Pedimos desculpa [pela interrupção] ...

... a emissão segue dentro de 46 dias (40 dias penitência + 6 Domingos).


MENSAGEM DE SUA SANTIDADE PAPA BENTO XVI PARA A QUARESMA DE A.D. MMXII

«Prestemos atenção uns aos outros, para nos estimularmos
ao amor e às boas obras» (Heb 10, 24)

Irmãos e irmãs!

A Quaresma oferece-nos a oportunidade de reflectir mais uma vez sobre o cerne da vida cristã: o amor. Com efeito este é um tempo propício para renovarmos, com a ajuda da Palavra de Deus e dos Sacramentos, o nosso caminho pessoal e comunitário de fé. Trata-se de um percurso marcado pela oração e a partilha, pelo silêncio e o jejum, com a esperança de viver a alegria pascal.

Desejo, este ano, propor alguns pensamentos inspirados num breve texto bíblico tirado da Carta aos Hebreus: «Prestemos atenção uns aos outros, para nos estimularmos ao amor e às boas obras» (10, 24). Esta frase aparece inserida numa passagem onde o escritor sagrado exorta a ter confiança em Jesus Cristo como Sumo Sacerdote, que nos obteve o perdão e o acesso a Deus. O fruto do acolhimento de Cristo é uma vida edificada segundo as três virtudes teologais: trata-se de nos aproximarmos do Senhor «com um coração sincero, com a plena segurança da fé» (v. 22), de conservarmos firmemente «a profissão da nossa esperança» (v. 23), numa solicitude constante por praticar, juntamente com os irmãos, «o amor e as boas obras» (v. 24). Na passagem em questão afirma-se também que é importante, para apoiar esta conduta evangélica, participar nos encontros litúrgicos e na oração da comunidade, com os olhos fixos na meta escatológica: a plena comunhão em Deus (v. 25). Detenho-me no versículo 24, que, em poucas palavras, oferece um ensinamento precioso e sempre actual sobre três aspectos da vida cristã: prestar atenção ao outro, a reciprocidade e a santidade pessoal.

1. «Prestemos atenção»: a responsabilidade pelo irmão.

O primeiro elemento é o convite a «prestar atenção»: o verbo grego usado é katanoein, que significa observar bem, estar atento, olhar conscienciosamente, dar-se conta de uma realidade. Encontramo-lo no Evangelho, quando Jesus convida os discípulos a «observar» as aves do céu, que não se preocupam com o alimento e todavia são objecto de solícita e cuidadosa Providência divina (cf. Lc 12, 24), e a «dar-se conta» da trave que têm na própria vista antes de reparar no argueiro que está na vista do irmão (cf. Lc 6, 41). Encontramos o referido verbo também noutro trecho da mesma Carta aos Hebreus, quando convida a «considerar Jesus» (3, 1) como o Apóstolo e o Sumo Sacerdote da nossa fé. Por conseguinte o verbo, que aparece na abertura da nossa exortação, convida a fixar o olhar no outro, a começar por Jesus, e a estar atentos uns aos outros, a não se mostrar alheio e indiferente ao destino dos irmãos. Mas, com frequência, prevalece a atitude contrária: a indiferença, o desinteresse, que nascem do egoísmo, mascarado por uma aparência de respeito pela «esfera privada». Também hoje ressoa, com vigor, a voz do Senhor que chama cada um de nós a cuidar do outro. Também hoje Deus nos pede para sermos o «guarda» dos nossos irmãos (cf. Gn 4, 9), para estabelecermos relações caracterizadas por recíproca solicitude, pela atenção ao bem do outro e a todo o seu bem. O grande mandamento do amor ao próximo exige e incita a consciência a sentir-se responsável por quem, como eu, é criatura e filho de Deus: o facto de sermos irmãos em humanidade e, em muitos casos, também na fé deve levar-nos a ver no outro um verdadeiro alter ego, infinitamente amado pelo Senhor. Se cultivarmos este olhar de fraternidade, brotarão naturalmente do nosso coração a solidariedade, a justiça, bem como a misericórdia e a compaixão. O Servo de Deus Paulo VI afirmava que o mundo actual sofre sobretudo de falta de fraternidade: «O mundo está doente. O seu mal reside mais na crise de fraternidade entre os homens e entre os povos, do que na esterilização ou no monopólio, que alguns fazem, dos recursos do universo» (Carta enc. Populorum progressio, 66).

A atenção ao outro inclui que se deseje, para ele ou para ela, o bem sob todos os seus aspectos: físico, moral e espiritual. Parece que a cultura contemporânea perdeu o sentido do bem e do mal, sendo necessário reafirmar com vigor que o bem existe e vence, porque Deus é «bom e faz o bem» (Sal 119/118, 68). O bem é aquilo que suscita, protege e promove a vida, a fraternidade e a comunhão. Assim a responsabilidade pelo próximo significa querer e favorecer o bem do outro, desejando que também ele se abra à lógica do bem; interessar-se pelo irmão quer dizer abrir os olhos às suas necessidades. A Sagrada Escritura adverte contra o perigo de ter o coração endurecido por uma espécie de «anestesia espiritual», que nos torna cegos aos sofrimentos alheios. O evangelista Lucas narra duas parábolas de Jesus, nas quais são indicados dois exemplos desta situação que se pode criar no coração do homem. Na parábola do bom Samaritano, o sacerdote e o levita, com indiferença, «passam ao largo» do homem assaltado e espancado pelos salteadores (cf. Lc 10, 30-32), e, na do rico avarento, um homem saciado de bens não se dá conta da condição do pobre Lázaro que morre de fome à sua porta (cf. Lc 16, 19). Em ambos os casos, deparamo-nos com o contrário de «prestar atenção», de olhar com amor e compaixão. O que é que impede este olhar feito de humanidade e de carinho pelo irmão? Com frequência, é a riqueza material e a saciedade, mas pode ser também o antepor a tudo os nossos interesses e preocupações próprias. Sempre devemos ser capazes de «ter misericórdia» por quem sofre; o nosso coração nunca deve estar tão absorvido pelas nossas coisas e problemas que fique surdo ao brado do pobre. Diversamente, a humildade de coração e a experiência pessoal do sofrimento podem, precisamente, revelar-se fonte de um despertar interior para a compaixão e a empatia: «O justo conhece a causa dos pobres, porém o ímpio não o compreende» (Prov 29, 7). Deste modo entende-se a bem-aventurança «dos que choram» (Mt 5, 4), isto é, de quantos são capazes de sair de si mesmos porque se comoveram com o sofrimento alheio. O encontro com o outro e a abertura do coração às suas necessidades são ocasião de salvação e de bem-aventurança.

