Chainsaw Government

February 12, 2024  |  [View Online](  |  [Sign Up]( Chainsaw Government “Today begins the reconstruction of Argentina. Today begins the end of Argentina's decline. The model of decadence has come to an end. Argentina will return to its place in the world that it should never have lost. We are going to work shoulder-to-shoulder with all the nations of the free world, to help build a better world. Our key words are limited government, respect of property rights and free trade.” – Javier Milei, new president of Argentina Dear Reader, “Today, I’m here to tell you the West is in danger.” This is how the newly-elected president of Argentina, Javier Milei, began his address to the anointed gathered in Davos, Switzerland for the World Economic Forum (WEF) on January 18, 2024. We bring Milei’s address to your attention today because we have an important announcement for you… and it relates directly to Javier Milei taking on the world. As you may know, the WEF is an annual event attended by gads of political leaders, their minions, tech billionaires, Hollywood A-listers, non-governmental aid workers, climate-change activists and any other globalist world-improvers who can get an invitation, afford it, and/or secure accommodations. Climate activists, perhaps ironically, also blocked a private airport leading up to the meeting in 2024 because so many private jets were used by the world’s elite to jet to the remote Swiss ski town. Milei flew to Davos in coach. Speaking Truth To Power “In recent decades,” Milei set the tone for his address, “the main leaders of the Western world have abandoned the model of freedom for different versions of what we call collectivism. Some have been motivated by well-meaning individuals who are willing to help others, and others have been motivated by the wish to belong to a privileged caste.” Regarding the history of his own country, Milei warned the audience: “Thirty five years after we adopted the model of freedom, back in 1860, we became a leading world power. And when we embraced collectivism over the course of the last 100 years, we saw how our citizens started to become systematically impoverished, and we dropped to spot number 140 globally.” And yet: “If we look at the history of economic progress,we can see how between the year zero and the year 1800 approximately, world per capita GDP practically remained constant throughout the whole reference period. “If you look at a graph of the evolution of economic growth throughout the history of humanity, you would see a hockey stick graph, an exponential function that remained constant for 90% of the time and which was exponentially triggered starting in the 19th century… Now, it's not just that capitalism brought about an explosion in wealth from the moment it was adopted as an economic system, but also, if you look at the data, what you will see is that growth continues to accelerate throughout the whole period. “And throughout the whole period between the year zero and the year 1800, the per capita GDP growth rate remains stable at around 0.02% annually. So almost no growth. Starting in the 19th century with the Industrial Revolution, the compound annual growth rate was 0.66%. And at that rate, in order to double per capita GDP, you would need some 107 years. “Now, if you look at the period between the year 1900 and the year 1950, the growth rate accelerated to 1.66% a year. So you no longer need 107 years to double per capita GDP - but 66. And if you take the period between 1950 and the year 2000, you will see that the growth rate was 2.1%, which would mean that in only 33 years we could double the world's per capita GDP. “This trend, far from stopping, remains well alive today.” The immense progress and prosperity accrued in countries governed by democratic capitalist systems, Milei believes, is under direct attack, even by many of the members of the WEF assembled before him a few weeks ago. Not that the “outsider” who campaigned for president carrying a chainsaw to his campaign events was new to controversy. The prop was intended to convey what he intended to do to Argentina’s administrative state should he be elected. “Today,” Milei observed for WEF elites, “states don't need to directly control the means of production to control every aspect of the lives of individuals. With tools such as printing money, debt, subsidies, controlling the interest rate, price controls, and regulations to correct so-called market failures, they can control the lives and fates of millions of individuals. “This is how we come to the point where, by using different names or guises, a good deal of the generally accepted ideologies in most Western countries are collectivist variants, whether they proclaim to be openly communist, fascist, socialist, social democrats, national socialists, Christian democrats, neo-Keynesians, progressives, populists, nationalists or globalists. “Ultimately, there are no major differences. They all say that the state should steer all aspects of the lives of individuals. They all defend a model contrary to the one that led humanity to the most spectacular progress in its history.” Milei’s full address is worth a read. And we’ll get to it in the next day or two. Reading his speech requires some context. We got a few first-hand accounts from the ground in Buenos Aires and in the high Andes near Salta. For us, they provide a ground-zero perspective in the struggle to get the parasites who run government bureaucracies to choose alternate career paths. Why