Rallo goes silent on Milei: from enthusiasm to silence

Rallo goes silent on Milei and Argentina

There was a time when Juan Ramón Rallo talked about Argentina every week. YouTube videos, tweets, analysis. Today, in the middle of the hangover from the Milei government's embarrassment over its decrees, the economist barely posts. The uncomfortable question hanging in the air is: what has peine to the man who put so many eggs in the Argentine president's basket?

The diagnosis going around is that Rallo didn't see what was coming. Argentina carries a structural problem that can't be fixed in four days: in 2023 the Peronists left behind **211% inflation** and **50% poverty**, and polls for 2027 show a tie. With that starting point, the state's retreat without a strong private sector to compensate is leaving companies closing because of the opening to imports. A country that hasn't competed for years can't be fixed by decree.

The problem isn't Milei, it's monetarism

The sharpest criticism isn't aimed at the president, but at the label attached to him. Some argue that Milei isn't an Austrian-school economist but a textbook monetarist: he asks for credit to prop up the currency, manages the central bank daily more than his predecessors did, and keeps the currency controls in place. Deregulation, to be fair, is moving forward. But the real economy isn't his concern, and setting up a business in Argentina still takes the same paperwork as before.

The detail that keeps coming up as a wink: his dog is named Milton. And he taught quantitative methods seminars at Goldman Sachs. With that résumé, what kind of Austrian would he be? The underlying accusation is that monetarists display a collectivism that Austrians should denounce more forcefully, and that the Austrian school doesn't speak up when it sees a supposed liberal managing the currency by hand.

The shift among Spain's liberals

The Rallo case isn't isolated. Huerta de Soto is also mentioned, whom Milei is said to have left high and dry. And Abascal, who according to the material declined to meet with Milei in Madrid just recently, while other figures from Madrid's PP (Spain's conservative People's Party) don't disown their friendships even when they screw up. When times get tough, nobody knows little Milei.

The deeper reading is that the economists who appear on TV and radio make one doubt whether teaching Economics at university is a good idea. Partisan bias disguises itself as analysis and politics swallows economics. Rallo, who prides himself on being a liberal, has fallen into the very thing he criticizes: drooling over a politician and then disappearing when the politician stumbles.

What nobody wants to look at about Argentina

Argentina is in a bad way. If it goes back to its old habits, it will pay dearly. And there's no strong private sector to compensate for the state's retreat. Many companies are closing because Milei removed barriers to imports. It's been many years without competition. Nobody can fix that in four days, not here or there: we've spent years sinking Spain and the EU in general, and it won't be solved by voting for some guy. We're going to have a rough time for several generations.

Meanwhile, Rallo's silence on Milei and Argentina is the detail that stands out. The man who talked every week about the liberal revolution now barely tweets. Maybe because the embarrassment over the decrees stings. Maybe because the monetarist inside him was always there.