domingo, junho 07, 2020

DOES THE ECONOMY HAVE TO BE REBUILDED OR REOPENED? (3rd part)

DOES THE ECONOMY HAVE TO BE REBUILDED OR REOPENED? (3rd part)

 I have the perception that everyone recognizes that these are not our times, but also, there are times when an essential question arises in our thinking: How are we going to build our future?
 I always refuse to accept that, no more than a litany, (if they want bullshit to fool the unwary) that our country has no resources and that is why “we live above them” !!! As you may recall, this from memory is sometimes even "screwed" .. it was this pseudo "neoliberal philosophy" used to fan or want to steal the income, especially from work, pensions and pensions of most Portuguese, and that favored a well-determined minority, which until recently remained "silent", to see if it was passing through "raindrops", but which is already beginning to "throw its head out". We have to be very attentive and react in order to defend our citizenship rights and no longer “vex” us with “pseudo duties”, which “so well know how to invent”, with neoliberal ideas that, in fact, have proven themselves increasingly most wrong.
In our country we have many resources (material and human) and our politicians must, and must “know”, design public policies capable of using them, creating value, generating wealth and employment and building a different future. In this sense, politicians, in order to serve the public interest, have to design and put in place anchor projects capable of preventing collapse and transforming our economy, with technical skills, independence of the various “corporations”, with an ethical sense the service of “Res Publica” and strive for the interests of the citizens they “claim” to represent.
For those who have been attentive, it has been clear that since the beginning of this crisis that economists, with a social view of society, have argued that this is a great opportunity to reform the economic system. To quote, Mariana Mazzucato, from University College London, thinks that it is a good time to increase investment levels, create new public institutions, direct innovation efforts, reformulate the logic of partnerships with private companies and demand that public money have as a counterpart, not only the transition to a more “green” economy, but also that “subsidized people” may have a duty to their social contribution and companies are “obliged” to return the subsidized financial means. (This is clear that public money subsidies have to be used to “save companies and jobs” and not to “save bosses”.)
We are aware that this set of some measures, which with the duty of citizenship, we will advocate, will have to be incorporated into a strategic vision for Portugal and, subsequently, translated into measurable, visible and publicized strategic actions based on results and not merely intentions, as has generally been the case.
 We need a project for agriculture to support farmers, consolidate the economy and local logistics networks and improve our food balance. We need a major project for the forest and the interior that is capable of enhancing the forest, creating jobs and increasing territorial cohesion, without recourse to “biomass plants”. We need an industrial conversion project to exploit the capacity to reinvent logistics chains and support national companies in multiple sectors. We need a reindustrialization project exploring the potential of national mineral and energy resources such as lithium, cobalt, nickel, niobium, tantalum, rare earths, renewable energies such as solar, gas and hydrogen. We need a project, not only for the Metropolitan Areas of Lisbon and Porto, transforming them into smart and competitive macro-regions on a global scale, investing in the integration of sensors, data and digital technologies and mobilizing the entire innovation ecosystem with companies, centers research centers, universities and municipalities. We need a major project to complete the indispensable physical infrastructures, which will be a lever for the construction industry, which involves completing digital infrastructures and accelerating the digital transition by supporting Schools, Universities and Research Centers, Public Administration and companies with a special SME support program. We need a project for the health system including the equipment and resources of the National Health Service, but also support for companies that have reinvented themselves in this crisis and produce equipment that they can capitalize on a global scale.
Therefore, let us not return to “the theory that we are poor” and that the country has no resources. It has resources and must design public policies capable of producing them, creating value, generating wealth and employment and building a very different future for all Portuguese.
We Citizens were, are and will be co-responsible for the Portuguese situation. We must be aware that change will not happen if we do not adopt and impose a policy of rigor, transparency, work, respect, and responsibility; if we do not do this, we will be legitimizing that the fate of a Public Service is traced to without regard to the interests of Portugal and the Portuguese

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