Laura Carvalho: "Guedes wants a basic income so he doesn't have to spend on public services"
“The idea here is the same as we have for health and education, a basic right. People have a basic right not to be poor, a right to dignity, to be able to live with a minimum standard of living,” says the economist.
Capital Letter - Another survey shows that the R$600 emergency aid paid during the pandemic to 50 million Brazilians has saved Jair Bolsonaro's approval ratings. While overall government approval is at 28% and disapproval at 47%, among those receiving the aid, the situation is better for the president: 36% to 34%, respectively. These figures come from a survey by... Data Power released this Tuesday, the 16th.
In a meeting between Bolsonaro and his ministers on June 9th, Paulo Guedes, the head of the economic team, commented that the government wants to unify social programs and name the resulting program "Renda Brasil" (Brazil Income). The target audience would be informal and self-employed workers. This would be a way to maintain emergency aid while simultaneously absorbing Bolsa Família, a program inseparable from Lula's presidency.
Bolsonaro promised a basic income in the 2018 election, the negative income tax, designed by Guedes under the inspiration of the late neoliberal Milton Friedman. “It’s a substitute for other functions of the State. You give money to the person and they go to private healthcare, they buy their private education as well. It doesn’t come as a complement to a broad social safety net,” criticizes Laura Carvalho, an economist at USP.
According to her, what the government is seeking is to shirk its obligation to invest in public policies such as health and education, in exchange for a monthly allowance. Something like an expanded Bolsa Família program to further the neoliberal policy of cutting public spending and a minimal state.
The debate about universal basic income is global and predates the pandemic, says Laura, who addresses the topic in her recently released book "Short Circuit – The Virus and the Return of the State". The discussion is advancing amidst the continuous worsening of the job market, with people employed in poor conditions and with equally poor wages. That is, for those who manage to find work, as technology leaves many behind.
“The idea here is the same as we have for health and education, of a basic right. People have a basic right not to be poor, a right to dignity, to be able to live with a minimum standard of living,” says the economist.
According to her, the pandemic is accelerating trends identified in 2019 by the International Labour Organization (ILO). "There had already been a process of precariousness in labor relations, with fewer and fewer formal industrial jobs, and more and more 'uberized', 'contracted', informal jobs, workers without any safety net, forced to accept undignified working hours and wages."
It's a counterattack against the perverse effects of globalization and the weakening of unions on employment. “It changes the negotiation process. You don't need to be in a collective bargaining agreement, in a unionized work relationship, to have some negotiating power. Because you have the other option: 'I'm not necessarily going to starve, I have a guaranteed basic income',” says Laura.
Furthermore, she continues, there is another advantage: providing a "cushion" for tasks that society values but pays little for. This is the case for caregivers of the elderly and children, community artists, and so on.