The disaster of negligence coronacrisis in Brazil (Part 2)

In the whole world, Brazil is being recognized as the most problematic country in the combat to COVID-19. This may not be taken as a surprise, since the president himself stimulates the population to get back to the normal life, by saying that COVID-19 is an ordinary flu. Hence, the national government has no coherent policy to cope with the sanitary aspects of the pandemic. The social inequality is amplified the sanitary drama, due to poor conditions of housing and sanitation for a large part of the population. As for the economic dimension, the first response of the Ministry of Economics was simply making pressure for the deepening of the neoliberal economic reforms, in a move that is totally opposed to what is being done in the whole globe. After a lot of hesitation and political pressure from the opposition, a set of economic policies has been approved in the Congress and implemented by the government, avoiding a complete breakdown in the economic activity - especially due to the impact of the emergency income in reducing poverty and avoiding a radical decline in the aggregate demand. But the current government is planning a new fiscal consolidation in 2021, which will limit the capacity of the State to create a new and stronger social policy. This module will therefore discuss the Brazilian situation as a typical case of negligence in a time of crises. It will also discuss the impact of an out-of-date agenda, that together with the negationist posture of the federal government, has put lives and the future of the country at great risk.