Successes & Miscarriages: Am I going to Disney &/or How Much is a Parasite Worth of in Brazil—a halfpenny matter?!

 


 

 

The Delirious Paulo Guedes (thereof) + Late Classic Maya Clown (Mary Miller & Karl Taube, The Gods and Symbols of Ancient Mexico and the Maya);

The  Economist/Kal's cartoon (on Bolsonaro &  Covid-19); 

Benett's cartoon on Brazilian restaurant chain Grupo Madero (whose owner dismissed Covid-19 related deaths too manifestly, while arguing against quarantine measures);

Economist Eduardo Moreira & Brazilian politician Ciro Gomes on the paltry and inadequate nature of Bolsonaro (dis)government's economic measures to deal with the Covid-19 crisis in Brazil;

Oxfam/Douglas Belchior/Mônica de Bolle/ on Covid-19 & Brazilian shameful inequality; 

Brazil Forum UK 2020 (a debate about the future of Brazil's economy: inequality, minimum income & the perversity of Brazilian tax system); 

Why is Argentina's economy such a mess? (The Economist/Youtube 2024); 

La Finance peut-elle arrêter de ruiner la planète ? Bertrand Badré (Thinkerview/Youtube) [I can't incorporate this video here, although it exists in Youtube]; 

Crise économique, débats interdits en France? Jean-Paul Fitoussi (Thinkerview/Youtube);

Un prix Nobel face au krach à venir? Joseph Stiglitz (Thinkerview/Youtube); 

Joseph Stiglitz talking about Brazilian Financial System (from an interview by Paulo Moreira Leite & Florestan Fernandes Júnior/TV Brasil) [this video was taken out from Youtube];

Thomas Piketty, Gaël Giraud: Le Capitalisme est-il réformable? (Institute Rousseau 21/03/2021); 

Interview with economist Thomas Piketty: capital and ideology (Financial Times/Youtube 12/02/2020);

Thomas Piketty on Capitalism, Corbyn and why Zuckerberg is getting it wrong (BBC/Youtube 14/12/15);

Pink Floyd's Corporal Clegg (Youtube); 

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Obliquity: 

"Cash makes the world go round
Cash makes yo girl get down..."

Tommy Cash

"Então defendia-se da morte por intermédio de um viver de menos, gastando pouco de sua vida para esta não acabar. Essa economia lhe dava alguma segurança pois, quem cai, do chão não passa..."

Clarice Lispector (A Hora da Estrela)

"Hoje é essa miséria que se vê. Fizeram da senhora uma bola de bilhar, uma coisa que vai para onde a empurram... A senhora não nasceu assim. Era forte e bonita. Passou de carrapeta a bola de bilhar."

Graciliano Ramos (Angústia)

"J'ai un ami qui en mémoire de son père veut vous donner cet argent."

Maria Jolas to an old derelict (Richard Ellmann)

"The way of heaven takes from what has too much to provide for what does not have enough.

The way of people is, however, not like this: it takes from those who do not have enough to offer to those who have too much."

Daodejing/77 (Edmund Ryden's translation)

"Dans les limites de l'activité proprement économique, la rigueur a un objet clair: la consécration des ressources excédantes à l'aplanissement des difficultés matérielles de la vie et la réduction du temps de travail. C'est le seul usage des richesses qui coïncide avec une adéquation de l'homme à la chose et réserve le caractère négatif de l'action, dont le but pour l'homme demeure la possibilité de disposer entièrement de lui-même."

Georges Bataille (La Part maudite)

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Little family  concernments  (matter of business or matter of amusement):

"Brazil's Minister of Economy, Paulo Guedes [a person of great deportment], receives assistance of more than R$ 8 thousand per month (about 1,830 USD), adding up to R$ 7,733 (about 1,780 USD), housing assistance and R$ 458 (about 104 UCD) of food aid. In addition to the benefits, he receives a salary of R$ 30,9 thousand a month (about 7,703 UCD). The total amount is paid by public coffers." 

"Another report, published on UOL, shows that a group of employees of the Ministry of Economy earned almost R$ 1 million (about 228,900 USD) with bonuses, the so-called jetons, in 2019. The extra funds were added to the salaries [for the further paying & defraying of all other incidental costs, charges and expenses whatsoever]. With that, most of them received above the constitutional ceiling, today around R$ 39 thousand (about 8,927 USD), reaching R$ 54 thousand (about 12,361 USD) in one month. "

"The Treasury secretary, Mansueto Almeida, for example, had a paycheck of R$ 54,000 gross last December and R$ 46,000 in October. On average, the jetons boosted the servers' paychecks by 29%, many of them around Minister Paulo Guedes [your worship]."

[***Now, please pop upon & do contrast this with the average ANNUAL salary of a teacher in Brazil: R$ 13,900 (about 3,185 USD, with the whole of it)]

"O ministro da economia, Paulo Guedes, recebe auxílio de mais de R$ 8 mil mensais, somando os R$ 7.733, de auxílio moradia e R$ 458 de auxílio-alimentação. Além dos benefícios, ele recebe salário de R$ 30,9 mil por mês. O montante total é pago pelos cofres públicos."

"Outra reportagem, publicada no UOL, mostra que um grupo de servidores do Ministério da Economia ganhou quase R$ 1 milhão com gratificações, os chamados jetons, em 2019. As verbas extras se somaram aos salários. Com isso, a maioria deles recebeu acima do teto constitucional, hoje em torno de R$ 39 mil, chegando a R$ 54 mil em um mês."

"O contracheque do secretário do Tesouro, Mansueto Almeida, por exemplo, foi de R$ 54 mil brutos em dezembro passado e de R$ 46 mil em outubro. Em média, os jetons turbinaram em 29% os holerites dos servidores, muitos dos quais no entorno do ministro Paulo Guedes."

***Source: "Auxiliares de Guedes no ministério recebem supersalários," Congresso em Foco/UOL, (14 fev. 2020);

See also (stories to wave in):
- "Dados 158 países, só no Brasil parte do empresariado se opõe à quarentena" [Amidst 158 countries, only in Brazil part of business community is against quarantine measures] (Reinaldo Azevedo/UOL, 03/26/2020);
- "Economy Minister Paulo Guedes has faced criticism in the past few weeks after comparing public servants to parasites, appearing to back a weak real and sneering at maids who were able to travel to Disney World thanks to the past strength of the Brazilian currency," "Brazil Economy Chief’s Cringeworthy Remarks Rekindle Reform Push" (Matha Viotti Beck, Simone Preissler Iglesias/Bloomberg, 02/19/2020);
- "Guedes' Comments Spark Outrage and Threatens Government Reform Agenda" (Julia Chaib, Gustavo Uribe, Eduardo Cucolo/Folha de São Paulo, 02/14/2020); 

And also (anecdotes to pick up, inscriptions to  make out):

- Instead of revolution: démontage;

- Inside Job;
- Sonatine & the tyranny of evil man;
- Godard's Sympathy for the Devil;
- El Estudiante, political movie;

- Pier Paolo Pasolini;
- Agamben, Lovelock, Greta Thunberg; 

- Environmental Issue (Brazil);
- right truths to slay the enemy;
- Who Wants to Be the World's 5th Largest Economy?
- Banality of Evil in Brazil;
- Brazil after Rousseff's Impeachment;
- List of Infamous Brazilian Esquerdofrênicos;
- Humanitarian Rhetoric;

- O galho mais alto de um pau gigante;