|
Javier Milei
delivered delivered 6 November 2025, Kaseya Center, Miami, Florida
[MACHINE TRANSLATED WITH SOME HUMAN EDITING FOR STYLE AND CLARITY.] Hello, everyone. No, thank you, please, thank you for welcoming me so warmly. Thank you very much. We are absolutely going to make Argentina and America Great Again. And don't be intimidated by some local results. First of all, I would like to thank the organizers of the America Business Forum and especially its President Francis Suárez, for the invitation. It is an honor to be here surrounded by such distinguished figures as President Trump, a friend both personally and to the Argentine Republic. I am also delighted to share the stage with one of our most illustrious athletes and the pride of all Argentines, Lionel Messi, a man who took Argentine talent to the top of the world, living proof that effort, dedication, and passion can work miracles, and proof that sometimes even I can congratulate a left-handed person. I want to take advantage of this forum of entrepreneurs, leaders, athletes and thinkers to return to an issue that informs all our management in Argentina. For too long we get used to hearing from politicians and intellectuals that capitalism was a kind of necessary evil that we have to live with in our societies. Of course, there are also those who openly militate communism and the planned economy, but they are the least and are on the margins of our political systems. But the position I want to refer to is much more widespread in the West: I am referring to criticism of the free market to justify state intervention. This is more common and popular, having won hundreds of legitimate elections over the last century in the Americas and Europe. And that is precisely why it is even more harmful. In order not to bore you, I will summarize one argument: They concede that capitalism is the only way we find to ensure economic growth, but they argue that this growth impacts very unevenly in society and also by its own dynamics tends to stagnate, so they say, we would need the State to actively intervene in the market. The State, according to them, must intervene to ensure equality among citizens and prevent monopolies or market failures from emerging. The free market, according to them, is not optimal for ensuring growth and ends up hindering general welfare in favor of a few to the detriment of the vast majority. The argument is that growth with social justice is needed and that the state must play an active role in economic life to ensure this. According to this view, all the benefits of growth are worthless unless the state redistributes them. In other words, capitalism is just a necessary evil that must always be tied to state welfare. I think we all know where these widespread ideas lead. Using these powers, the state expands more and more each year, meddling not only in economic activities but also in the lives of individuals, until there is nothing left outside its reach. There is always a new justification for public officials to extend their insatiable claws over civil society. Under the excuse of aggrandizing a nation and doing good for its citizens, the state is aggrandized as if it meant the same thing. And this happens until we reach the same destination as those who at least have the intellectual honesty to say they hate capitalism: total state control over the economy and people's lives. In other words, communism. Take the example of Cuba, where Fidel Castro came to power promising social justice, democracy, and a planned economy, and died after more than 50 years of dictatorial rule shouting “communism or death.” For too long, the pro-capitalist response to this challenge to the state was to tout the economic miracle that free enterprise capitalism meant for the world. Because it's true, the data doesn't lie and it's on our side: That is, thanks to the market economy, countless people were lifted out of extreme poverty and countless technological and scientific wonders were made possible. But this is not enough. Because a moral argument can never be answered with a factual argument. In fact, the right to be cannot be suggested; the duty to be can never be concluded. That is why this left-wing argument has won the battle of ideas, and why in the West we find ourselves every day closer to the communism that we once viewed with horror from the other side of the Iron Curtain. That is why, if we concede that capitalism is a necessary evil, we will have already lost, even if we win momentarily. Sooner or later, they will return because they will continue to be the ones who determine what is good and evil, and they will say what is fair and what is not. We cannot make that mistake again. That is why today I come to tell you that capitalism is not evil, but rather the form that true justice takes in this world. Because it is the natural consequence of the dignity and freedom of man, to whom the fruits of his labor belong. We do not have many natural rights in this life beyond the right to be masters of the sweat of our brow, which is nothing more than the right to own and freely dispose of our lifetime, whether to use it for ourselves or sell it to others as labor. That is what makes us all free men and sets us apart from slaves, a nefarious institution abolished precisely by free societies, before any other.
