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 You can't deny it: in Brazil public authority is melting like ice cream under the sun. There are no command, no leadership, no political will and planning to deal with not only crises and the unexpected, which are a constant, but also to overcome the routine hindrances society is always throwing around.
In the administration's federal, state and municipal tiers, all we can find is perplexity. Brazil's structure has been dismantled, in other words, there isn't a single structure capable of presenting itself as being ready for an effective exercise of power. This is the worst drama, the antechamber of total disaggregation Executive Doesn't Know a Thing The population is abandoned to their own luck at the airports, when air traffic breaks down. Paulistas and Fluminenses (those from São Paulo and Rio de Janeiro), among others, have no one to turn to when their cities become lakes for lack of proper rain water drainage. In the opposite end, if the drought devastates several regions, the remedy is to pray to Saint Joseph or Saint Peter because the plans to divert the river streams never left the drawing board. Faced with the unfortunate condition of public hospitals, where patients have to be laid down on the corridors floor, who will come forward with a solution? Do we have perchance a single national structure capable of, upon taking up power, responding to the permanent and even routine hardships that come in constant and regular waves? Don't even dream about it. But let us see. Is there a single political party that can call itself prepared to, in the government, be able to heed the basic needs of citizens always having to deal with nightmares? In recent times the PMDB (Party of the Brazilian Democratic Movement) seemed to have what it takes, but it happened what we saw. More recently, our hopes turned to the PT (the ruling Workers Party), which ended up becoming better known through the likes of Delúbios, Dirceus, Valérios, sanguessugas (bloodsuckers) and mensaleiros (congressmen involved in the cash for vote scandal). Would it be possible that Congress would stand in for the parties? It is enough to recall that the now lame-duck legislature has been powerless in its attempt to create laws, which are able to solve some of our big and even small shortfalls. About the Executive Power there is nothing we can say. It has always ignored every thing and it is never able to look ahead in order to prevent the unexpected and crises. And it continues mistaken if it believes that the magic formula of success lies in mere assistencialism. Unions Turned into Clubs The Judiciary Power? In the past, when the Estado Novo's (New State) dictatorship fell, it prospered for a short time the motto "all power to the Judiciary," but it didn't last long. With all due respect, judges today seem more concerned about readjusting their emolument. You can't count on the business community either because while some of them are merely interested in increasing their profits through speculation others are just trying to escape bankruptcy and the fiscal hell that torments them. Would the unions be the saving structure that would bring the nation to its tracks? Not at all! The big union confederations have also been transformed into recreational clubs, without the might to marshal the working class, except for one or another privileged category. The church? Surrounded by anachronisms and undecipherable documents, the distance between the clergy and the faithful keeps increasing, while there is a lack of new candidates to the priesthood and the Vatican keeps on spreading its backward ideas. From the evangelicals there is nothing to expect. They are simply committed to collect money and to promise that all will be solved in the other life. The military have already had their opportunity and today they wouldn't leave their barracks under any circumstances. They lack the will and also there is none of the needed popular appeal. Fortunately. Would it be the press the national institution able to offer some way out for the impasse? Once again, no way! The TV garbage that deluges us blends with the unfortunate ways used to look for readers through the publication of the superfluous and the lowbrow, also with the honorable exceptions. Without mentioning the excessive competition that throws the media apart and makes that the difficulties of some become the joy of others. What is left then, as a national structure capable of taking over the responsibility to mend Brazil? Nothing. There is nothing left. Carlos Chagas writes for the Rio's daily Tribuna da Imprensa and is a representative of the Brazilian Press Association, in Brasília. He welcomes your comments at
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. Translated from the Portuguese by Arlindo Silva.
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http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_income_equality
Below is part of an article published not so long ago, on the subject of incomes that shows that what is happening in Brazil is not only Crazy but just impossible in a developed or even developing country, except in Brazil...of course :
"We have long written about the dire situation in Brazil whereby a small percentage of the population works their guts out to support a small absurdly rich minority including bankers, a mass of poor, and a bloated and corrupt public sector workforce, indeed the very classes that supported President Lula in his reelection. It is the small middle class that has to pay amongst the world’s highest taxes and interest rates to support the rest, and it is this, combined with corruption that holds Brazil back from growing at a pace anywhere near that of rival nations.
A survey published this week by Dieese shows how the nation is strangling its “chicken that lays the golden eggs†(workers and companies that pay taxes) in order to support other sectors of society, and in this case in particular, those who have jobs in the public sector and pensioners.
According to the survey, the income of workers in the main metropolitan regions has effectively dropped a third over the last fifteen years. but is in fact only just over R$1.000. And, if that worker earning R$1,000 per month in the private sector were to do the same job in the public sector, he would earn R$3,617 per month, plus of course a host of perks, employment guarantees etc. If he managed to get into Federal government, the average wage in the Executive would be R$4,421 per month, in the Legislative R$9,722 and in the Judiciary, R$10,268. This is just absurd, corrupt and ultimately unsustainable.
- OIL WORKERS STRIKE ACTION –
Talking of public sector workers, who incidentally aside from having their jobs in most cases guaranteed for life, who in most cases have their own pension funds, the biggest in Brazil and the biggest investors in the stock market, and who in most cases earn much better salaries than those who pay these salaries, their employers the taxpayers, it should be noted that they also lead the rankings in strike action.
The latest to threaten strike action are workers at state controlled oil and gas monopoly, Petrobras. Apparently workers at the company are unhappy with the collective bargaining negotiations held with the company this year and as at 11 pm last night were planning to start a series of strikes at units across the country.
This move was the initiative of the FNP (National Oil Worker’s Front), which includes six unions representing 10,000 workers, a third of Petrobras’ workforce. The action is more for show than anything else, and will include workers turning up an hour late for their shifts, which they probably already do normally. The FNP is negotiating a 2.8% wage increase based on inflation (ICV/Dieese cost of living index), plus a real increase of 7.5% for all active personnel and inactive (pensioners). According to unions, the company is only offering inflation, plus an 80%-of-a-month’s-wage bonus, plus a promotion for all, plus a lunch allowance of R$381.26 per month (more than a national minimum wage, just for lunches!).