The destruction of Brazil's economy, institutions and hope

Finally, the leader of PT and the government in the Senate was just arrested and accused of planning to help one of the convicted directors of Petrobras to escape from prison and disappear, so he could avoid testifying about corruption.

Unlike Mr.José Mujica (the Uruguayan ex-president), there is strong evidence in the press showing that Mr. Lula became a very rich man in the last 13 years and his family is also being investigated.

Finally, the worst result of the lulopetismo period is that Brazilians lost confidence in the country. Business investments fell, young talent is leaving the country, the lack of growth, the explosion of urban violence, the lack of morals and the lack of opportunities. At the end, this is the legacy.

The current government (the fourth term of lulopetismo) was elected in October 2014 with only 42% of Brazilian voters (54 million in 130 million that were allowed to vote). So it was not elected by the majority of Brazil, but by those who went to vote and were convinced by the lies of the marketing campaign. The opposition almost won, achieving 51 million votes even with the strong usage of the state structure in the elections by the current government.

After 13 years of lulopetismo, Latin America gives another example to the world of the destruction that left handed (socialist) populist and corrupt governments can do. These always fail in the basics: they don't know how to generate income, just how to badly spend more and more, and these types of governments finish when everything was already spent and there is nothing left for more populist expenditures.

The management disaster in Brazil, as The Economist journal headlined recently, hit the population and only 7% approves the government and around 65-70% of Brazil wants impeachment.

At this moment, the best that could happen to recover hope in Brazil is the democratic removal of this group from government and the start of the long process of rebuilding the country with new leadership based on good management and low corruption, exactly the opposite of what the lulopetismo proved to offer. The individual mindset should be changed to stimulate work, entrepreneurism, productivity and less dependence on the state and laziness.

If this scenario doesn't happen, there is little hope for Brazilians in 2016. As a scientist not linked to political parties, I write all these words with sadness, since in my professional career, I've never seen Brazil so disorganized as it enters a new year.

Dr. Marcos Fava Neves is a full professor at the School of Economics and Business, University of São Paulo, Brazil.

The opinions expressed here are those of the writer and don't represent views of China Daily website.

 

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