From this freedom is derived the right to
private property and to the discretion to dispose of it within the margins of
the common law: Investment, saving, consumption, are only phenomena that emerge
from this simple truth. Notice that rent controls is an attack on the right of
ownership, affects the price system, affects the operation of the system and
ends up destroying everything in its path. In this regard, I would like to quote from a book by one of the most important Austrian economists in history, Israel Kirzner, who is a professor at the University of New York. He [wrote] a book called Creatividad, capitalismo, y justicia distributiva1 in which he argues that the productive superiority of capitalism over socialism is indisputable, and this is so true that even socialists do not question it. However, the capitalist system is branded as unfair and questioned because it distributes results poorly. It is branded as immoral. What Israel Kirzner does is precisely to say the following: If the system is indeed immoral, unfair, and at odds with ethics, then even if it is more productive, it is not worth defending. He takes this issue very seriously, based on two fundamental ideas: Locke's principle of appropriation, i.e., “whoever discovers it, keeps it”; and Hayek's idea of the market as a process of discovery. Israel Kirzner proves not only that the capitalist system is the only one that can be efficient, but also that it is the only fair system. Whether socialists like it or not, our system is not only more productive, but it is also the only one that is morally and ethically sound, unlike their murderous system. Therefore, without capitalism, we will be condemned to the miseries of planned societies, which are nothing more than slave societies with much better marketing. What they call the welfare state is nothing more than a phrase they use to hide the fact that, deep down, their path is the path of servitude. Here I would also like to mention a very important work by one of the world's leading anarcho-capitalist economists, Professor Jesús Huerta del Soto in a work called The Theory of Dynamic Efficiency. In this work, he seeks to determine the optimal path to growth, and after discussing various aspects of economic theory, he makes a very strong point in saying: “Nothing that is unjust can be efficient.” In other words, on the altar of Pareto efficiency with which we economists work, there should be no place for anything that is unfair; at the same time, he points out, anything that is efficient must also inevitably be fair, and that is rooted in our Western values, the values of the West, which are Judeo-Christian values. Moreover, as proof of this, when I hold cabinet meetings, I always say there is one rule: Ethical and moral values always take precedence over what political expediency dictates. There are no concessions when it comes to doing what is right; and when you do what is fair and ethically correct, the country will prosper. In this sense, know that my mission in Argentina is nothing more than a restoration of this common sense -- forgotten by a political class blinded by power, accustomed to taking credit, and appropriating the achievements and efforts of its free citizens. Turning strictly to Argentina, as everyone knows, my party has just achieved a historic victory in the legislative elections. We did everything that classical politics said we should not do, and the only thing that guided us in our decision-making was ethical and moral criteria. And the good people of Argentina responded emphatically with a resounding victory. We won by a wide margin in the national vote and even managed to overcome a deficit of more than 14 points in the province of Buenos Aires, which accounts for a third of the country's population. These were very difficult months for Argentines, as the economic coup that the opposition attempted to carry out from Congress slowed down the country's economy, generating uncertainty and unrest among citizens. As a result, I spent the last few months traveling around the country asking Argentines not to give up, promising them that this time the effort would be worth it. And this promise was not made in vain; it is not a commitment I take lightly: It is a sacred pact with the people, who have endorsed the path taken by this government and given us the tools to carry out the reforms that the country urgently needs. For all these reasons, I consider it important, once again, to thank the Argentine people for their trust, without which none of this would be possible. But why do we say that this time the effort is worth it? Because what was at stake in this choice was truly gigantic. These elections were a plebiscite between two models of country: the model of freedom and capitalism with fiscal order as its main battle horse, or the model of servitude that we describe as its "Goliath," the deficit, monetary issuance, debt, and obviously impoverishment. As I mentioned before, for months we have been receiving systematic bombardments from Congress. Almost all of the country's economists insisted, in the midst of a legislative attack on the outdated fiscal system, that our economic program was finished; and they clung to the evolution of asset prices and the rise in country risk to justify those attacks. We, on the other hand, said that the fiscal and exchange rate program was solid because the surplus is non-negotiable, because we stopped issuing currency more than a year ago, and because the Central Bank is capitalized for the first time in many years. And