Klaus Hart Brasilientexte

I am confused by the Brazilian conjuncture. Recovery indexes are like a see-saw. Investors travel on quicksand.

With regard to the dollar, the Central Bank reminds me of my grandfather and his dog Nero who would get agitated when locked up in the back yard as a visitor approached.  He would angrily loosen his collar and leash in his kennel and would jump on the stranger. My grandfather would smack him apologetically.

The truce didn’t last. Nero would once again jealously growl and attack the person.

The dollar goes up, the Central Bank tries to lower it, foreign investors show signs of abandoning the Brazil ship, the government gives advantages and makes optimistic speeches.

http://www.welt-sichten.org/artikel/221/der-hoelle-hinter-gittern

As Pope Francis proclaimed, if the stock exchange falls, the elites sound the alarm of anxiety. Gold itches like nettles.  If poverty increases as a result, who cares, except those who have no investments and are hungry? Two points down on the stock exchange cause more worry in the media than 2000 people who are killed daily by the lack of basic nutrition.

While the economy sails according to unforeseen winds, the government arms itself with “counter sequential” measures in order to keep the dragon of inflation locked up. Just as my grandfather did with Nero. “Do nothing about a distraction, it could be just a drop in the bucket” sings Chico Buarque. All eyes are on the 2014 elections, the North magnetising Brazil’s compass.

Prior to May 2013 everything seemed to be under control, with high indexes of approval stroking the government’s ego. Until the streets overflowed with demonstrators. The nation, lying in great comfort with a silver spoon in its mouth, woke up.

Were there improvements during 10 years of the PT (Worker’s Party) government? Without a doubt. The municipalities’ HDI divulged by the IPEA (Institute of Applied Economic Research), the significant fall in the cost of the monthly food allowance, the increase in the income and longevity of Brazilians are all proof.

Look at our roads: full of cars made available by abundant credit and payments which extend beyond the Last Judgment.

All seemed to resemble the country of Alice, a wonderland! Tax exemptions for household appliances allowed a huge number of low income Brazilian families to acquire refrigerators, stoves, washing machines, etc.

In the North-eastern hinterland the donkey gave way to the motorbike and, in Amazonia, oars gave way to motor boats. Like the phoenix rising from the ashes of poverty, Brazilians grew wings and reached improved living conditions. Airports became busy and lost the glamour of a place reserved for the elite. Flip flops were seen in waiting rooms and abroad. Shop keepers learned half a dozen words in Portuguese so as to help tourists who, every semester, flood the shops with billions of dollars.

Did Alice turn into a witch? What happened? If everything was going so well, why so many protests?

The government underestimated the population’s sound judgment. It did not create channels for dialogue with social movements (which were tolerated but not valued). Nor with the allied base. Suddenly, it found a dissatisfied Nero becoming free of his leash.

What do those people want? Elementary, dear Watson. In developed countries, like England, Holland and Sweden, the government first makes sure that people had public goods like transport, education and health. The “public line” preceded the “white line”[1] <#_ftn1> .

Brazil went in the opposite direction. We have fridges, but we must be careful not to drink too much iced water. It can irritate the throat and make us hoarse. Our public health system (SUS) is as un(equal) as our urban bus system and private health plans are the equivalent to a private school’s monthly fees. The government claimed lack of funds for attending to the good of the community. The patient population believed this until Brazil became a huge sporting arena. The Confederations’ Cup, the World Cup, the Olympics and Paralympics. Just as in the story of Jack and the Beanstalk, fabulous stadiums magically sprouted from the ground. Even Rio’s Maracana stadium merited a new facelift, to the extreme joy of building contractors.

Now, how is it that there is not enough money to increase the subway system, qualify education and provide a good health system accessible to the poor?

The king is naked and the allied base doesn’t now know what clothes to wear for the 2014 elections. The federal government vacillates or, rather, oscillates between remaining hostage to the promiscuous alliance consecrated by “I’ll scratch your back if you scratch my back” and to structural reform – political, tax, agrarian, etc. – for which the nation has clamoured for a century and, in response, listens only to promises which will never be fulfilled.

Using public funds to nourish the insatiable greed of financial speculation of those who feed on the state through fake tenders and pharaonic works and spread corruption far from the eyes of inspectors and the punishing arm of the law is worse than a mob of vandals going into the streets damaging public and private property.

[1] <#_ftnref1>  In Brazil household items such as fridges, stoves, washing machines etc. are known as the “white line” (linha branca).