The Chainsaw Was Right: Milei Did What Britain's Leaders Won't

The state does not create wealth; the state destroys it. The state can give you nothing because it produces nothing, and when it attempts it, it does so poorly. - Javier Milei

We are pleased to continue our series: What is happening in Argentina! Each month, Fighting for a Free Future Associate, Luke Lucas, will report for Voices for a Free Future on what has been happening under the world’s only libertarian presidency. Today, Luke looks back at Milei’s presidency as a whole and what he has achieved for Argentina in such a short period of time.

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Milei has become a bastion of libertarian ideology. We have seen a shift in the Overton Window. European media now views him much more favourably given his success cannot be denied. He is now viewed as having saved the Argentine economy. I have only been covering Milei’s presidency since just before the midterms in September 2025, but so much happened in the 15 months before that. This article is an overarching catch-up on everything Milei has attempted during his presidency.

The state does not create wealth; the state destroys it. The state can give you nothing because it produces nothing, and when it attempts it, it does so poorly. - Javier Milei

Milei’s Massive Deregulation Program

One of Milei’s fundamental beliefs is the abolition of the state. 10 days after officially taking office, Milei passed his Massive Deregulation Program, known as Decree 70/2023. As it contained more than 300 reforms and 366 articles, it could be its own article in and of itself, so I won’t explore it in detail, but it largely contributed to all of the reforms that followed.

Considered one of Milei’s defining actions, it aimed to swiftly reshape the Argentine landscape to promote competitiveness, investment, employment and economic growth. Although critics said Milei was “resorting to a ‘mega decree’ to advance his agenda that will undermine democracy and human rights”, we’ve now seen it was effective Shock Therapy that has turned the Argentine economy around.

Shock Therapy

Milei’s Shock Therapy began with his ordering a 50% devaluation of the Argentine peso shortly after his inauguration. He implemented severe austerity measures to eliminate the fiscal deficit and achieve his “zero-deficit” fiscal target. He achieved Argentina’s first fiscal surplus in years by freezing thousands of public projects, reducing subsidies in energy, transport and utilities, and slashing federal spending across nearly every ministry. Milei believes that inflation is a purely monetary phenomenon, and by focusing his policymaking on devaluing the peso, he managed to reduce MONTHLY inflation from 25% down to 2-3%.

Part of his Shock Therapy was government restructuring. Milei reduced the number of ministries from 18 to 8. He achieved this by either dismantling a ministry that was deemed unnecessary, and which could be achieved by a like ministry or merging ministries into one. An example is the Human Capital ministry, which was the consolidation of education, labour, and social policy functions, such as culture and women/gender etc. On top of reducing the number of ministries, he cut hundreds of state agencies, departments and secretariats whilst also committing to public-sector layoffs.

Reforming the Public Sector and Welfare

Milei’s public-sector reforms began by auditing payrolls, which resulted in firing or declining to renew thousands of public-sector contracts and closing agencies and institutions. Milei weakened anti-discrimination offices, indigenous affairs institutions, cultural programs and gender-related programs. All of this was part of his announced plans to eliminate tens of thousands of government jobs as he claimed Argentina’s bureaucracy was bloated and corrupt.

To help achieve the zero fiscal deficit, Milei has also reformed welfare and social policy. He reduced subsidiaries and social spending, tightened oversight of welfare programs and reduced transfers to provinces and local government. In an attempt to restructure food assistance systems, Milei tried to cut intermediary organisations out of aid distribution. However, he cut spending on public works tied to employment programs, which led to real wages falling before a partial recovery later. Poverty surged sharply during the early adjustment phases but as now readjusted to levels lower than before Milei’s election, from approximately 53% down to 28%.

Liberalising Commerce and Income Tax

Another part of Milei’s Massive Deregulation Program was to liberalise commerce. Milei has strongly promoted foreign investment in Argentina, including various trade deals with the US, Europe and China as examples. He has opposed protectionism and opened sectors that were previously more restrictive to foreign capital. In addition, he has supported the deregulation of international trade through freer Mercosur rules. And he has introduced special incentives for large investors, which include 30 years of stability for foreign investments over $200m through the Incentive Regime for Large Investments (known as RIGI). This also introduced tax, customs and foreign exchange benefits.

