At CPAC Argentina, Ben Shapiro Says The World Will Follow Javier Milei’s Success

Speaking at CPAC Argentina Wednesday, Daily Wire Editor Emeritus Ben Shapiro argued that the country and its president, Javier Milei, have offered the world a vision for economic success.

“Argentina, the eyes of the world are on you. If you succeed, the rest of the world is going to follow you and I believe that you will succeed,” Shapiro said. “If you remain courageous and honest, liberty will succeed, because liberty must succeed.”

Join me today in Buenos Aires, Argentina, to break down the difference between free markets and socialism—right in the heart of a country leading the way toward a new dawn of capitalism. https://t.co/Ckm5gUncsG

— Ben Shapiro (@benshapiro) December 4, 2024

Shapiro called Argentina’s economic revival “perhaps the most important political development on planet Earth at this very moment.”

“Thats thanks to the people of this country who have finally stood up and they’ve said ‘enough,’” Shapiro said. “Enough to socialist evil, enough to the impoverishment, enough to the lies, enough to the bulls***. It’s time to take a chainsaw to all of it.”

Shapiro touted Milei’s record of cutting the number of government ministries from 18 to eight, downsizing the bloated public sector, and slashing the budget by 32%, leading to Argentina reporting surpluses. He also pointed out that inflation is declining in Argentina as the stock market is skyrocketing because of Milei’s actions.

“President Milei is now leading the world forward to a new golden age of liberty,” Shapiro said. “He’s doing so with extraordinary audacity and courage.”

Shapiro’s speech was a fierce defense of free markets against socialism that destroyed the Argentine economy.

“Free markets are moral and they are just,” Shapiro said. “They reward merit. They reward hard work and solid decision making. The assumption by socialists very often is that people who succeed in society are sort of leeches, that they are the people who work the least. That isn’t true.”

Shapiro stated that socialism, at its core, stems from envy.

“Socialism encourages revolutionaries who produce literally nothing and destroy everything that they touch. It encourages laziness. It encourages stupidity and it encourages dishonesty at scale,” Shapiro went on.

“Socialism is just evil,” he added. “Socialism is the philosophy of the thief. It is the philosophy of the man who would prefer to burn everything down rather than to build anything up.”

Shapiro praised Millei for subscribing to the Austrian school of economics, which teaches that individual actions are motivated by self interest.

“President Milei is intelligent, unlike most of our political class,” Shapiro quipped.

“Argentina is a perfect example of how all of these bad ideas, when implemented, cost people their lives, cost people their livelihoods and destroy entire civilizations.”

Shapiro noted that in the early 20th century, Argentina was among the richest countries in the world. But its failure to fully develop free markets and inclusive economic institutions, coupled with decades of tyranny and corruption, set the country on a downward spiral. That downward trajectory persisted until Milei assumed leadership and addressed these long-standing issues.

“Until the rise of President Milei the government was able to basically expropriate property rights at will with impunity and the result was radical impoverishment,” Shapiro said. “If you look at the record of Argentina from 1980 to 2023, it is one of the rare countries in the West where it actually got harder to live here. In fact it took more time to work to buy basic goods in 2023 than it did in 1980.”

Milei, a supporter of strengthening relations between Argentina and the United States, told Shapiro on his podcast in April that he believed his citizens needed to embrace the values of freedom that are values in the United States though they are under attack.

Shapiro said, however, he believes that Milei is leading the freedom movement in the world.

“Javier Milei, Argentina, you are leading the West back on to the right path,” Shapiro said.