Radical role model: a closer look at Argentina's president

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  The Economist Hello, Rosie Bloor here,

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  co-host of The Intelligence, our daily news and current affairs podcast.

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  You're about to hear an article from the latest edition of The Economist read aloud.

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  We hope you enjoy it.

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  Many people in America hope that the new Trump administration will take an axe to a bloated and overbearing government,

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  cutting spending and rolling back regulation.

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  Whether this goal is even plausible anymore is a crucial question for America and the world,

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  after two decades in which government debt globally has risen relentlessly,

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  fuelled by the financial crisis of 2007-9 and the pandemic.

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  For an answer, and a case study of taming an out-of-control leviathan,

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  head 5,000 miles south from Washington, where an extraordinary experiment is underway.

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  Javier Mele has been president of Argentina for a year.

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  He campaigned wielding a chainsaw,

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  but his economic programme is serious and one of the most radical doses of free market medicine

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  since Thatcherism.

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  It comes with risks,

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  if only because of Argentina's history of instability and Mr Malay's explosive personality.

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  But the lessons are striking too.

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  The left detests him and the Trumpian right embraces him.

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  But he truly belongs to neither group.

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