O facto de «prestar atenção» ao irmão inclui, igualmente, a solicitude pelo seu bem espiritual. E aqui desejo recordar um aspecto da vida cristã que me parece esquecido: a correcção fraterna, tendo em vista a salvação eterna. De forma geral, hoje é-se muito sensível ao tema do cuidado e do amor que visa o bem físico e material dos outros, mas quase não se fala da responsabilidade espiritual pelos irmãos. Na Igreja dos primeiros tempos não era assim, como não o é nas comunidades verdadeiramente maduras na fé, nas quais se tem a peito não só a saúde corporal do irmão, mas também a da sua alma tendo em vista o seu destino derradeiro. Lemos na Sagrada Escritura: «Repreende o sábio e ele te amará. Dá conselhos ao sábio e ele tornar-se-á ainda mais sábio, ensina o justo e ele aumentará o seu saber» (Prov 9, 8-9). O próprio Cristo manda repreender o irmão que cometeu um pecado (cf. Mt 18, 15). O verbo usado para exprimir a correcção fraterna – elenchein – é o mesmo que indica a missão profética, própria dos cristãos, de denunciar uma geração que se faz condescendente com o mal (cf. Ef 5, 11). A tradição da Igreja enumera entre as obras espirituais de misericórdia a de «corrigir os que erram». É importante recuperar esta dimensão do amor cristão. Não devemos ficar calados diante do mal. Penso aqui na atitude daqueles cristãos que preferem, por respeito humano ou mera comodidade, adequar-se à mentalidade comum em vez de alertar os próprios irmãos contra modos de pensar e agir que contradizem a verdade e não seguem o caminho do bem. Entretanto a advertência cristã nunca há-de ser animada por espírito de condenação ou censura; é sempre movida pelo amor e a misericórdia e brota duma verdadeira solicitude pelo bem do irmão. Diz o apóstolo Paulo: «Se porventura um homem for surpreendido nalguma falta, vós, que sois espirituais, corrigi essa pessoa com espírito de mansidão, e tu olha para ti próprio, não estejas também tu a ser tentado» (Gl 6, 1). Neste nosso mundo impregnado de individualismo, é necessário redescobrir a importância da correcção fraterna, para caminharmos juntos para a santidade. É que «sete vezes cai o justo» (Prov 24, 16) – diz a Escritura –, e todos nós somos frágeis e imperfeitos (cf. 1 Jo 1, 8). Por isso, é um grande serviço ajudar, e deixar-se ajudar, a ler com verdade dentro de si mesmo, para melhorar a própria vida e seguir mais rectamente o caminho do Senhor. Há sempre necessidade de um olhar que ama e corrige, que conhece e reconhece, que discerne e perdoa (cf. Lc 22, 61), como fez, e faz, Deus com cada um de nós.

2. «Uns aos outros»: o dom da reciprocidade.

O facto de sermos o «guarda» dos outros contrasta com uma mentalidade que, reduzindo a vida unicamente à dimensão terrena, deixa de a considerar na sua perspectiva escatológica e aceita qualquer opção moral em nome da liberdade individual. Uma sociedade como a actual pode tornar-se surda quer aos sofrimentos físicos, quer às exigências espirituais e morais da vida. Não deve ser assim na comunidade cristã! O apóstolo Paulo convida a procurar o que «leva à paz e à edificação mútua» (Rm 14, 19), favorecendo o «próximo no bem, em ordem à construção da comunidade» (Rm 15, 2), sem buscar «o próprio interesse, mas o do maior número, a fim de que eles sejam salvos» (1 Cor 10, 33). Esta recíproca correcção e exortação, em espírito de humildade e de amor, deve fazer parte da vida da comunidade cristã.

Os discípulos do Senhor, unidos a Cristo através da Eucaristia, vivem numa comunhão que os liga uns aos outros como membros de um só corpo. Isto significa que o outro me pertence: a sua vida, a sua salvação têm a ver com a minha vida e a minha salvação. Tocamos aqui um elemento muito profundo da comunhão: a nossa existência está ligada com a dos outros, quer no bem quer no mal; tanto o pecado como as obras de amor possuem também uma dimensão social. Na Igreja, corpo místico de Cristo, verifica-se esta reciprocidade: a comunidade não cessa de fazer penitência e implorar perdão para os pecados dos seus filhos, mas alegra-se contínua e jubilosamente também com os testemunhos de virtude e de amor que nela se manifestam. Que «os membros tenham a mesma solicitude uns para com os outros» (1 Cor 12, 25) – afirma São Paulo –, porque somos um e o mesmo corpo. O amor pelos irmãos, do qual é expressão a esmola – típica prática quaresmal, juntamente com a oração e o jejum – radica-se nesta pertença comum. Também com a preocupação concreta pelos mais pobres, pode cada cristão expressar a sua participação no único corpo que é a Igreja. E é também atenção aos outros na reciprocidade saber reconhecer o bem que o Senhor faz neles e agradecer com eles pelos prodígios da graça que Deus, bom e omnipotente, continua a realizar nos seus filhos. Quando um cristão vislumbra no outro a acção do Espírito Santo, não pode deixar de se alegrar e dar glória ao Pai celeste (cf. Mt 5, 16).

3. «Para nos estimularmos ao amor e às boas obras»: caminhar juntos na santidade.

Esta afirmação da Carta aos Hebreus (10, 24) impele-nos a considerar a vocação universal à santidade como o caminho constante na vida espiritual, a aspirar aos carismas mais elevados e a um amor cada vez mais alto e fecundo (cf. 1 Cor 12, 31 – 13, 13). A atenção recíproca tem como finalidade estimular-se, mutuamente, a um amor efectivo sempre maior, «como a luz da aurora, que cresce até ao romper do dia» (Prov 4, 18), à espera de viver o dia sem ocaso em Deus. O tempo, que nos é concedido na nossa vida, é precioso para descobrir e realizar as boas obras, no amor de Deus. Assim a própria Igreja cresce e se desenvolve para chegar à plena maturidade de Cristo (cf. Ef 4, 13). É nesta perspectiva dinâmica de crescimento que se situa a nossa exortação a estimular-nos reciprocamente para chegar à plenitude do amor e das boas obras.

