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Javier Milei: Madman? Or savior?

Reason visited Argentina to find out if Javier Milei's reforms are working.

https://reason.com/video/2024/12/05/javier-milei-madman-or-savior/

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Argentina elected the first self-identified libertarian president in history. Is he a madman? Or a savior?

Can his libertarian ideas transform Argentina into a beacon of prosperity? Reason visited Argentina to find out if Javier Milei's reforms are working.

On the ground in Buenos Aires six months after Milei took office, a massive protest filled the public squares and streets outside the national legislature and presidential palace. Congress was voting on a reform package that would deliver on part of his agenda.

Nearly one in three Argentinian workers belong to a union, and organized labor holds tremendous political power and the ability to mobilize large protests like the one we witnessed opposing Milei's reform package. Participants say Milei's agenda helps the rich and handicaps the poor.

"None of what's happening [with the law] serves the interests of the people," says Sylvia Saravia, national coordinator for a left-wing populist political party present at the protest called Free Movement of the South, which opposed Milei. "For example, fiscal reforms that benefit the rich and hurt the poor."

If Milei gets his way, unions will be crippled by the time he leaves office. He wants to privatize sectors like the airline industry, which is dominated by organized labor, and to end the mandatory deduction of union dues. That would mean workers would have to actively choose to hand over part of their salaries to these groups.

"What [Milei] is doing is destroying science, destroying technology, destroying public education," says Saravia.

Protesters waved Marxist hammer-and-sickle flags and pictures of Che Guevara, the communist icon. Che was the ideological brains behind the Cuban revolution—but he was born here in Argentina.

Argentina was never communist, but the government has played an outsized role in the economy since the end of World War II. Protestors regularly take to the streets to defend the status quo against Milei's agenda—but that status quo has brought the country to the brink of ruin.

Argentina faced 25 percent monthly inflation when Milei took office because the government was printing money to pay for things it couldn't afford. As a result, roughly half of the people in this country of nearly 50 million were living in poverty.

Milei blames Argentina's downfall on "la casta," which essentially means the "elite political class."

Argentinian society remains divided on Milei. His public approval rating dipped below 50 percent six months into his term, though he still remains far more popular than his predecessor.

In his inaugural address to the nation, Milei was clear that as he followed his mandate to steer Argentina in a different, more libertarian direction, the road ahead would not be easy.

"A hundred years of failure don't come undone in a day, but one day it begins, and today is that day," says Milei.

Raisbeck says that if Milei succeeds, it will "change the game in the entire region" and make it easier for other Latin American countries to adopt libertarian reforms. But on the flip side, "if it fails in Argentina, then it will be very, very difficult for libertarians in the next few decades to put our message across because the left will always be pointing to that example if it doesn't succeed."

Producer: Zach Weissmueller
Video Editor: Danielle Thompson and Hana Ko
Associate Producer: César Báez and Ayelen Scapuzzi
Translation: Katarina Hall
Graphics: Adani Samat and Lex Villena
Post production supervisor: Cody Huff
Camera: Jim Epstein, Lucas Timerman, and Juan Renau

For all music and photo credits: https://reason.com/video/2024/12/05/javier-milei-madman-or-savior/Show More

Javier Milei: Madman? Or savior?

Reason visited Argentina to find out if Javier Milei's reforms are [...]

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Brendan O’Neill discusses his new book, "After the Pogrom: 7 October, Israel and the Crisis of Civilisation".

https://reason.com/podcast/2024/12/04/brendan-oneill-the-west-went-insane-after-october-7/

0:00- Introduction
1:16- O’Neill’s new book: "After The Pogrom"
5:48- Hamas is religious extremist movement
11:10- Islamism as extreme rejection of modernity
16:57- Is being anti-Zionist punk?
18:40- The ‘cultural appropriation’ of the Keffiyeh
21:17- Is Israel a white settler-colonialist state?
24:28- When did the left turn against Israel?
28:53- Is antisemitism connected to anti-capitalism?
32:30- The demonization of Israel
33:40- Palestine as the Omni-cause
35:34- The madness of Queers for Palestine
39:29- The catastrophe of post-Oct. 7 progressivism
43:34- Did Oct. 7 accelerate the collapse of wokeness?
46:40- How much should the west be supporting Israel’s war effort?
51:28- O’Neill’s political evolution
53:21- How gay liberation differed from the trans movement
58:22- Today’s young activists seek institutional approval
1:00:50- How Marxism & Trotsky influenced O’Neill
1:04:14- Critics of Zionism in 1930s-40s Europe

Today's guest is Brendan O'Neill, chief political writer for Spiked and the author of the bracing new book, After the Pogrom: 7 October, Israel and the Crisis of Civilisation.

