Chief Investment Strategist, The Freeport Society
Elon Musk is President Trump’s wrecking ball…
The Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) mandate?
Slash federal jobs that are a waste of taxpayer money.
That’s great news for America.
Or it’s a total catastrophe.
Depends on which side of the political fence you sit.
So far Musk claims to have cut $55 billion from the U.S. federal budget…
That’s hardly chump change.
But it’s less than 1% of the $7 trillion budget for 2025.
It would hardly cover two and a half days’ worth of interest payments on the U.S. national debt.
So, the jury’s still out on how much Musk and his team can achieve.
But as we’ll explore today, Trump isn’t the first world leader to take a wrecking ball to civil service.
Argentine president Javier Milei has slashed government spending by 30%, eliminated half of the government’s ministries, and set up his own version of DOGE.
His tool of choice is a chainsaw, but the effect’s the same.
So, if we want to figure out what DOGE means for the U.S., it helps to understand what Milei’s cuts have meant for Argentina.
To help me unpack this, I invited Joel Bowman, an independent journalist and editor of Notes from the End of the World, to join me.
Joel has lived in Buenos Aires, Argentina for more than a decade. He’s been covering the Milei revolution from the beginning.
We discuss what lessons we can draw from Argentina’s free-market experiment and what it could mean for Musk’s efforts in America.
Here’s a spoiler alert: It’s not all sunshine and roses.
Argentina had a nasty recession last year. But it’s growing again this year.
So, has Milei’s shock therapy been worth it?
Watch today’s video to hear what Joel thinks… and what we can look forward to under Musk’s wrecking ball…
To live, liberty, and the pursuit of wealth.
P.S. If you want to hear more from Joel, make sure to check out Notes From the End of the World. It’s a great way to keep up to date with what’s happening with the Milei revolution.
And Joel doesn’t just write about Argentina. As he puts it, he calls out naked emperors, slays sacred cows, and foils lame canards of all sorts from his perch in Buenos Aires.