Diciembre 27, 2005
Positive First Steps
President-elect Evo Morales, along with Vice-President-elect Alvaro Garcia Linera were in Santa Cruz this evening to meet face to face with the Committee Pro Santa Cruz. After the gathering, many are calling the meeting a historic event. Many expected a confrontation between two sides generalized as having polar opposite views. However, in the meeting and press conference broadcast live on Bolivian television both sides were open to dialogue and Morales vowed to remain very open to the suggestions and recommendations by this Civic Committee. These words drew applause from members of the Civic Committee that were in the audience. Morales guaranteed the Referendum for Autonomy and promised that the bidding process for El Mutún would continue on schedule. The newly elected President also said that he learned a lot from the meeting, admitting that he was not aware that this Committee was diverse containing workers, laborers and other social sectors. His attitude was very humble and vowed to continue the dialogue, anytime, anyplace. Stories will follow in tomorrow´s papers.
In other news, Morales announced that he will halve the Presidential salary. In administrations past, the President received Bs. 27,500 per month (approximately 3,500 USD per month). He said that the new salary will not exceed Bs. 15,000. This austerity measure is very symbolic for the country. He wants to set the example, as deputies, senators, ministers and vice-ministers will also receive reduced salaries. Deputy substitutes will not receive any wages. Many on the street are applauding this move, because of the economic crisis of the country. The minimum wage for the working class is fixed at Bs. 450 per month.
Posted by eduardo at Diciembre 27, 2005 08:05 PM
Comments
can someone please explain to me why Evo Morales keeps talking about the neo-liberals being the bad guys? I thought it was the neo-conservatives who were the problem. as if things were that simple,
but, if you have a thought on this I would appreciate hearing it
I am keeping a Bolivian record on my blog as well http://davidleewilson.blogspot.com/2005/12/bolivia-evo-morales.html
Posted by: David Wilson at Diciembre 31, 2005 10:05 AM
Neo conservatives are ex-commies or lefties who, after the decline of communism from 1989 onwards, came to see in democracy the great hope they had once found in socialism. So they are the ones, for example, who will want to bring democracy to the world by invading once despotic tyrannies and bestowing upon them enlightened liberal democracy: countries like, oh, I don't know, Iraq, perhaps.
Neo liberals are hard-core free-market economics guys who want to micro-manage everything in the form of a free market. So, for example, if I were to advocate that public seating in a municipal authority be run by a private body who somehow try to make money out of it by instigating some sort of charging system for sitting down in public, I would be a neoliberal. I might argue that if the public pay for it through taxes, that's an unfair burden on those who choose not to sit down.
That is basically the essence of it. What is the new in neo-liberal you might ask. Well, it takes the principles of individualism and free-market economics out of the nineteenth century and applies them in more detail and more rigorously, making almost a religion or a shiboleth out of the idea of the market.
Privatizing gas production, healthcare and education would be close to neoliberal's heart. But they might also want to introduce markets to efficiently distribute resources within publicly funded institutions in things like public-private partnerships, a frequent theme of UK politics right now. I don't know about the US.
Off the top of my head that's the best I can do.
Google for it.
See ya.
Posted by: Stephen Clarke at Marzo 24, 2006 03:53 PM