Infelizmente, está sempre presente a tentação da tibieza, de sufocar o Espírito, da recusa de «pôr a render os talentos» que nos foram dados para bem nosso e dos outros (cf. Mt 25, 24-28). Todos recebemos riquezas espirituais ou materiais úteis para a realização do plano divino, para o bem da Igreja e para a nossa salvação pessoal (cf. Lc 12, 21; 1 Tm 6, 18). Os mestres espirituais lembram que, na vida de fé, quem não avança, recua. Queridos irmãos e irmãs, acolhamos o convite, sempre actual, para tendermos à «medida alta da vida cristã» (João Paulo II, Carta ap. Novo millennio ineunte, 31). A Igreja, na sua sabedoria, ao reconhecer e proclamar a bem-aventurança e a santidade de alguns cristãos exemplares, tem como finalidade também suscitar o desejo de imitar as suas virtudes. São Paulo exorta: «Adiantai-vos uns aos outros na mútua estima» (Rm 12, 10).

Que todos, à vista de um mundo que exige dos cristãos um renovado testemunho de amor e fidelidade ao Senhor, sintam a urgência de esforçar-se por adiantar no amor, no serviço e nas obras boas (cf. Heb 6, 10). Este apelo ressoa particularmente forte neste tempo santo de preparação para a Páscoa. Com votos de uma Quaresma santa e fecunda, confio-vos à intercessão da Bem-aventurada Virgem Maria e, de coração, concedo a todos a Bênção Apostólica.
 
Vaticano, 3 de Novembro de 2011

BENEDICTUS PP. XVI

Cartões milionários na defesa

"The young Schumpeterians in charge of the Portuguese economy..." (Telegraph)

[mais risota]

"Greece’s unemployment bomb has detonated. After a deceptive calm, the surge in job losses since last summer is shocking ...

A variant of this lies in store for Portugal as its "internal devaluation" starts in earnest. The young Schumpeterians in charge of the Portuguese economy insist otherwise - cocksure that shock therapy will triumph without the cushion of debt relief and devaluation - but events have a habit of demolishing dreams...

One can see why the high priests of the EU Project wish to prevent elections taking place in April. The political centre is disintegrating, with the once triumphant PASOK party down to 9pc in the polls and New Democracy at 18pc -- each party reduced to a pro-Memorandum rump after the mass expulsion of dissidents, and each stunned almost senseless...

... The radical parties ... ascendancy ... threatens to shatter the existing order. "If we achieve a Left-dominated government, we will politely tell the Troika to leave the country, and we may need to discuss an orderly return to the Drachma," said Syriza MP Theodoros Dritsas, choosing his words carefully.

The news that Iceland has regained its investment grade rating - with unemployment down to 6pc - comes as a timely reminder that countries can indeed go it alone and live to tell the tale. Though of course, Iceland’s debts are in sovereign krona, not Mr Schäuble's euro, and Iceland has a lot of aluminium.

Mr Papademos warns that default and EMU-exit would lead to "uncontrollable economic chaos". But is that not already the case? No Greek bank has been able to issue a letter of credit accepted anywhere in the world since November. Large Greek companies are having to relocate their headquarters to Bulgaria in order to conduct basic trade.

The "drachma risk" has already killed investment. Greece is suffering the anticipated consequences of EMU exit without the benefits, so it might as well lance the boil, impose capital controls, and create a new banking system (as Iceland did). Such catharsis might start to unlock €60bn of cash savings in gold, dollars, German euro notes (letter `X’, Greece `Y’), and such-like, sitting in the proverbial mattress. Foreign investors might start to nibble again, once the Greek exchange rate reflects reality at around seven Chinese yuan.

[But] ... Greece has clawed back 15pc in labour cost competitiveness since the crisis began, closing part of the intra-EMU gap. The EU task force - not to be confused with the Troika debt-collectors - is half way through a quiet revolution that should soon start to bring Greece down from 101 on the World Bank’s ease of doing business index (behind Yemen and Guatemala) to nearer OECD levels.

So let the process run its course, play for time, and hope for the best. "A lot could change over the next year. Germany may even leave the euro..."

O gene egoísta de Richard Dawkins: Slaves at the root of the fortune that created Richard Dawkins' family estate (Telegraph)

[risota garantida]

"He has railed against the evils of religion, and lectured the world on the virtues of atheism.

Now Richard Dawkins, the secularist campaigner against "intolerance and suffering", must face an awkward revelation: he is descended from slave owners and his family estate was bought with a fortune partly created by forced labour.

One of his direct ancestors, Henry Dawkins, amassed such wealth that his family owned 1,013 slaves in Jamaica by the time of his death in 1744.

The Dawkins family estate, consisting of 400 acres near Chipping Norton, Oxfordshire, was bought at least in part with wealth amassed through sugar plantation and slave ownership.

Over Norton Park, inherited by Richard Dawkins's father, remains in the family, with the campaigner as a shareholder and director of the associated business.

... Many [Dawkins family members] were MPs including two who became prominent opponents of the abolition of slavery, eventually achieved thanks to William Wilberforce, an evangelical Christian.

Professor Dawkins, the atheist evolutionary biologist and author of The Selfish Gene, claimed associating him with his slave-owning ancestors was "a smear tactic".

... On religious matters [another Dawkins family member] was throughout 1813 an opponent of 'Catholic relief', one of the acts which lifted restrictions on freedom of worship, property and electoral rights for Catholics.

... slaves work[ed] on Sunday: they couldn't worship and were condemned to "toil and secularity".

... In 2010 Richard Dawkins wrote an obituary for his father, describing how John Dawkins had inherited Over Norton Park from a distant cousin and how the estate, in the Cotswolds area of outstanding natural beauty, had been in the family since the 1720s. He omitted, however, to mention how previous generations made their money.

He quoted Scripture – disparagingly - to insist: "I condemn slavery with the utmost vehemence, but the fact that my remote ancestors may have been involved in it is nothing to do with me.

... Audibly irritated, he added: "You need a genetics lecture. Do you realise that probably only about 1 in 512 of my genes come from Henry Dawkins?

... Richard Dawkins' sister Sarah Kettlewell, 67, is thought still to live on the estate, which has a farm shop and pedigree cattle. According to Companies House records which list Professor Dawkins as a director, Over Norton Park Limited made a £12,000 profit last year.

He insisted: "The estate is now a very small farm, struggling to make its way, and worth peanuts. The family fortune was frittered away in the 19th Century. Such money as I have is scarcely inherited at all."

He is now facing calls to apologise and make reparations for his family's past.

