America's Peron

[DemocratSinceBirth]

Decades of personalist rule turned Argentina into a global economic laughingstock. Donald Trump seems to have misunderstood the lesson.

When the populist strongman Juan Perón ran Argentina’s economy from his presidential palace in the mid-20th century—personally deciding which companies received favors, which industries got nationalized or protected, and which businessmen profited from state largesse—economists warned that the experiment would end badly. They were right. Over decades of rule by Perón and his successors, a country that had once been among the world’s wealthiest nations devolved into a global laughingstock, with uncontrollable inflation, routine fiscal crises, rampant corruption, and crippling poverty. Peronism became a cautionary tale of how not to manage an economy.

President Donald Trump seems to have misunderstood the lesson. His second term has begun to follow the Peronist playbook of import substitution, emergency declarations, personal dealmaking, fiscal and monetary recklessness, and unprecedented government control over private enterprise. And, as with Argentina’s Peronism, much of U.S. economic policy making runs directly through the president himself.

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https://www.theatlantic.com/economy/archive/2025/09/trump-peron-argentina-economy/684117/

[sop]

1. Must read article in The Atlantic.

I can't see Melania as Evita, though

[Haggard Celine]

2. Cult of personality

When will we as humanity learn not to put so much stock in charisma rather than quiet competence? We pay a hell of a price for the entertainment we get from charismatic leaders who don't have the brains to run this country.