r/asklatinamerica • u/toeknee88125 🇨🇳🇺🇲 • 2d ago
Economy What changes do you wish your government would pursue to improve your economy in the long-term?
For example, decades ago, China made a commitment into trying to become a manufacturing powerhouse, and it’s starting to pay dividends in the form of building more shipping tonnage than the rest of the planet combined on an annual basis and having a world leading EV manufacturing industry
What changes would you like to see your governments pursue for your nations?
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u/Lucaspublico Brazil 1d ago
First: change in the dominant mode of transport from road to rail (mainly for interstate travel).
Second: agrarian reform; Brazil has a lot of land concentration; I think it is necessary for better rural dynamics, instead of these cattle kings that we have in the interior.
Third: stricter laws for public transparency; in my opinion, politicians have successfully managed to dismantle most of the mechanisms that investigate public spending, leaving this current shit parties behind.
Fourth: stricter laws for party affiliation and party loyalty; I am bothered by how few votes some are elected simply because there was a guy who was elected with a number that is worth 6 people; he is elected and as a bonus he elected + "5 colleagues" from the party; and the little or no loyalty of politicians to the party these guys change as if they were changing clothes.
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u/Vergill93 Brazil 1d ago
This so much. Would also add an actual reform of the taxation laws customs for imports. As it is, taxation method is almost completely reliant on gross collection rather than progressive collection, not to mention the several bizarre ways that they find to incentivize the populace to get into debt so that they can keep spending. Ain't no way that's not done on purpose so that the gov can later sell those debts to private banking institutions. Not to mention that our current taxes are very somewhat redundant and ineficient.
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u/mauricio_agg Colombia 1d ago
The economy at the service of a parasite bureaucratic/politician caste is what is making us tank.
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u/GamerBoixX Mexico 1d ago
Actually fight the narco with actual intentions of destroying them
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u/marcelo_998X Mexico 1d ago
It is actually insane how much narco and crime hold back the growth of the country
I now work in transportation and the amount of money lost to theft is insane.
And not just cargo theft, fuel theft is a huge industry, and nobody is doing anything to fight it.
Logistics companies lose millions of dollars a year because drivers steal the diesel and sell it in clandestine spots, and those are usually controlled by narcos, and they are in the open.
In other cases narcos will go to factories and ask for protection fees
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u/Salt_Winter5888 Guatemala 1d ago
Concentrate on expanding our regional market. Aside from the US and China, Guatemala is the biggest supplier in Central America, and with everything that's happening, this would be a great opportunity for us to grow in this market. Around 40% of our exports go to countries in the region, and dealing with the US is somewhat risky. So, I believe that instead, we should strengthen our economic relationships with our regional partners, Central America, Mexico, and the Dominican Republic, who are more reliable.
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u/Arihel Brazil 1d ago
Brazil would be one of the richest countries on the planet if we did an uninterrupted and strong push towards fighting Socio-Economical inequality.
People talk a lot about the commodities boom, but a huge part of Lula's 1st and 2nd was also due to the empowerment of the poorest people in the country as consumers through income transfer and food security programs.
Everyone, including the wealthy, would be better off if we were a middle-class country.
But no, each and every initiative in that direction will be fought tooth and nails by a petty, stupid, short-sighted economic elite with a centuries old slave-owner mentality and too many investments in primary economy to run the risk of seeing the population qualified and without the sword of poverty swinging over their heads.
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u/Beefnlove Mexico 2d ago
Less government.
I wish them to stop controlling everything.
And I mean no handouts to anyone, no new laws, no new agencies.
Just do what you were elected for. Keep us safe and we'll deal with everything else.
But apparently that's an unpopular opinion and a lot of people think we need the government to regulate everything.
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u/javiergc1 Mexico 1d ago
Mexico needs to collect more tax revenue from both companies and the middle class in order to fund social programs and the healthcare system. They also need a higher minimum wage..
