O que é este blog?

Este blog trata basicamente de ideias, se possível inteligentes, para pessoas inteligentes. Ele também se ocupa de ideias aplicadas à política, em especial à política econômica. Ele constitui uma tentativa de manter um pensamento crítico e independente sobre livros, sobre questões culturais em geral, focando numa discussão bem informada sobre temas de relações internacionais e de política externa do Brasil. Para meus livros e ensaios ver o website: www.pralmeida.org. Para a maior parte de meus textos, ver minha página na plataforma Academia.edu, link: https://itamaraty.academia.edu/PauloRobertodeAlmeida;

Meu Twitter: https://twitter.com/PauloAlmeida53

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/paulobooks

Mostrando postagens com marcador Cato Institute. Mostrar todas as postagens
Mostrando postagens com marcador Cato Institute. Mostrar todas as postagens

quarta-feira, 12 de dezembro de 2018

Index of Human Freedom 2018: Brasil perde da China em liberdade economica - Cato Institute

Human Freedom Index

The Human Freedom Index presents the state of human freedom in the world based on a broad measure that encompasses personal, civil, and economic freedom. Human freedom is a social concept that recognizes the dignity of individuals and is defined here as negative liberty or the absence of coercive constraint. Because freedom is inherently valuable and plays a role in human progress, it is worth measuring carefully. The Human Freedom Index is a resource that can help to more objectively observe relationships between freedom and other social and economic phenomena, as well as the ways in which the various dimensions of freedom interact with one another.
The report is co-published by the Cato Institute, the Fraser Institute, and the Liberales Institut at the Friedrich Naumann Foundation for Freedom.

The Human Freedom Index - 2018


O Brasil aparece num vergonhoso lugar 123, sobre 162, ou seja, no meio da segunda metade, com um índice geral de liberdade humana de 6,21 (sobre 10), sendo 6,67 nas liberdades individuais (lugar 94 sobre 162), mas apenas 5,75 nas liberdades econômicas (um alarmante lugar 144 sobre 162).
Na verdade, segundo se pode ver na evolução anual, as liberdades humanas e econômicas no Brasil vieram caminhando para trás, ou seja, retrocedendo de 2008 a 2016, o que é propriamente lamentável. 
Em outros termos: os governos lulopetistas fizeram o Brasil retroceder no índice de liberdades humanas e de liberdades econômicas, o que combina com o espírito totalitário da organização criminosa que presidiu aos destinos do país nesse período (confiram essa evolução negativa na p. 93 do relatório).

Agora vejam o caso da China, uma autocracia semitotalitária, que justificadamente encontra-se atrás do Brasil no ranking geral das liberdades humanas, em lugar 135 sobre 162, mas no campo das liberdades econômicas a China é mais livre do que o Brasil, por incrível que pareça (mas eu considero isso normal, conhecendo a China).
Seu índice de liberdade econômica é de 6,46 (contra apenas 5,75 no Brasil), o que a coloca num lugar 108 (contra 144 para o Brasil).

Mas o relatório é implacável com a falta de liberdades humanas na China, como se pode constatar por estes comentários, logo na Introdução (Foreword): 

"Another power is a far greater threat to freedom—and that is China. The Chinese Communist Party has grown increasingly despotic and imperialistic in recent years; it brutally enforces its model of totalitarianism at home and seeks to spread it globally. It employs a nasty array of mili- tary aggression, intimidation, imprisonment, and execu- tion of opponents domestically, with increasingly blatant use of those tools against external opponents. Its econom- ic clout is used to bribe, corrupt, intimidate, and indebt nations around the world.
The range of China’s efforts to suppress freedom do- mestically and internationally is breathtaking, so only a sampling is in order here. Actions that are generally known include its anti-Taiwan activity, its militarization of the South China Sea in an attempt to gain a chokehold on the world’s most important trade corridors, its intellectual property theft, its vast increases in military power and spending, its global propaganda, and, most horrifying, its brutal suppression of Muslim Uighurs. Yet the extent of China’s malicious threats and activities is little understood.
(...)
Religious persecution is endemic."

Em conclusão, se o Brasil se aproximasse das liberdades econômicas da China, sem imitar a sua execrável autocracia política, teríamos um enorme progresso para fazer avançar a criação de riqueza no Brasil.

sexta-feira, 15 de junho de 2018

Trump e o seu conceito primitivo sobre o sistema comercial multilateral - Cato

Tough Tariff Talk at the 2018 G7 Summit

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Cato Institute, June 14, 2018
The G7 summit, which groups Canada, the US, the UK, France, Italy, Japan and Germany, was held Canada this past week. As expected, much of the talk was on the Trump administration’s subverting the rules of international trade with a wrecking ball of tariff indiscretions.