O'Neill and Reason's Nick Gillespie talk about the response in the United Kingdom and the United States to Hamas' attacks last year, Israel's ongoing military actions, and what's likely to come next in a postwoke world. "On October 7," says O'Neill, "the progressive left went from 'believe women' to 'believe fascists.' They took Hamas at its word over the testimonies of raped women."

They also discuss whether O'Neill's politics have changed over the years. At the start of his career a quarter-century ago, he was an unapologetic man of the left—a self-declared Trotskyist, in fact. But these days he seems to make more common cause with conservatives and libertarians. "My rallying cry remains the same," O'Neill insists. "Increase the power of man over nature and decrease the power of man over man."

Reason's annual Webathon is underway. Please considering donating here: https://reason.pub/41c14XS.

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Eliminating the tipped wage in D.C. has led to higher prices and fewer [...]

Eliminating the tipped wage in D.C. has led to higher prices and fewer restaurant jobs.

https://reason.com/video/2024/11/21/why-these-workers-want-a-lower-minimum-wage/
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When labor activists came to Washington, D.C. demanding higher wages for restaurant workers, they clashed with an unexpected adversary: restaurant workers.

A few decades ago, waiting tables or bartending in the nation's capital could be quite lucrative. "The money was amazing. At the end of a good bar shift, what some people had to spend an entire week scraping in an office nine to five, I could make that in a night," says Damon Dixon, a restaurant worker of 30 years.

In 2016, a national movement started pushing to raise the minimum wage to $15 an hour. But D.C.'s tipped workers, weren't affected, thanks to a carve-out that let restaurants pay employees a fraction of the minimum wage as long as their tips covered the difference. Known as the "tip credit," this policy is common across the U.S.

Labor activists aimed to eliminate the tip credit, arguing that workers should receive the full minimum wage on top of any tips they earned. Saru Jayaraman, founder and president of One Fair Wage, has led the movement.

When D.C. voters passed a referendum to eliminate the tip credit in 2018, the city council overturned it at the urging of restaurant workers.

One Fair Wage got the measure back on D.C.'s ballot in 2022, and it passed by a wide margin. "Seventy-five percent of them voted for it because it was a free toaster," says Geoff Tracy, the owner of two D.C. restaurants.

The elimination is happening gradually, but restaurants are already feeling the pressure. Tony Tomelden—owner of The Pug, a beloved dive bar—says he's feeling the strain.

Meanwhile, Tracy estimates the wage hike will add $400,000 to his payroll per location each year. "That's like doubling my rent," he says, adding that these costs will inevitably get passed on to customers.

"We're watching a beloved bar back, a beloved busser, a dishwasher have their jobs taken away," says restaurant worker Valerie Graham.

Jayaraman claims that restaurant closures and job cuts in D.C. aren't caused by the elimination of the tip credit. "Since the initiative, more restaurants have opened, more workers hired," she explains.

While restaurant employment did initially rise after the measure passed, jobs have decreased by 4.3 percent since their December peak, according to Federal Reserve data.

Jayaraman challenged those numbers. "If you look at government data that the D.C. Attorney General has approved, we have 10 percent more restaurants in the District of Columbia, seven percent more restaurant jobs, and 6.8 percent higher wages. And that data was confirmed by The New York Times in April of this year," she told Reason.

The New York Times article that she cited (actually published in March) in fact contained inaccuracies about the number of restaurant employees in the District. When Reason asked the Times about the errors, the paper ran a correction.

Voters, Dixon argues, are "on a savior complex trying to save people that didn't need saving in the first place. The tips is the main reason why we got into this industry."

Formerly thriving businesses are now grappling with closures, vacant storefronts, staff shortages, and escalating prices.

"Put the pieces together in the puzzle," says Graham, "and we can see that this is not working."

Photo credits: Aashish Kiphayet/Sipa USA/Newscom; Erik McGregor/Sipa USA/Newscom; Murray Head / Splash News/Newscom; Zhao Hanrong / Xinhua News Agency/Newscom; ERIC MENCHER/KRT/Newscom; TOM PENNINGTON/KRT/Newscom; GEORGE SKENE/KRT/Newscom; Chris Maddaloni/Roll Call/Newscom; Tom Williams/Roll Call/Newscom; Douglas Graham/Roll Call Photos/Newscom; Lezlie Sterling/ZUMA Press/Newscom; John Pendygraft/ZUMA Press/Newscom; Doug Duran/Contra Costa Times/ZUMA Press/Newscom; St Petersburg Times/ZUMAPRESS/Newscom; Kyndell Harkness/ZUMA Press/Newscom; Bob Larson/ZUMA Press/Newscom; Jeff Malet Photography/Newscom; DAVID MAIALETTI/TNS/Newscom; Brian Cassella/TNS/Newscom; Antonio Perez/TNS/Newscom; Lenin Nolly/Sipa USA/Newscom; Leigh Vogel/UPI/Newscom; Allison Bailey/ZUMAPRESS/Newscom; Peter DaSilva/San Francisco Chronicle via AP; Amy Harris/Invision/AP; ROCUnitedCreative/Flickr; US Department of Labor/Flickr

