MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency
Unions to hold second strike against Temer's reforms
Brazil's union federations will hold a second strike on Friday with demonstrations against the government's economic reforms and to demand the resignation of President Michel Temer, who has vowed to approve labour flexibility in the coming weeks. Read full article
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Disclaimer & comment rulesWhen Dilma was impeached she and PT vowed that they would make Brasil ungovernable.
Jun 30th, 2017 - 02:04 pm - Link - Report abuse 0With the help of the unions, Black Block, MST (and it's offshoots) this may be the only promise that she will have kept.
The fact that the economy is turning around is not relevant to PT thinking. I am not sure why PT went into power with the prime, unstated, aim of destroying the country's economy but this is what has happened.
Some would say that PT went into power with the aim of filling their own pockets but as you can see the other parties were, and still are, doing the same.
I love my new country and will stick by it. All I ask is that we give it a chance to get back onto it's feet.
Mark,
Jun 30th, 2017 - 06:45 pm - Link - Report abuse 0you've hit the nail on the head. Seems you are recent arrival, but have already summed up the situation pretty accurately. Welcome.
Hi Jack. Not so recent. I arrived in Brasil during the first term of Lula, just after he paid back the National Debt and restricted “International Federal Borrowing”. I thought there was something suspicious about the way he did that. It turns out I was right on that. Since then the economy of the country has been going backwards. Temer may be a crook, I don't doubt that for one second. The only thing is that he seems to be trying to get the country back on it's feet, even if the measures are not popular. With this in mind I believe that he should be able to complete this term in office. He has claimed that he would not run for President, fair enough. Only time will tell.
Jul 02nd, 2017 - 01:22 pm - Link - Report abuse 0Mark
Jul 02nd, 2017 - 04:40 pm - Link - Report abuse 0you're right about the foreign debt gimmick. When Lula took over in 2003, the foreign debt was over R$ 200 billion, and the internal debt, about R$ 650 billion. In 2008, he bragged he had zeroed the foreign debt, but in reality had just swapped it for more internal debt, taking the latter to R$ 1,4 trillion (65% of the GNP)...and with less favourable terms, i.e., shorter deadlines to pay and higher interest rates. To get things in perspective and see the absurdity of such a decision, interest on the debt went to R$ 156 billion per year, while the federal budget for education was a mere R$ 12,7 billion.
In 2013, Lula said that public sentiment, critical of the World Cup / Olympic Games to be held in Brazil, “just because of the lack of hospitals”, was an “enormous retrocession”. His attitudes show he had little commitment towards the people's well-being, putting his political ambition above everything, and the photo of him hobnobbing with Joseph Blatter and Ricardo Teixeira after the announcement that Brazil had been awarded the Wold Cup, says more than words.
I consider Temer a necessary evil at the moment, given that the other options, without him, look even worse. After 14 years of partying, at the expense of the people, it's time for the government to tighten its belt.
Hi, Jack!
Jul 03rd, 2017 - 12:35 pm - Link - Report abuse 0REF: “I consider Temer a necessary evil at the moment, given that the other options, without him, look even worse. After 14 years of partying, at the expense of the people, it's time for the government to tighten its belt”:
You ARE right - AGAIN!
But there are a few SMALL problems:
1º: A very SMALL % of the population [or politicians] may agree to vote for Temer & Co. for various motives.
2º: Miraculously, even if somehow he manages to remain in power, the Equally Power-Hungry AND Corrupt will never let him govern.
3º: Most of the politicians are regularly practicing corruption for more than 20 or so years. It's an inborn habit. During this period; they have stolen not millions but BILLIONS! Corruption is a Vicious Circle. Once started; it's practically impossible to stop - particularly due to the “Special Privileges” of the “Higher Ups”: https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-xvw_2-MY1-Y/WVg3_kzI9BI/AAAAAAAALu0/Hmsx86sjNdM1DfMvNj4vYsukGx2ixr3TwCLcBGAs/s320/PIRAMIDE1.jpg
Hi :o)),
Jul 03rd, 2017 - 06:08 pm - Link - Report abuse 0Current polls, if reliable, indicate that people are just as fed up with Temer's corruption as they are with Lula's/ PT's. A poll divulged a few days ago, reveals that Lula's popularity is falling while his rejection is growing....from a few months ago, when his popularity was 38% and his rejection 59%, now it's 28% and 68% respectively.
While all coruption should be condemned - and punished - Temer is the only one who has decided to attack some of Brazil's more serious structural problems (the unpopular but essential reforms), and because of it, in the minds of the leftist unions and the largely ignorant and easily manipulated masses, he is the villain. We all know why, but I don't know what would happen to the reforms if he gets kicked out. Rodrigo Maia would take over for 30 days, and might even manage to get elected - indirectly, through Congress - to end Temer's term, but would he have the same determination to carry on with the reforms ?....he might, provided Congress gets behind him. But meanwhile, as we speak, most politicians just carry on filling their pockets. If the 'lavajato' and other investigations manage to put away the largest (known) criminals, it should provide Brazil with a period of relative serenity, but I just wonder how long it'll take for another crime gang to install itself in power...it's the nature of the beast.
But no harm in hoping for the best and keeping one's fingers crossed.
Well, as long as you know that:
Jul 04th, 2017 - 12:11 pm - Link - Report abuse 0Brasil é um país onde corruptos julgam corruptos, diz ‘Washington Post’
https://t.co/XHV1jJwbIn
via @danielbuarque
@:o))
Jul 04th, 2017 - 03:12 pm - Link - Report abuse 0Unfortunately.
Hi, Jack!
Jul 04th, 2017 - 11:14 pm - Link - Report abuse +1The BEST medicine
[ https://www.humorpolitico.com.br/wp-content/uploads/2017/07/OLIVEIRA-030717-Face-580x373.jpg ] - LAUGHTER! :o))
:o))
Jul 05th, 2017 - 05:32 pm - Link - Report abuse 0Right ! (precisa rir p´ra não chorar ...)
Hi, Jack!
Jul 06th, 2017 - 11:26 am - Link - Report abuse 0It's really a pity to watch a magnificent country going down the drain: http://www.chargeonline.com.br/php/DODIA//son.jpg
C'est la vie....in Brazil.
Jul 06th, 2017 - 02:34 pm - Link - Report abuse 0This is just the BEGINNING! IMAGINE what is most likely to happen; after THIS: https://www.humorpolitico.com.br/wp-content/uploads/2017/07/Aecio-Indignado-580x420.jpg
Jul 07th, 2017 - 11:09 am - Link - Report abuse 0@:o))
Jul 07th, 2017 - 05:27 pm - Link - Report abuse 0After a brief period of trying to clean up the corruption, things are returning to “normal” in Brazil...
REF: https://www.humorpolitico.com.br/wp-content/uploads/2017/07/Intervencao-Ja-no-Brasil.jpg
Jul 09th, 2017 - 02:02 pm - Link - Report abuse 0How many of the corrupt actually admitted their crimes?
How many of them are willing to return the loot which they have been accumulating throughout their “career” of much longer than twenty years?
Cleaning up of corruption is either a farce or an illusion; as long as there exist the protections such as:
- Special Executive Privileges/Immunities/Benefits
- A [bunch] of crook/s defending another
- Revoking of the sentences or
- Not making obligatory to complete the sentences
- Empowering themselves to change not only the laws but the constitution as well
- The loot need NEVER be returned to the public;
: The Investigations/Operations is a farce [soap opera]
: Transformation to a “Serious Country”; a hallucination!
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