Libertarian Gamble
Where news meets rational thinking
Good morning, It’s Friday, July 18th. In today’s news, Argentina’s libertarian gamble is paying off, Canada’s housing market is flashing ‘90s crash’ warning signs, Bloc Québécois leader warns of Carney’s Bill C-5 power grab, Poilievre faces 58 opponents in his Alberta byelection, and much more.
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Argentina’s Libertarian Gamble Is Paying Off
Javier Milei wasn’t supposed to win. He wasn’t supposed to survive politically. And he definitely wasn’t supposed to succeed. Yet here we are: less than a year into his presidency, and Argentina’s economy is growing, inflation is dropping, and faith in free markets is rising.
When Milei, a self-described “anarcho-capitalist,” stormed into office pledging to slash the state and dollarize the economy, over 100 economists warned of catastrophe. These weren’t no-names—figures like Thomas Piketty signed open letters predicting economic collapse. But voters, fed up with decades of Peronist statism and spiraling inflation, took a chance on a man with wild hair, a chainsaw prop, and zero political polish.
And it’s working.
Argentina’s economy grew 7.7% year-over-year in April, with 5.8% growth in Q1 alone. Monthly inflation dropped below 2% for the first time in five years. Poverty is falling. And despite criticism, Milei’s decision to abolish price controls and slash tens of thousands of government jobs is reviving sectors long strangled by bureaucracy and corruption.
Case in point: Buenos Aires’ rental market. With price controls removed, landlords returned hundreds of thousands of units to market. The result? A 40% real-terms drop in rent—accomplished not by more regulation, but by freeing the market to function.
Milei inherited a country that once ranked among the world’s richest, only to become a cautionary tale of populist socialism and runaway inflation. For decades, Argentine governments—Justicialist and otherwise—propped up a corrupt, overextended state by printing money and crushing private enterprise. Now, for the first time in generations, Argentines are being offered a different path—one rooted in individual liberty, personal responsibility, and free-market principles.
It’s not all rosy. Unemployment remains high, investment is still lagging, and foreign reserves are thin. But Argentines aren’t turning back. Surveys show that a majority of Argentines support Milei’s free‑market reforms—and some polls suggest as many as three-quarters back staying the course.
Milei’s presidency is still young, but it already offers a powerful reminder: the “experts” aren’t always right, the state isn’t always the solution, and sometimes, the most radical ideas are the only ones left worth trying.
Argentina bet on liberty—and for now, liberty is winning. Source.
Canada’s Housing Market is Flashing ‘90s Crash’ Warning Signs
Canada’s real estate market is sending up red flares.
According to new data from the Canadian Real Estate Association, the sales-to-new listings ratio (SNLR) fell to 49.3% in June, marking the weakest June demand balance since 1995—a time when Canada was in its most severe real estate crash in modern history.
It’s not just the level that’s alarming—it’s the speed of decline. The SNLR has now dropped for four consecutive Junes, falling 23.8 points from its pandemic peak, a collapse, once again, not seen since the lead-up to the 1990s housing crash. The ratio’s plunge is being driven by new listings rising 8% while sales ticked up just 3.5%, meaning supply is now growing more than twice as fast as demand.
But wait…? That should be impossible—we're told we’re in the middle of a housing shortage.
We’re also told the housing crisis is being driven by a lack of supply to meet surging population growth. And on paper, it’s true: Canada added over 1.2 million people in 2023, and 1.3 million in 2024, mostly via immigration. But if demand is surging, why are homes suddenly sitting longer, and why is demand weakening?
Because cost of living is killing the market.
Interest rates remain stubbornly high. Wage growth is stagnant. Grocery bills and rent have exploded. The average Canadian simply can’t afford to buy, no matter how badly they want to. The result? A paradox: record population growth, millions needing homes—and yet, buyer demand is vanishing. The housing shortage narrative begins to play second fiddle when people are priced out of home ownership entirely.
And this is not just a social crisis—it’s a market one. The last time SNLR dropped this quickly—from 1988 to 1990—it triggered the sharpest real estate correction in Canadian history. In Toronto, average home prices dropped over 25% nominally and over 40% in real terms.
