The day will come, in the near future,
when the portuguese will have to face head-on the enormous imbalances
in the Social Security and the Health Systems,
both increasingly pressured by the demographic changes.
That will be the moment when our society will have to be confronted without any taboos,
about the level of funding that is available and the benefits that are available to hand-out.
We can go on hiding the problem under the carpet,
thinking about how the portuguese will have droves of kids,
with the economy flourishing, employment increasing
and we'll all live happily ever after.
But that's not what the experience has taught us.
Unpredictable crises, appear unexpectedly around the corner.
And the crucial moment of truth is fast approaching:
the moment of rupture when tax revenues will fail to cover the obligations.
Remember that 14 years ago, the socialist Prime Minister António Guterres,
told us that the reforms were guaranteed until the end of the century.
Yes, until the end of the twenty-first century,
on account of a new calculation formula.
We know that this illusion,
which now seems like a joke, had a short shelf life.
After only five years, a new socialist government made new changes in the system,
sensible and which bore some fruit,
but it still does not guarantee everlasting sustainability.
The whole system, to be able to continue to function,
needs a strong and serious review, in money coming in and money going out.
This requires a broad reform as the PM, Pedro Passos Coelho suggested,
or Portugal can continue on the path of putting patches on older patches
until the system finally ends up crashing,
as seems to be currently the calculated option
of the socialist leader, António Costa.
The solutions may be more or less obvious,
more creative or more traditional. But there are no miracles.
If there's a lack of money, someone has to stop receiving
or someone will have to pay more.
It would only be fair that sayl who these "someones" will be.
We do not discuss the issue openly because we are in an election campaign?
That's precisely why.
If both of the candidadtes are so intent on telling the truth
and not promise anything that they can not comply with, why not start here?
It would be a better start for a good relationship.
But only dark clouds are on the horizon.
With the socialists possibly losing the elections
and the coalition unable to gain a clear majority,
the patriotic, political "terrorist" Costa,
threatens to make the fragile new government fail,
by not enabling the 2016 State budget,
and putting Portugal on a Greece like downward slide
towards another bail-out programme.
Costa doesn't give a hoot for the country and it's problems.
He is only worried about his own personal ambitions and the Sócrates gang
putting pressure on him.
What a coward!
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