MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency
IMF sees Brazil and Argentina helping to pull Latin American out of recession
The International Monetary Fund offered an encouraging outlook for Brazil´s growth in 2018 since the intense political uncertainty is yielding, monetary policy easing and progress on the government’s economic reform agenda should help the country pull out of its worst recession in a century. Read full article
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Disclaimer & comment rulesNo doubt both the current governments of Brazil and Argentina need all the help they can get.
Jun 12th, 2017 - 07:38 pm - Link - Report abuse -6Brazil's Temer, which hopped to power riding on the alleged corruption of Dilma Rousseff's government has found himself mired in huge corruption scandals.
Argentina's president Mauricio Macri is facing its first big test in October, when the legislative chambers will be partially renewed.
In any event, both Temer and Macri are embarked in reversing the wealth distribution politics of the previous governments to again concentrate all wealth and power in a few hands.
It's rich for the IMF to keep assisting such blatantly elitist governments. In Argentina, we are indeed far from the time Nestor Kirchner liquidated the IMF debt, contracted by previous governments and dictatorships.
Enrique,
Jun 12th, 2017 - 10:00 pm - Link - Report abuse 0How funny you sound!
Argentina being “lifted out of recession...”
More jobs, more employed, higher household incomes, growing businesses, stable currency, national pride.
One would think you would be happy for the Argentines and Argentina, but no. You are still wishing for economic failure.
How does that serve the people?
You want to go back to a K government?
Nestor did not end the debt to the IMF. He simply refused to pay bondholders - i.e. small investors who put their household savings into funds for Argentina to grow their infrastructure and economy.
The same K's then falsified reporting of economic indicators to the IMF by firing government INDEC statisticians and replacing them civil servant stooges.
That says it all for the integrity of the K criminals you wish to return.
That ill-gotten relief was brief. As the steady economic decline began to set in, the K's implemented Phase 2, “ the wealth distribution politics” of 'nationalising' (stealing) private retirement pension funds of WORKERS and 'redistributing' the monies to the unemployed and marginal workers who did not contribute.
Is that your ideological utopia, Enrique?
I notice you don't live there.
@Kanye
Jun 14th, 2017 - 04:33 pm - Link - Report abuse -1Hear, hear. Kanye takes exception that somebody would challenge the IMF's wisdom and the true nature of the current Argentina government.
And he offers a rosy picture of Mauricio Macri's revolution of joy:
“More jobs, more employed, higher household incomes, growing businesses, stable currency, national pride.”
Amazing picture.
That probably is why Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner is flying high on the polls and has good chances if she becomes candidate to senator in Buenos Aires province and presidential candidate in 2019.
Of course, had Macri given Argentines a fraction of what he promised during his election campaign, nobody would be thinking of Cristina today. Reality is, Macri is sinking the country in a sea of foreign debt, is pushing a massive transfer of wealth from the majority of the population into some 1,000 families, and is under judicial investigation for conflict of interest maneuvers to empty the coffers of the Argentine Poste to the benefit of Socma and Sideco, both companies owned by the Macri Group.
So much for Kanye's much cackled “national pride.”
Good luck to you, IMF, you will definitely need it.
Jun 14th, 2017 - 04:44 pm - Link - Report abuse +1You do not see the blatantly obvious, if you work hard you reap the benefits, and quite rightly so.If of course you are not prepared to work then you can go on benefits as “ most ” do, get of your arses and work for a living, this also applies to the UK deadbeats who want something for nothing.
Jun 14th, 2017 - 04:46 pm - Link - Report abuse +1Independence Day is coming.
Jun 14th, 2017 - 05:34 pm - Link - Report abuse -2LULA PRESIDENTE
@Reekie
Jun 14th, 2017 - 06:03 pm - Link - Report abuse +1“...which hopped to power riding on the alleged corruption of Dilma Rousseff's government...”
“Alleged” ??? on which planet do you live Reekie ? paraphrasing Lula's favourite lie “never before has there been a more honest man in Brazil” (referring to himself, of course), one could say “never before has Brazil seen anyone as corrupt as Lula and Dilma” ....according to JBS, together they have USD 150 million in foreign accounts...not bad for a couple of ignoramuses.
In 2018, “Lula presidiário”.....sniff, sniff...
@Brasileiro
Jun 14th, 2017 - 06:57 pm - Link - Report abuse -2Lula was Brazil's best president ever and it will be the country's luck to have him again once corrupt Temer and acolytes are kicked out to history's garbage can.
Enrique
Jun 15th, 2017 - 02:02 am - Link - Report abuse 0The majority of voters of both Brazil and Argentina say differently.
ie. the People don't agree with you.
Reekie,
Jun 15th, 2017 - 04:59 pm - Link - Report abuse 0Isn't it funny....I had a feeling that you would jump in to support the Brasshole, in all his blissful ignorance.....which only goes to show that you aren't any smarter than he is (isn't).
Why, Jack, probably I am as predictable as you are, and for good reason.
Jun 16th, 2017 - 02:50 am - Link - Report abuse -2I generally support Latin American governments that attempt to improve the lot of the dispossessed, which in turn will make the whole society progress.
You, instead, support elitist governments the same style we have endured for over a century that have kept our peoples in misery while a few enjoy obscene wealth and the monopoly of power.
@Kanye
You missed an opportunity to remain silent. You should know that Brazil's current government was imposed through a soft coup--electors who voted for president Dilma Rousseff were cheated by the Brazilian elite and an accomplice media..