We may be heading for a repeat. But this time, it’s not just speculation or overbuilding driving the fall—it’s systemic affordability failure driven by bad government policy. Source
Yves-François Blanchet Slams Carney’s Bill C-5 as a Power Grab That Ignores Trade Crisis
Bloc Québécois Leader Yves-François Blanchet is warning that Prime Minister Mark Carney’s sweeping new legislation, Bill C-5, represents a dangerous concentration of power—one that prioritizes corporate interests over urgent economic diplomacy.
Blanchet criticized the bill as a “mammoth” law that grants the Prime Minister and his ministers—Dominic LeBlanc and Terry Hudson—the authority to suspend the application of any law in designated territories in order to fast-track federally approved projects. According to Blanchet, the legislation is being positioned as a solution to bureaucratic inefficiency, but the real beneficiaries are large-scale oil and gas ventures backed by major financial interests like Brookfield.
“None of those projects can be completed in less than 10 or 12 years,” Blanchet said. “So why is this the priority in the middle of a trade and tariff crisis?”
Blanchet accused the Carney government of failing to treat the U.S. trade dispute with the seriousness it deserves. He pointed out that the Prime Minister has made concessions without securing tangible outcomes and has yet to initiate a formal negotiating table—“the only place where a treaty might appear.”
Rather than focusing on long-term industrial projects that disproportionately benefit Western Canada and select corporate entities, Blanchet argued that Carney should redirect his attention toward restoring economic balance through immediate diplomacy. “Negotiation is the priority,” he said, “not projects that will take more than a decade to complete.”
He also condemned the government’s lack of transparency and refusal to meaningfully include opposition parties in discussions around trade strategy, calling it a disservice to the democratic process. “We were elected for that purpose,” he said. “But so far, we are being kept in the dark.”
Blanchet’s remarks underscore a broader concern that Bill C-5 is less about national efficiency and more about circumventing Parliament under the guise of urgency. “It’s not a solution. It won’t fix tariffs or trade. And it puts power in the hands of a few, without accountability.”
As Carney’s government moves ahead with Bill C-5, opposition voices like Blanchet’s are sharpening their critique—raising alarms about what this legislation means for democracy, federalism, and Canada’s economic sovereignty. Source.
Poilievre Facing 58 Opponents So Far in Alberta Byelection Targeted by Long Ballot Protest
Pierre Poilievre is facing déjà vu in his bid to re-enter Parliament, as the protest group Longest Ballot Committee is again flooding his byelection with dozens of candidates—this time in the Alberta riding of Battle River–Crowfoot. The group, which opposes Canada’s first-past-the-post electoral system, had registered 58 candidates as of July 16 and aims to hit 200 before the July 28 nomination deadline.
This is the same group that crowded the ballot in Poilievre’s previous Carleton riding during the April election, where he lost to Liberal Bruce Fanjoy. Poilievre attributed that loss not to the protest but to strong public service union opposition in the Ottawa-based riding, given his stance on cutting the federal bureaucracy.
Now running in a safer Conservative stronghold, Poilievre faces another long ballot, which includes protest candidates linked to indie rock videos and satirical lyrics mocking the political system. One organizer, Tomas Szuchewycz, is again serving as the agent for most of these independents. Poilievre and others have criticized the tactic as disruptive, calling for reforms to limit mass candidacies. More
Trump Signs HALT Fentanyl Act Imposing Harsh Penalties—China to Enforce Death Penalty
President Donald Trump signed the Halt All Lethal Trafficking of Fentanyl (HALT) Act, imposing harsher penalties for fentanyl trafficking and reclassifying related substances as Schedule I narcotics. The law mandates a minimum 10-year sentence for distributing 100+ grams—enough to kill 50,000 people. At the White House event, Trump said China will now enforce the death penalty for fentanyl production under a prior agreement with Xi Jinping and defended his 20% tariff on China as punishment for fuelling the US fentanyl crisis. More
UK to Give 16-Year-Olds Right to Vote in Landmark Election Reforms - More
Berlin Says ‘Nein’ to EU Budget Proposal That Would Send €100B to Ukraine - Russia-friendly Slovakia and Hungary were also against the proposal: “Ukraine would get a massive funding boost, while European farmers lose out,” Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban said. More
Ex-NYPD Commissioner Sues NYC Mayor, Alleging He Ran Police Department as a 'Criminal Enterprise' - Thomas Donlon accused Mayor Eric Adams of showering loyalists with promotions, burying misconduct, and gratuitously punishing whistleblowers. More
Not defending Adams, but ever since he challenged the Dems on immigration, he’s had a target on his back. With an election coming, this timing feels a little too convenient—if not outright designed to sink his re-election chances.
