I would like to ask Martin Wolf, a Financial Times Journalist, economist from the Oxford school, and former from the World Bank, if the closure of the rail line between Oporto and Vigo is an acceptable decision, even in a crisis conjuncture that requires austerity and savings.
I know, in advance, that he defends other solutions for the crisis and that he will answer that the crisis only can be over passed with recipes.
A few days ago, Martin Wolf wrote, in one of its regular columns, something that seems so obvious: the monetary and budget contraction it’s unlikely to lead to increased investment.
At the same time, Martin refers that the reduction in profits will involve a decrease of a product and this “impossibility to reduce the debt burden through higher yields”. This is an opinion that deserves some reflection on our part.
Returning to the bad news that was the announcement of the closure of the rail link between Oporto and Vigo, I quote a Galician politician that commented the decision of CP, saying that he does not understand how could the Portuguese make the mistake of thinking that save money is enough to combat the crisis.
Save money is necessary, but so important as cut in expenditure is to know how and where to invest. Without knowing this, the cuts are only to impoverish the population and the country, without giving any hope.
We have to enable our future, without forgetting the rail link between Oporto and Vigo.
Luís Lima
Presidente da APEMIP
luis.lima@apemip.pt
The original article was published on 8th July, in Diário de Notícias Newspaper