NewsWhore
10-02-2006, 05:30 PM
Inez Aizpun, an editor at Diario Libre, published a column in Saturday's edition of the paper commenting on the Finance Minister's criticism of Elena Viyella's statements on government overspending and other irregularities as an indication that business people wanted to be politicians.
"The problem is not that business people speak up as politicians, but rather that politicians are acting more like businesspeople. And as a matter of fact, it is not their money. It is ours.
"On a daily basis, we see political scandals that are not about ideological debates, sociological differences or challenges to power based on whim. All our scandals are about business deals promoted by, cooked up by, thrown up by politicians who aspire to be businessmen. (We don't even see, like in other countries, sex scandals that at least entertain the public.)
"Have we ever seen a politician discuss politics with another?" she asks, conceding that there might be some superficial discussion of this sort during electoral campaigning. But then she adds: "Once they reach power, the discussions slide to the business end. Health plans? More than dengue they study budgets for building hospitals that sometimes take years to be inaugurated because an access road is missing. Education? They talk about quotes for building schools. There are no discussions about the quality of education, but there are on breakfast rations. Security? Better to talk about quotes than about social policies. State property: The Enade contract that leads one to wonder whether it responds to a vision of state or the nose of someone who smelled a good deal? Public Works? They don't have to quote because all the money is going to the metro and they have to rack their brains to invent something like inspection stickers to reap some new money.
"Bengoa is wrong. There is a need for more talk about politics and less about business. This includes politicians."
For comments, write to IAizpun@diariolibre.com
More... (http://www.dr1.com/index.html#9)
"The problem is not that business people speak up as politicians, but rather that politicians are acting more like businesspeople. And as a matter of fact, it is not their money. It is ours.
"On a daily basis, we see political scandals that are not about ideological debates, sociological differences or challenges to power based on whim. All our scandals are about business deals promoted by, cooked up by, thrown up by politicians who aspire to be businessmen. (We don't even see, like in other countries, sex scandals that at least entertain the public.)
"Have we ever seen a politician discuss politics with another?" she asks, conceding that there might be some superficial discussion of this sort during electoral campaigning. But then she adds: "Once they reach power, the discussions slide to the business end. Health plans? More than dengue they study budgets for building hospitals that sometimes take years to be inaugurated because an access road is missing. Education? They talk about quotes for building schools. There are no discussions about the quality of education, but there are on breakfast rations. Security? Better to talk about quotes than about social policies. State property: The Enade contract that leads one to wonder whether it responds to a vision of state or the nose of someone who smelled a good deal? Public Works? They don't have to quote because all the money is going to the metro and they have to rack their brains to invent something like inspection stickers to reap some new money.
"Bengoa is wrong. There is a need for more talk about politics and less about business. This includes politicians."
For comments, write to IAizpun@diariolibre.com
More... (http://www.dr1.com/index.html#9)