Economics: Why The Political Sea Change In Brazil Was Inevitable

(Drivebycuriosity) - Brazil has voted. Jair Bolsonaro beat his rival Fernando Haddad, who had represented the former corrupt socialist government. Bolsonaro´s victory ends the regime of the leftist Workers Party (PT) that ran Brazil for 13 of the last 15 years and caused country’s worst recession in spite of the recovery of the global economy.

Jair Bolsonaro is bedeviled by the liberal media in the US & Western Europe.  Journalists call him a fascist and describe the politician as the new Antichrist. I don´t think they give him a fair judgement.  The liberal media dislikes anybody who doesn`t share their biased view of the world.

I disagree with many of Bolsonaro`s  (real or alleged) political & socials ideas, like his refusal of same-sex marriage, abortion, & secularism. I would have preferred a moderate reformer, liberal in the sense of Adam Smith or Milton Friedman, like the German politician Ludwig Erhard, who fathered Germany´s economic miracle in the 1950s & 1960s, or Margaret Thatcher, who had saved her country from an economic downward spiral. But unfortunately for the Brazilians there is no such person available.

A sea change in Brazil was inevitable. The former left-leaning government had sent the country on the way of Cuba & Venezuela. I agree with  Bolsonaro`s pledge to fight crime and corruption, which have gagged the country. I appreciate the new president`s business friendly stance which could revive investment and lure international capital back. Brazil needs less bureaucracy & and less government intervention. I am encouraged by his choice of Paulo Guedes, a Chicago University-trained economist and investment banker, as his economic guru and future economic minister. Guedo is known as a supporter of free markets and is said to be keen on privatizing an array of state run enterprises, including units of oil company Petroleo Brasileiro SA (Petrobras) and power utility Centrais Eletricas Brasileiras SA (Eletrobras). Time will tell if Bolsonaro will become the Brazilian Ludwig Erhard or Margaret Thatcher.