Esther Stanford-Xosei, of Lewisham, south London, the co-vice chairman of the Pan-African Reparations Coalition in Europe, said: "There is no statute of limitations on crimes against humanity.

"The words of the apology need to be backed by action. The most appropriate course would be for the family to fund an educational initiative telling the history of slavery and how it impacts on communities today, in terms of racism and fractured relationships."

The revelations come after a difficult few days for the campaigner.


On Tuesday 14 February, some critics branded him "an embarrassment to atheism" after what many listeners considered a humiliation in a Radio 4 debate with Giles Fraser, formerly Canon Chancellor of St Paul's Cathedral, in which the professor boasted he could recite the full title of Charles Darwin's "The Origin of Species", then when challenged, dithered and said: "Oh God."

Money Bawl: Ron Paul’s ignorant cry (National Review)

Um artigo interessante de Ramesh Ponnuru na National Review. Um razoável e curto primer sobre política monetária.

(E algumas boas alternativas à participação de Portugal no Euro).

Empresas do Estado somam prejuízos de 1,5 mil milhões

"Resultados negativos afundaram 38,5%. Exigência do Governo para conter custos não foi respeitada e o endividamento voltou a disparar...

Também as exigências de controlo dos custos operacionais foram desrespeitadas. As empresas do Estado estavam obrigadas a cortar em 15% as despesas em 2011, mas os dados conhecidos ontem mostram que, em vez de pouparem, aumentaram os gastos em 1,9%. No total, os custos com fornecimentos externos, pessoal e mercadorias superaram 3,7 mil milhões de euros, incluindo os resultados da Parpública e da Estradas de Portugal...

Face aos resultados de 2011, que se foram agravando ao longo de cada trimestre, a exigência inscrita no Memorando de Entendimento assinado com a troika está muito longe de ser satisfeita..."

Saco azul paga a governantes: cartões de crédito eram usados por ministros e secretários de estado de sócrates para despesas sem orçamentação

No Correio da Manhã (via Porta da Loja)

.

Pedro: o pessoal não está a emigrar ...

Desemprego saltou para 14%:

"A taxa de desemprego no quarto trimestre de 2011 saltou para 14%, um valor superior em 1,6 pontos percentuais ao do trimestre anterior e que fica acima das previsões dos economistas.

O universo da população desempregada ascende agora a 771 mil, o que representa um acréscimo trimestral de 11,8% (mais 81,4 mil pessoas)."

Afinal há dinheiro e nem todos estão condenados a empobrecer

Custo das PPP rodoviárias fica 30% acima do previsto:

"Os encargos líquidos para o Estado com as parcerias público-privadas (PPP) rodoviárias ultrapassaram, no final do ano passado, os 1.520 milhões de euros, mais 30% – ou 355 milhões – do que os 1.165 milhões previstos para 2011."

Há dinheiro. Não há é dinheiro para tudo. No momento de decidir quem recebe e quem deixa de receber, o governo põe a descoberto as suas preferências ideológicas e os seus interesses.

POPE WARNS AGAINST THE POWER OF FINANCE AND OF THE MEDIA

"Yesterday afternoon the Holy Father visited the Major Seminary of Rome for the occasion of the feast of its patroness, Our Lady of Trust...

... The Pope then went on to refer to the force of evil which, in today's world, also emerges "in two great powers which are good and useful in themselves but easily open to abuse: the power of finance and the power of the media. Both are necessary, both are useful, but so subject to misuse that they often go against their true goals".

Today "we see how the world of finance can dominate mankind. Possession and appearance dominate and enslave the world. ... Finance is no longer a tool to promote well being and to support the life of man, but a force that oppresses him, one which almost has to be worshipped". The Pontiff called on his audience not to conform to this power. "Be non conformists. What counts is not possession but existence", he said. Christians must not bow to this power, but use it as "as a means, with the freedom of the children of God".

Turning then to consider the question of public opinion, Benedict XVI highlighted how "we have a great need of information, knowledge about the truth of the world; but there is a power of appearance which in the end counts even more than reality itself". Appearance "overlies the truth and becomes more important. Man no longer pursues the truth but wants above all to appear". Here too "there is a Christian non conformism. ... We want not appearance but truth, and this will give us true freedom".

"Christian non conformism redeems us and restores us to truth. Let us pray to the Lord that He may help us to be free in this non conformism, which is not against the world but is authentic love for the world".

IMF Working Paper: Precautionary Savings in the Great Recession

• ABSTRACT: Heightened uncertainty since the onset of the Great Recession has materially increased saving rates, contributing to lower consumption and GDP growth. Consistent with a model of precautionary savings in the face of uncertainty, we find for a panel of advanced economies that greater labor income uncertainty is significantly associated with higher household savings. ...
  
  
• Excerto das conclusões: "It appears that uncertainty is here to stay—at least for a while. The implication is that saving rates will continue to be maintained, or even raised during spikes in uncertainty. This complicates the process of economic recovery. Higher uncertainty and lower growth can become a “bad” equilibrium. The challenge for policymakers is that as they go about their task of renewing global growth, they must also pay particular attention to the consistency of their statements, especially to establish the credibility of their actions. As of this writing, the signs in this regard are not propitious.

Este paper reforça o argumento do artigo do NYT que foi aqui ontem publicado.

AS "reformas" nas áreas laboral, da saúde, da segurança social, da educação e o próprio "discurso" do governo reforçam a insegurança e contribuem para a manutenção do "bad equilibrium" de que fala este paper: elevada incerteza, reduzido consumo, baixo crescimento.

Infelizmente, e como também refere este paper do FMI, não parece que o governo esteja a perceber o que está a acontecer. 2012 ? LCOL (Crying Out Loud).

[ESTE TEXTO FOI ESCRITO AO ABRIGO DO NOVO DESACORDO ORTOGRÁFICO]

What Went Wrong in Portugal? (The New York Times)

"Europe is on the wrong path because its prescription for the sovereign debt crisis, so-called expansionary fiscal consolidation, is a failed economic paradigm. The thinking has been that sacking government workers and cutting government spending would eliminate the budget deficit in countries like Greece and Portugal and, therefore, restore market confidence in their sovereign debt. The reality has turned out to be quite a bit different. Instead of reduced debt loads, we are witnessing higher government debt burdens as the reduced economic output from cutting government is met with cuts in the private sector. If Europe continues on this path, the euro zone will break apart entirely with unpredictable political and economic repercussions.

