How extremist Javier Milei became Argentina’s president: A story of debt, crisis, and empire

Extremist Javier Milei won Argentina’s presidential election on a far-right platform, pledging to abolish most government ministries, abandon monetary sovereignty, and adopt the US dollar, while cutting ties with China and withdrawing from BRICS. Ben Norton explains how a history of debt and colonialism keeps the South American nation trapped in seemingly endless crisis. Check out our article “How Argentina has been trapped in neocolonial debt for 200 years: An economic history“: Our related video “Global debt is unpayable: How Wall Street traps poor countries, profiting rich ones“: Judicial coup in Argentina: Corrupt judges conspire with media oligarchs to ban Cristina Kirchner from office: TOPICS 0:00 Meet Javier Milei 7:54 History of debt traps 13:38 Sergio Massa and Peronists 19:27 Economist Ha-joon Chang on dollarization 22:27 Cut ties with China and Brazil? 24:51 Far-right “libertarianism“ 27:55 Inflation, IMF, and foreign debt 30:46 Alberto Fernández surrenders to IMF 33:58 Investocracy: Rule by foreign investors 38:09 Exports and imports 39:35 Dependency theory 43:09 Protectionism and kicking away the ladder 46:28 Past failed dollarization schemes 52:56 Outro || Geopolitical Economy Report || Please consider supporting us at Patreon: Podcast: Newsletter: