Tarcisês uses financial market jargon and marks the government – 05/06/2023 – Politics

A new dialect can be heard in the Government of São Paulo since the beginning of the year, mixing Portuguese, English and the typical language of Faria Lima: “tarcisês”.

In events, pronouncements and press conferences, especially those in which the themes are private investments and infrastructure works, he permeates the speech of the governor of São Paulo, Tarcísio de Freitas (Republicanos).

Elected with the marketing of being a technician, and in the wake of management at the head of the Ministry of Infrastructure in the government of Jair Bolsonaro (PL), Tarcísio does not shy away from using financial market jargon that is often incomprehensible to the lay public.

At the auction on the northern section of the Rodoanel, on March 14, where a video of him giving powerful hammer blows went viral, he celebrated the fact that it was a project with an investment of R$ 4 billion. “If you add capex and opex, more than that,” he added.

He was referring to the acronyms for “capital expenditure” (capital expenditure, which includes investments in machinery and investments) and “operational expenditure” (operating expenses), part of the vocabulary of specialized consultancies.

On April 10, at the event that marked the first hundred days of government, in front of the entire secretariat and the press, the governor used tarcisês to explain why the privatization of Sabesp could be advantageous.

It would generate a beneficial “upside” for the citizen. “And this upside can be fully reversed in tariff reduction,” she explained, using an expression from the financial market that shows when a stock has high potential for appreciation.

A fortnight later, on April 25, it returned to the charge at the inauguration of a plant for electric vehicles in Iracemápolis, in the region of Campinas.

After saying that the factory will be able to produce 100,000 vehicles per year in a first stage, he avoided the Portuguese language to talk about the future expansion of the site. “We have another investment tranche, of R$ 6 billion until 2031”, he said, using a term that means lot, portion.

Even areas farthest from the financial world are affected by the dialect. Located in the São Paulo neighborhood of Bom Retiro to treat drug addicts, the old Cratod (Alcohol, Tobacco and Other Drugs Reference Center) was renovated and renamed “Hub”.

The English word, which means center, or confluence, is one of the governor’s favorites, used in several contexts. “The Secretariat for Partnerships and Investments has to function as a hub, it is the gateway for investors,” he said, at the 100 days event.

For political scientist Marco Antonio Teixeira, from FGV, the language used by the governor is compatible with his origin outside politics and the way he set up the administration.

“There are many consultants within the government and in Tarcísio’s orbit. The use of these expressions is a way of giving technical conclusions an academic veneer, and is a result of the Americanization of business courses in Brazil in recent years”, he says.

In fact, Tarcísio has adopted as a hallmark of his management the use of consultants to study the viability of large projects, such as the privatization of Sabesp, the restructuring of the Metrô and the transfer of the seat of government to the center of São Paulo.

Teixeira does not see a forced attempt by the governor to artificially give a technical opinion. “This is at the origin of himself, he went through several operational areas throughout his career, whether in the Army, or in bodies such as the Dnit [Departamento Nacional de Infraestrutura de Transportes]”.

At the same time, says the scholar, highlighting the side “would limer” helps Tarcísio to distance himself from Bolsonarist language, something that for him will be strategic in the future.

Tarcisse is not limited to the unbridled use of anglicisms. Words in the Portuguese language also gain another meaning in the speech of the current occupant of Palácio dos Bandeirantes.

He has already said, for example, that an unfinished work does not generate a “return rate” for citizens. An ongoing one, on the other hand, provides “positive externalities” (effects on the economy). More efficient services in areas such as health and education result in “queue compression”. And it is always necessary to seek “positive results”.

PT leader in the Legislative Assembly, state deputy Paulo Fiorilo sees the vocabulary as an expression of a government more concerned with marketing and the financial market than with the citizen.

“This seems to me to be a form of dialogue that tries to deceive the population by saying that he is not a true Bolsonarist. He wants to show that he is delivering results, but if he squeezes, nothing comes out”, he says.

With decades of experience dealing with politicians of different styles, the State Secretary of Government, Gilberto Kassab, says that Tarcísio manages to add technical and didactic skills.

“He has a great capacity for communication. When he uses a term, he explains what it is. I don’t see any difficulty in him maintaining that style, and the best proof of that is the good approval ratings of his management”, he says.

For Professor Teixeira, from FGV, the governor’s style was useful to elect him last year, but it is more doubtful that it will be enough for him to try for higher flights, such as the Presidency. “Maybe some adaptation is needed,” he says.

Or, translating into Tarcisse, calibrating the speech can be a good “target” (objective) if the governor wants to be a “player” (protagonist) for the dispute for the Planalto in 2026.

Small Tarcisse/Portuguese dictionary

• capex/opex: capital and operating expenses on an investment

• Queue compression: reduce/end queues

• Positive externality: effects of a work on the economy

• Hub: center, confluence, gateway, meeting point

• Player: actor, protagonist, participant in a tender

• Positive result: generate benefit, revenue

• Target: goal, objective, deadline

• Return rate: benefits for the citizen

• Upside: term that shows potential appreciation of a stock