President Javier Milei received a standing ovation when he arrived at the Freedom Palace —thus renamed after leaving behind his time as a former CCK— to participate in the tribute dedicated to the Scottish economist Adam Smith, commemorating the 250th anniversary of the book “The Wealth of Nations”, a work that marked the modern history of economic thought. In this context, the president decided to show himself this Wednesday accompanied by the main staff of the Government and the closest nucleus of the libertarian space. At the Libertad Palace, the President closed his tribute to one of the economic theorists who most influence his vision of the
country.Before 8 p.m., Milei shared a panel of the event with the national deputy Adrián Ravier, also director of the libertarian think tank Faro Foundation, and with the economist Juan Carlos de Pablo, a personal friend of the president —whom he usually calls “The Professor” — and a traditional guest at his opera nights in Olivos. In the front row, the Chief of Staff Manuel Adorni and the Secretary General of the Presidency, Karina Milei, two of his closest collaborators, followed his presentation closely. Also present were members of the Cabinet, deputies, national senators and supporters who traveled from Casa Rosada to the Libertad Palace to accompany the
event.During the first part of her speech, Milei vindicated the work of Adam Smith and highlighted the validity of his ideas for understanding the economic growth and development of nations. In this framework, he addressed the impact of technology on employment and was forceful: “It's stupid the size of a
house.”The President also defended the process of economic transformation that drives his administration, with commercial openness and international competition. In that sense, he explained: “When someone appears and generates an invention, it's true... When I create the product, it will destroy other things; but I am buying a good of better quality and price. And I'm going to dump the savings into other assets and reallocate employment from one side to the other. Otherwise, we would still be with the candles. It's true that the process isn't instantaneous, but it's also not true that a company breaks up instantly
.” In the midst of the economic debate, the president recalled that unemployment —according to INDEC — closed 2025 at 7.5%, implying a difference of 1.1 percentage point (p.p.)compared to 6.4% recorded in the last quarter of 2024. Based on this diagnosis, he stressed the importance of modernizing the labor market: “A flexible market is needed
.”In another part of his presentation, the President emphasized that Smith “pondered competence and openness”. Along these lines, he quoted a conceptual passage from the Scottish economist's thinking and added:
“It would be great to find the paragraph where it says: 'When they mess with these artificial monopolies, barriers, privileges... all those predatory parasitic satraps are going to ruin them publicly. ' 150 years have passed and nothing has changed, it seems.”
In the second part of the speech, Milei praised his strategist Santiago Caputo, referring to a phrase he attributed to the advisor: “We have evolved so much as a society that we are making rocks talk and think.”
Part of the audience applauded Caputo. On the official broadcast, Manuel Adorni was seen accompanying with some applause, while Karina Milei remained attentive to the exhibition. Later, the president praised the Minister of Deregulation, Federico Sturzenegger, and once again questioned the rent law promoted at the time by former Pro Daniel Lipovetzky, to whom he directly alluded: “Obviously, the work of a stupid communist. Today he continues to defend it because 'it was misapplied, 'like
