Inside secret Mar-a-Lago dinner: Why Musk wants to copy Argentina's budget cuts
A high-profile meeting between **Elon Musk** and Argentinaʼs **Javier Milei** reveals plans to bring drastic budget cuts to US government. Their unexpected partnership shows new direction for American spending reform
At a fancy Mar-a-Lago dinner this past thursday Elon Musk and Argentinaʼs president Javier Milei discussed how to bring south-american style budget-cuts to the US government (which shows their growing partnership in economic reform)
Milei‚ known for his chainsaw-wielding campaign style has made big-time changes to Argentinaʼs economy since 12/2023: he closed down most government offices cut thousands of jobs and reduced the budget by one-third. His actions made the poverty rate jump to 53% from 42% causing long lines at food-banks; however the World Bank thinks things will get better next year
The tech billionaire Musk wants to copy this plan in America and cut $2-trillion from the US budget. Both men already had some connection – Milei checked out Teslaʼs factory while Musk talked about putting money into Argentina
Weʼre exporting the model of the chainsaw and deregulation to the whole world
Expert Benjamin Geddan from Wilson Center thinks its not that simple. The US economy is different from Argentinaʼs: it has good growth low inflation and doesnt have the same problems. Plus Trump who brought Musk to help with budget wants to protect US trade while Milei likes free markets
- US inflation is under 3% while Argentina had 211% when Milei started
- Argentina closed 13 of 22 government departments
- About 30000 government workers lost their jobs
- The economy might grow 5% in 2025
The big question is whether Americans would accept such deep cuts to things like Medicare or Social Security – something that worked in Argentina because people were tired of high inflation and big government spending
