Columnist for Estado criticizes Esteves' influence.

247 - The movements of banker André Esteves, of BTG Pactual, in the circles of power have not gone unnoticed. In an article published this Friday, João Mellão Neto criticizes the "enfant terrible of the Brazilian economy, who has always known how to be on the right side at the right time, at least in all the disputes fought in the Planalto Central". Read below: 

The new economic miracle

João Mellão Neto *

The saying goes that a real miracle is something that doesn't exist. What we call a miracle is merely an order of things we don't understand. I'm beginning to believe this is largely true after opening the newspapers from the day before yesterday. "Dilma's government rises 1 point to 63 percentage points" – that was the main headline in Wednesday's newspapers. As absurd as that is only Argentina's claim to reclaim the Falkland Islands. On one side is Cristina Kirchner, brandishing a pair of sevens, on the other, the Pope, to whom she pleads for intercession for the return of the archipelago. After all, what does His Holiness have to do with it?

But the absurdities don't stop there. Brazil recently released data regarding the performance of our economy. And much of this data is mutually exclusive.

Has the national economy stagnated? That's an undeniable fact. But, on the other hand, there's no unemployment and the people are optimistic. Credit is cheap and plentiful. And otherwise, everything is going equally well.

As the saying goes, after the storm comes the flood. That's not the case here, at least not here. The sky remains blue and nothing indicates a sudden change in the weather.

However, beyond the rampant populism practiced in southern lands, there is something else that Brazilian businesspeople greatly fear. No, it's not the whip, but the lack of credit – good credit, with no expiration date or repayment deadline.

Friends of the court have unlimited access to it. There is practically no risk of insolvency. When the situation gets dire, the National Bank for Economic and Social Development (BNDES) injects funds at ridiculously low interest rates, which dissipate with the rise in inflation. For other business owners, however, there are the hardships and sufferings caused by inflation.

In the specific case of Brazil, how can we understand the magic of low inflation combined with a ridiculously low interest rate? It dates back to a not-so-distant past, when Galvêas, Pastore, and especially Delfim Netto pulled the strings of the economy and, like czars, decreed who would die and who should survive. The mechanism for this was credit: abundant and at cheap rates for friends, scarce and at exorbitant rates for enemies. Nothing very different from what we see today. Even Delfim, the immortal, is back. They say he's the capo di tutti capi in the economic field. I have no doubt that this is true.

Both Delfim Netto and Roberto Campos were the economic giants of post-revolutionary Brazil. Roberto Campos represented liberal thought and, as he himself admitted, was the only liberal in Brazil to hold power. Delfim, on the other hand, considered himself a pragmatist, for whom what worked was right. His return to the center of power is not surprising to anyone sufficiently informed. He was always the leader of economic thought at the University of São Paulo (USP) and established a kind of life-or-death pact with his most promising students. When he assumed power, he took them all with him, and the disciples, in turn, did the same to their master.

Both Delfim Netto and Roberto Campos possessed a level of culture far superior to that of ordinary mortals. What was the difference between them? Well, Roberto Campos understood it to be his moral duty to share his insights with his colleagues. Delfim, on the other hand, kept his to himself and a few close friends. Roberto Campos, perhaps as a legacy of his seminary education, understood that lying was a mortal sin. More pragmatic, Delfim saw falsehoods as merely a tool of his trade.

I was a colleague of both of them for eight years in the National Congress. My opinion of them is this: both had the same cultural level, both studied hard, and both deserved to have reached where they did. However, Delfim had an immeasurably higher "success rate." He and his team only shot towards the goal and most of the time they hit it. The result, however, was scrupulously divided among all those who participated in the undertaking. Roberto Campos, on the other hand, never had the bad habit of collecting results, much less dividing them.

In truth, Roberto Campos was a missionary, while Delfim Netto was not far from being a privateer. Roberto Campos, as we all knew, was a preacher in the desert. Delfim, with his famous aversion to crowds, never sought them out spontaneously. This phrase is attributed to him: "Everything for the people, everything for the people, and nothing with the people."

Even when he was wrong, the fact is that Delfim always won. So let it be known that he's back. And even more powerful, because now he no longer has to answer to anyone.

And who are his main henchmen? On one side is the Finance Minister, Guido Mantega, who exacts his allegiance at the expense of a ministry, and on the other is André Esteves, the enfant terrible of the Brazilian economy, who has always known how to be on the right side at the right time, at least in all the disputes fought in the Planalto Central. They meet, it is said, at least once a week. At these secret lunches, all matters relating to the national economy are discussed, and it is also decided who will die and who will live from then on. What would it be worth to be present at just one of these banquets?

This shows that the Brazilian economy has returned to its glorious past. Here, it's not the most competent who win, but the influential. The strategy of the "national champions" is the greatest proof of this. Today, anyone who wants to succeed in life has to please these people.

"Many are called, but few are chosen..."

João Mellão Neto is a journalist, former congressman, secretary, and minister of state.

Email: jmellao@uol.com.br. Facebook: John Mellão Neto