In Portugal, the government has adopted steep austerity measures as a condition of its aid package. However, the country's economy will now shrink because European policy makers fail to understand the dynamics of debt deflation. What they miss is that the Portuguese private sector is highly indebted. When the economy contracts, indebted individuals and companies in an indebted private sector have an overwhelming incentive to save to reduce debt burdens and prevent default and bankruptcy. This means that the private sector will always attempt to increase its net savings position irrespective of the government balance. When government then attempts to move to a net savings position as well by cutting spending and increasing taxes, it is met with cuts in the private sector which still wants to net save and pay down debt. Irresistible force meet immovable object!

The result, then, of government cuts or tax increases when the private sector is indebted and the economy is stalled is debt deflation, as more and more parties cut back, threatened by insolvency due to the decreased economic output. Europe must understand that Greece is not a special case. Rather it is the leading edge of a debt deflation, which risks claiming Portugal as its next victim. Put bluntly, Portugal is the next Greece.

To their credit, the ratings agencies and the International Monetary Fund have all voiced disquiet with this policy response in Europe. In fact, in each of the last rounds of sovereign credit ratings downgrades, Standard & Poor's and Moody's wrote that they had downgraded several countries in Europe in part because the austerity-centered approach was making matters worse. The ratings agencies indicated that Europe must turn toward more pro-growth policies if it is to have any hope.

The bottom line is this: Europe is fixated on the wrong problem, budget deficits. The bigger problem in most of Europe is private indebtedness and financial sector leverage. If Europe wants to fix its problems, it must address this indebtedness, and that requires a lot more than endless rounds of fiscal austerity and budget cutting."

ECB Working Paper: Investor inattention during FIFA world cup matches

"At the 2010 FIFA World Cup in South Africa, many soccer matches were played during stock market trading hours, providing us with a natural experiment to analyze fluctuations in investor attention. Using minute‐by‐minute trading data for fifteen international stock exchanges, we present three key findings. First, when the national team was playing, the number of trades dropped by 45%, while volumes were 55% lower. Second, market activity was influenced by match events. For instance, a goal caused an additional drop in trading activity by 5%. The magnitude of this reduction resembles what is observed during lunchtime, and as such might not be indicative for shifts in attention. However, our third finding is that the comovement between national and global stock market returns decreased by over 20% during World Cup matches, whereas no comparable decoupling can be found during lunchtime. We conclude that stock markets were following developments on the soccer pitch rather than in the trading pit, leading to a changed price formation process."

São estes "os mercados" que fazem tremer os governos deste mundo.

São estes os investidores normalmente apresentados como paradigma de agentes racionais.

É para os homens das salas de mercados poderem continuar a assistir confortavelmente ao futebeol durante as horas de serviço que nós não vamos ter direito às tradicionais tolerância de ponto.

E, por último, Portugal paga centenas de milhões de euros aos membros da troika, nomeadamente ao BCE, para que estas entidades possam continuar a financiar este tipo de "investigações científicas" ...

Um filme piegas para homens de barba rija, cerviz dura, incircuncisos de coração e de ouvidos

Más de mil niños católicos de Timor Oriental secuestrados e islamizados a la fuerza en Indonesia

"Más de mil niños católicos de Timor Oriental permanecen secuestrados e islamizados a la fuerza en Indonesia

Un millar de niños católicos de Timor Oriental, están detenidos por la fuerza en Indonesia, tras ser arrebatados a sus familias hace más de diez años para ser educados en colegios islámicos y nacionalizados. La mayoría se encuentra en escuelas y centro de acogida, en manos de «educadores» musulmanes que se niegan a devolverlos a sus familias."

Os assessores do Passos Coelho fizeram outra vez ponte

As contas do Passos Coelho:

"Repare, na segunda e na terça-feira, o que o país ganha trabalhando, o senhor já fez contas para saber o que é que um país inteiro que trabalha dois dias pode produzir?", interrogou.

Questionado pelo jornalista sobre se já fez essas contas, Passos respondeu que "basta o senhor dividir o nosso PIB pelos dias de trabalho".

Luzes para a Europa e para Portugal (Pedro Vaz Patto)

Voz da Verdade, 05/02/2012:

"Num momento de crise europeia e nacional, em que entre nós se procura reconfigurar relações económicas e laborais, é muito útil a leitura do documento da Comissão dos Episcopados da Comunidade Europeia (COMECE) Uma Comunidade Europeia de Solidariedade e Responsabilidade sobre o objectivo de «uma economia social de mercado competitiva» para que aponta o Tratado de Lisboa."

Um documento muito bem estruturado e bem conseguido (talvez alimente o blog durante os próximos dias).

Daniel Kahneman on economic decision-making (The Economist)

DANIEL KAHNEMAN ... was awarded the Nobel prize in Economics in 2002 for his pioneering work with Amos Tversky on decision-making and uncertainty:

"The realisation that people do not always make the sensible decisions that they would wish to make has implications for policy...

In the domain of personal investing there is very clear evidence that individuals... should not trade in stocks because following their judgement costs them money.

To reduce the incidence of costly mistakes, the choices offered by institutions and governments should be structured by providing people with a reasonable option from which they can opt out...

...If you assume that economic agents are completely rational, two immediate conclusions follow. One is people don’t need to be protected against their own choices—and that has been very explicitly the line of the Chicago economists, as illustrated by their opposition to social security.

I think the evidence against perfect rationality is overwhelming. A large proportion of the population wants to save more than they do and they have firm intentions to start saving next year. Helping them do this will actually help them make the decision they wish they would make.

Another pernicious implication of the assumption of consumer rationality is that individuals need little protection from the firms with which they interact. ... In the United States, especially under the influence of Cass Sunstein, the White House regulatory chief, firms are required to produce information for their clients in a form the clients can understand. I don’t see that this has any drawbacks, except for the corporations. Those changes in, for example, mortgage and credit card regulations have been fought by the industry, which means the industry thinks it is to its advantage to keep customers poorly informed..."

Os libertários e os lobistas (artigo de opinião no Jornal de Negócios)

A campanha do Ron Paul trouxe o libertarianism para as páginas dos jornais portugueses. Um feito de relevo:

"
Nos Estados Unidos... Ron Paul destaca-se por defender consistentemente que o Governo é o problema, não a solução, no que diz respeito à banca. Se o Estado fosse retirado do sector financeiro (incluindo a abolição da Reserva Federal), a economia iria funcionar melhor, argumenta.