once the political noise cleared, what happened? The Argentine market had its biggest single-day rise in history, its biggest weekly rise in history, and continues to rise, while the country risk also fell by more than 400 points. In short, the exact opposite happened from that infamous August 12, 2019, when we experienced one of the biggest stock market crashes in world history due to the mere possibility that Kirchnerism would return to power -- which, incidentally, is nothing more and nothing less than one of the branches of 21st-century socialism that has found its way onto the East Coast: They dress up as lambs and are worse than the worst of ravenous wolves. If there is one thing that has become clear from this, it is the reality of what we refer to as kuka risk, or Kirchnerist risk, that is, the risk of socialism. We could see in numbers the magnitude of the political risk that our economic program always had to deal with. And this is because we have a political sector in Argentina that is so destructive, so alien to the basic principles of the economy and the common good, that its mere presence puts the entire country at extremely high risk. And now that they are further than ever from returning to power, we can dispel that fear. Historically, most successful stabilization plans around the world have had political consensus. What happened in Argentina was unprecedented: Yes, we carried out a successful stabilization plan with social consensus, but without political consensus. But the destabilizing attacks were deeply damaging to society. As you well know, political risk affects not only state financing but the credit of the entire economy. Kirchnerism's madness means that all companies pay more for financing, hire fewer people, carry out fewer projects, and sell less on credit. Kirchnerism's madness makes mortgage and collateral loans and credit card financing rates more expensive. Given this scenario, many wanted us to solve a structural risk problem with monetary policy. They wanted us to inject pesos to solve a problem of confidence and a falling demand for money. In economic terms, they wanted to solve the fall in demand by increasing supply. In everyday terms, they were asking us to put out a fire by throwing more gasoline on it. But understanding that this would only have aggravated the problem, we maintained the monetary framework. Returning to the point, we coexist with a part of the political system that refuses to do what Argentina needs, and we have just defeated that opposition resoundingly at the polls, and that is what matters. Argentina has finally said no to this madness, which has cost us so much over time. Argentina has taken a crucial step on the road to freedom, a step that is a good measure and is irreversible. Now, as a country, we must make up for lost time. We are decades behind the rest of the countries in the region, and even more so behind the rest of the world, in terms of the amount of high-demand goods and services we can produce. This means that the convergence of Argentina's wealth toward the levels of the rest of the developed world will be phenomenal: we are embarking on the path that will make Argentina great again. This is associated with a paradigm shift that has taken place in Argentina in recent years. We are rediscovering our faith in private property and the free exercise thereof, within the bounds of the law, as the only path to prosperity. We need to consolidate this change, so that fewer people suffer from poverty every day, so that more people can pursue their dreams, whether it be owning a home in which to raise their family, owning the car they have always wanted, or starting a business. Because change means bringing back freedom and responsibility for all our citizens. [America] is the country of freedom we dream of, a country we are committed to and are getting closer to achieving every day; a country that stands as a beacon for a West lulled by the sweetness of the present state by the fallacious arguments of those who see capitalism as a necessary evil and who fight for a present state [vision] that brings only the illusion of well-being in the present at the cost of destroying future well-being -- as has been demonstrated in Argentina. And I want to repeat this again to make it very clear: a present state [vision] that brings only the illusion of well-being today at the cost of destroying tomorrow's well-being, as has been demonstrated in Argentina. And we [Argentines] are the ones who can achieve this change and proclaim it, because we are heralds of a dystopian future, because we are living the future that will sooner or later come to countries that are also traveling this path of State servitude, embracing the nefarious ideas of 21st-century socialism, or better known in these parts as woke. We have already experienced how decades of statism turned Argentina, a country destined for greatness, into ruins. And today we have the duty and the challenge of rebuilding it; today we have the duty and the challenge of laying the foundations for a better future. And the key point is that two out of every three Argentines want this new path. As I said on Sunday, October 27, when I received the results: two out of three Argentines do not want to return to the past; they no longer want 21st-century socialism; they have realized the lie. With local nuances and preferences, two out of three Argentines want some version or another of capitalism. That is the window of opportunity that is now open to all of us. We have a calling to align all the