The Result of Decades of Self-Serving Governments

By Max Coutinho

“Governments need a new paradigm of governance” - I keep telling myself. 

Governments became Self-Serving

The People are no longer the centrepiece of governance, cause if they were we would not be in the present state of affairs (housing crisis, high cost of living, etc). 

It is interesting to see Left leaning Governments invoking Free Markets to justify their negligence: but if Freedom is not entirely Free, why should the Free Market be completely Free? Free Market doesn’t mean Savage Capitalism, one where the People are sucked to the bone-marrow till nothing is left. Private Property should be respected, yes; but it is not an excuse to squeeze the People either. 

Governments can, and should, put a yoke on Speculation. First, speculation started with real estate (30 years ago), now they are moving on to Food and Clothing: this constitutes an assault to Human Dignity. 

Threat to National Security: last Saturday, in a protest against the Housing Crisis in Lisbon, a small group expressed their frustration of not having a house to live in by attacking the Police. Imagine if more and more people start expressing their frustration that way…imagine if they are joined by migrants who started sleeping in the streets for lack of means to pay 1,000€ for a One bedroom flat. 

Meanwhile:

• How much do Government members and friends earn per month? 

• How many of those high priced houses do they own?

• Do they co-live? 

• Do they eat only bread or rice everyday since food is too expensive? 

I think we all know the answer to those questions.

Civil Society is Self-Serving

Every time we speak of increasing minimum wage, in countries like Portugal, we hear the same old story: we must confer with the Civil Society (Company owners, directors of Institutions etc). This same “Society” never agrees to anything: oh, increasing salaries is bad for businesses, many will die etc etc. 

Instead of making 100%-150% profit on production, come down to 20%-40% - in time they will realise that they earn more when they are not greedy. 

Humans, workers, are any company's main capital; the main source of wealth; therefore, don’t think of the expense of having workers (Social Security, IRS, compensation fund etc), think of the Investment of having workers producing your wealth. 

Mic Drop….

(Image: Protest Against High Cost of Living in Lisbon (Edited)/Source: RR)

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