MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency
Brazil's lower house speaker forecasts pension reform will be approved by next June
Brazil’s pension reform process will pick up momentum after the Easter holidays, staying on track for approval in the lower house in May or June, the lower house speaker Rodrigo Maia said on Thursday. Read full article
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Disclaimer & comment rulesIn his speech; P.G. admits that the Public Expenditure - “EXPENDITURE” - has shot up from 18% to 45% of the GDP!
Apr 12th, 2019 - 01:17 pm - Link - Report abuse 0But on account of this rise; he doesn't say a word - not ONE word about:
- any improvement in the Standard of Living
- the % of the GDP which was very generously stolen [for generations] by the Thieving Political Community which speaks volumes about his “fidelity”:
https://youtu.be/RkXwCFGdRVk
@:o))
Apr 13th, 2019 - 06:17 pm - Link - Report abuse 0I watched the video...PG's speech was interesting, and constructive.....and don't think it was a matter of PG “admitting” to anything, rather, stating that the way government had been run for the last 40 years, is what has driven public expenditure to the unhealthy level of 45 % of GDP. At the end of military regime, it was around 26/27%, and it was the civilian governments, after 1985, that took it to 45%...a symptom of uncontrolled public spending.
If he declined to mention anything about the 'improvement in quality of life', it is probably because it was not particularly worty of comment.
He was professional , and sufficiently emotionally detached, to avoid openly criticizing Congress and past governments....as what has passed, is the past, what matters now is the future....after the reform of social security system is approved, and 'how' it is approved (provided not too disfigured by Congress, unwilling to give up 'their' imoral benefits and privileges).
@JB
Apr 13th, 2019 - 09:46 pm - Link - Report abuse 0The new corruption accusations against Maia might make pensions reform harder...
Re your reply to “Travellers scrambling”
I saw that B had fired his education minister. Guess he was too reactionary even for B. Good decision, anyway; I hope the new guy is less interested in rewriting the text books and more interested in how much kids are learning.
“I'd like to know one Brazilian politician who, in the last 20 years, did ?”
Surely Congress must have done *something* good in the last 20 years? And even if not, there were ministers who were responsible for their departments and must have done work of some kind. Brazil is probably similar the the UK in that most legislation is proposed by the governing party(s), but opposition MPs can still be active if they choose.
“Re hot/cold climates, perhaps it’s also linked to intelligence…and/or the need to provide for the future ?”
I don't think civilisation can be linked to intelligence, if it was we wouldn't see them rise and fall and the centres of civilisation move around throughout history. And IME there's not much relation between intelligence and willingless to work hard, if that's what you meant.
The need to provide/plan for the future is an interesting one; it fits with Egypt, although it's a hot climate, because of the seasonal flooding of the Nile that was so essential for farming there. Not sure about other ancient or modern civilisations, though.
“I’m sure the UK has its quota of lazy bums”
Yeah, there are some. I think in contrast to Brazil, it's easier for people who are willing to work to get ahead, and also easier for those who don't to do nothing. Do you mean Brazil was better than West Africa in attitudes in the 80s, or just richer/more developed? And is Brazil better now than in the 80s or 90s?
“Re SJWs, why should my advantage be considered a privilege ?”
You don't think going to an expensive private school is a privilege? I do.
@Jack Bauer
Apr 14th, 2019 - 03:19 pm - Link - Report abuse 0REF: “If he declined to mention anything about the 'improvement in the quality of life', it is probably because it was not particularly worthy of comment”
True - but it is, NOW:
https://www.otempo.com.br/image/contentid/policy:1.2167094:1555023874/CHARGE%20O%20TEMPO.JPG?f=3x2&q=0.6&w=620&$p$f$q$w=904c3fd
As long as PG is not willing to eliminate TOTALLY, or at least drastically, reduce the TOTAL Waste of the Public Funds by the way of:
- Reducing the exorbitant salaries of the politicians + the innumerable OTHER Benefits [financial AND otherwise]
- The Nºs of Political Parties + THEIR benefits
- Pardoning of Companies/Banks who hardly pay ANY taxes; [assumed that corruption is ALREADY included]
He just can't pretend - make farcical gestures - of being “seriously involved” in the improvement in the Quality of Life of the Miserable Brazilians.
Instead of “Those who earn less pay less”; he should make it: “ONLY those who earn shamelessly, ridiculously + absurdly high income; should be MADE to Pay; since they have been avoiding the taxes - legally OR otherwise [due to the financial-loopholes which were conveniently made for them + BY THEM] FOR AGES”!
Any Other Method is DEFINITELY to steal from the poor to support the rich!
DT
Apr 15th, 2019 - 12:31 am - Link - Report abuse 0“...corruption accusations against Maia...” or are you referring to those against Moreira Franco, his father-in-law ? might affect him personally, but not much otherwise.
