Por Allan Patrick
Ocorreu na semana passada, em Manchester (New Hampshire), o primeiro debate pra valer dos candidatos que concorrem nas primárias para a escolha de quem será o republicano a desafiar o Presidente Barack Obama nas eleições do próximo ano. O Brasil foi citado durante o debate por Tim Pawlenty, governador de Minnesota e um dos favoritos a ser escolhido pelos eleitores republicanos:
JOHN KING (moderador do debate): I’m going to try to ask all of you to keep the follow-ups to 30 seconds, as we can, so we can get more in. Governor Pawlenty, answer the critics—and as you do so—who say five percent every year is just unrealistic. And as you do so, where is the proof? Where is the proof that just cutting taxes will create jobs? If that were true, why—during the Bush years, after the big tax cut, where were the jobs?
TIM PAWLENTY: Well, John, my plan involves a whole plan, not just cutting taxes. We’re proposing to cut taxes, reduce regulation, speed up this pace of government, and to make sure that we have a pro-growth agenda. This president is a declinist. He views America as one of equals around the world. We’re not the same as Portugal. We’re not the same as Argentina. And this idea that we can’t have five percent growth in America is hogwash. It’s a defeatist attitude. If China can have five percent growth and Brazil can have five percent growth, then the United States of America can have five percent growth. And I don’t accept this notion that we’re going to be average or anemic. So, my proposal has a five percent growth target. It cuts taxes, but it also dramatically cuts spending. We need to fix regulation. We need to have a pro-American energy policy. We need to fix healthcare policy. And if you do those things, as I’ve proposed, including cut spending, you’ll get this economy moving, growing the private economy by shrinking government. (grifo nosso)
Fonte: Democracy Now, 14 de junho de 2011.
Então fica aí registrado que o Brasil conseguiu passar ao grande público internacional uma imagem de que é uma nação em ritmo acelerado de crescimento.