From a conversation between the Duke of Loulé and the Duke of Ávila, recently returned to the House of Lords (now called the Senate Room) on request (secret) of several parliamentary groups, desperate to find solutions for the country:

The Duke of Loulé: 'I have been here observing the recent national situation and I have noticed that, with the intent of improving the life conditions of the population, our young governers mostly think that more production is needed, to generate more wealth and to have an increase of which they nowadays call GDP. But a series of absolutely excellent studies, that I also had access to, point to another possibility, crucial for the improvement of life conditions: attack the inequality. By attacking the inequality it is possible to attack more efficiently poverty than simply increasing the so called GDP (if we are in a developed country and in a western democracy, as it is fortunately our case nowadays).

The Duke of Ávila: 'I completely understand what you say, dear Duke, and it seems that it isn't only in Portugal that social inequalities have been increasing in the last two decades, but according to information that I could get, the phenomenon reaches between us a dimension particularly concerning. I have been reading for days the reports of an organism that now they have created called OECD and I became completely convinced that the current increase of social inequalities only gives one exit to this people: the creation of policies that enable equitable growth! And that would allow a higher quality of life for populations in a whole! Otherwise they will never get rid of this poverty, already raging in our time!...'

The Duke of Loulé: 'Dearest Duke of Ávila, I regret to inform you (if you do not already know) that this type of policies that you mentioned is in the antipodes of the adjustment programs that unfortunately have been applied in recent times in our beloved country... It is in fact in the antipodes of what the IMF (other organism that seems to have been created meanwhile) has been trying to impose to the world in general. And what is even stranger is what they call European Union has been adopting, with disarming indifference, these same policies! And with a zeal that overcomes the IMF itself!! I am not seeing much chances for this...'

The Duke of Ávila: 'But there is no other way of doing things? Why the hell did they decide to precisely adopt the measures that cause more inequalities? Who do they think they are benefiting?? I can't wrap my brain around, these politicians of this new century are to me incomprehensible. It has been proved that are not only the most disadvantaged are suffering from inequality, it is the society as a whole that is harmed!! The inequality also undermines the rich people!!

The Duke of Loulé: 'Well, the truth is they do not stop shooting their own feet...'.