Music Credits: "Eureka" and "Currents" by Ardi Son via Artlist; "Novembers" by New Day via Artist; "Singularity" by ANBR via Artlist; Sophisticated Nostalgia via Nobou via Artlist; "The Morning Light" buy Fancesco DAndrea via Artlist; "Loreland" by Marco Martini via Artlist; "Life's Journey" by idokay via Artlist; "Odd Numbers" by Curtis Cole via Artlist; "Separation" by ANBR;

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Audio Production: Ian Keyser
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1:10- Coping with wrongful conviction
6:29- Life in prison
15:28- Knox’s coerced confession
19:52- Knox’s second conviction & failed re-trial
25:55- The attempt to find ‘normalcy’
31:45- ‘Foxy Knoxy’ & the vicious press
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49:19- Italian v American criminal justice systems
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55:27- Police deception should be banned
58:36- Unrepentant prosecutors & Sandra Hemme
1:04:13- Prosecutor of Knox’s case & her new book ‘Free’
1:08:11- Knox’s relationship to True Crime
1:18:05- Knox’s podcast ‘Labyrinths’ & skeptical approach

Today's guest is Amanda Knox, an activist, writer, and host of the podcast Labyrinths. In 2007, while studying abroad in Italy, Knox was accused of murdering her roommate, Meredith Kercher, in what the lead prosecutor claimed was a bizarre sex game gone wrong. Despite mishandled DNA, a coerced confession, and a lack of credible evidence, Knox was convicted and spent nearly four years in an Italian prison before being exonerated in 2015. Her case was a media spectacle that sensationalized every aspect of her life.

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Author and Republican Party strategist Patrick Ruffini joins us LIVE [...]

Author and Republican Party strategist Patrick Ruffini joins us LIVE to discuss Trump's re-election and how the GOP is changing.

Subscribe to the new channel: @reasonJustAskingQuestions

Why did Donald Trump win?

Trump is back. Back again. He's secured the electoral college majority needed to become America's 47th president and looks on track for a popular vote majority, the first Republican to pull that off in more than 20 years.

A New York Times breakdown shows that across just about every type of county–urban, suburban, older population, younger, white, black, Latino–Trump improved his numbers.

Surprising to many was his large improvement among Latinos of all kinds, despite—or maybe in some cases because of—his hardline immigration stances and the presence of an insult comic who made a joke about Puerto Rico at his Madison Square Garden rally shortly before the election. Yet seven percent more Puerto Rican-Americans appear to have voted Trump this year than in 2020.

One person who is less surprised than many is today's guest, Patrick Ruffini, who wrote a book predicting a lot of this called Party of the People: Inside the Multiracial Populist Coalition Remaking the GOP. He's a Republican Party strategist and pollster for Echelon Insights and writes at The Intersection.

Sources Referenced:
2024 Presidential General Election Results https://decisiondeskhq.com/results/2024/General/President/
New York Times: Early Results Show a Red Shift Across the U.S. https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2024/11/06/us/politics/presidential-election-2024-red-shift.html
Wall Street Journal: How Different Groups Voted in the 2024 Election https://www.wsj.com/politics/elections/election-2024-voters-demographics-votecast-survey-5a21c604
The married/unmarried gap https://x.com/PatrickRuffini/status/1854074437353554212
Associated Press: How America voted in 2024 (demographic breakdowns) https://apnews.com/projects/election-results-2024/votecast/
National Center for Education Statistics: College Enrollment Rates https://nces.ed.gov/programs/coe/indicator/cpb
Florida 2024 election results https://www.cnn.com/election/2024/results/florida
Florida 2012 election results https://www.wsj.com/election/2012/general/state/florida
VoteCommon Kamala Harris Ad https://x.com/crampell/status/1852089207516278957

Chapters:
00:00 Intro
00:22 SUBSCRIBE TO THE NEW CHANNEL
00:58 Introducing Patrick Ruffini
02:25 Ruffini basically predicted this outcome
06:43 How did women vote?
12:29 The narrative of manipulative Trump-supporting husbands
24:51 The rise of the young Trump voters
33:25 What role did podcasting play?
36:23 the gender gap: are men becoming more right wing?
38:37 How Democrats lost the working class
46:18 Florida Constitutional amendments on abortion and marijuana
52:19 Tariffs! (And Dem hypocrisy)
01:01:48 Are Republicans just done with fiscal conservatism now?
01:07:17 Will the Democrats do some self-reflection?
01:08:18 What's one question that you think more people should be asking?Show More