Gleisi waves to the market and Lula calls the elite a slave

The national president of the PT, Gleisi Hoffmann (PR), was “discussed” on Monday night (4) about the economic agenda of an eventual Lula government. At a dinner with about 30 businessmen, in Morumbi, an upscale area of ​​São Paulo, she described former president Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva as a skilled political negotiator.

At the dinner hosted by the president of Esfera Brasil, João Camargo, Gleisi also said that, whoever his minister is, the leadership of the economy in a PT government will be Lula’s.

Esfera Brasil is a group formed by entrepreneurs and defines itself as a non-partisan think tank. In addition to Camargo, among those present were Cândido Pinheiro (Hapvida), Flávio Rocha (Riachuelo) and Eugênio Mattar (Localiza).

The PT president also said that, if elected, Lula will keep the president of the Central Bank, Roberto Campos Neto, at least until 2024, when his term in the autarchy ends.

The subject came up when she cited the historical series of primary surplus, from 2003 to 2014, as proof of fiscal responsibility in PT administrations. One of the diners pointed out, however, that, during the Lula government, the BC was presided over by banker Henrique Meirelles.

In response, Gleisi said that Brazil currently has Campos Neto at the head of BC and that he will be maintained.

Extolling the ex-president’s experience, she played down threats to governability in a new Lula government. To businessmen like Eugênio Mattar, Cândido Pinheiro and Abílio Diniz, the PT president recalled the words of former governor and potential vice president, Geraldo Alckmin, who said that Lula represents democracy itself.

According to participants at the meeting, which lasted about two and a half hours, Gleisi said that, among all Brazilian political leaders, Lula is the most capable of articulating with different sectors of society, including in Congress.

The PT president said that Lula knows the public machine and, as if to minimize the fear of institutional shocks, admitted that the PT will not win them all in Congress. But that “governability will not be lacking, no”.

When questioned, Gleisi ruled out the intention to control fuel prices, but defended the revision of the tariff policy, linked to the USA, as well as the application of Petrobras’ profits. She also said that the PT is against the privatization of Petrobras and Eletrobras.

When one of the participants said that the relationship between employer and employee should not even be regulated by law, Gleisi argued that the labor reform was presented as a solution against unemployment, but it was not good either for Brazil or for the worker.

Upon hearing criticism of the Dilma administration, she pondered that the former president faced difficulties in Congress at the end of her administration.

Also according to participants, businessman Flávio Rocha asked why Lula and President Jair Bolsonaro (PL) were not heading towards the center. At the microphone, the PT president said that the attempt to strengthen a third way in the presidential race, today led by two opposing projects, has failed.

Gleisi was accompanied by economist Gabriel Galípolo, 39, former president of Fator. Today, one of Lula’s advisers, Galípolo was introduced by the PT president as a friend in the new generation of economists, to whom he could ask for help during dinner. Help came in the debate over the spending cap.

When preaching the revision of the spending ceiling, the economist – also an advisor to Fiesp (Federation of Industries of the State of São Paulo) – said that investments were expelled from the Budget, lacking resources to replace depreciation in the infrastructure sector.

The economist said he doubted that any of those present would buy shares in a company that consumes its entire budget with funding alone.

Lula defines ‘poor in the Budget and rich in the Income Tax’ as his motto

Ten hours after the dinner in which his capacity for dialogue was exalted, former president Lula recalled having instituted the social economic council to define public policies in his government.

“I doubt that there is a president in the history of Brazil who received more businessmen than I did. I would like to receive, discuss and listen,” he said.

In an interview with a radio station in Paraná, Lula defended a strong and development-inducing state. “The miracle I did in Brazil was to put the poor people in the budget of the economy. That’s why I say every day that to solve the problem in Brazil, you have to put the poor people in the budget of the city hall, the state and the Union. And the rich in the Income Tax.”

Lula preached what he called tax justice, with the rich paying more taxes. He also said that the CLT (Consolidation of Labor Laws) put an end to a quasi-slavery system.

“That’s why here in São Paulo, entrepreneurs hate Getúlio Vargas so much. Because he took the worker out of a system of semi-slavery.”

Lula defended the strengthening of unions and the evolution of Brazilian business.

Later, the PT said that the Brazilian elite is slaveholding. He defined “poor in the budget and rich in the Income Tax” as his campaign slogan. “We wanted the reform of the CLT to improve it. But what did they do? They took it away, blaming the Brazil cost.”