Following the publication of his first book, "Relatos de un Progre" ("Tales of a Progressive") (Union Group, 2017), which was prefaced by Argentinian presidential candidate Javier Milei, columnist and Social Media Manager of Voz Media Leandro Fleischer announced his next book: "Relatos de un Progre: un Empresario con Conciencia Social" ("Tales of a Progressive: a Businessman with a Social Conscience") (Instituto Amagi para la Libertad, 2023). He did so at ESEADE University in Buenos Aires alongside the author of the foreword, economist and President of the Fundación para la Responsabilidad Intelectual (FRI) Eduardo Marty.
Speaking on the LD Libros program on Spanish radio station esRadio, Fleischer explained that in his first book he used the main character, Aryam, to satirically demonstrate several of the contradictions that progressives ultimately fall for. In the second book, the author will show how leftist policies work (or don't work) while maintaining the original's humorous tone.
He summarized a few of these progressive contradictions that he includes in the first book, which consists of 20 short stories. For example, progressives' constantly defend national industry and increases of taxes and controls, but they will purchase cheaper products abroad or pay and charge under the table whenever they have the chance.
Aryam is a young man whose life consists mainly of opposing capitalism, "imperialism," "exploitation," etc., in protests and on social media. His father, Ricardo, is the owner of a successful appliance company that managed to amass a fortune thanks to his effort, savings and the risks he was encouraged to take throughout his life. He is a serious person, dedicated to his work, but he also enjoys the company of his family. However, Aryam's mother, Lakshmi, is a woman with few goals, is extremely spiritual and is supportive of her child, no matter how rebellious his attitudes. It can be said that Aryam is more his mother's son than his father's, perhaps because she has spent more time with her son than Ricardo.
Despite being the vice president of his father's company, Aryam has never taken the opportunity to learn from him and has preferred to protest and support various causes he considered to be just.
The author described the main character of both books as "the typical progressive who was born into a wealthy family, who never did anything, who does not even know how to comb his hair," who also has a strong "feeling of guilt" and who believes "he has the solution to all the problems of the world and can tell entrepreneurs how to behave." However, he clarified that Aryam has good intentions, but as they say, the road to hell is paved with good intentions.
In the new book, Ricardo decides to leave the company in the hands of his son. According to Fleischer, Aryam begins to apply all the policies he has always defended "in a company where you have a restricted budget, where you can not print money, where you can not borrow as much as you want." He also begins to hire a large number of employees "who he considers oppressed minorities, such as trans and indigenous people," among others.
The author invited the audience to imagine the probable end of a company that does not take into account available resources and where prices are frozen or reduced due to inflation. Employees are hired with the goal of helping people, but the company is unable to "kick the ball forward" or to disguise the terrible results of these policies by, as various governments do, blaming others, such as businessmen, the American Empire, etc.
Fleischer said that he tried, "in a fun way," to use the book to demonstrate the results of these types of policies "taken to the extreme," which are applied in several countries of the world, such as Argentina.
The author pointed out that it is very interesting to observe how confusion, frustration, sadness and anger begin to affect Aryam because he fails to understand the reasons why employees turn on him and the company falls off a cliff in a short period of time, all in spite of his willingness to help and side with his workers.
As Fleischer noted in the book, "Aryam finally has to take responsibility for his words and his actions and go through all kinds of hard and unexpected experiences for someone who is suddenly forced to abandon fantasy and face reality."
People outside of Argentina can find the digital version both books on Amazon. At the moment, the physical version is only available to people residing in Argentina. Currently, they are available only in Spanish.