Further to “Travellers scrambling” : Yeah, Rodrigo Velez was too much of an ideologue.
Congress always puts its interests before that of the people, so it’s in that sense I question how much good it (or a politician) has really done, and how much good it ‘could’ have done but didn’t bother….anything truly beneficial to the population is disfigured by their personal interests…for ex, the project of 10 anti-WCC laws proposed by the Lava Jato prosecutors, with 2 million signatures behind it, was largely ignored.
Up to now, rarely have ministers been experts in their field, so it was just a matter of letting things take their own path…no real guidance, or leadership.
Civilizations may have disappeared due to circumstances independent of their will, but the notable ones all progressed based on intelligence, which led to accumulation of knowledge …what I’m saying is that peoples who don’t require much effort to subsist, will not need to look for means to do so…like central/southern Africa - hot climate, plenty of hunting. Necessity is the mother of invention.
The impression I got is that West Africa, with the relative exception of a few ex-French colonies, is backward socially-speaking (compared to Western countries), a complete, disorganized mess. Brazil, even at its worst, has always had some kind of organization that has kept it together.
Brazil was always more developed, industrially. Potentially-speaking, they are all ‘rich’. It’s hard to compare btwn the 80s/90’s ‘n 2019’ ….some things were better, other things have improved…(not talking aby the economy, but rather improvements due to technology).
OK, an expensive private school is a privilege…a well-deserved one though. It was not for free.
:o))
PG does not have the power to reduce privileges etc...only Congress does..
@Jack Bauer
Apr 15th, 2019 - 10:50 am - Link - Report abuse 0REF: “PG does not have the power to reduce privileges etc”:
TRUE!
As a super Super-Minister; he certainly can recommend + so do the Lower/Upper House Speakers AND of course the President + “His Masters' Voices” - REF: The Financial Situation (or whatever is left of the economy while pretending that there is enough for EVERYBODY)!
@:o))
Apr 15th, 2019 - 05:06 pm - Link - Report abuse 0Congress is still going to screw it up....wait 'n see...
@JB
Apr 15th, 2019 - 10:16 pm - Link - Report abuse 0“...corruption accusations against Maia...”
I was talking about this:
https://en.mercopress.com/2019/04/14/brazil-s-lower-house-speaker-and-supporter-of-the-pensions-reform-under-police-investigation
But Maia has immunity, so maybe it will make no difference.
”Congress always puts its interests before that of the people, so it’s in that sense I question how much good it (or a politician) has really done”
True, but still some must have done more good than others. You mentioned the phones being privatised, whose idea was that? And surely not all the improvements since the 90s have been due to better technology? Ministers in the UK are not experts in their field either, and often get moved around to other posts, but they have the civil service to advise them.
Civilisations... accumulation of knowledge, yes, but it can't just be based on intelligence. There must be some kind of trigger why eg Rome suddenly became so successful, rather than another city/country/tribe. And why were the Maya building an empire in Central America when North America was mostly populated by small tribes? It can't just be that they were smarter.
Which countries in Africa were you working in, anyway? You thought the former British colonies were more 'backwards' than the French ones? What about Nigeria?
Re schools, I wish I could have gone to a better one. Don't know what I'd do if I had kids.
@JB
Apr 16th, 2019 - 04:02 pm - Link - Report abuse 0REF: “Congress is still going to screw it up - wait 'n see”:
But OF COURSE, they will - they'll HAVE to - isn't it their job? Neither they prefer to lose their ignorant supporters nor would they want to lose their privileges!
DT
Apr 17th, 2019 - 02:38 am - Link - Report abuse 0I think Maia's father has more to worry about than he does....he has immunity, will have it for some time yet, and if ever charged will probably BS his way out of it.
Sure, some politicians are better than others....not only is presenting decent projects a measure of 'better', but helping getting them approved....without too much screwing around.
The phone system was privatized in 1998 (under FHC)......things changed dramatically after that....everyone suddenly had access to a phone...land line or otherwise. The first cellphones appreared about 1993.....in 1994 I bought one in the US, and had to wait 2 years for a line....after 1998, they expanded like hell. Technology followed pretty rapidly.
If in the UK your ministers are not experts in their fields, at least they are not criminals...here, the indications were worth billions....and it only spurred corruption. Today, B has appointed peole who are recognized for their expertise...if they don't work out, that's just the luck of the draw (R.Velez).
I think progress was initially based on necessity...and to solve the problems required intelligence...if you have no needs, your intelligence is not tested, you don't progress. One solution made the next easier, one invention led to another, and today technology knows no limits.
