Last week, Argentina President Javier Milei spoke at Stanford University’s Hoover Institution, where he unapologetically argued in favor of free market capitalism and against those who want to push the West toward socialism. This speech, along with Milei’s model for leadership in Argentina, proves that the United States needs an economist president as the nation faces economic troubles caused by bipartisan ignorance.

Milei said on Wednesday that incessant state interference in the economy is hindering economic growth across the world and that too many view minor inconveniences as market failures. He went one step further and criticized the concept of market failures as a whole, particularly because markets are so difficult to define. In his view, “we are the market,” meaning that those who seek to control the market really intend to control the people.

He believes that as the number of bureaucrats expands, “they need to justify why they are heating the chair,” and “they create regulations.” Milei cautioned against unnecessary regulations, especially as many reduce incentives to innovate. “What you are doing is killing innovation and therefore killing economic growth,” he argued.

Milei also addressed more technical economic questions, including the contradiction between models and the real world. He believes that politicians often try to mold reality to fit an economic model rather than accepting that the models may be flawed.

However, Milei has done more than simply talk about these policies — he has implemented a “chainsaw operation” to reduce the size and scope of the Argentine government. While it is too early to declare success, the economy has responded positively to his presidency.

Unfortunately for the U.S., neither major presidential candidate this cycle has a very good grasp on economics.

While the Biden administration’s economic woes have been well documented, former President Donald Trump has promised a similarly disastrous economic policy for his second administration. Last year, Trump argued in favor of “reviving mercantilism for the 21st century” by implementing “universal tariffs.” He justified this policy by saying that taxes would only be raised on foreign countries but reduced for Americans — an obviously naive argument. The reality is that taxes on imports are paid by American consumers.

Moreover, Trump is too afraid to touch entitlement programs such as Medicare or Social Security to prevent the coming national debt catastrophe. It is a catastrophe to which Trump contributed more than $8 trillion in his first term.

Milei has also set an example for the American Right in ways beyond economics. Since ascending to the presidency of Argentina, Milei has called abortion “murder,” remained steadfast in his support for both Ukraine and Israel, and requested to join NATO. 

For Argentina, it took an astounding degree of incompetence and a near-total collapse of the country’s economy to reach the point where someone as conservative as Milei could be elected. The U.S., however, is barreling toward a similar point of no return. American politicians would be wise to listen to Milei’s message before it is too late.