pro-capitalist actors in the country who represent at least two-thirds of our society. It is time to build a broad capitalist consensus in Argentina, and this grand coalition for growth finds itself in a nation where everything remains to be done: a country decapitalized by years of irresponsible leadership that prioritized consumption over investment, to such an extent that, today, 70% of Argentine imports correspond to capital goods and productive inputs. The private sector already knows what it has to do, is aware of the opportunities, and understands that now is the time to seize them. As a result of the capitalization that we are just beginning to see and that will continue to increase over time, Argentina will exploit resources and grow industries that are today underdeveloped. To give a few examples: We have practically the same number of cattle as we did 30 years ago, which is crazy for a country famous for the quality of its meat. In line with this, I would like to thank President Donald Trump and his entire Administration for reaching an agreement on the Argentine beef quota, which is four times higher than the previous one. This is just one of the trade agreements that Argentina and the United States have owed each other for many years and that both countries are working to rectify. To further elaborate on this idea, Argentina does not export a single gram of copper, while Chile, which shares a mountain range with us, exports $20 billion worth per year. Similarly, we are on track for oil and gas to generate between $30 billion and $40 billion in annual revenue between now and 2031. We have a fishing industry that currently accounts for less than 3% of our exports, with enormous potential for growth and investment. And the same can be said of virtually any sector, be it infrastructure, tourism, dairy, grains, or the knowledge industry. We have such geographical diversity that virtually any human being on the planet who decides to invest in Argentina can profitably exploit their knowledge to export their talents to the rest of the world. Now, thanks to the normalization of our macroeconomy and the proper functioning of a large investment regime, we have the economic and political conditions to do so. And for the first time, we also have the right incentives to bear. It is no coincidence that we have already had announcements for more than $100 billion in the last year, of which more than $50 billion are already in various stages of approval. That is why we must continue to move forward on this path. Please be aware that, starting in December, we will have the most reformist Congress in Argentine history. This is not only because our party already has the necessary third to uphold our decrees and vetoes, but also because, together with the rest of the economically rational members of Congress, who fortunately are growing in number, we will build the political majority needed to pass the reforms that Argentina needs. In this regard, we are talking about labor modernization to update the conditions under which employment is generated in Argentina, bringing them into line with international standards in order to increase the number of workers belonging to the formal system. We are talking about deepening the path of deregulation and tax cuts to continue reducing Argentina's high costs, so that more and more companies can be profitable in Argentina, boosting our productive capacity to unprecedented levels. We are talking about reforming criminal laws so that crime is prosecuted and punished, because there can be no economic growth without the defense of life and property, which is nothing more than the fruit of each person's labor. In Argentina, those who commit crimes pay for them. In Argentina, there is no minimum amount of theft that is forgiven; all thefts are punished. Without going any further, many will remember the story of Sodom. Sodom was a city where theft was possible, where theft was allowed, and that is how it ended. It was destroyed. In this sense, we are talking about reforming criminal laws so that crime is prosecuted and punished, because there can be no economic growth without the defense of the right to life and private property, as I said earlier. These reforms will allow us to set this path in stone and enable all Argentines to grow with the certainty that effort and hard work are worthwhile, that the quality of life improves year after year, and that their children will have a life that they could not even imagine. Because, ultimately, the Argentina of the future, with all its benefits fully exploited, is unimaginable for any of us. And, in this sense, I want to invite you to be part of the future we are building. I want to invite you to invest in this country and demonstrate the power and moral superiority of capitalism, to be part of the redemption that the Argentine people need and that will serve as an example for the rest of the world. Given all of this, I want to thank you for listening. May God bless America. May the forces of heaven be with us. And long live freedom, damn it! Long live freedom, damn it! Long live freedom, damn it! Make America Great Again! 1 See this review in English of Israel Kirzener's body of work by Richard Ebeling Original Text Source: casarosada.gob.ar Text Note: Machine translated via DeepL. Supplemental editing for style and clarity by Michael E. Eidenmuller. Page Updated: 11/1725U.S. Copyright Status: Texts = CC BY 2.5 AR Deed Atribución 2.5 Argentina. Used in compliance with the terms found here. |
|
|
© Copyright 2001-Present. |