A segunda visão é a que indica que o sector financeiro pressionou bastante, e em força, para uma desregulação nas últimas décadas e indica também que gastou muito tempo e dinheiro a persuadir os políticos que essa desregulação constituía uma abordagem segura e moderna para as operações da banca...

Há provas recentes que apoiam esta segunda visão, disponíveis em forma de um estudo elaborado por Deniz Igan e Prachi Mishra, do Fundo Monetário Internacional (FMI). Em "Three’s Company: Wall Street, Capitol Hill and K Street", os autores olham para os dados – muitos dados – relativos à concretização de lóbis por parte de empresas do sector financeiro nos EUA...

É óbvio que as empresas do sector financeiro querem a ausência de regulação – menos regras e menos supervisão de qualquer género. ...

A próxima ligação entre o Congresso e as companhias lobistas parece ter sido crucial para a forma como o sector financeiro se desregulou, o que permitiu a tomada de riscos excessivos antes do início da crise. Num outro estudo, Igan e Mishra, em colaboração com Thierry Tressel, descobriram que as empresas que assumiam mais riscos antes de 2008 eram as que estavam mais comprometidas com lóbis.

Na prática, as companhias financeiras têm estado a comprar o direito de assumir mais riscos. Quando as coisas correm bem, os responsáveis dessas empresas usufruem do desempenho positivo – em maior parte dos casos, usufruem de uma remuneração imediata, já que poucos são pagos com base em retornos ajustados aos riscos. Tal significa que quando o risco se materializa e as empresas sofrem prejuízos, os custos caem sobre os contribuintes.

Ron Paul está certo quando assinala enormes distorções e desequilíbrios no poder dentro do sector financeiro. Também está correcto quando diz que muitas políticas estatais favorecem relativamente poucas grandes empresas – e favorecem-nas de um modo que encoraja uma excessiva e perigosa assunção de riscos.

Mas Paul, tal como outros, estão errados quando defendem que os Governos são os principais culpados por todo o mal financeiro. Os administradores das companhias financeiras querem assumir grandes riscos. Gostam de esquemas em que ganham mesmo quando perdem..."

Why French Parents Are Superior

"
While Americans fret over modern parenthood, the French are raising happy, well-behaved children without all the anxiety. Pamela Druckerman on the Gallic secrets for avoiding tantrums, teaching patience and saying 'non' with authority."

Seven things I learned about transition from communism

Andrei Shleifer, Professor de Economia da Universidade de Harvard, lista 7 "lições" que surpreenderam os "reformadores" dos países de Leste no pós-91 e os seus conselheiros economistas (alguns dos quais libertarians).

Curiosamente, este autor faz também um paralelo entre alguns aspectos da experiência do pós-comunismo e os processos de liberalização da economia e de estabilização (!) macro-económica seguidos por todo o Mundo - e agora, também em Portugal. Há alguns meses atrás, aquando do anúncio do "novo regime económico" promovido pelo sobrinho do Dr. Passos Coelho, já aqui se tinha defendido que existiam pontos de contacto entre os dois processos.

Shleifer sublinha que, apesar de, no final do processo, o nível de vida médio nestes países ser superior ao ponto de partida ("have faith – capitalism really does work") - coisa que não era difícil, tendo em conta que estamos a falar de regimes comunistas -, existe um profundo empobrecimento nas fases iniciais, que podem durar décadas:

"... in all countries ... economic activity shrunk at the beginning of transition, in some very sharply. ...In Russia, the steepness and the length of the decline (almost a decade) was a big surprise... These declines contradicted at least the simple economic theory that a move to free prices should immediately improve resource allocation... Economic transformation takes time."

Ou seja, em Portugal, o ano da inflexão estará mais próximo de 2021 do que de 2012.

Outra questão que surpreendeu os economistas foi a oligarquização da economia e da política (os economistas saiem pouco ...):

"... the declines in output nowhere led to populist revolts – as many economists had feared. ... Instead of populism, politics in many countries came to be dominated by new economic elites, the so-called oligarchs, who combined wealth with substantial political influence. From the perspective of 1992, this came as a huge surprise."

Em Portugal também estamos em processo de democratização oligaquização da economia. Os homens dos partidos/maçonarias/bancos/sociedades de advogados controlam isto tudo e vão recolher os dividendos do processo revolucionário em curso.

No final do processo (ou seja, após uns meros 10 anos), os economistas ficaram igualmente surpreendidos pelo facto de existir muito pouco apoio popular ao processo de transição:

"... after huge improvements in living standards were absolutely obvious... people in all transition countries were unhappy with transition: they were unhappy even in countries with rapidly improving quality of life (and this itself is another surprise and major puzzle ...)

Isto é facilmente explicável. Os beneficíos da "transição" concentraram-se nos oligarcas e nos novos "Joe Berardos"; os prejuízos concentraram-se no resto da população:

"... Transition to markets is accomplished by new people, not by old people with better incentives.... the lesson both in firms and in politics in profound: you cannot teach an old dog new tricks, even with incentives."

Ficamos sem saber o que acontecerá aos "old dogs" que ficam sem emprego, sem segurança social, sem serviços de saúde, etc... A única contribuição que estes cidadãos podem dar ao processo de transição em curso é morreram e assim contribuírem para o aumento do PIB per capita, como aconteceu na Rússia ("have faith – capitalism really does work").

Por último, o autor do artigo explica que o papão "mercados financeiros" é história para obrigar as crianças a tomaram o remédio amargo:

"... from East Asia to Argentina... Debt restructurings do not necessarily make permanent scars. This experience bears a profound lesson for reformers, who are always intimidated by the international financial community: do not panic about crises; they blow over fast...."

The revolution of capitalism (John Gray)

"... As a side-effect of the financial crisis, more and more people are starting to think Karl Marx was right. The great 19th Century German philosopher, economist and revolutionary believed that capitalism was radically unstable.

It had a built-in tendency to produce ever larger booms and busts, and over the longer term it was bound to destroy itself.

Marx welcomed capitalism's self-destruction. He was confident that a popular revolution would occur and bring a communist system into being that would be more productive and far more humane.

Marx was wrong about communism. Where he was prophetically right was in his grasp of the revolution of capitalism. It's not just capitalism's endemic instability that he understood, though in this regard he was far more perceptive than most

More profoundly, Marx understood how capitalism destroys its own social base - the middle-class way of life...

But when he argued that capitalism would plunge the middle classes into something like the precarious existence of the hard-pressed workers of his time, Marx anticipated a change in the way we live that we're only now struggling to cope with.

