Bolivia is a poor country. Nevertheless, no one, however poor, ever starves in Bolivia: food is dirt cheap and readily available.

In contrast, the government is starving to death. What joy! It is desperate for increased revenue and is preoccupied with schemes for new taxes etc. You may recall that last year the president, Gonzalo Sanchez de Lozada, was driven out of the country because he tried to impose an income tax. The new president, Carlos Mesa, has proposed 3 (three!) separate programs in the last few months for various new kinds of taxes to raise revenue. And he has been forced to withdraw all of them.

The bureacrats' whining is getting deafening.

http://www.el-deber.net/20040317/nacional_3.html

Mesa negocia fondos externos para salarios Mesa seeks external fund for salaries

El Presidente insistis ayer en Cochabamba en la necesidad de mejorar la situacisn financiera del Estado Yesterday in Cochabamba, the president urged the necessity of improving the financial situation of the State.

El gobierno teme un colapso fiscal. Ya no hay dinero para pagarles a los funcionarios pzblicos y por ello apela a un pacto para salir de la crisis. The government is afraid of a fiscal collapse. There is now no money to pay the public servants and for that it appeals for an agreement for escaping the crisis.

Tras alertar sobre la posibilidad de un colapso fiscal del pams, el presidente Carlos Mesa revels ayer que su gobierno negocia con la comunidad internacional fondos para el pago de salarios en el sector pzblico. Announcing the possibility of a fiscal collapse of the country, the president Carlos Mesa revealed yesterday that his government is negotiating with the IMF in order to pay the salaries of the public sector.

Note that he says there might be a fiscal collapse of the *country* when it is not the country but the government that might collapse. There is no chance of the civil society collapsing. We can only hope that the government does so the society will be freed from it. Also note what foreign aid is sought for: not to aid the people of Bolivia but to prop up the apparatus of the State.

Best,

CCS

------------------------------------------------------

Anarchy may not be a better form of government, but it's better than no government at all.