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Saved by 5 people (0 private), first by anonymouse user on 2009-03-08
- Hielo777 on 2009-03-11 - Tags brazil , recession
- Swarnasras on 2009-03-10 - Tags recession , brazil , emerging , market , finance , model , economy
- Hahawookie on 2009-03-10 - Tags business , furl
- Noondesertsky on 2009-03-09 - Tags recession , economics , postideological
- Cbapel on 2009-03-08 - Tags no_tag
Public Sticky notes
Walk through São Paulo's sprawling Brasilândia, though, and you don't sense the
relentless doom and gloom gripping other cities in the world. Take Efigênia
Francisca da Silva, who exudes middle-class expectations and remains positive
despite the tsunami of bad news. Thanks to a government scheme to encourage
entrepreneurs, the once dirt-poor housewife has received some $8,000 in
low-interest bank credits in recent years and now owns three shops that sell
everything from shampoo to public-transit tickets. "I didn't have a bank account
before," says Da Silva, 37, standing beneath graffiti-covered walls and pirated
power lines. "I never had a car. I bought a Fiat Palio." Does she fear the
global recession will quash her dreams? "I trust Lula. I don't think we'll be
hit that hard."
Highlighted by swarnasras
Brazil, the old joke goes, is the country of the future — and always will be
Highlighted by hielo777
on 2009-03-11 by hielo777
many beautiful and strong images come to my mind with this sentence
is equal parts wealth creation for corporations such as Embraer and wealth
redistribution for underdogs like Da Silva
Highlighted by swarnasras
postideological approach
Highlighted by swarnasras
a postideological approach that is equal parts wealth creation for corporations such as Embraer and wealth redistribution for underdogs like Da Silva. All this under the kind of prudent financial regulation that seems to have gone missing in the developed world of late.
Highlighted by noondesertsky
But consider: 53% of Brazil's 190 million people now occupy the middle class, up
from 42% in 2002. This increased social mobility happened at the same time the
country's main stock index soared some 480% before last fall's downturn. Lula
seems to have cracked Latin America's chronic conundrum: how to expand
underachieving economies while reducing epic inequality. In so doing, he's
created a model that's "an insurance ticket, not a lottery ticket," says Marcelo
Neri, head of the Center for Social Policies in Rio de Janeiro.
Highlighted by swarnasras
Lula's victory in 2002 panicked Wall Street and the Brazilian élite. But instead
of defaulting on Brazil's foreign debt or busting the budget, as they feared he
would, Lula embraced one of the few positive legacies of Brazil's royalist
roots: deliberate, negotiated consensus-building
Highlighted by swarnasras
Unlike more radical Latin leftists, such as Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez,
Lula "was always a negotiator," says union pal and former congressional Deputy
Djalma Bom, who recalls Lula telling him to stop reading Lenin 30 years ago.
Even rivals like Rubens Ricupero, a former finance minister and Cardoso ally,
agree. "The danger with Lula is that he can be rather messianic," says Ricupero.
"But he's one of the world's most intelligent politicians."
Highlighted by swarnasras
Public Comment