Each people must've developed (socially, in war) based on their needs and their spiritual beliefs, which probably accounts for why some did this, others did that...
In West Africa I was based in Nigeria, and frequently visted the Camerouns, Benin, Togo, Ghana, Ivory Coast, Liberia, Sierra Leone, Senegal, Gambia, Mali, Upper Volta (now Burkina Fasso), Niger, Chad (once)....I'd start going west, then north, then double back again...Nigeria was not very nice, neither was Liberia (both very truculent)....most were very poor, but the ex-French colonies were the most agreeable, the ones you could even enjoy. Have to congratulate the French for doing a far better job than the British.
Finally, they found the RIGHT Path:
Apr 17th, 2019 - 10:24 am - Link - Report abuse 0https://i0.wp.com/www.humorpolitico.com.br/wp-content/uploads/2019/04/STF-ENTRADA.jpg?resize=768%2C768&ssl=1
@JB
Apr 17th, 2019 - 09:00 pm - Link - Report abuse 0“he has immunity, will have it for some time yet, and if ever charged will probably BS his way out of it.”
Wonderful. When are they going to get rid of this immunity for politicians?
“after 1998, they expanded like hell.”
It was the same here. I think I knew one girl who had a mobile in 98, and a few years later everyone had them. I got my first one in 2000, it was very useful for reassuring overprotective parents.
It's amazing how much the internet has changed since then, too. Remember all the personal sites with horrible themes and auto-playing music before social media? Scrolling text and a widget that made your mouse leave a little trail of stars. Yuck. My little sister was into MySpace, it was so big and now it doesn't even exist anymore.
Re ministers, at least *most* of ours aren't criminals. Will be interesting to see if people with relevant expertise do any better.
There was some kind of civilisation in Nigeria before Britain invaded:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kingdom_of_Benin
But I guess we pretty much destroyed it. Plus I remember you saying Nigeria had a civil war after independence, which probably didn't help. I wonder what the French did better? Nigeria's the most populous country in Africa (rapidly catching up to Brazil), so it must be pretty productive. I hope it's a more pleasant place today.
@DT
Apr 18th, 2019 - 03:17 pm - Link - Report abuse 0Nigeria's the most populous country in Africa (rapidly catching up to Brazil)
Who is competing with who as far as corruption is concerned? How pathetic = why is Brazil still not a leader?
https://i0.wp.com/www.humorpolitico.com.br/wp-content/uploads/2019/04/C%C3%B3pia-de-YAACOV-MAHMOUD-GOLGOTA.jpg?resize=768%2C768&ssl=1
DT
Apr 18th, 2019 - 07:51 pm - Link - Report abuse 0“When are they going to get rid of this immunity for politicians?”…possibly never, or, each successive government might manage to reduce it until it’s restricted to the President/VP, ‘n presidents of both houses in Congress (as proposed by Temer).
You only got your 1st mobile in 2000 ? presumably on account of your age ? In 1985, when I was in Canada, a friend surprised me when a phone rang in his car….he flicked a switch and started talking into a microphone clipped to his sunshade. He then explained how it worked (‘cell towers’), ‘n I wondered when they’d arrive in Brazil.
I was introduced to the intranet in the mid-90s....only in the very early 2000s did the company install the internet /Windows/Outlook etc, which made everything much easier.
The fact most of Brazil’s current Ministers are not career politicians is highly positive, not to mention they are supposedly qualified for their jobs ; they haven't been exposed to all the corruption, as most of Congress has ; they started their careers as (relatively) honest citizens, were not attracted to politics because of corruption ; and they haven’t joined the government to get rich quick. The only disadvantage, to the extent you might consider it one, is that it becomes more difficult to approve projects in Congress (‘less’ bribing).
The Benin Kingdom in Nigeria was located in southern Nigeria, where Benin City is located, next door to the towns of Onitsha and Enugu, in the secessionist State of Biafra (populated mainly by the Ibos), and the center of the civil war between 1967-70.
The French did a much better job of integrating the blacks into the economy, did not just ‘up ‘n leave’ after independence, they trained them, kept close economic ties, and were definitely far less racist. The fact Britain supported the Federal forces against the Biafrans did not endear the Brits to many Nigerians.
By what I’ve heard fm friends who still visit Nigeria, it's no better.
“You only got your 1st mobile in 2000 ?”
Apr 19th, 2019 - 08:20 am - Link - Report abuse 0It wasn't just my age. Although they had been around since the 80s, until the late 90s most people only owned one if needed for their job, or they were wealthy. Certainly children did not have their own. Then pay-as-you-go took off, and people who had been unwilling to commit to a contract started buying phones. They even sold them in supermarkets. The more people owned one, the more useful/necessary they were, and within a few years almost everyone had one. My first phone looked something like this:
https://www.jacamo.co.uk/blog/wp-content/uploads/2013/09/bt-cellnet.jpg?x62969
Clunky, but smartphones now are actually bigger! Much thinner and lighter, though.
