The Portuguese Prime Minister Is Also PEC

By Lenny Hannah

The Tweets and Facebook messages, disseminated with the hashtag #ConselhosdoCosta (Trans: Costas' advices) almost a fortnight ago, against the Prime Minister were hilarious. But setting humour aside, the advice given by the Portuguese leader is worrying and reveals his frivolity.

The Premier's budgetary understanding reached with the EU, and his political reaction, led him to drop his mask; to expose the Socialist Party's dependence on the most radical aisle of democratic socialism; his complete submission to the Left Bloc's women, and to the whims of the Portuguese Communist Party (PCP).

Au lieu of making an equal division of the burden - i.e. to effectively cut Government Expenditure - the Portuguese Partnership of the Proletariat (led by António Costa and the Left Bloc) took control of the State by triggering its programme of resentment and jealousy, as it follows:

Tax Hike on Banks

A Robin Hood tactic: to steal from a few to squander, almost immediately, on welfare futilities (perhaps Fernando Ulrich, the CEO of BPI, gave them this idea). I don't understand the purpose of this petty measure, especially in a time when the European Central Bank (ECB) is advising financial institutions to lend money to companies, to young entrepreneurs and innovators to create jobs, increase consumption and finally to improve the economy.

Then the Prime Minister, as a typical smart-arse, tells the Portuguese to ask for less credit - sure, because only the government has the right to contract debt with the issuance of bonds and bills at scandalous rates to continue feeding the enormous blackhole and have the people indebted for years, in the process.

Banks should not be the scapegoat. They only need to be relentlessly supervised so that citizens (poor, middle class and rich) do not lose their deposits, savings nor their investments, simply because the indolent, negligent, State sleeps in the same bed as the Banking Industry, whenever they need bankers.

Tax Hike on Fuel

The Politician-in-Chief told us to use more public transportation - oh nice. It would be a good advice though if, for instance, in the suburbs (where the majority of the work-force lives - I'm thinking of Amadora, in the outskirts of Lisbon, for example) the drivers of Lisboa Transportes wouldn't be so rude, if they wouldn't leave passengers stranded, if they wouldn't be constantly late and if (on Saturdays, Sundays and bank holidays when the blue collars go out to relax) the company would make more buses available. The PM could also talk if Train Stations were safe at all hours of the day; if they wouldn't be covered in water every time it rains (to attest the quality of our architects and construction companies); and finally, if Carris (the only reliable bus company) wouldn't operate only until 21:00, on work days, and if would operate at all on weekends and bank holidays, in places like Alfragide.

Back to the tax hike: guess what? Public transportation companies can't even increase the price of fare tickets, nor of passes, to compensate for the fiscal hike of fuel because the State will subsidise the difference...oh, I can see it already: the tax charged to Banks will pay for the tax hike affecting public transportation companies (capitalists subsidising other capitalists by Government imposition).

• But how about the small and medium sized farmers? If they decide to invest in a tractor, or in a new harvest machine, or even in a new generator to be able to compete with the Spanish: will the State double-subsidise them so they can keep up with the increase in the fuel prices? 
• How about the small and medium sized ship owners? Will they also be subsidised to buy fuel to continue to provide jobs to fishermen and more or less compete with Pesca Nova in their prices? 
• How about the coastal fisherman: how will he cope with this increase?
• Will also Banks pay for it all? Or will EU funds punch the ribs of these Portuguese SMEs (Small and Medium Sized Enterprises)?

Experience tells us that the Portuguese never fulfil the requirements and funds always end up returning to Brussels.

Tax Hike on Tobacco

The Bully-in-chief told us to stop smoking: as if he didn't know that robbing the pockets of smokers has been the favourite policy of the successive Portuguese governments since the revolution (Porqué no te callas, hombre?)

Folks, I would only agree with the measure if the proceeds of the taxation would go to a trust fund to benefit the IPO (Portuguese Institute of Oncology), and to fund research to cure lung cancer...

End of the Family Quotient as Established in the 2015 Budget

Family Quotient: a fiscal policy created by the previous Right Wing Government, that can be summed up in the following terms: whoever had more children paid less taxes (for more details read Here, in Portuguese). 

With the leftist government, however, there will be a fixed deduction of €550 (+/- US$620) because - according to the radical Marxists - the quotient was regressive and unfair to the poorer children. Assuming that one could agree with this stupid argument, there are nevertheless a couple of details to take into consideration:

• Poorer families, in Portugal, are automatically exempt of paying direct taxes;
• Poorer families do not inject as much money in the economy because they consume less than the richer,
• Richer families contribute more with the so-called indirect taxes since they spend a lot more than the poor,
• Richer families buy Premium products for their "spoiled rich" children. 

I reiterate, the democratic socialists are driven by jealousy and resentment: without exactly divesting the capitalist of his property and means of production, this proletarian class builds a siege around the wealthy through tax hikes, so that once and for all they can hijack and keep themselves in power for a long time by buying votes with their policies of fraudulent redistribution of wealth. This reminds us of Hitler's Nationalsozialismus.

Conclusion

To steal from some to give to others: well, this practise would also make a smashing Minister of Finance out of me; cause I wouldn't have to do anything spectacular and fair...all I had to do is to apply worn out and regressive policies; copy the ideas of Keynes, Krugman, Piketty and of other lunatics who haven't yet realised that if we still have poor people, in the 21st century, is because they don't have access to capital, and why? Because leftist governments are competing with them whenever they take people's bank deposits to finance rotten policies.

António Costa is not politically savvy. He is politically ill-mannered and politically arrogant because he nominated himself commander-in-chief of the Portuguese People. And with the votes of the Left Bloc's women, António Costa is also PEC (Political Enforcer-in-Chief) whose job is to distract the Portuguese with dangerous rhetoric à la Nicolau Ceausescu (who also offered "advice" to the Romanian people).

(Image [ed.]: António Costa - original from Expresso News site)

[This article was originally published on Etnias: O Bisturi da Sociedade. The views  expressed in it are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of Dissecting Society. Translated by Max Coutinho]