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Tonight we find out
bolivia | by Miguel Centellas | 01 Feb, 2004 at 05:07 PM | comments (26) | trackback (0)
The city's abuzz, anticipating Mesa's big speech tonight at 9pm. He's going to unveil his administration's economic austerity plan. The government has to somehow bridge the gap between income & expenses (it spends about twice as much as it brings in). How'll Mesa do it? What's the big plan? My tío Eduardo, who works at the Central Bank, is worried Mesa won't do anything drastic. Sounds odd, but drastic's the only thing that'll work these days. Half-measures actually make things worse, not better. But Mesa's not Estenssoro — no one expects a 1985 moment, when the MNR founder announced "our Bolivia is dying, to save her, we'll have to amputate." Only months later, the world's worst case of hyperinflation (reaching 25,000%) was stopped dead cold. Many doubt Mesa has the pantalones to do anything drastic. The COB's already eager to start another round of bloqueos, w/o waiting for Mesa's announcement. One of the proposed measures is a reduction in the subsidy to the price of gasoline (which would raise the domestic consumer price). The taxi drivers'll probably strike on Monday if there's a gasolinazo. Another option's to try to collect taxes from the black market merchants that make up a third of the national economy. But the gremialistas dominate the political life in El Alto, so that probably won't happen either. One suggestion was that Mesa announce the austerity measures, adding that if people don't like it, he'll resign. That could do the trick. The last thing most people want is a slide into anarchy, which could bring civil war & military intervention. Will Mesa do that? After he announced over a month ago that he could care less whether he was president or not? What the country needs now is leadership. Mesa's a good orator w/ a silver tongue. And he's carefully groomed his public image & popularity. Which helped during his career in TV journalism. But. Is he a leader? Can he make the tough — and often upopular but necessary — decisions? Unpopular but necessary? Mesa better be "popular" or else the same that happened w/ Goni will happen to him. Posted by luis | February 1, 2004 10:03 PM No. Sometimes leadership calls on things that are unpopular. Raising taxes isn't popular. Neither is cutting government spending. But sometimes you have to do it. The point is that we elect leaders to make those very tough choices. If we don't like it, we vote them out next time. That's how representative democracy works. It's not just giving the people everything they want -- because they really don't always know what's best for them, for a variety of reasons. Posted by miguel | February 2, 2004 11:57 AMthanks !! Posted by penis | March 2, 2004 08:35 PMgreat site you got here.. Posted by Penis Enlargement | July 21, 2004 08:54 PMheys guys Posted by Jenna Jameson | July 23, 2004 04:55 AMgreat news Posted by Incest | July 23, 2004 08:06 AMgood reading Posted by Payday Loan | July 23, 2004 12:34 PMinteresting article.. Posted by Weight Loss | July 23, 2004 09:57 PMinteresting article.. Posted by Hentai | August 1, 2004 09:07 PMnice site Posted by penis growth pills | August 5, 2004 11:54 AMthanks for the info Posted by Incest | August 5, 2004 09:19 PMGreat site as always, i love coming here Posted by Increase sperm volume | August 6, 2004 11:28 PMGreat site as always, i love coming here Posted by Penis Enlargement | August 12, 2004 11:04 PMGreat site as always, i love coming here Posted by Penis Enlargement patch | August 17, 2004 08:19 AMGreat site as always, i love coming here Posted by Penis Enlargement | August 17, 2004 10:36 AMI love your site keep on rocking yeah! Posted by Alesse 28 | August 23, 2004 10:27 PMI agree Posted by Buspar | August 23, 2004 11:03 PMLove this site Posted by Celebrex | August 23, 2004 11:36 PMCongrats on the nice design! Posted by Buy Cialis online | August 24, 2004 12:14 AMLoL so true! Posted by Buy Fioricet online | August 24, 2004 12:46 AMI agree Posted by Flextra | August 24, 2004 01:26 AMI had the same thing happen not long ago Posted by Fluoxetine | August 24, 2004 09:28 AMLove this site! Keep on the good work! Posted by Imitrex | August 24, 2004 10:16 AMLOL How ironic Posted by Levitra | August 24, 2004 11:03 AMLove this site! Keep on the good work! Ortho tri cyclen Posted by Ortho-Tri Cyclen | August 24, 2004 11:48 AMThe other day I was looking for some :
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