And I barely used the internet either until I went off to university. We had a computer at home, but my Mum refused to let us go online, she was afraid we'd run up huge phone bills. It was me who signed us up in the end when I came home for the holidays, so my sisters did have access. I remember the old pre-Windows computers at school, too. Every program would have its own set of commands which you needed to memorise. Windows was so much better with its menus onscreen, and every program had an X in the corner to quit, instead of trying to figure it out and then giving up and turning the PC off and on again.
”they started their careers as (relatively) honest citizens“
Yeah, that *is* a good thing. Let's hope they stay that way.
”the secessionist State of Biafra”
This is something I don't understand. The borders in Africa were drawn by the colonial countries, and don't match up to the different ethnic groups etc who would naturally form nations. In Europe after WWI the borders were redrawn to reflect ethnic and linguistic groups, and most of the resulting countries have been pretty stable. So why did the UN insist on doing the opposite when Africa was decolonised, and still follows that policy even though it has lead to multiple civil wars?
DT
Apr 19th, 2019 - 11:14 pm - Link - Report abuse 0My first cellphone, although “mobile” was a 'brick' (Motorola 650 I think). It wouldn't fit in a pocket, only in a briefcase, weighed about 1/2 kg....). I had dialed internet at home, but due to the phone bill, hardly ever used it...after wide-band came along, no more problem.
When I got into computers (1988 ?), the programs were Lotus1,2,3, Database, Word (better than a typewriter), a type of excel, but as you said, the commands were a pain in the neck....and it was easy to 'lose' everything by pressing the wrong button.
In Nigeria alone, I was told there were over 200 ethnic groups, many with different dialects, which was the main reason they could never see eye to eye...much like the different muslim sects. And the colonizers weren't particularly concerned whether the boundaries were respected, or matched the groups, which led to discontent and wars in and between these new countries after independence....Looking back, the colonization of Africa was a disaster, but I can see that the 100s of ethic groups must've discouraged some colonizers to get further involved after they left...
1988 is really early, we didn't get a computer until about 1995 (it had Windows 95 on it, anyway). My Mum had an old typewriter, so we used to write up essays on that sometimes. She had a cartridge with white ink, so it you made a mistake you could swap the cartridges, backspace, and overtype in white, then switch back. Major hassle. On the other hand, at least you couldn't lose all your work because the computer crashed, which happened to me once in primary school. When my nieces are older, I'm going to tell them what a pain things were in those days. ;)
Apr 21st, 2019 - 07:42 pm - Link - Report abuse 0I was wondering the other day what it was like working in an office before computers. Like, what did people have on their desks? An in-tray and an out-tray, and stationary to deal with the paperwork, I suppose. Even when I started working, offices were full of paperwork. But I realised the other day I've only used the printer in my new office a handful of times. The paperless office finally arrived!
“over 200 ethnic groups, many with different dialects”
That does sound difficult, probably the reason they use English so much.
Reading about the 'Scramble for Africa', it seems the various empires in Europe were more worried about someone else getting an advantage and never had any plans for the areas they conquered. That lackadaisical attitude may have contributed to things going so badly, besides the fact the UK at least left in a hurry after the colonies stopped being profitable (were they ever? Not sure about the African ones).
Happy Easter, by the way. It has suddenly got really hot here (almost unheard of on a bank holiday) so I've mowed the lawn and gone swimming, and now my arms are killing me...
DT
Apr 21st, 2019 - 10:33 pm - Link - Report abuse 0Before the computer ,there was a hell of lot of paper and the telex machine....copies distributed to everyone....
I think the colonizers in Africa had much the same mentality as Portugal had towards Brazil until the 19th century...exploit it as much as you can....and when they left, they left behind populations largely unprepared to face the new reality (less in the French colonies). While they were being exploited, they must've been profitable, otherwise why hang on to them ?
Happy Easter to you too......unless your garden is the size of a soccer field, I'd say you are a little out-of-shape.....
“I think the colonizers in Africa had much the same mentality as Portugal had towards Brazil until the 19th century”
Apr 21st, 2019 - 11:34 pm - Link - Report abuse 0Probably true. And there were lots of wars in South America after the countries became independent. At least Brazil has had a bit longer to sort things out, but there are still problems. Did you visit the ex-Portuguese colonies in Africa? How do they compare to the French and British ones? And was there any resemblance to Brzil?
As for my lawn, it's not that big but the grass was long, and it has steep slopes, cracks and holes that make it a nightmare to mow. The 50 lengths I did afterwards didn't help. Looks much better now, though.
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