Mireya has raised our taxes. It wasn't enough to make up for the more than one billion dollars she gave away to Hutchison Whampoa and the other port companies. It wasn't enough to keep all the corruption in her administration from breaking the budget. It wasn't enough to make international debt rating companies believe that Panama is more creditworthy. But the government has been spending more than it has been taking in, and she closed a little bit of that gap.

The PRD and Partido Popular promise to make it next year's hot campaign issue, while Arnulfistas allege that if these parties had any alternatives, they would have brought them up in the ill-fated "national dialogues." In each case the contending factions have a point, which is being stretched way too far. Let's not pretend that the public is up in arms about the tax hike, nor that what Mireya pushed through is anything other than a net tax hike, nor that the national dialogue was more than a crude exercise in political posturing that did not in the end give the president a mandate for the tax package she shoved through the legislature. Taxes SHOULD be an issue in the upcoming elections, but none of the debate that we have heard suggests that the 2004 campaign will feature honest and intelligent discussion of the issue.

The worst thing about the Arnulfista-MOLIRENA-Cambio Democratico-Liberal Nacional-Solidaridad-PRD renegade tax hike is that, in deference to special interests whose campaign contributions these factions voted to keep secret a few days before they raised taxes, the politicians kept the playing field tilted for certain investors. Those who have special tax breaks will keep them.

So once again we see that Mireya Moscoso's commitment to established wealthy interests takes precedence over Panama's national interests. One more opportunity to confront the grave problems of a nation caught in a prolonged economic crisis has been squandered. With all the posturing and finger-pointing, the job that needed to be done was not done and furthermore wasn't even seriously discussed. It's Mireya's failure, but also that of the entire Panamanian political class and of the economic elites they represent.

It has been women who have breathed gentleness and care into the hard progress of mankind.

Queen Elizabeth II of the United Kingdom

Error of opinion may be tolerated where reason is left free to combat it.

Thomas Jefferson

I shall never be virtuous enough to be a saint, nor infamous enough to pretend to be one.

Queen Christina of Sweden