As has been the case every day for the past 16+ months, the U.S. and global economies remain exposed to the whims of an unorthodox president who precariously steers policy from one extreme to the other, keeping us in a perpetual state of uncertainty.

President Trump’s ideas on trade often seem paradoxical, and at the G-7 summit, he floated both abolition of all tariffs worldwide and banning trade with certain countries entirely over the course of just 24 hours.

Unfortunately, rather than seeing free trade as a means of promoting mutually beneficial exchange between buyers and sellers, President Trump thinks of trade as a zero-sum game that sees nations “winning” if they export more than they import.
The Herbert A. Stiefel Center for Trade Policy Studies is focused on issues and policies that expand the freedom of Americans to participate in global market. Follow the Center on Facebook and Twitter for the latest Cato research and commentary on trade policy...

quarta-feira, 20 de dezembro de 2017

Trump reduz tributos nos EUA: preparando a nova fase de crescimento

Vamos ser claros: eu acho o Trump um idiota completo, definitivo e radical, um cretino fundamental, de todos os pontos de vista. O que não me impede de fazer uma análise objetiva de certas medidas tomadas pelo seu governo. No geral, ele tem sido desastroso, para o seu próprio país e seus próprios eleitores, ao restringir o comércio, ao retirar os EUA da globalização, ao pretender restringir a imigração, que é sempre fonte de ganhos e criação de riqueza.
A redução de tributos, por exemplo, se protege ou não os mais ricos, é sempre positiva. Quanto menos dinheiro for para o Estado, creio que é melhor, a menos que se creia que os Estados fazem bem aos mais pobres ao reter dinheiro dos cidadãos para supostamente beneficiar os mais pobres.
Competição entre países para reduzir tributos é excelente para todos, em quaisquer circunstâncias.
O Cato Institute está comemorando a reforma, que ele recomenda desde muitos anos, como refletido neste livro livremente disponível.

Global Tax Revolution:
The Rise of Tax Competition and the Battle to Defend It

Global Tax RevolutionNearly 10 years ago, the Cato Institute published Global Tax Revolution — laying out a comprehensive strategy for tax changes that would fuel American competitiveness, growth, and success in the world’s marketplace.
With the passage of the largest federal tax overhaul in decades, much of what the book energetically set forth has now come to pass. While the new tax legislation may have flaws, at its center are key corporate reforms that have been long overdue. Global Tax Revolution — detailing how to energize the U.S. economy by embracing competition and overhauling the federal tax code…..on tax changes, now becoming realties, that can significantly help business and workers succeed in the global economy — underscores the effort and impact of Cato’s decades-long work to educate policymakers and the public on tax reform and economic growth.
In addition to reading/downloading Global Tax Revolution we also invite you to also explore the wealth of other resources Cato has created on this vital subject.
Download the PDF
Download the EPUB
Download the MOBI

Leiam...

quinta-feira, 22 de setembro de 2016

Economic Freedom Up Globally; Down in U.S. - Cato Institute

Economic Freedom Up Globally; Down in U.S.
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As economists from Adam Smith and Milton Friedman to Paul Samuelson and Larry Summers have stressed, freedom of exchange and market coordination provide the fuel for economic progress.

In the 2016 Economic Freedom of the World report, global economic freedom increased slightly. Hong Kong retained the highest rating for economic freedom, followed by Singapore, New Zealand, Switzerland, Canada, Georgia, Ireland, Mauritius, the United Arab Emirates, Australia, and the United Kingdom.

The United States, long considered the standard bearer for economic freedom among large industrial nations, has fallen precipitously from second in 2000 to 8th in 2005 to 16th in this year’s report.

