More liberal reforms, or is there another way?

 I'm listening to the radio in the car on my way to the office. On BAND today, the discussion was about the urgency of administrative reform, preceding tax reform. I agree with this idea, but will these be merely liberal reforms?

 Before the arguments, a little history.  

 Until the late 1970s, the role of the nation-state was to provide a welfare state, but liberal reforms began around the world in the 1980s.

 The thesis, put into practice by the conservative governments of England and the United States, was that the State needed 'market-oriented reforms' because the State was inefficient; a campaign in favor of liberal reforms began worldwide, the political expression of which was called neoliberalism.  

 Through the spread of liberal ideas, integration into a globalized society became imperative. Globalization was the central phenomenon in this historical phase of the development of capitalist society.  

 The fallacy of state inefficiency has become dogma; that is, this mantra has been repeated daily for over forty years, more than one generation has grown up hearing it, and anyone who wants to discuss the topic is treated as a lunatic.

 In Brazil, during the Collor and FHC governments, we witnessed the 1988 federal constitution being dismembered, patched up, and stitched together to serve not the welfare state proposed by the constituent assembly, but the market; after the coup, Temer and Bolsonaro resumed the dismemberment of the Constitution to serve neoliberal agendas.

 The liberal reform of the State imposed a pact driven by the market and not by society, resulting in serious social losses and hindering the fulfillment of the constitutional objectives of our republic:I - to build a free, just and supportive society; II - to guarantee national development; III - to eradicate poverty and marginalization and reduce social and regional inequalities; IV - to promote the well-being of all, without prejudice based on origin, race, sex, color, age, or any other form of discrimination."(Article 3 of the Federal Constitution)."

 Neoliberal reforms and ideology represent a setback in the construction of an egalitarian and democratic world and Brazil, because the decision-making power of society and poor countries in the political and economic spheres has been diminished and subordinated to the interests of the market.

 Over forty years of liberalism have resulted in the concentration of wealth in the hands of a very few and income inequality; the poorest half of the global population barely possesses any wealth, holding only 2% of the total, while the richest 10% of the global population own 76% of all the wealth on the planet.

 It is impossible for any sensible person to believe that liberalism has worked, especially since, alongside economic supremacy, there is political domination, carried out through various global institutions such as the IMF, the World Bank, and the WTO – World Trade Organization.  

 The Middle East and North Africa are the most unequal regions in the world, while Europe has the lowest levels of inequality. The world inequality map, shown below, reveals that national average income levels are poor indicators of inequality: among high-income countries, some are very unequal (USA) while others are relatively egalitarian (Sweden). This is also true for low- and middle-income countries, with some exhibiting extreme inequality (Brazil and India), somewhat high levels (China), and moderate to relatively low levels (Malaysia and Uruguay).

 In other words: we need to carry out reforms – administrative, tax and state – that respect the market economy and free enterprise, but do not lose sight of the dignity of the human person and the objectives of the republic, because neoliberalism lasted for more than forty years and failed enormously throughout the world.

 I believe that state reform, and all other much-needed reforms, stem from a series of changes in international relations, especially in world trade relations and the organization of political forces between different countries; it is an element in the organization of a new pattern of social relations within capitalist society.  

 The question to be answered is: do we need reforms only for the benefit of the market, or for the benefit of the whole society, which, incidentally, contains it?

 These are the reflections.

 and the Earth is round