Ya lo cantó Juan Luis Guerra una vez y para siempre. La economía capitalista vuelve a la carga con una de sus terribles bajas. Lo cierto es que la clases medias y pobres somos la parte más débil de la soga. Cuando esa soga parte es como para que se nos suba la bilirrubina. Mientras tanto el gobierno del águila calva trata de salvar la “economía” comprándole a los bancos irresponsables su montón de préstamos incobrables. Aún está por verse el beneficio de tal medida y otras parecidas para que ocurra lo que en estos días The Economist tan campechanamente espera que no ocurra y publica:
…Ever since, The Economist has been on the side of economic liberty.
Now economic liberty is under attack and capitalism, the system which embodies it, is at bay. This week Britain, the birthplace of modern privatisation, nationalised much of its banking industry; meanwhile, amid talk of the end of the Thatcher-Reagan era, the American government has promised to put $250 billion into its banks. Other governments are re-regulating their financial systems. Asians point out that the West appears to be moving towards their more dirigiste model: “The teachers have some problems,” a Chinese leader recently said. Interventionists are in full cry: “Self-regulation is finished,” claims France’s Nicolas Sarkozy. “Laissez-faire is finished.” Not all criticisms are that unsubtle (the more pointed ones focus on increasing the state’s role only in finance), but all the signs are pointing in the same direction: a larger role for the state, and a smaller and more constrained private sector.
This newspaper hopes profoundly that this will not happen. Over the past century and a half capitalism has proved its worth for billions of people. The parts of the world where it has flourished have prospered; the parts where it has shrivelled have suffered. Capitalism has always engendered crises, and always will. The world should use the latest one, devastating though it is, to learn how to manage it better.
No sé hasta donde le dure el optimismo a The Economist. Lo cierto es que estamos pasando por una crisis que aún no revela todo su desfigurado rostro. Mientras tanto Juan Luis Guerra seguirá cantando: “El costo de vida sube otra vez…”.
