As Albert Einstein said: “Time is an illusion. The only reason time exists is so that everything doesn't happen all at once,”

As Albert Einstein said: “Time is an illusion. The only reason time exists is so that everything doesn't happen all at once,” so let's put an end once and for all to the myth that it was ALWAYS the Socialist Party (PS) that was responsible for the IMF interventions in Portugal. This is simply false and a lie, and it's incomprehensible how the PS itself, perhaps buried in the absolute shame of always being linked to the problem, doesn't bother to demystify this supposed “narrative” like a children's story. But now let's get to the real facts and not the “false narratives” that always try to hide the millions that some have taken at the expense of the general public. (Pareto's Principle states, in a general way, that in every country 80% of citizens are exploited in favor of 20%. The concept is a tribute to the Italian economist Vilfredo Pareto, who noted the 80/20 connection in various things in 1892.) But let's get to the facts. When the first bailout happened, in 1977, the Portuguese government was effectively led by a socialist, Mário Soares. But the PSDB was also in that government. Carlos Mota Pinto was there. Even the oracle of moralists, Henrique Medina Carreira, was there. He was Minister of Finance. Didn't he also have responsibilities? Furthermore, Portugal was still recovering from 40 years of dictatorship, and the turbulent and unstable transition was still being felt. In addition to the oil crisis that violently hit Europe in the 70s. I have no interest in defending Mário Soares, I recognize that he was one of the last great politicians Portugal had and that he prevented a civil war. But I despise this kind of cheap propaganda from some old right wing, old from the times of the National Union, which is why it omits the fact that Salazar resorted to the IMF (Decree-Law 43,338, of November 21, 1960, signed by Américo Thomaz and, immediately afterwards, by the President of the Council of Ministers, António de Oliveira Salazar). Mário Soares was the Prime Minister (since July 1976) at a time when Portugal still had to deal with the consequences of decolonization and the authority of a Council of the Revolution (which was the one that actually ruled Portugal). In 1976, the deficit had been 13 percent. Goods such as bread, sugar, and rice were rationed, gasoline was scarce, and the escudo devalued by 20 percent between 1977 and 1979. The IMF (International Monetary Fund) can still be credited with the political consequence of having forced the parliamentary support agreement between the PS and the CDS, which would be reflected in the formation of the second constitutional government. The second intervention, in 1983, occurred during the period of the so-called central bloc, an alliance government between the PS and PSD, led by Mário Soares. It was almost a national emergency government, created because it was considered the best way to combat the country's serious economic situation. This second bailout further ridicules the idiots who are quick to try to blame the PS exclusively. Especially the far-right neoliberal orange idiots, almost all of whom are now in "CHEGA," but some have returned to power in the PSD. The second bailout took place in 1983, with a central bloc government that included the PS and PSD. Was Mário Soares prime minister? Yes, sir. But that doesn't erase from history the fact that the PSD was part of this government, a government that was preceded by an entirely right-wing government, which almost destroyed Portugal, with PPD/PSD, CDS and PPM, and which ended with the resignation of Prime Minister Pinto Balsemão. Doesn't that government also have responsibilities in this intervention? In short, the propagandists of the national right, particularly those affiliated with the PSD and CDS, have no shame whatsoever. Note that the following year, the Central Bloc Government fell and the PSD governed in a minority, with the PS reduced to 21 percent and the newly formed PRD reaching 18 percent. This was followed by Cavaco Silva's first absolute majority and the beginning of a period of growth that was sustained by IMF and European funds. Today we are still suffering from this misrule of Cavaco Silva. According to Miguel Cadilhe, it was during Cavaco Silva's government that the Portuguese Public Administration became the third most expensive in Europe. Between 1985 and 1994, during the Cavaco Silva era, the wage bill in the Public Service grew by 90%. The third IMF intervention is the one we can link to the Socialist Party (PS), if we exclude variables with a direct impact on the problem, such as the international crisis, which experts say was the biggest since 1929, or the legacy of decades of spending, incompetence, mismanagement, and corruption bearing the hallmarks of the PS and PSD, occasionally carried by Caldas's taxi (CDS). After all, there were 6 years of José Sócrates (considered today by many citizens as one of the best prime ministers), and still the bankers laughing, led by that sinister figure of Engineer Angelo Correia (we suffered the effects of CIRVER in Chamusca, who "presided over" another sinister figure, Passos Coelho). (everyone knows that between the ages of 25 and 37 he was in detoxification) But it's good to remember that Passos Coelho helped precipitate what some today see as inevitable, but which we will never know if it would have been or not. Even Durão Barroso and Angela Merkel applauded PEC IV, and the chancellor herself did not hold back in criticizing the irresponsible opposition of Passos Coelho/Portas for hindering the hypothetical solution. We know today that, as usual, power prevailed, and either there were elections in the country or in São Caetano (we all remember Marco Antonio Costa and his statement to Passos Coelho, who chose the party and power, betraying the Portuguese citizens). We also know the commitment of the Passos Coelho and Antonio Borges government (now deceased, but who was the true "godfather") to go beyond the Troika and the results of their choices: a continuous increase in the gap between rich and poor, mass emigration, widespread precariousness, a brutal increase in the tax burden, degradation of working conditions, deterioration of the National Health Service, disinvestment in education in parallel with increased transfers to private education, where numerous PSD and CDS and also PS government officials have interests, and an agenda for the next four years with one priority: dismantling the Welfare State. If they want to exterminate what remains of social democracy, fine, it's a party decision, and the members who don't agree can fend for themselves. The IMF in this country without the finger of the right wing. From the spectrum. Who benefited from these abuses? Some bankers, who are still in the news today, including Ricardo Salgado and a certain Sobrinho, who embezzled millions.