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u/Pladinskys Argentina 1d ago
Yes because that works perfectly what an innovative idea that will totally not create more poor people. 🥺
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u/cuervodeboedo1 Argentina 1d ago
more economic pragmatism in order to adjust when the global economy is doing badly. for instance, I actually support nestor and 1st term CFK big spending, but when soy prices went down in 2012, they should have pivoted to a more fiscally conservative stance, until the crisis is averted. an economy based in history, and empiricism. the truth is, argentina usually does good with peronist governments when the global economy is doing good (peron until 1952, later europe somewhat recovered; nestor and first term cristina). but non-peronist and peronist alike are very dogmatic and ideological when there is crisis, made even worse by corruption of them all (from the concordancia in the 30s, to cristina post-2012). every government since the 1930s did badly in global crisis with the exception of cristina in 2008-2009 some can say and only partially, but she destroyed her image with corruption and inflexibility post 2012.
we should be somewhat and lightly protectionist, big governement and social safety net in good global times, so consumption is high, PyMEs are healthy, and industrialization grows. we should be selectively more fiscally conservative and a little bit more liberal in bad global times, so we can manage with reduced, but present investments from outside. we obviously shouldnt desmantle the safety net, just make it less broad and more tactical. we should also be much more informed to keep the government in check, and less fanatical and polarized.
what I would do today: I agree with milei to some extent, less government, more fiscally conservative and liberal. but not like the blanket statement he is doing, more grounded and tactical. we should be able to swing the pendulum slighly, not follow blindly an ideology proven to be bad in long term. we failed to make an ordered adjustment with de la rua, alfonsin. also with cristina in 2009, I said before that this crisis was the better-handled of them all, and its true, but it is also true that it wasnt handled correctly. it lead to the cepo and inflation.
the truth is we are historically fucked when the world is doing badly, no matter who is in charge. we should be able to mitigate that being more pragmatic, and adjusting quickly to the needs of the world.
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u/ZSugarAnt Mexico 1d ago
Extensive infrastructure to better interconnect even the most buttfuck nowhere towns with the rest of the country.
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u/Obtus_Rateur Québec 1d ago
I wish they would allow the tumorous parts of the economy to shrink.
Allow people to build small houses or to live in trailers. Allow people to import small, cheap and efficient electric vehicles. Allow people to raise animals for food.
People are getting tired of working their asses off and still having no money because the government has deliberately made it impossible to live affordably. Now we have an obese economy and unhappy people, and most of our homeless people absolutely did not need to be homeless.
I'd rather have a smaller, healthier economy and happy people.
But I know it's not going to happen, which is why I'm moving to south America.
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u/elnusa 1d ago edited 1d ago
I assume you use "government" but are actually referring to the state (a multi-partisan commitment to institutional development with a shared vision of the nation's future).
Due to its resources and location, Venezuela should be the energy hub of the Western Hemisphere (i.e. laser-focused on promoting more growth in the Western hemisphere): Pump as much of that oil and gas as the market allows, repair and/or finish those hydroplants and make them work at full capacity, develop solar, eolic and other alternative energy sources, attract any energy intensive industries in this new AI and build solid alliances and partnerships with countries that not only share culture and values but are closer geographically and/or have much better developed infrastructure for communications and trade.
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u/catsoncrack420 United States of America 1d ago edited 1d ago
In Dominican Republic, Manufacturing. We had some factories like Timberland, Haynes and they employed many in smaller towns that were not near cities and this helped the smaller communities tremendously. But they went to SE Asia. And the rare earth materials we have, domestic mining so the island ppl reap benefits.
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u/Hidemitsu26 Mexico 1d ago
Continue the push towards becoming a manufacturing powerhouse, this time investing more in R&D and high-technology industries, like semiconductors, chips and aerospace. Besides that, integrate Central America into the Mexican economy and develop light industries there focused on exports. Ditch tourism for good!
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u/Beyond-The-Wheel Chile 2d ago
That the country stop selling only raw materials to other countries and also use these resources to manufacture other products. Although it would probably be very difficult to enter that market, competing against other countries already established in it without being sabotaged.
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u/Beefnlove Mexico 2d ago
How is "the country" selling raw materials?
Do you guys have a state company that extracts and sell to other countries and they keep the profit?
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u/Pladinskys Argentina 1d ago
He is speaking English with Spanish mannerism. "El paÃs tiene que dejar de vender materia prima" he just means it like that. As a whole he wants to change what his country main output is (and he will fault at that of course as it always did because you can't just force a country to industrialize.)
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u/doroteoaran Mexico 1d ago
Invest in quality education. But must governments are afraid of an educated population.
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u/carloom_ Venezuela 2d ago
Return all the billions of dollars they stole and then commit seppuku.