Part of Milei’s tax and fiscal reforms includes modifying income taxes as part of his broader simplification of taxes. He has promised major tax cuts in the long run, but it’s more than that he wants to reduce the amount of different taxes people pay (such as federal taxes), and shift fiscal power to provinces. This is part of his fiscal adjustments in pursuit of balanced-budget policies that he pursues aggressively.

Monetary Reform

Milei’s fiscal adjustment promised to shut down Argentina’s Central Bank and dollarize the economy during his campaign to be President. However, what he did was a bit more complicated than that. He did not fully dollarize the economy, nor did he close the central bank. What he did instead was to reduce the monetary issuance aggressively and promote currency competition by allowing a wider use of foreign currencies for contracts and transactions that facilitate foreign investment.

To stop the issuance of money, he tightened central bank policy and reserve management so that they could not interfere with this readjustment to foreign capital. It is worth noting that he has continued to discuss the eventual closure of the central bank or the replacement of it with a more suitable institution.

Omnibus Reform Bill

To help achieve his Massive Deregulation Program, Milei also passed his Omnibus Reform Bill. This bill initially failed in congress but in 2024 Milei secured a modified version. This expanded the presidential emergency powers that he used to push through legislation. Although some of the original proposals were watered down or removed entirely, it also helped to pursue the goals I have stated above: tax changes, investment reforms, administrative reforms, incentives for large foreign investments, reduced bureaucracy and it provided authorisation to privatise selected state firms.

Milei has pursued a massive privatisation agenda that he has repeatedly pushed to achieve the privatisation or partially privatisation of state companies. This has largely targeted infrastructure such as state media, rail, energy and water. It also has also targeted Aerolíneas Argentinas, the dominant domestic flights company that links major cities and tourist hubs.

One reason the Omnibus Reform Bill stalled was efforts to remove certain companies from privatisation packages. An example is Yacimientos Petrolíferos Fiscales which was removed from the packages. It operates across the entire hydrocarbon supply chain, managing everything from oil and gas exploration and production to refining, transport and the commercialisation of petroleum products. It is probably not a bad thing for the state to continue to own this business at this time, considering Milei’s broader attempts to loosen the restrictions on oil and gas mining in Argentina.

Milei vs Judges

However, not all of the reforms have managed to pass; a judge nixed six articles largely related to Milei’s labour reforms. Somewhat uniquely, Labour rights are written into the Argnetine Constitution. Milei has succeeded in moving Argentina’s labour laws to a more employer-friendly deregulated direction; however, he finds himself in an ongoing legal battle with the courts as they consistently constrain his labour reforms.

Similarly, judges blocked reforms on extending probation periods, reducing severance costs, limiting union privileges, easing employer penalties, restricting strike-related protections, and making hiring/firing easier.

In 2024, Milei passed the Ley Bases reforms, which repackaged many of the previously blocked reforms, albeit watered-down. As both the Ley Bases reforms and the 2026 labour reforms passed through Congress, they are legally sounder and harder for the courts to challenge. The courts are now focusing on blocking provisions relating to union power and constitutional worker rights.

Reforming Argentina - Britain Should Learn From The Chainsaw

What we have seen is not a chipping away at institutions but a large-scale reformation. Milei has u-turned decades of economic abuse by exercising fiscal restraint instead of the pay-now tax-later approach so endemic across Europe - and nowhere more so than Britain.

The United Kingdom now carries the highest tax burden since records began. We spend more on debt interest than on schools. Welfare spending continues to climb year after year, yet living standards stagnate, public services creak and the people who depend on them most are no better off. We have poured more money into the state than at any point in our history, and what do we have to show for it? Longer NHS waiting lists, a benefits system that traps people in dependency, and a political class that responds to every failure by demanding more of the same.

Argentina pursued the opposite course - and it worked. Milei is proving that everything the left have told us about free markets and fiscal restraint is wrong. The policies we are constantly told will hurt the most vulnerable have instead lifted them up.

Thatcher was right. The best way to help people is independence, self-reliance and freedom, not state dependency.