{"id":524,"date":"2025-04-23T13:30:33","date_gmt":"2025-04-23T13:30:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/poderemercado.com.br\/?p=524"},"modified":"2025-04-23T13:30:34","modified_gmt":"2025-04-23T13:30:34","slug":"trump-lula-e-a-sindrome-do-libertador-economico","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/poderemercado.com.br\/en\/trump-lula-e-a-sindrome-do-libertador-economico\/","title":{"rendered":"Trump, Lula and the Economic Liberator Syndrome"},"content":{"rendered":"

Trump and Lula have more in common than their voters would like to admit. Both present themselves as saviors of the nation, great leaders who will fight against \u201cthe elites,\u201d \u201cthe bureaucrats,\u201d or \u201cthe bankers.\u201d Both claim to be victims of hidden forces\u2014sometimes the Central Bank, sometimes the press, sometimes China. Both, deep down, reproduce the worst of Latin American political tradition: the cult of the \u201cstrong man\u201d and the refusal to accept responsibility for their own economic decisions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The problem is that, by assuming this role of \u201cliberators of the nation\u201d, they produce the same damage as their caudilloso predecessors: inflation, distrust, capital flight and widespread impoverishment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It is no exaggeration to place Donald Trump on the same shaky pedestal as figures like Per\u00f3n, Get\u00falio or Hugo Ch\u00e1vez. He represents an economic setback as dangerous as Lula\u2019s \u2014 and with the same symptoms: rhetorical nationalism, contempt for market freedom, and an authoritarian fetish for regulating things they do not understand.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Blaming the Central Bank: old excuse, new theater<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

In Latin America, it is common practice to blame the Central Bank for everything. Lula, faithful to the populist playbook, once again attacked Roberto Campos Neto, insinuating that the Central Bank\u2019s \u201ctraps\u201d and Trump\u2019s \u201cmadness\u201d were behind the rise in food prices:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n

\u201cIt is not possible that Brazil, being one of the largest food producers in the world, should have price increases like we are experiencing. And then you will see: it is a trap that the Central Bank has set. It is Trump's madness, who is putting taxes on everything.\u201d
Source: Veja, 2024<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

Yes, you read that right: Lula blames Trump for Brazil\u2019s inflation. This blame-shifting is a hallmark of populism \u2014 and Trump is following exactly the same script.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n\n\n\n

Trump, the new leader of the North<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Trump, now campaigning and seeking re-election, is already laying the groundwork to blame the Fed for any poor economic results. According to the Wall Street Journal<\/em>:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n

\u201cTrump is ready to make Fed Chairman Jerome Powell his scapegoat if the economy slows. It\u2019s a repeat of his behavior during his first term.\u201d
Source: WSJ, 2024<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

The irony is brutal: the same Trump who forced unsustainable interest rate cuts now wants to blame the central bank for the effects of that. A perfect reflection of the economic caudillismo that plagues countries like Venezuela and Argentina \u2014 now imported with a New York accent.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n\n\n\n

Same recipe, same results<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Authoritarian populists share a golden rule: never admit your mistakes. Inflation? Blame the bankers. Unemployment? Blame the press. Recession? Blame the opposition.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This political farce is not new. In the 19th century, Sim\u00f3n Bol\u00edvar already warned:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n

\u201cThe freedom of the New World is a chimera.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

In the 20th century, Juan Bautista Alberdi \u2014 the great Argentine liberal thinker \u2014 wrote:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n

\u201cTo govern is to populate, yes. But to govern is, first and foremost, to respect property, commerce and freedom.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

Twenty-first-century populists have learned none of this. They prefer to inflate their egos and their public spending \u2014 and then blame others when the bill comes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n\n\n\n

The fetish for regulation<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Trump doesn\u2019t just print money and attack the Fed. He also takes particular pleasure in regulating the economy\u2014as long as the regulation favors his friends and penalizes his political enemies. In the article published in Power & Market<\/em>, we have already pointed out:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n

\u201cThe State has a fetish for regulating what it does not understand. When it cannot control by force, it tries to control through bureaucracy.\u201d
Read more here<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

Trump, Lula, Fern\u00e1ndez or L\u00f3pez Obrador: they are all part of a lineage of politicians who believe they can shape the economy with speeches and decrees. But the market, as Hayek said, is a spontaneous process of coordination \u2014 not a palace game.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n\n\n\n

Conclusion: The real enemy of freedom<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

The problem is not the bankers, nor the exporters, nor China, nor the algorithms. The problem is the politicians who believe they are bigger than economic reality. Who deny the laws of scarcity, supply and demand. Who believe they can print wealth, distribute growth and control prices with the stroke of a pen.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Trump and Lula<\/strong> are more alike than their voters would like to admit. They both embody the economic savior syndrome<\/strong>, but, as the history of Latin America shows, the greater the savior, the greater the damage.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n\n\n\n

If you want to understand why these speeches always end in impoverishment, inflation and loss of freedom, keep following the Power & Market<\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Because here, we don't romanticize caudillos. We unmask them.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Lula e Trump compartilham mais do que populismo: ambos recorrem \u00e0 velha t\u00e1tica latino-americana de culpar o Banco Central pelos pr\u00f3prios erros econ\u00f4micos. Nesta an\u00e1lise, comparamos seus discursos \u00e0 tradi\u00e7\u00e3o dos caudilhos e mostramos como a ret\u00f3rica de salvador da p\u00e1tria esconde pol\u00edticas intervencionistas que empobrecem a sociedade.<\/p>","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":525,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"googlesitekit_rrm_CAow55rbCw:productID":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[380],"tags":[42,384,168,73,226,382,383,97,381,385,80],"class_list":["post-524","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-analise-politica","tag-banco-central","tag-caudilhismo","tag-escola-austriaca-2","tag-inflacao","tag-intervencionismo","tag-lula","tag-poder-e-mercado","tag-politica-economica","tag-populismo","tag-teoria-liberal","tag-trump"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/poderemercado.com.br\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/524","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/poderemercado.com.br\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/poderemercado.com.br\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/poderemercado.com.br\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/poderemercado.com.br\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=524"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/poderemercado.com.br\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/524\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/poderemercado.com.br\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/525"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/poderemercado.com.br\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=524"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/poderemercado.com.br\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=524"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/poderemercado.com.br\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=524"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}