As for Argentina, current president Mauricio Macri won the election by lying through his teeth to Argentines, but lies have short legs.
@Reekie
Jun 16th, 2017 - 04:12 pm - Link - Report abuse +1“I generally support Latin American governments that attempt to improve the lot of the dispossessed...”
If you are so dedicated to improving the lot of the poor, why don't you put your money where your mouth is ? Or, are you are just another champagne socialist, preaching support for the poor, as long as it's with someone else's money ?
You fool no one, and it's obvious you turn a blind eye to corruption, and naively believe that throwing 'crumbs' to the people is ”making society progress'....the proof that the PT was just kidding the poor, is the fact that the moment the handouts dried up, those who had 'supposedly progressed', or 'climbed the social ladder,' fell right back into poverty...handouts don't sustain growth - education, jobs and productivity do.
Whenever he got the chance, Lula would downplay the importance of education, using himself - an ignoramus - as an example of success. Look at him now...
You don't even live in Brazil, or S. America for that matter, so how do you know what the locals feel and think ? were you living here during the 6 years of Dilma's reign ? do you really know whether people were happy with her and her policies ?
One thing predictable about me is my consistency in seeing through your bs......and knowing that you run away from a serious discussion.
As for your comments to Kanye, YOU should know that those who voted for Dilma, also voted for Temer....and the media only eventually turned on Dilma, Lula and the PT, when they too realized that to keep on defending them was unsustainable...
@JB
Jun 17th, 2017 - 02:49 am - Link - Report abuse -1Prey say. Do you ask other commentators whether they have direct knowledge of a country they comment on? No, you don't. You only ask someone who happens to disagree with your backward views and on top of that, posts with his real name and has support for every bit of information he submits.
“Unsustainable Lula.”
You may keep parroting the discourse of the wealthy and reactionary minorities, but you can't change history. Here's a glimpse of what happened in Brazil, a country with deep social inequality, during Lula's period in office:
“Lula oversaw robust economic growth, chipped away at the country’s massive social and economic inequality, and pushed forth Brazil’s emergence as a rising economic and geopolitical power. Lula...left office with approval ratings of more than 80% in public opinion polls, making him the most popular president in the country’s history.” (Reported by NACLA)
See also How President Lula changed Brazil (BBC News):
“...rising incomes have catapulted more than 29 million Brazilians into the middle class during the eight-year presidency of Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva...some of these people are beneficiaries of government handouts and others of a steadily improving education system.”
And pay close attention to this:
“Brazilians are staying in school longer, which secures them higher wages, which drives consumption, which in turn fuels a booming domestic economy.”
http://www.bbc.com/news/world-latin-america-11458409
This is what drives crazy the elitists of Latin America. They only believe in keeping the poor hopelessly poor. That way they have cheap workers, armies of domestics working for peanuts, and countries undeveloped. As I explained before in this forum, Latin American elites are of a mindset that has not even reached the capitalist stage but remain at a semi-feudal level. This are the miserable politics you are defending, my dear friend.
Enrique Massot
Jun 17th, 2017 - 05:44 am - Link - Report abuse 0“I generally support Latin American governments that attempt to improve the lot of the dispossessed, which in turn will make the whole society progress.”
So you support the the current regimes of Venezuela and El Salvador?
Taking sides is reasonable but it isn't when the ALL the birds are of the SAME feather: https://noticias.uol.com.br/ultimas-noticias/agencia-estado/2017/06/15/palocci-pede-absolvicao-e-cita-ex-deputado-flagrado-com-mala-de-r-500-mil--.htm?cmpid=tw-uolnot
Jun 17th, 2017 - 11:32 am - Link - Report abuse 0@Reekie
Jun 17th, 2017 - 09:22 pm - Link - Report abuse 0Yes I do. There's one ‘commentator’, besides yourself, who talks of Brazil as if he lived here, and by what I gather he also lives in Canada. Sure, information on Brazil is available on the internet, but nothing like living in the country and feeling the national mood, first-hand.
You’re the one who keeps on with conspiracy theories that Lula is a victim of the elite, but conveniently ignore that he used his position to steal, and today is very much a part of that elite. I am not defending that elite as I am all too aware that most of them, one way or the other, are crooks. Elected officials and this elite have no problem in exchanging favours, in detriment of the people; due to his popularity, Lula could have done so much more for the people, but he chose to go the way of the elite. The accusations against him aren’t conspiracies…besides documented proof, there’s testimony of a few politicians, as well as dozens of executives from the private sector, all telling the same story, with details that are allowing the federal police to put the jigsaw puzzle together.
As to the “robust growth”, might be good to remember this occurred during the global economic boom in 2004/5…and even then, Lula was incapable of taking advantage of the full potential it offered Brazil. In 2007 his presidency was tainted by the ‘mensalão’, which he only survived due to backstage manoeuvring to save his butt - by bringing the PMDB into his govt, and into the criminal organization already installed there. Today, a lot of people have woken up, and his popularity is not that high anymore, except in the NE, the more undeveloped part of Brazil. The ‘catapulting of 29 million to the middle class’ was only thanks to the lowering of the bar…where are most of them now ? back in poverty. Wonder why. Lula may have had a few relative successes, but the foundations were already there.
The BBC article is from Oct 2010 - its contents are outdated and far from today's reality.
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