1. 2014: DECISIVE YEAR FOR BAHIA AND BRAZIL
Fernando Alcoforado *
The 2014 elections for governorships of state, president of the Republic and the
Parliament (Legislative Assembly and Congress) are decisive for Bahia and Brazil
because the Bahia and Brazilian people will have the opportunity to defeat the current
rulers and parliamentarians who divorced expectations of the state of Bahia and of the
nation by adopting an economic model of neoliberal development and for demonstrating
incompetence in the management of public affairs.
Bahia will have to elect a governor and legislators who are able to resolve three types of
crisis in the field of public sector management at the Wagner government: 1) Crisis of
planning; 2) Crisis of development strategy; and, 3) Fiscal Crisis of public finances. The
crisis of government planning of Bahia is characterized by the absence of a systemic
plan and strategic regional development that is able to promote balanced economic,
social and environmental development covering the entire state of Bahia. In the absence
of a development plan for the State of Bahia neoliberal model privileging the primacy of
the market share at the expense of government action is utilized.
The crisis of development strategy results from the fact that the government of Bahia
state does not have a plan for systemic and strategic regional development. In other
words, without a strategic plan there isn´t development strategy. Government action is
characterized by specific interventions, in essence, do not promote the development of
Bahia in the true sense of the term. Rather, this action promotes imbalances in regional
development.
In turn, the recent fiscal crisis of the public finances of the government of Bahia is a
clear demonstration of managerial incompetence of Wagner government whose leaders
did nothing to reduce government spending since the outbreak of the crisis in 2008
without consider the prospect of declines in revenue State. The Bahia government did
not reduced spending costs and not made effective control of cash flow. This resulted in
the chaotic current financial situation of the government of Bahia State that is lacking in
resources to cover their most basic needs.
In turn, Brazil will have to elect a new president and a new parliament that contribute to
bring to an end the disastrous neoliberal and anti-national governments inaugurated by
Fernando Collor and maintained by Itamar Franco, Fernando Henrique Cardoso, Lula
da Silva and Dilma Rousseff. From the government of Fernando Collor in 1990, the
Brazilian government adopted a set of measures recommended by the IMF and the
World Bank - the Washington Consensus - which established three steps to be taken in
the following order: 1) stabilization of the economy (to combat inflation); 2) structural
reforms (privatization, deregulation of markets, financial and commercial
liberalization); and, 3) the resumption of foreign investment to leverage development.
Besides having adopted measures based on the Washington Consensus, Collor, Franco,
Cardoso, Lula and Rousseff favored the interests of the financial system at the expense
of national interests by directing much of the budget for the payment of interest and
amortization of domestic and foreign debt with a tendency to grow in the coming years
and that is resulting in the increasing inability of the Brazilian government in all its
levels (federal, state and municipal) to invest in solving the problems of economic and
social infrastructure and promote the development of the country. During the
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2. government Dilma Rousseff, for example, it was destined the 43.98 % of the federal
budget in 2013 to pay interest and amortization of internal and external debts.
In addition, the indicators for foreign direct investment in Brazil, the participation of
foreign capital in the Brazilian industry and the remittance of profits abroad have shown
that increasing numbers over the interests of the Brazilian nation demonstrate the
subordination of all the governments of Brazil in recent years to foreign capital. Join all
this managerial incompetence of the federal government that results from the fact of
acting without a development plan to guide its actions. For all these reasons, the year
2014 will be decisive for the voters of Bahia and Brazil can reverse the grave situation
in Bahia and Brazil electing leaders committed to the interests of the Brazilian nation,
competent, and aimed at promoting economic and social progress.
In State of Bahia, voters are facing the option to elect the candidate of the PT (Rui
Costa) imposed by the governor Wagner, the candidate supported by DEM, PSDB and
PMDB (Paulo Souto or Geddel Vieira Lima) or the candidate of PSB (Lidice da Mata).
Vote for PT, DEM, PSDB and PMDB candidates means maintaining economic and
social backwardness of Bahia with the subordination of the Bahia government at local
oligarchies and national and international capital. Lidice da Mata, PSB candidate, will
only become a real alternative of power in State of Bahia if assume the role of brickbat
candidates from DEM, PSDB, PMDB and PT showing that they are "birds of a feather",
highlight the fiasco of governments Wagner and Rousseff and present a concrete
proposal for political, economic and social change in Bahia and Brazil.
In Brazil, voters are facing the option to re-elect Dilma Rousseff 's PT, the PSDB Aécio
Neves and PSB Eduardo Campos for the presidency. Of these candidates, Aécio Neves
and Rousseff are from parties who contributed in the FHC, Lula and Dilma Rousseff to
the disastrous economic situation in Brazil. Both mean maintaining the status quo.
Eduardo Campos only become real alternative of power if characterize all previous
governments as anti-national and against the real economic and social progress in Brazil
and if assume the role of brickbat of candidates from DEM, PSDB, PMDB and PT
showing that they are "birds of a feather", highlight the fiasco of the FHC, Lula and
Dilma Rousseff governments and present a concrete proposal for political, economic
and social change in Brazil.
*
Alcoforado, Fernando, engineer and doctor of Territorial Planning and Regional Development from the
University of Barcelona, a university professor and consultant in strategic planning, business planning,
regional planning and planning of energy systems, is the author of Globalização (Editora Nobel, São
Paulo, 1997), De Collor a FHC- O Brasil e a Nova (Des)ordem Mundial (Editora Nobel, São Paulo,
1998), Um Projeto para o Brasil (Editora Nobel, São Paulo, 2000), Os condicionantes do
desenvolvimento do Estado da Bahia (Tese de doutorado. Universidade de Barcelona,
http://www.tesisenred.net/handle/10803/1944, 2003), Globalização e Desenvolvimento (Editora Nobel,
São Paulo, 2006), Bahia- Desenvolvimento do Século XVI ao Século XX e Objetivos Estratégicos na Era
Contemporânea (EGBA, Salvador, 2008), The Necessary Conditions of the Economic and Social
Development-The Case of the State of Bahia (VDM Verlag Dr. Muller Aktiengesellschaft & Co. KG,
Saarbrücken, Germany, 2010), Aquecimento Global e Catástrofe Planetária (P&A Gráfica e Editora,
Salvador, 2010), Amazônia Sustentável- Para o progresso do Brasil e combate ao aquecimento global
(Viena- Editora e Gráfica, Santa Cruz do Rio Pardo, São Paulo, 2011) and Os Fatores Condicionantes do
Desenvolvimento Econômico e Social (Editora CRV, Curitiba, 2012), among others.
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