Today, the left-wing party of Uruguay (Frente Amplio) chose the official candidate for the upcoming elections. José Mujica, the former Minister of Agriculture (and ex-terrorist) and currently a senator, was chosen by 2/3 of the delegates. The Minister of Economy, Danilo Astori, said he will contest the resolution in internal elections.
Together with the candidature, the program for the new government was approved.
The most shocking of the proposals is the creation of a national meatpacking company to supply the internal market with beef.
The beef industry is already strongly regulated and protected. For a time, the strategy of lawmakers has been to fix the prices of specific cuts, like the ribs. That led to the deterioration of the quality of those cuts.
In the chicken industry, the authorization of imports from Brazil solved the problem, significantly reducing the prices. However, in relation to beef they decided to go the other way. A state slaughterhouse and meatpacking facility will be in charge of supplying the consumer with beef at below-market prices.
A friend of mine suggested the same idea to me months ago (say about talking with the windows open) and at first I was surprised it didn't sound so bad, but he (a moderate socialist) and I went on talking for hours analyzing the consequences with an open mind and finally both of us concluded it was going to be disastrous. The final picture was a state monopoly charging sky-rocket prices and yet claiming it was the cheapest possible, and that supposing they were actually honest people trying their best.
Not happy with that, the next government (almost for sure they will win) will strengthen the regulations on fish.
The rest of the proposals deal with expropriations of companies (fighting capital concentration) and savings (the rent on capital must be the same as the rent of labour). I am not too worried by these, as people can see the disaster coming and fight it, but state-owned companies are almost seen as a blessing.
Pity the theory which sets itself up in opposition to the mind!
Carl Von Clausewitz
New York State Phesant Farm R.I.P (1927-2008), Notice the dates, the Phesant farm tax and government boondoggle survived the depression it helped create, only to die in the second depression.
Farm’s Closing Time Is Dinner Time for Pheasants
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/12/16/nyregion/16pheasant.html?_r=1&ref=nyregion
Funny with all that jobs jobs jobs talk, no attempt to sell the bird breeding business.
geo8rge:Funny with all that jobs jobs jobs talk, no attempt to sell the bird breeding business.
Apparently politicians believe that if it is not theirs, it shouldn't be of anyone else. The motif for closing government companies (instead of selling them) is the same as for creating/nationalizing them.