'War budget' is a lie invented by Maia and Guedes to bail out speculators.

By Jeferson Miola - The true purpose of PEC 10/2020, which establishes the “extraordinary fiscal, financial and contracting regimenicknamed "war budgetThis isn't about fighting the coronavirus pandemic, but about bailing out banks and speculators. And it won't be just any bailout; the "help" could exceed R$ 600 billion.

This so-called war budget is a lie invented by Rodrigo Maia and Paulo Guedes to allow the Central Bank [BC] to buy toxic assets dumped by banks and financial parasites that should go bankrupt, but will be saved by the Bolsonaro government.

The proposed amendment outlines a dozen measures that, with the state of public calamity declared on March 20th, the government was already authorized to implement under exceptional circumstances, without any need whatsoever to amend the Constitution.

Moreover, the validity of amending the Constitution during a state of emergency is debatable, as noted by the Workers' Party congresswoman Gleisi Hoffmann on the floor of the Chamber of Deputies. Just as it is prohibited to amend the Constitution during federal intervention, a state of siege, and a state of defense [article 60 of the Constitution], the same should apply during a public calamity.

The only measure in the proposed constitutional amendment that would actually require a constitutional change to be implemented, but which not It is intended to combat the coronavirus, and it is the one that authorizes the Central Bank to...to buy and sell credit rights and private debt securities in secondary markets, within the scope of financial, capital and payment markets.".

The scam is even worse with the permission for the Central Bank to buy the so-called toxic assets. secondary marketsThis is where secret negotiations take place between corrupt speculators and central bank operators. In this secondary market, nothing will prevent, for example, the central bank from paying 100 reais for a worthless bond that is worth no more than 5 reais!

The COVID-19 pandemic is being exploited by the oligarchy for this monumental assault on public coffers. Meanwhile, more than 100 million Brazilians are suffering from hunger, hardship, and are at risk of death due to the criminal delay in the payment of the meager minimum income of 600 reais.here].

The Brazilian economy began its destructive spiral of stagnation with the ultraliberal policies imposed after the 2016 coup. The economic disaster under Guedes was already at its peak when the pandemic emerged. It was a ticking time bomb, ready to explode.

With the pandemic, economic destruction gained terrifying momentum, as the main antidote to COVID-19 is the maximum shutdown of human and productive activity to the bare minimum.

The pandemic is clearly not the genuine cause of the economic depression, the signs of which were already very evident. The general decline in economic activity resulting from the quarantine, on the other hand, brought to light the exhaustion of the financial spree with toxic assets.

It is therefore unacceptable that the effort to combat COVID-19 be cynically instrumentalized to save speculators who until yesterday freely conspired against the national economy. It is unacceptable that the market and speculation benefit from the pandemic to get rid of the toxic assets in their portfolios.

In 2019, the net profit of the 3 largest private banks [Itaú, Bradesco, Santander] was R$ 63,3 billion; 20% higher than in 2018. This fantastic profit, appropriated exclusively by only 3 banks and super-rich shareholders, is equivalent to almost half of the Ministry of Health's budget for 2020.

With humanitarian catastrophe imminent in Brazil due to Bolsonaro's genocidal threats and the health crisis posed by the coronavirus, the corrupt oligarchy confirms its utter indecency.

In the revolving door of the genocidal government, the money that should guarantee a dignified minimum income of at least two minimum monthly wages for the poor and starving people is diverted to feed the greed of the plundering ruling class.