2023-12-13 22:41:54
There is a law in Brazil that regulates the economics profession. The date of its promulgation was already a harbinger of future troubles: in that year, 1951, the president was Getúlio Vargas, and the day was August 13th. Nothing good could come out.
In article 6 comes the fatal error. He creates the Federal Economic Council (COFECON) and the Regional Economic Councils (CORECON).
In practice, these councils work like real slot machines, just to play politics with our money. They require an annual contribution for both the individual and for acting as a legal entity. We pay twice for a single diploma.
The actions of the councils are purely pamphleteering. For years, they have been acting as the political arm of the PT governments and opposing every government and any reform that leads to greater rationalization of the economy.
It was like that with the Social Security and labor reforms. Its newspapers are also a means of publicizing the “Public Debt Audit”, whose authors do not even know how to distinguish between principal and interest payments.
Among its responsibilities are: “contributing to the formation of a healthy economic mentality and promoting studies and campaigns in favor of the economic rationalization of the country.”
But who will decide what is healthy and rational? This isn’t working out very well.
This year, COFECON abused it. He chose none other than Dilma Rousseff as economist of the year. An offensive act to the countless ‘sapien women’’ (a term coined by herself), to the excellently trained economists of this country, and a slap in the face to the Brazilians who suffered the consequences of her disastrous administration.
Its intervention in the electricity sector generated a price increase of 50% in two years; irresponsible fiscal policy bequeathed inflation, high interest rates, debt and recession; during his government, the hiring of public servants reached a record; inequality worsened and deforestation grew. There are many of his achievements.
A decade lost in just two years was not a consequence of Lava Jato. The fight against corruption in state-owned companies is essential. It helps to attract investments and not the other way around.
I was against his impeachment. For me, it was important that Dilma ended her disastrous cycle in the hope that such bad ideas would be abandoned forever – but mainly, so that someone would not appear later to exempt her from responsibility and attribute the cursed inheritance to external factors.
We were lucky that Michel Temer chose an excellent team to adjust the economy. He had a woman in charge of the Treasury Secretariat, Ana Paula Vescovi. She lacks a recognition award for what she did for the Brazilian economy.
The list of women economists who research, publish and contribute to good public policies is long, whether liberal or developmental. Dilma is certainly not one of them.
The appointment of the former president only follows COFECON’s tradition of choosing women economists linked to the PT. There is not even an online vote. Our contribution is not even useful for that.
I am part of a group that has already thought of some alternatives to put an end to this advice: payment of the contribution in court; support a Bill that repeals article 6 or even assemble an opposition ticket to take over the council, but this would be recognizing the legitimacy of something useless.
There is no point in giving advice when the activity does not put human life at risk. The worst that can happen is a bad professional generating a historic recession. A 7.7% drop in GDP per capita in two years or 3 million more unemployed people in one administration, are some examples.
Last year I ended my decades of contributions to these councils which, if they were just useless, would already be an advance. I retired, but I still look at that diploma on the wall with great affection and pride.
Elena Landau is a lawyer, but if she says she is also an economist, CORECON-RJ will come after her and charge the annual fee.
The post OPINION. Dilma, COFECON, and the outrage against ‘sapien women’ appeared first on Brazil Journal.
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