Vancouver Airport Hijacking Suspect Called Himself ‘Messenger of Allah’ on a Climate Mission - “I am a messenger of Allah,” Cassim wrote. “I am the messiah sent to save humanity from climate change and usher in an era of world peace.” More
Fire at Newly Opened Iraq Shopping Mall Kills More Than 60 - The cause was not immediately known, but one survivor told AFP there was an explosion. More
Why Your Grocery Bill is Still Climbing—Even as Inflation Cools
Canada’s official inflation rate may have dipped below 2% in June, but food prices remain stubbornly high. According to food researcher Sylvain Charlebois, a combination of old tariffs, industrial carbon tax pressure, and policy missteps are quietly keeping your grocery bill inflated. Some of the counter-tariffs Canada imposed during the US trade war have technically been lifted, yet their price impacts linger—especially on everyday items like coffee, fruits, and meats.
Compounding the problem are prolonged droughts in Canada and the US, driving beef prices to near-record highs. Don’t expect relief soon—experts say these elevated prices could stick around into 2026. On top of that, Canadian grocers are dealing with thin profit margins, volatile input costs, and regulatory unpredictability. The result is what Charlebois calls an “uncertainty tax”—where companies preemptively raise prices to shield themselves from future shocks.
Meanwhile, federal efforts like Ottawa’s “price freeze” announcements are more optics than outcome. The Competition Bureau warns that unless Canada addresses deep structural problems—like lack of competition and supply chain inefficiencies—your grocery bill will keep outpacing official inflation. More
Workers Ordered to Vote on Canada Post’s ‘Final’ Contract Offer Starting Monday - More
European Energy Giants Sign Deals to Buy American LNG - The Trump administration has been pushing the EU to buy more gas from the United States to balance overall trade. More
Scientists Create New Supermaterial That Could Replace Plastic
Researchers at the University of Houston have developed a groundbreaking method to turn bacterial cellulose—a natural, biodegradable biopolymer—into strong, flexible, and multifunctional sheets that could replace plastics. Using a custom rotating culture device, they guide bacteria to produce cellulose with aligned nanofibrils, enhancing its strength and properties. By adding boron nitride nanosheets, they further improve the material’s mechanical and thermal performance. This eco-friendly, scalable process could lead to sustainable alternatives for packaging, water bottles, textiles, electronics, and more—helping reduce plastic waste, mitigate environmental damage, and avoid the health risks posed by toxic chemicals like PFAS found in many conventional plastics. More
Trained Dogs Detect Parkinson’s With 98% Accuracy - They’re able to identify the condition from skin swabs, even before symptoms appear. More
Hockey Canada Mandates Gender Identity Training for All Coaches and Staff
Hockey Canada now requires all coaches, trainers, and staff to complete a mandatory gender identity and expression course to maintain certification. This policy stems from a 2022 shift allowing athletes to compete and access facilities based on gender self-identification—regardless of medical transition or biological sex. That means a biological male can now play in girls’ leagues and use female dressing rooms simply by identifying as a girl.
The policy is applied from the grassroots level up, affecting children and youth across the country. And while it’s being framed as “inclusion,” it effectively sidelines concerns around fairness, safety, and privacy—especially for young female athletes.
We’ve reached a point where ideology is driving policy in ways that ignore biological reality. Instead of protecting children, we’re forcing institutions like Hockey Canada to adopt rules that compromise them. Somewhere along the way, we stopped asking: what’s actually best for kids? More
The Leaderboard is Log Jammed After Day One at the British Open - Five players are tied for the lead at 4-under. Just one stroke behind sits another group of four, including world number one Scottie Scheffler. More
Fire Destroys Main Stage of Belgium's Tomorrowland Music Festival Before Event—Organizers Say Event Will Proceed as Schedule - More
Former Saints TE Jimmy Graham Rows Across the Arctic Ocean - More
“Father of the Year” Fakes DNA Test to Avoid Paying $125,000 in Child Support
Archaeologists Unearth Remarkably Well-Preserved, Treasure-Filled Tomb of First Known Ruler in Ancient Mayan Metropolis
On This Day in 1925, Adolf Hitler published his infamous manifesto, Mein Kampf, originally titled "Four and a Half Years (of Struggle) Against Lies, Stupidity, and Cowardice"