. Unfortunately the only good interviewer of this generation is the chiken wing guy.
      • coffeebeqn 2y ago
        Dwarkesh is basically doing what Lex tried to do early on before he became Rogan-lite. Looking at Lex’s range of topics in the last year it’s no wonder he’s out of his depth
    • throwcatowayne 2y ago
      > he is more intent on building his subscriber count than actually asking tough questions. It's quite a sad indicator of the state of knowledge in the world where Fridman is considered the more "intellectual" of pop podcasters when the most popular podcasts are crap like Rogan, Shawn Ryan, Candace Owens, and Call Her Daddy. Because Fridman will literally have a guest with platform A, like Netanyahu, and agree on 95% of his controversial points with little pushback. And then immediately after have on Yuval Harari, with the opposite opinion on those controversial points... and agree with 95% again with little pushback. Fridman softballs and is almost useless except as a megaphone. You'd rather have him cut out and have Netanyahu and Harari debate on their own merits.
• idunnoman1222 2y ago
  Have you considered they didn’t teach meme coins at his university?
  • tombert 2y ago
    He has access to the same resources that everyone here does, probably more actually. Instead of retweeting the first "interesting" thing that pops up on his feed, hear me out on this, maybe he could have quickly Google'd/DuckDuckGo'd/Kagi'd/Yandex'd this before he retweeted it. No, they don't teach "meme coins" at university, but I don't think that's really relevant.
• tasuki 2y ago
  The Lex Fridman interview was awful. Milei hasn't said a single interesting thing. I was expecting a lot more from (I think) the first politician following the Austrian school of economics.
  • iamnotagenius 2y ago
    > I was expecting a lot more from (I think) the first politician following the Austrian school of economics. This is exactly why you've heard only demagoguery; Austrian school is fringe.
    • tasuki 2y ago
      I don't see how that follows. Many of the people who appear to me to talk the most sense (eg: Tyler Cowen) follow the Austrian school. It being fringe does not mean they're wrong. It could be the mainstream is wrong. I'm not an economist and don't know.
      • marcosdumay 2y ago
        In all likelihood, the reason they appear to talk the most sense to you is that both you don't understand what is wrong with them¹ and you never even read the actual theories they pose themselves against. Anyway, the criticism about the Austrian school isn't even that it's wrong. It's that it's neither a theory nor a school of though. There isn't much "though" in it. But when you get to the views of an actual person, they will necessarily be more complete than the school, and need to be evaluated independently. 1 - "I can clearly see that objects stop moving without anybody messing with then. That Newton guy makes no sense whatsoever."
      • iamnotagenius 2y ago
        Fringe means that it attracts weirdos, demagogues etc, as things normally fringe for a reason, but even if they are not, people have so much reputational risk for publicly advertising these views, so that either suggests they are grifters, so they do not have reputation to start with or they have poor judgement.