Correa socializes bank profits
Radio Progreso Alternativa (RPA)
HAVANA /QUITO – President Rafael Correa of Ecuador said that, beginning in January 2013, the tax on the profits of private banks will be increased by 3 percent. The proceeds from that tax increase will benefit about 2 million poor Ecuadoreans, raising their monthly stipend from 35 to 50 dollars.
The stipend, known as the Human Development Bonus (BDH) is delivered by the State to the most vulnerable sectors of the population. The profits made by bankers totaled 393 million dollars last year.
The decision to socialize the profits of the nation’s banks is part of a broad program to benefit society, carried out by the Citizens’ Revolution. In this case, it will benefit disabled people, many of whom were “discovered” by the Manuela Espejo Mission*, with Cuban assistance, in the most remote corners of the Andean nation.
The added tax also helps single mothers and the elderly, to whom the government guarantees their basic meals. The Correa government only asks the beneficiaries to bring their children into the educational system and take advantage of preventive health programs.
Correa has pointed out that, while money transfers do not eliminate poverty, they mitigate the vulnerability of large sectors of the population.
When making the announcement, Correa showed videos that showed banker Guillermo Lasso rejecting this program of aid to the needy. Although Lasso had opposed “government subsidies,” when he became a candidate for president he offered to raise the BDH up to 50 dollars. Correa took him up on that offer and surprised Lasso, who had proposed that the raise be funded by cutting back public works.
Correa’s moves in favor of social equity are welcomed by the various social sectors and, to a degree, hinder the United States’ plans to prevent his reelection to the presidency. According to the former British diplomat Craig Murray, Washington is working “to influence the Ecuadorean elections” so the president will be ousted on Feb. 17, 2013, date of the election.
* The Manuela Espejo Mission is a bio-psycho-social-clinic-genetic study to study and document all persons with disabilities, throughout the country.
