'Fine words butter no parsnips' Politics

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Fine words butter no parsnips

"On his radio show yesterday, President Mujica spoke of Uruguay's accomplishments and shortcomings. He criticized the Uruguayan work habit, saying "Generally, we don't kill ourselves working, although there are exceptions. We always devise ways to take long weekends off."

He continued with the education problem, saying it's "the second huge problem, serious and important". He compared Uruguay's required 155 days of classes annually to most Asian countries, where they attend classes 240 days annually, with longer hours.

He pointed out the problem with forming a company in Uruguay, saying that the tendency is to over-complicate matters, impeding progress unnecessarily. He mentioned that the low birthrate in Uruguay is another huge problem.

In his speech summarizing Uruguay's accomplishments as it relates to the Bicentennial being celebrated this year, Mujica said "never have so few accomplished so much". He lauded the solidarity, the social justice, the development of the national health system, and the impartial judicial system. Also noted was Uruguay's very low level of corruption compared to the region and the world in general.

He admitted that there are problems with security, but remarked that it's still the best in South America.

He urged Uruguayans to form a "national unity" and overcome the "differences of class, the defects, the selfishness, and the limitations". He finished with this challenge:

"We have to realize that this Bicentennial is an invitation to live, to make pledges, and to yearn for the best for our society and our country."

>>>

Tio Pepe is our executive president. He is the one and only person with the power to tackle the system which demotivates employers and employees with high employment costs and low wages. He is the man with the power to prune the forest of regulations which make business so difficult here. He has the power to divert a small percentage of Lorenzo's borrowings into help for small biz start-ups. He is in charge of the education system and has the power to change it. The only thing beyond his remit is the low birth rate :-)

I find it strange that a man with the power to right so many things that he perceives as wrong should just sit on his hands and blame the people instead of attempting to address the problems himself.

Could it be that Tio Pepe exemplifies the Uruguayo way of being heavy on undulant rhetoric but light on addressing the very problems which he identifies?

Mujica has been in charge for a year now. Most of the problems he addressed are deep structural problems that can't be solved not in a year, but in a government's period. Besides, permanent changes need the consensus of all the participant. This is quite evident, for example, in the Education discussion these days. All the parties must, more or less, agree. Without a minimum consensus, any reform will depend on the party at charge. Second, a certain degree of consensus must be reached with the educational system. If this is not accomplished, chances are that any reform would sunk. Mujica is pushing some of the reforms, as has Tabaré in the previous period with the Health system, the Tax system, and the Ceibal Plan. He will have to push to shake some structures (for example, in the Educational System). He has one advantage to confront the corporative groups and force reforms: he's old, this is his last political job, and he doesn't mind too much is he looses votes in this fight cause he'll only be a candidate for retirement. Let's us give the guy some credit. Of course, changes, if any, won't be fast. They never are in Uruguay. In exchange, changes in Uruguay generally mean much less confrontation than in other places.

Perhaps I should give the old boy more time but it annoys me when leaders preach about things that only they can do anything about.

In my view the country is going through a golden age at the moment jointly fuelled by social borrow'n'spend policies, the effects of the current agricultural boom and low northern interest rates. The Blancos urge Pepe to use some of the extra revenues to pay off some of the external debt but for the economic longer term, I'd sooner see some of the money spent on making it easier for Uruguayos to start their own businesses thus broadening the economy and making us more bust proof for when northern interest rates rise and agricultural prices return to more normal levels.

It alarms me when Pepe says that he sees no prospect of a downturn in the future.

With respect to agriculture prices, well... I think some prices may be higher than what is reazonable, but think the general tendency in the long term will be to go up. So, even if we were in the top of a cycle, the downturn will not be that steep. People don't seem to understand we are in quite a diferent world than the one we lived in during the XX century. China and India are changing the global economy. And that will last for a while.

Now, agriculture, or let me be more precise, modern agriculture, cannot solve Uruguay social problems. It could even make Uruguay a richer country, but it could not make Uruguayans richer. Very few Uruguayans live out of the product of Agriculture. So... if Agriculture is having a proffit the question is how to use it to enhance the life of more Uruguayans. Now agriculture has a very low tax presure, much lower than other areas of the economy. That would probably change and some of the money they are doing will be transferred somehow to the people. It seems inevitable. I hope we don't make the same mistakes the Ks made in Argentina. Those mistakes are basicaly two: a) taking so much money from agriculture as to put at risk the equilibrium of the industry and puting themselves in risk of losing that source of cash. and b) Using the money just to buy votes for the next election.

If Uruguay is going to take money out of its now successful agriculture, I hope it invest in Education. Education is not only the best way to distribute money to people so people can enhance their lives on solid basis, it is also the only way out of underdevelopment for a country. We are never going to be a developed country if most of our youngsters are just qualified to be windshield cleaners of bag stuffers in a supermarket. Today, quelified jobs go to the places where there is qualified people.

Uruguay has a big problem with education. It's very good that this is being discussed these days at the higher levels. Let's hope it is the begining of something. Mujica will have to brake some very hard corporative oposition in the educational system.

In terms of efficiency, modern UY agriculture is vastly different from most industries here. At 1.30am this morning the spraying crew arrived at my chacra to spray the soya by moonlight and as you know, working on a 24/7 basis is not common amongst the Uru workforce. :-) I cooked a few chorisos for the lads for when they finished the job at 2.45am but they had more crops to spray elsewhere so they took them away a mano. :-)

Because the industry is profitable it pays well and because it pays well people are prepared to work hard and to work unsociable hours.

In my view the only lasting way to enrich the population is to reward individual efficiency, hard work and investment rather than punishing it while preaching that we are an idle bunch and urging us to work harder. :-)

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