By FERNANDO NOGUEIRA DA COSTA*
Fiscal austerity is the neoliberal liturgy that sacrifices lives on the altar of debt. While the markets pray for high interest rates, the people pay the bill with health and education. Tax justice? A heresy in the catechism of capital
The discourse of fiscal austerity is one of the most saturated with technocratic euphemisms and “magic words”. They naturalize the sacrifice of the majority in the name of a supposed responsibility.
Below, I present a standard text, with language typical of the press or Artificial Intelligences. Then, I counterpose a critical, categorical and politically situated version.
Neoliberal standard text (press/artificial intelligence style)
“Fiscal adjustment and sustainability of public accounts”
“Given the scenario of rising debt and budgetary constraints, many countries — including Brazil — face the challenge of balancing their public accounts. In this context, austerity policies, such as spending cuts, are often adopted to ensure fiscal sustainability and preserve investor confidence.
Experts argue that controlling spending is essential to avoid imbalances; they compromise long-term economic growth. Although there is debate about the social effects of these measures, they are seen by many analysts as necessary to maintain credibility and attract investment.
Still, it is important to find ways to preserve essential social programs while promoting responsible management of public resources.”
Critical, categorical and systemic version (and seen as leftist)
“Fiscal austerity is a class project”
“The discourse of austerity — based on cutting social spending instead of taxing the richest — is not an economic necessity, but a political choice guided by class interests.
The idea that “spending control” is a condition for “investor confidence” serves as permanent blackmail against any redistribution policy. The so-called “fiscal sustainability” is, in practice, the systematic prioritization of the payment of interest on public debt to the detriment of health, education, housing and infrastructure.
Meanwhile, taxation on profits, dividends and large fortunes remains symbolic or non-existent. The Brazilian tax burden remains highly regressive: it penalizes consumption and labor income, while preserving the privileges of capital.
Fiscal adjustment is not neutral: it imposes the cost of “accountability” on those at the bottom in order to protect the profitability of those at the top. Cutting social spending while refusing to touch revenues is a disguised way of maintaining structural inequality.
The way out is not through more cuts, but through truly progressive tax reform. It will confront the interests at the top and reorient the budget toward reproducing life — not debt.”
Whether on the right or on the left, clichés are relentless and tiresome. Nor are they effective. After all, readers skip over what is already known… and are not surprised by “more of the same” as the eternal “denunciation of capitalism”.
Satire is an ironic pedagogical tool to denaturalize these hegemonic discourses. A satirical narrative in the form of a neoliberal litany, inspired by the economic journalistic style in Terrae Brasilis — full of “magic words,” corporate jargon, and empty abstractions. They are repeated like a technocratic mantra.
Litany of Fiscal Responsibility: A Neoliberal Rosary in Seven Points
In the name of the tripod, the anchor and the trust, amen.
Brothers and sisters, it is time to do your homework.
Because the challenging scenario demands structural adjustments — in the name of the business environment and macroeconomic predictability.
The bloated state must be contained firmly and responsibly.
Cutting is necessary, bleeding is necessary, because spending more is not a sustainable solution.
After all, there is no free lunch — except for those who profit from the interest.
Praise be to the spending cap and the fiscal framework, sacred instruments capable of freeing us from the temptation to invest in people.
Because the focus must be on efficiency, and efficiency, as we know, lives where the State does not reach.
Taxation on large fortunes?!
Complex theme, not very viable, difficult to implement.
It is better to expand the base, modernize the records… and, above all, encourage entrepreneurship.
The rich, after all, are heroes of meritocracy, not taxpayers.
The market reacted well.
The report was well received.
The credit rating agency raised the outlook.
And investor confidence, that mystical and demanding entity, smiled discreetly in the face of the new health contingency.
Social challenges, of course, persist.
But it is important to maintain the commitment to reforms.
Advance fiscal consolidation, reduce inefficiencies, adjust the mix of public policies to the new normal of globalized capital.
In the name of the positive primary, of spread controlled and intertemporal debt governance, we remain committed to long-term fiscal sustainability.
And let us pray that we never lack the confidence of the markets, even if we lack bread.
Amém
*Fernando Nogueira da Costa He is a full professor at the Institute of Economics at Unicamp. Author, among other books, of Brazil of banks (EDUSP). [https://amzn.to/4dvKtBb]
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