Opinion – Rodrigo Zeidan: The worst economic team in history

What is the role of an economic team? Implement good growth and income distribution policies, increase internal and external credibility, improve the business environment and manage expectations to cultivate investments. And, in the middle of a pandemic, save the population.

The balance, as I see it, of Paulo Guedes’ economic team is unmistakable. He captains the worst economic team in Brazilian history, and achieved a feat that should have been impossible: making us miss Guido Mantega and Zélia Cardoso de Mello.

The damage from the administration of Paulo Guedes, Sachsida, and others will last for decades. And it’s not an exaggeration. People cannot be revived, deforestation can never be reversed, arming the population will generate thousands of deaths, hunger limits human development and we have lost at least 0.5% of potential GDP for at least ten years.

We can’t forget November 16, 2020, a week after Pfizer announced that a vaccine was near. Adolfo Sachsida, a critic of Bolsa Família, supporter of the liberalization of the carrying of weapons and of Escola Sem Partido, a disciple of Olavo de Carvalho, and who has already blamed the poor and miserable people for the Social Security deficit, went public to say that he thought the second wave probability. That the service sector would be getting stronger and stronger. That was fine, because several states would have reached herd immunity.

He and the economic team seemed to fight against any and all measures of social isolation, even with the vaccine knocking on the door. The government’s argument would be that this would generate a drop in GDP. But GDP is a means, not an end. They were unable to understand the basics of a well-being indicator that has its limitations. It is irrelevant if someone is six feet underground. You don’t breathe GDP.

And if the government’s objective was to keep the economy running, it has not been achieved. And the reason is simple: economic recovery is a matter of trust. When economists butt heads and waste time dismantling important programs, only to bring them back worse and under different names, people stop spending and companies stop investing.

Brazil’s GDP is expected to grow by just 0.5% this year, in the midst of a commodities boom and booming world growth. Rich countries should grow 3.5% and developing countries, 5%. Latin America? 3%.

The role played by this economic team seems to have been to endorse the institutional destruction of the country. Does the government act on deforestation? Guedes minimizes environmental destruction. Does the government want to give raises to civil servants? The team finds a way to manipulate the ceiling law. Does the president run an anti-vaccine campaign? The economic team cuts funds for the purchase and distribution of vaccines.

It is good to remember that the economic team was against emergency aid and if it were not for Congress to shove it down our throats, we would have an even greater disaster. What do we have after three years of the super powerful Minister of Economy? A bad business environment, with economists worrying about taxing individual imports even more. An economy with no prospects, with growth until 2025 at around 1.5%, below population growth. A country with worse income distribution, more deforestation, hunger, and without any educational investment. Stagflation with more than 660 thousand dead. I see that the government has handed us plague, famine and death. And I don’t think it’s over yet.