The Christmas mischief of the coup puppet.

The coup leader Michel Temer had the audacity to call a press conference for a review of seven months of misrule, as if he had good things to present to the Brazilian people.

He announced a jumble of measures that mix apparent good and bad deeds. All of them only lead to further setbacks, and none of them will pull Brazil out of the crisis.

Cynicism prevailed on several occasions during his speech. He declared that "Brazil is on the right track... our economic team is of the highest conviction... Social responsibility means bringing back jobs. To bring back jobs, we have to get out of the recession. That's what we're doing... we are acting with the present and future of the country in mind."

Yes, if we don't remove Temer from the Presidential Palace, our future will be a return to slavery with 12-hour workdays, four hours more than current legislation allows, and death before being able to retire with the maximum benefit provided by the INSS (Brazilian Social Security Institute) after 49 years of contributions.

In the mini-labor reform to be sent to Congress in February as a bill, agreements between employers and employees will take precedence over the law.

The government calls this providing greater legal security for workers and claims it is merely regulating practices that already exist in the market.

Temer seems to live on Mars, not in Brazil, where the business community is disillusioned and economists don't believe in the effectiveness of the economic stimulus measures proposed by his government.

In addition to lowering its projection for economic growth in 2017 from 1,35% to 0,8%, the Central Bank today pointed to a larger-than-expected decline in agriculture, with a drop of 5,9% instead of 2,2%; and in industry, with a drop of 3,5% instead of 3,3%.

Faced with increasingly negative ratings for his government in opinion polls, Temer is trying, three days before Christmas, to project the image that he is opening a "box of goodies," mainly for the unemployed and those in debt.

He announced the release of funds from inactive FGTS accounts for debt repayment, and a 50% reduction in revolving credit card interest rates.

Releasing these funds is a double-edged sword. The total balance of these FGTS accounts, around R$ 30 billion, is part of the amount available for loans to workers to purchase or build properties.

There are no miracles. If the funds are withdrawn to pay off debts, they will no longer be used for their social function, which, in addition to financing housing, creates jobs in the construction industry.

The coup plotter highlights the elimination of jobs as a positive point, including 9.200 positions at Banco do Brasil, a measure that will inevitably lead to the closure of several branches in villages and towns in the interior of the country, forcing men and women from the countryside to travel to larger cities to receive their wages.

Temer cites as his trump cards a jumble of new resolutions mixed with routine measures such as the release of funds for hospitals and the inauguration of houses under the Minha Casa Minha Vida Program, an initiative that everyone knows was not his.

Temer has more evil plans up his sleeve against the working class, to be announced at any moment. The only way to prevent them from being put into practice is to take to the streets to remove him from the Presidential Palace and hold direct elections.