On Twitter, I was involved in a dispute with the Mises Institute Germany regarding an award conferred upon Javier Milei. Here is my post:
https://x.com/AlessandroFusi9/status/1954578992272441681
And here is the response published by a German account supporting Milei:
https://x.com/atiedtke1/status/1954968236379754761
To this post, I responded with an in-depth analysis of the Argentine situation:
“Attack” is probably an overstatement.
Milei ran for office as the head of a criminal organisation and, as such, is subject to criticism. The conferral of an award by the Mises Institute Germany (https://www.misesde.org/2025/07/ludwig-von-mises-institut-deutschland-konferenz-2025/) is exaggerated and disproportionate, as becomes clear when considering the following points in response to the post by @JavierMileiDE. Personal insults are not my objective – although Milei himself resorts to them readily and often, which has likely contributed to his political success (source).
1) The claim that Milei has frozen the monetary base is simply false.
According to the Central Bank of Argentina (“BCRA”), between 2 January 2024 and 20 August 2025 the monetary base grew from 9,968,733 million pesos to 42,821,346 million pesos (source). Milei himself admitted in December
that not all pesos created to purchase dollars had been reabsorbed.
Under his predecessor Alberto Fernández, the monetary base was growing at 9.73% per month; under Milei, it has so far grown by as much as 16.91% per month. To speak of a “freeze” is therefore impossible – on the contrary, the expansion has been even sharper than before.
Anyone seeking to abolish the central bank (source) has little reason to “clean up” its balance sheet beforehand. And, from a libertarian perspective (source), the BCRA's official objectives – such as building net reserves to cover debts owed to the IMF, China, or private banks – are questionable in any case. Furthermore, such objectives have very little to do with a libertarian agenda (cf. Rothbard “Repudiating the National Debt”; Grau “Repudiating the Argentine Debt”), and even less with the Austrian School (source).
Milei’s monetary policy is not the “lesser evil”, but quite simply an evil.
Moreover, Argentina's public debt continues to rise, despite Milei's government insisting on a budget surplus (source). Since he took office, sovereign debt has increased by $40 billion, a figure that does not include the $42 billion granted in loans by the IMF, World Bank, and IDB (source).
2) The Central Bank continues to intervene in the foreign exchange market (source).
The claim that the BCRA no longer sets interest rates is also false (source).
The exchange rate against the US dollar remains within a state-mandated corridor between 1,000 and 1,400 pesos per dollar, adjusted by 1% per month (source). It is nothing other than an official exchange rate, even if it does not entirely determine the market. Furthermore, the BCRA regularly intervenes in the foreign exchange market to influence its direction (source).
3) As of 1 January 2025, the new tax agency ARCA can once again freeze and seize bank accounts and salaries
(source).
This power had been abolished under Fernández. Under a new rule published in June 2025, the tax authority has “humanely” stipulated that taxpayers have 48 hours before their bank accounts and salaries are seized. Milei has often claimed that taxation is theft (source). He is, therefore, an extraordinarily adept and effective thief, having set up a new, more efficient agency of extortion. Granted, it is positive that certain taxes have been abolished or lowered, but if the remaining ones are collected more effectively and swiftly, it is of no avail. So much for “libertarianism”.
4) Police reform modelled on the FBI.
Milei’s government plans to restructure the police along the lines of the US model, according to Security Minister Bullrich (source). Even if one were inclined to approve of this, it remains the policy of a conservative “law and order” regime, not that of an alleged anarcho-capitalist.
5) Milei himself stated in June 2025 in Madrid that the central bank could not be shut down, as this would unleash hyperinflation and bring the Peronists back to power (source).
As early as December 2024, he was talking about a minimum timeframe of four years (source). The closure of the BCRA is therefore postponed indefinitely, and is no longer a central objective. If it cannot be closed when political risks exist, then there is no limit to its permanence.
Meanwhile, the BCRA continues to regulate minimum reserve requirements, interest rates, and the foreign exchange market (source).
The fact that Milei praises figures such as Ben Bernanke – whom in 2013 he described as “the greatest central banker ever”, without ever retracting the statement (source):
– demonstrates how disingenuous his “anti-central bank” rhetoric is.
Even Juan Bautista Alberdi, whom Milei frequently cites, was a staunch opponent of central banks – as were Rothbard and Huerta de Soto.
6) Milei is a fraud.
He markets himself as a libertarian and anarcho-capitalist, yet behaves like an ordinary neoconservative – not very different from the right-wing establishment. Furthermore, he has broken numerous campaign promises (source).
Liberalism is an utopia that has already failed repeatedly. The State, as an institutional violator of rights, can never protect liberty, life, or property. This is also emphasised by Hans-Hermann Hoppe (source), whom Milei himself points to as a role model (source).
I myself warned early on that Argentina's liberal experiment – like all other similar attempts – was doomed to failure (source).
7) Regarding the current situation in Argentina, I recommend the latest article by Saifedean Ammous and Oscar Grau’s overview of Milei’s policies and alleged achievements.
8) Milei does not follow Rothbard’s teachings in any way.
Rothbard’s seminal article How and How Not to Desocialize clearly demonstrates this.
The Mises Institute Germany made a grave error in awarding Milei. It is no coincidence that Hoppe, Hülsmann, and Puster resigned from the scientific board (source).
That libertarians should divide over a politician – that is to say, over a criminal (source) – is a sign of deep weakness and causes serious damage to our movement. Klaus Schwab will be delighted: back in 2017, he described libertarians as the fiercest opponents of the “Great Reset”.
https://www.youtube.com/shorts/nSmEaYewZVA
9) Milei’s foreign policy has not been addressed here, although it constitutes a central point of criticism (cf. Grau: “Javier Milei Is a Neocon”). He unreservedly supports a state such as Israel, which is at war with Iran (example and source). From a libertarian standpoint, this is unacceptable. Even if one were to view Israel’s actions against the Palestinian civilian population as “self-defence” (source): all collateral damage violates the non-aggression principle. A state is not an individual; speaking of “self-defence” in the context of state warfare is absurd. In the event of conflict, states commit aggression both against their own citizens via conscription and taxation, and against the civilian population of the “enemy”. There is no realist justification for supporting a state at war. There is no libertarian justification for supporting a warmongering state. Alberdi – whom Milei often quotes – wrote plainly: war is always a crime (J.B. Alberdi, El crimen de la guerra).