Never in our country has poverty and the inhumane conditions in which so many people live on a daily basis have taken so much strength.
October’s social outburst showed a clear background of inequality and lack of access to basic services and rights. No public policies to help mitigate a problem of gigantic magnitude, which has been accompanying us for decades and which we unfortunately get used to. In a context, when the uncertainty and the arrival of March generated speculation falls like a bomb the Covid 19 in our country.
Two shocks in a row, without pause. The first internal source and the second external source. Anyway, two unprecedented shocks.
The first showed what some do not know today or say they do not know: Poverty and all that entails: lack of opportunities, access to basic goods and services, overcrowding, and endless etcetera that clearly shows how economic and social inequality in Chile is shameful and inhumane.
Coronavirus or Covid 19 brings with it endless predictions and economic projections. Many say it will be like the 1982 crisis, and the Asian crisis and the sub-prime crisis are also remembered. None of these crises is comparable to the current scenario that has exposed the precariousness and a naked Chile, which many do not want to see.
It is striking to see that some analysts and politicians speak of data completely forgetting that after each fact there are people and families who live the day… or only in fiction, as in the film “Parasites”, there is overcrowding and hunger? The only thing in terms of comparison in numbers responds to issues of unemployment, investment, product, and many economic variables, which are data that must be used to efficiently execute the mechanisms of action and solve the gaps, rather than to show off on television.
Current public policies are not being effective. Feeding boxes help today, but it’s not enough. In a few square meters live 10 people or more, The Covid bonus is not enough, and no current mechanism is: bread for today and hunger for tomorrow. How long will the authorities improvise?
As in all crises, of all kinds, the worst and the best of the human being emerges. We see empathy, humanity and generosity in many. In others, to make “the blind eye”, to live in a bubble and to think only of “my gain” and square meter inevitably remembers Nash’s balance: my best strategy?, Coopero or not? , and what do I earn? The misery of selfishness. Human misery where, if I have no benefit, why will I cooperate?
On public policy, the IMF approved a line of credit that authorities must channel to everyone, but not especially to sectors where it can’t be expected anymore, because the teabag is no longer coloured.
A minimum emergency basic wage is imperative , $300, 000, and where? There are the mayors who must know the reality of their commune and be clear about the cadastre of those who urgently and necessaryly need. In that order. Each municipality must have absolute clarity on this and act. Of course, the government must urgently find it and channel municipalities. In the delay that arises between unnecessary and political debates people starve to death or Covid. We have to materialize now.
The good thing that has been done are the sanitary residences and the intention of getting 2.5 million boxes of food.
The bad, politics revives in every area. Improvisation, bad signs and contradictions. The bad faith of some. The “dimes and diretes” of political parties that no one helps and don’t matter either. Financial aid to entrepreneurs and SMEs? Without ideal girl print, unfortunately they are accompanied by absurd requirements in the current scenario: not having Dicom (half Chile is in Dicom), issuing ballots and not having delinquencies in banking and the infallible “Social Register of Homes”. More than half of Chile before Covid survived with $300,000. Now, with more than a million people out of work: Will you pay a store fee or a credit if it barely survives?
In cultural matters, we compare ourselves to European countries, however, many Chileans (not all) are unique in challenging what is established in testing how far elastic stretches, in that they may not “get me”. So there is no politics to help, and here I do not say that the fault is the people, the vast majority abides and puts on their side, but this minority is shameful. The government must do a mea culpa and recognize the mistakes, the lack of proactivity, the attempt to “new normality”, please; In one example we can mention France, which opened 70 schools last May and had to close them. Here the school year is lost, and in good time because you ad portas de winter and with 45 students in a room it is better not to imagine what could happen. It’s better to lose a year than to lose your life, a logic that doesn’t merit analysis. So we could continue to list errors such as opening malls and trading nothing indispensable.
It makes sense that every company should mitigate the damage and hopefully not break the contractual issue. Whatever unemployment is, it will remain a worse scenario than a war.
The economy is certainly based on figures that are families. Nothing new under the sun, only that this virus comes to show us that decades ago we are surviving with a worse “virus”: Hiding under the carpet the problems by the “what will they say”, What will they say about the English of Latin America?, Of the best health system on the planet?, From the happy copy of Eden?.
Eradicating the Covid and the aforementioned “virus” involves opening your eyes, acting with empathy and humanity. That’s the economy, it’s social science that must look after people’s well-being and quality of life! We leave the data to analyze, contrast and see what to do in public matters and policies.
In closing this analysis, I would like to underline four things:
1. Undersupply there will not be in some goods but in others. The food chain is running slowly and the black market has already been installed. Our production matrix has already taken on other nuances, and the uptick as an open economy depends on the situation of our main export destinations.
2. I call on the AFPs. The money is from the contributors, please give that 10%, that no one assures us to reach retirement age and now is when hunger and deficiencies are pressing. Finally in an eagerness to “good sign”
3. I call for urgent obstacles in collecting cessation insurance and also to end million-dollar medical accounts in hospitalizations concerning the Covid. Last but not least, people with less income who have access to banking use the State Bank’s Ruth account, so I call for the removal of charges when withdrawing money and making transfers.
4. Penalties for not complying with quarantines, health cords and curfew must be punished, but the million-dollar fines and threatening jail terms are not effective and uncommended, the way to ensure that people comply does not go that way. The path to compliance is another.
This column is not statistical out of respect for those who are living gigantic deficiencies, and also because the economy is a social science that must ensure the quality of life of people (I reiterate it)
5. All projections for this year are underestimated. Economic contraction and unemployment (among others) are strong, reaching double digits.
6. Those in charge of socio-economic policies are imperative to separate the important from the urgent.
The content poured into this opinion column is the sole responsibility of its author, and does not necessarily reflect the editorial line or position of El Mostrador.