"Due to a weakening rule of law, increasing regulation, and the ramifications of wars on terrorism and drugs, the United States has seen its economic freedom score plummet in recent years," write the study's authors.
2016 Economic Freedom of the World
“Global Economic Freedom Slightly Up, the United States Still Low,” by Ian Vásquez
"U.S. Remains Stagnant in Latest Economic Freedom Rankings," from the Cato Institute Tumblr
PODCAST: Economic Freedom Marches On

domingo, 11 de setembro de 2016

Bilionarios brasileiros (gracas ao Estado corrupto) - debate no Cato Institute (Washington)

Brazillionaires: Wealth, Power, Decadence, and Hope in an American Country
Book Forum
Tuesday, September 13, 2016
12:00PM - 1:30PM

Featuring the author Alex Cuadros, Former São Paulo reporter, Bloomberg News; with comments by João Augusto de Castro Neves, Director of Latin America, Eurasia Group. Moderated by Juan Carlos Hidalgo, Policy Analyst on Latin America, Center for Global Liberty and Prosperity, Cato Institute.

Brazil is a country where spectacular displays of wealth coexist with barefaced poverty, making it one of the most unequal nations in the Americas. In 2010 Alex Cuadros was hired by Bloomberg News to report on the rise of Brazilian billionaires, an elite group whose growing riches mirrored the ascendancy of their country as a global economic powerhouse. Cuadros will explain how many of these fortunes were made thanks to influence peddling and whether the recent well-publicized corruption scandals that rocked the country could be a signal of strengthening institutions. João Augusto de Castro Neves will offer his insights about the political and economic crisis engulfing Brazil.

REGISTER  or Watch online Sep 13

sábado, 30 de abril de 2016

A Revolucao Cultural na China, por um historiador (Frank Dikotter) e um sobrevivente da RCC (Xia Yeliang) - Cato Book Forum

The Cultural Revolution: A People’s History, 1962–1976

(Bloomsbury, 2016) 

Book Forum in Cato Institute, April 25, 2016

http://www.cato.org/events/cultural-revolution-peoples-history-1962-1976

Featuring the author Frank Dikötter, Chair Professor of Humanities, University of Hong Kong; with comments by Xia Yeliang, Visiting Fellow, Center for Global Liberty and Prosperity, Cato Institute; moderated by Marian L. Tupy, Editor, www.humanprogress.org, Cato Institute.
After the economic disaster of the Great Leap Forward that claimed tens of millions of lives from 1958–1962, Mao Zedong launched an ambitious scheme to shore up his reputation and eliminate those he viewed as a threat to his legacy. The stated goal of the Cultural Revolution was to purge China of its bourgeoisie and remaining capitalists. The Cultural Revolution soon resulted in street fighting between rival factions. As China descended into chaos, the military intervened, turning the country into a garrison state marked by bloody purges that killed as many as one in 50 people. After the army itself fell victim to the Cultural Revolution, ordinary people used the political chaos to resurrect the market and hollow out the party’s ideology. In short, they buried Maoism. Please join us for a discussion of the horrors of the Cultural Revolution and its unintended consequences.

sábado, 23 de abril de 2016

China: depois do horror do Grande Salto Para a Frente, o horror da Revolucao Cultural: Frank Dikotter (Cato Institute)

Se estivesse em Washington, iria pessoalmente, inclusive para comprar o livro pessoalmente. Como não estou, vou assistir a palestra online, como abaixo. Frank Dikotter vive em Hong Kong, e publicou, alguns anos atrás, um novo livro sobre o Grande Salto para a Frente, de Mao, entre 1959 e 1962, revisando para cima o número de mortos, para algo entre 30 e 40 milhões de mortos.
Paulo Roberto de Almeida

The Cultural Revolution: A People’s History, 1962–1976
Book Forum
Monday, April 25, 2016
Cato Institute, Washington, DC, 11:00AM - 12:30PM

Featuring the author Frank Dikötter, Chair Professor of Humanities, University of Hong Kong; with comments by Xia Yeliang, Visiting Fellow, Center for Global Liberty and Prosperity, Cato Institute. Moderated by Marian L. Tupy, Editor, www.humanprogress.org, Cato Institute.

After the economic disaster of the Great Leap Forward that claimed tens of millions of lives from 1958–1962, Mao Zedong launched an ambitious scheme to shore up his reputation and eliminate those he viewed as a threat to his legacy. The stated goal of the Cultural Revolution was to purge China of its bourgeoisie and remaining capitalists. The Cultural Revolution soon resulted in street fighting between rival factions. As China descended into chaos, the military intervened, turning the country into a garrison state marked by bloody purges that killed as many as one in 50 people. After the army itself fell victim to the Cultural Revolution, ordinary people used the political chaos to resurrect the market and hollow out the party’s ideology. In short, they buried Maoism. Please join us for a discussion of the horrors of the Cultural Revolution and its unintended consequences.

REGISTER  or  Watch online Apr 25