The United States Needs Its Own Javier Milei “Many Americans are in a tough spot right now,” economist Connor O’Keefe wrote commenting on Milei’s speech for the Mises Institute. In a hopeful essay entitled The United States Needs Its Own Javier Milei, O’Keefe argues: “Eighty years of inflationist monetary policy has made life more expensive. And the heavy government involvement in many of the most important sectors—including healthcare, housing, education, and energy—has made it harder for younger Americans to afford the same lifestyles as previous generations. “Further, the Federal Reserve’s manipulation of interest rates has left the American people heavily in debt, low on savings, and forced to weather the recurring nightmare of the boom-bust cycle. Meanwhile, as Washington’s decades of foreign intervention predictably blow up in its face, politicians are calling on the American people to fork over an ever-increasing amount of money in the futile effort to sustain an unchecked global empire. All while, at home, the government remains unable or unwilling to protect the lives and property of millions of Americans. “We may not yet have a poverty rate over 40 percent or inflation north of 140 percent like Argentina, but we’re on a trajectory that leads straight to that kind of economic ruin. It doesn’t have to be this way… ” We applaud O’Keefe’s optimism. But having witnessed the trajectory of the empire in the early decades of the 21st Century, we wonder. Even if we do know the way out, it will take twin epic political and financial crises before the populists come to their senses. And as our friend Byron King suggested on a recent episode of The Wiggin Sessions, we need “the adults to come back into the room.” Regarding the twin geriatric populists who appear ready to duke it out for your vote in this year’s presidential election, all we can say is it’s not likely they have your best interest in mind. Or at the very least, they are preoccupied weaponizing the empire for their own survival… “Crucially,” O’Keefe observes, “we need to put an end to Washington’s drive for a globe-spanning empire. The American people have been forced to fund coups, bombing campaigns, and full-on wars that have killed millions and made the world less stable. History is full of empires overextending themselves and collapsing. Let’s opt out of our own downfall.” So it goes, Addison Wiggin, The Wiggin Sessions P.S. The last time I sent you a missive was exactly two months ago today. I’ve been a tad busy writing, with Bill Bonner, the third edition of Empire of Debt, fully updated to today’s post-pandemic, near apocalyptic, economic and political situation. Likewise, we’re putting The Wiggin Sessions to bed. We were practically hibernating in our basement filming, ruminating, and writing about what turned out to be over 300 interviews. It was never meant to be more than an attempt to keep up with the network — the fraternity of writers, analysts, money managers, world travelers, mentors, and deep thinkers we belong to. Today, I’d like to begin to introduce you to the idea of a new project we’ve conceived. Inspired by, among others, Javier Milei. We also tap a long legacy of writers, thinkers, and activists from James Dale Davidson, Doug Casey, and Lore William Rees-Mogg to Bill Bonner, Jim Rickards, and George Gilder. I’ve been personally motivated for thirty years to write, research, and publish ideas that help you navigate an extraordinary period of economic growth, technological progress, financial gains… and shenanigans. We’ve been tracking, detailing, and agonizing over the government’s growth in influence and ineptitude. What went wrong in the 21st century is becoming a popular subject for historians. Here’s Ed Snowden, now ‘on the lam’ in Moscow: “If I had to explain how the American Century collapsed in just 3 points, I might say: * Impoverishing the worker via union-busting & off-shoring * Unleashing the state by abandoning the gold standard * Continuously erasing essential liberties post-9/11.” “Snowden gets 2 out of 3, which is not bad,” Bill and I comment in Chapter 16 of Empire of Debt. “The end of the gold standard allowed government spending, debt, and cockamamie projects to increase enormously. And, he’s right that the feds took advantage of a fearful population, post-9/11, to grab more power in the Patriot Act. Union busting and off-shoring, too, may have contributed to lower compensation for the working classes, but the real source of the trouble was the funny money itself. Rather than make things and trade with other producers, Americans could buy on credit.” With those words, we remobilize our axioms. We’re diggin’ in…  back to our roots. We think you’re going to like our renewed enthusiasm. And we’re confident you’re going to benefit from a fresh perspective on what’s happening here on this funny ol’ blue ball we call home. More tomorrow. The Daily Missive from The Wiggin Sessions is committed to protecting and respecting your privacy. We do not rent or share your email address. By submitting your email address, you consent to The Wiggn Sessions delivering daily email issues and advertisements. To end your The Daily Missive from The Wiggin Sessions e-mail subscription and associated external offers sent from The Daily Missive from The Wiggin Sessions, feel free to [click here.]( Please read our [Privacy Statement.]( For any further comments or concerns please email us at feedback@wigginsessions.com. 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