Silicon Investor (SI) -- The First Internet Community

STOCKTALK

We've detected that you're using an ad content blocking browser plug-in or feature. Ads provide a critical source of revenue to the continued operation of Silicon Investor. We ask that you disable ad blocking while on Silicon Investor in the best interests of our community. If you are not using an ad blocker but are still receiving this message, make sure your browser's tracking protection is set to the 'standard' level.

Gold/Mining/Energy : Gold Price Monitor -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Little Joe who wrote (22362)	10/29/1998 4:20:00 PM
From: goldsnow	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 116753

Brazil Leader Sells Economic Plan Thursday, 29 October 1998 R I O D E J A N E I R O , B R A Z I L (AP) AFTER PROPOSING a package of spending cuts and higher taxes, the government on Thursday turned to selling the painful measures aimed at healing the economy. President Fernando Henrique Cardoso's economic team headed to Congress to try to get needed backing for the plan, which would save nearly $24 billion in 1999 and pare the huge budget deficit. But resistance to the measures was expected, even among Cardoso's allies. Rep. Inocencio de Oliveira, normally a strong government supporter, complained about a proposed increase in a tax on all financial transactions - from writing checks to buying stocks - to 0.38 percent from the current 0.2 percent. "I think it's too high," he said. "If it were, say, 0.3 percent, that would be more palatable." Another battle is shaping up over a proposal to raise the social security tax on civil servants and collect it, for the first time, from retired government workers. The measures were proposed to help Brazil win a $30 billion rescue package from the International Monetary Fund. Brazil has been whipsawed by the global financial crisis that began more than a year ago in Southeast Asia. Although the government has a majority in the 513-seat Chamber of Deputies and the 81-seat Senate, it faces an uphill fight. Cardoso also must gain support from the states' governors who wield enormous influence over their lawmakers. The economic plan has angered some governors by calling for sharp cutbacks in the amount of federal money given to the states. The money would go to cover shortfalls in the federal budget. Six opposition governors met in Brasilia, the capital, to discuss the plan. Anthony Garotinho, the populist governor-elect of the state of Rio de Janeiro, said he would oppose any move to reduce the state payroll to save money. "Rio doesn't have too many civil servants - it has too few," he said.