Why Lula should speak less – 03/23/2023 – Reinaldo Azevedo

Lula needs to change his way of relating to the public and speak less. And that, believe me, is not a derogatory judgment. If it were, and I would have no problem explaining it. I have never had difficulty criticizing presidents, including himself. In many respects, the Brazil that is there is much worse than the one the PT leader found in 2003. The devastation of the last four years would not be painless. And it left long-term consequences. And I’ll stick to what I think is really relevant here.

Before I continue, I write, without fear of making a mistake, that, moving towards the 90 days of his mandate, his victory has already yielded good results for the poor, who are the most in need of a good government, and, therefore, for the country. He relaunched the Bolsa Família with more benefits and the correct counterparts and determined the restructuring of the Cadastro Único, destroyed by Bolsonaro’s electoral rage.

He also refounded Mais Médicos. Instead of chloroquine, care for the vulnerable. He recreated the Minha Casa Minha Vida, which the Homiziado Bilter of Orlando had destroyed. In his “aporophobic” budget (disgusted with the poor), he had earmarked BRL 34 million for the program, corresponding to two boxes of women’s jewelry from Saudi Arabia.

If that seems like little, he faced an attempted coup d’état, with obvious infiltrations in the Armed Forces and the police, and launched the operation to put an end to the Yanomami genocide. His ministers in the economic area are committed to designing a new fiscal framework to replace the spending ceiling – the one that his predecessor never respected, with or without a pandemic. On the contrary, he shoved down the throats of the STF, in conjunction with a Congress driven by a secret budget, two electoral and unconstitutional PECs. There has already been a federal reencumbrance on fuels. After the “deconstruction” era, this is quite a performance.

I’m not softening the text to now sit the whore. I really find it outrageous that government critics ignore these achievements. It may be due to the fact that the beneficiaries of these programs are beings that are foreign to their routine concerns, and many stunted people do not know Brazil “not even the latch on the door” (Monteiro Lobato). Forward.

People make their choices and have their values. Mine indicate that the maintenance, by the Central Bank, of the Selic at 13.75%, with real interest of almost 7%, is an insult to the books and to the economy. The threat —and this is what it is about— of an increase in the rate, as seen this Wednesday (22), is, from the political point of view, a cheap provocation. On the same day, Finance and Planning announced that the primary deficit could be half of what was estimated after the approval of the Transition PEC. It did not soften the hearts of the pharaohs.

I think it’s bullshit and speculator’s metaphysics the supposition that Lula contributed to delaying the drop in the rate. Just read the minutes of the previous meeting. Just read the rather bratty announcement now. But I ask: isn’t it time to attribute to Caesar what belongs to Caesar? In monetary policy, today’s president is a plebeian, almost a slave.

Retail is opening its beak. In a little while, industry, services and commerce will demand credit that does not exist. The president’s first criticism of interest rates was made public on February 2. Immediately, Arthur Lira and Rodrigo Pacheco came out in defense of Roberto Campos Neto and the BC’s autonomy. Lira repeated the dose this Thursday (23). May the Executive and the Legislative, together, be what they can be: a mere sounding board for society’s demands. The occupant of the 2023 Planalto Palace does not have the powers of the 2003 one.

And the same goes for the new fiscal framework. The Chief Executive has to forward the proposal that he considers correct. It will not be he who decides, but the Legislature. Does the Copom demand that social spending be stifled in order to consider the text “responsible” and, who knows, one day, lower the Selic rate? Let it be explained with serenity who does what.

Credit is drying up. Automakers are already on collective vacation. In Brazil in 2023, those affected by the “pornographic” squeeze (Josué Gomes da Silva) need to knock on the right doors: Congress and BC. In the fiscal framework and in the interest rate, they arbitrate, respectively, who lives and who dies. To the Caesars what belongs to the Caesars.

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