He viewed capitalism as the most revolutionary economic system in history, and there can be no doubt that it differs radically from those of previous times.

... Capitalism has been described as a process of creative destruction, and no-one can deny that it has been prodigiously productive. Practically anyone who is alive in Britain today has a higher real income than they would have had if capitalism had never existed.

Negative return

The trouble is that among the things that have been destroyed in the process is the way of life on which capitalism in the past depended.

Defenders of capitalism argue that it offers to everyone the benefits that in Marx's time were enjoyed only by the bourgeoisie...

... In fact, in Britain, the US and many other developed countries over the past 20 or 30 years, the opposite has been happening. Job security doesn't exist, the trades and professions of the past have largely gone and life-long careers are barely memories.

If people have any wealth it's in their houses, but house prices don't always increase. ... A dwindling minority can count on a pension on which they could comfortably live, and not many have significant savings.

More and more people live from day to day, with little idea of what the future may bring. Middle-class people used to think their lives unfolded in an orderly progression. But it's no longer possible to look at life as a succession of stages in which each is a step up from the last.

In the process of creative destruction the ladder has been kicked away and for increasing numbers of people a middle-class existence is no longer even an aspiration.

Risk takers

As capitalism has advanced it has returned most people to a new version of the precarious existence of Marx's proles. Our incomes are far higher and in some degree we're cushioned against shocks by what remains of the post-war welfare state.

But we have very little effective control over the course of our lives, and the uncertainty in which we must live is being worsened by policies devised to deal with the financial crisis. Zero interest rates alongside rising prices means you're getting a negative return on your money and over time your capital is being eroded...

At the same time as it has stripped people of the security of bourgeois life, capitalism has made the type of person that lived the bourgeois life obsolete. In the 1980s there was much talk of Victorian values, and promoters of the free market used to argue that it would bring us back to the wholesome virtues of the past.

... But the larger fact is that the free market works to undermine the virtues that maintain the bourgeois life.

When savings are melting away being thrifty can be the road to ruin. It's the person who borrows heavily and isn't afraid to declare bankruptcy that survives and goes on to prosper.

When the labour market is highly mobile it's not those who stick dutifully to their task that succeed, it's people who are always ready to try something new that looks more promising.

In a society that is being continuously transformed by market forces, traditional values are dysfunctional and anyone who tries to live by them risks ending up on the scrapheap.

Vast wealth

Looking to a future in which the market permeates every corner of life, Marx wrote in The Communist Manifesto: "Everything that is solid melts into air". For someone living in early Victorian England - the Manifesto was published in 1848 - it was an astonishingly far-seeing observation.

At the time nothing seemed more solid than the society on the margins of which Marx lived. A century and a half later we find ourselves in the world he anticipated, where everyone's life is experimental and provisional, and sudden ruin can happen at any time.

A tiny few have accumulated vast wealth but even that has an evanescent, almost ghostly quality. ...

Today there is no haven of security. The gyrations of the market are such that no-one can know what will have value even a few years ahead.

This state of perpetual unrest is the permanent revolution of capitalism and I think it's going to be with us in any future that's realistically imaginable. We're only part of the way through a financial crisis that will turn many more things upside down.

Currencies and governments are likely to go under, along with parts of the financial system we believed had been made safe. The risks that threatened to freeze the world economy only three years ago haven't been dealt with. They've simply been shifted to states.

Whatever politicians may tell us about the need to curb the deficit, debts on the scale that have been run up can't be repaid. Almost certainly they will be inflated away - a process that is bound to be painful and impoverishing for many.

The result can only be further upheaval, on an even bigger scale. But it won't be the end of the world, or even of capitalism. Whatever happens, we're still going to have to learn to live with the mercurial energy that the market has released.

Capitalism has led to a revolution but not the one that Marx expected. The fiery German thinker hated the bourgeois life and looked to communism to destroy it. And just as he predicted, the bourgeois world has been destroyed.

But it wasn't communism that did the deed. It's capitalism that has killed off the bourgeoisie."

BCP vai recorrer a dinheiro do Estado

Isto não quer dizer que as recentes declarações de Victor Gaspar não sejam verdadeiras.

Nem quer dizer que tudo o que o Ministro das Finanças tem dito ultimamente seja uma forma de gestão de expectativas à la sócrates.

Não.

É preciso ler com cuidado as declarações de Gaspar. Gaspar disse que "os bancos portugueses estão hoje melhor capitalizados".

Ora, todos sabem que o BCP é hoje em dia um banco angolano.

"O ministro das Finanças considera que os bancos portugueses estão hoje melhor capitalizados"

Um bom indicador da solidez financeira dos bancos é a completa ausência de declarações sobre essa matéria.

Quando o Governo sente necessidade de fazer declarações sobre a a capitalização dos bancos é razão para ficar muito preocupado. O processo vai mais avançado do que se pensava.

Usury still a sin

A Final Christmas Reflection

"... Economists often say it is a wonderful thing that the wealthy invest or buy something at low rates, since if they did not business could not take place. Anything more than what earns them a handsome profit, even if the core working class is absolutely destitute, is extraneous since economics is supposedly value free. The refutation by Dickens is not that man needs a wage, but a living wage, something that a reasonable man could expect to live reasonably on, spending wisely and thriftily.

Next the ghost takes Scrooge to his Nephew’s house, which is considerably larger and better furnished with food than the Cratchett’s. Here the issue is not poverty, but the use of money. Economists teach that the wealthy investing their money and not spending it on themselves is a higher good, since it puts more capital out there to be earned. This is necessary in a debt based society. People who spend money and live well themselves are bad, since they are not constantly increasing their profits. Yet, this is also a fallacy, refuted by the very fact that Scrooge is unhappy, and considered miserly and poor by all those in attendance who have a good time, eat well and make merry. Happiness cannot be bought, success sometimes abject failure, where what Scrooge (and the economists) considers a failure is in fact far more successful on a human standard than anything he or those like him have stored up in their counting houses.

Lastly, climatically for this section of the story, the ghost of Christmas present takes Scrooge to the slums, under a bridge where a homeless family huddles over a fire, and the children rejoice that their father was able to gather some loaves of bread that fell from a car. The lie and deception of free market economics, one of the most vicious lies they tell to sleep better at night, is that those on the streets or without work are so because they do not want to work. They want the government to take care of them, they don’t have enough initiative or skills... What Scrooge is placed in front of however, is a broken man despairing because there is no work he can provide for his family with. “It’s not right that there is no work, these hands, they want to work.” It is inconceivable that someone in finance capital cannot see the meaning here, yet the economists, represented by Scrooge himself, turn a blind eye to it. Don’t tell me you want to work, because for my theories to continue making me rich you must not!

Thus the ghost has one more thing for Scrooge to see. He opens up his robe, and shows him two sickly, starved and anemic children named “ignorance” and “want”. The ghost tells him, “These are your children!” Why? They are begotten by all like Scrooge (the economists and free market capitalists) and likewise ignored by them. Scrooge himself wants nothing to do with them, and merely quips: “Have they no refuge, no resource?” And the ghost, as frequently in Dickens’ narrative, refers Scrooge back to his own words: “Are there no workhouses, are there no prisons?” The scene under the bridge, as well as the dramatic unveiling of “ignorance” and “want”, are juxtapositions of reality with the utopian conceptions of the economists, exemplified in the pre-converted Scrooge. Thus Scrooge says “cover them,” and the Ghost does so, but reminds him, “but they live, O, they live.” The consequences of the economists behavior are solvable by institutions, for which they are taxed by the government, irrespective of how terrible and inhuman they might be. They simply turn a blind eye. ...

Scrooge is moved to conversion at this point, knowing his doom is near... the wages of sin are death...

...

It’s a Wonderful Life is a movie about George Bailey, an average man from a small town, with big ideas but limited means. His ideas are quite different from what in the end he would actually achieve, but what we find at the end of the movie is that what he accomplished was above and beyond what he might have planned on...

...When George’s Father dies, just before George is ready to go to college, he lays the foundation of the battle which will be fought throughout his life. Potter, an investor in Bailey Building and Loan wants to have it shut down... Potter basically argues that because Bailey let people who were behind on their payments off, or gave loans to people who were denied a loan by the bank, he was a financial menace. George rebuts, adding that his father wasn’t a businessman, he was in the business of the human race (like the converted Scrooge), if you let someone off when they’ve missed a payment, and it lets them stay in their house, doesn’t that make them better customers? Doesn’t that mean they will be better off? He adds on (in the money value of the day) “Do you know how long it takes a working man to save up $5,000?” (Its somewhat amusing, that even though money’s purchasing power has plummeted since the movie was made, it still takes a working man a long time to save up $5,000!) George’s diatribe against Potter is so moving, that the Board votes Potter down, if George will take over the Bailey Building and Loan...

... in the next scene we see Mary and George building homes for the poor of Bedford Falls.

Potter does not take this well. His advisers warn him that George Bailey will infuse a liquidity into the community that will seriously damage Potter’s hegemony. So Potter tries to bribe him. ... This is appealing to George, until he stops and remembers what kind of man Potter is. He recalls what kind of business he runs. George does not get all high-minded as a crusader for justice. As he says later in the movie, “I’m not a praying man.” What Capra is painting for us is an image, not of an idealist, but of an average guy with a human bone in his body. Certainly George Bailey has his ideals, there is no question about that, but he is not really interested in the common struggle of the community against the oligarch, even though he is right in the middle of it. George is the average guy who knows what is right, and he knows that oligarchs need to be fought. This is why he tells Potter off and storms off.

The second thing that’s interesting is we don’t see George saying spit on Potter and his money. He rues the fact that he can’t take it! This is not the normal hero. He is not a hero who is a entirely selfless like one of Capra’s other great films, Mr. Smith goes to Washington. He rues the fact that he is stuck with the Bailey Building and Loan, stuck with the the small salary he has. When he goes home, his wife shares with him the good news that she is pregnant. George never again doubts his mission, and here Capra sets for us the climax.

George’s partner and uncle, Willy, misplaces an $8,000 deposit, at the same time as the bank examiner comes to audit the books. This means that George could go to jail and lose everything that matters. It is at this time that he wants to commit suicide, when God sends an angel to prevent him. Rather than a Deus ex machina, Capra weaves this very cleverly into the climax. Clarence the Angel, has great difficulty in finding the solution for George. At last, he gets an idea, he asks God to change the world so that George was never born. The door slams, and the world is different.

Capra uses this to show us what happens when there is no justice in society, when someone like George Bailey is not there to fight the system. The happy little town of Bedford Falls is transformed into Pottersville, a slum with strip shows, drugs, poverty and everything wicked and filthy, which also makes money for Potter. Since there was no one to fight him, he and his money owned the town. All the side characters who serve as subplots are not the happy people they were. They are in the worst situations imaginable. The last the thing that defined him, his family, is not there. This wakes George up to the fact that he really has a wonderful life (hence the title)...

In sum, the ends of Dickens and Capra are the same. They are both opposed to the errors of the economists, to the rabid individualism and “enlightened” self-interest which supposedly make society better, but in reality produce the family under the bridge with the Ghost of Christmas present, and the horror of Pottersville when we see a world without George. Interestingly, both stories use supernatural imagery to drive home the point. Why? There are three reasons. The first is because it can be difficult to see through the errors of the economists. They have pulled the psychological operation of a majority telling us something is true. Secondly, because they do it by hidden hands and hidden frauds. In Capra we see this during the bank run, where Potter says he has guaranteed the banks loans. Sounds like a work of charity, but George puts the correct gloss on it when he tells his uncle: “He’s just taken over the bank.” Why? The power of wealth to corrupt, engineer and monopolize is often unseen until its effects are plain. Lastly, as I noted in the case of Scrooge, the ivory tower of liberalism shields the idealist, like Potter or Scrooge from seeing the reality of human suffering, and the obligations one has just for society itself. Potter wants his hegemony for all sorts of reasons, elitism, control, name recognition, who knows what else. His control of it however transforms a good town into a terrible crime ridden slum. ..."

No tempo do "melhor primeiro-ministro de sempre" ...

... houve jornalistas que classificaram o comendador como o "protótipo do novo empresário português":

"BCP. Berardo deve sair do conselho de remunerações.

BCP, BES e CGD já desistiram de recuperar dívidas do empresário. Perdas já foram provisionadas e reflectidas nos respectivos balanços...

Este incumprimento é mais um passo para afastar um dos homens fortes de José Sócrates na banca do próximo aumento de capital do BCP, que deverá rondar os 500 milhões de euros."

E se calhar é mesmo o protótipo do empresário. É olhar para os modelos produzidos em série.

Quem vai pagar a factura do comendador ? Os funcionários públicos, os consumidores e os contribuintes.

Economics as ideology - Part II