Brazzil

I think the article brings out a good point that Brazil has come a long way from the military dictatorship to democracy. But I must disagree that Cardoso "ran the country well". Seriously, he did privitization of many state owned companies. But some of these companies were profitable companies that made profits even though they were state owned, like Companhia de Vale Doce or state owned steel companies. Now a few things must be said about Cardoso's administration of the economy. Average GDP growth was less than 3 per cent annum. During the Lost Decades of the 80's growth was around 2.4 per cent annum. The level of debt exploded from 64 billion dollars to over 350 billion dollars. There is no way to blame this on the pension system since most people know that the highest interest rates to keep the currency value artifiically high helped generate almost all of the deficit and debt during the Cardoso era. On top of that, Cardoso also increased taxes to record levels! It jumped from 24 percent to 35 percent of the GDP! What does Brazil have to show for this? Not much except for a few programs that are slowly making a difference. Lets look at unemployment, because local companies in Brazil both public/private were unbable to sustain the high interest rate policy. So, well Cardoso might have done some privitization of companies that were abused but the abuse the Brazilian econom took at the hands of IMF/ and Cardoso is unheard of!

"nearly impeached" ????

I am not 100 percent sure, but I believe Collo was impeached but that he resigned before they could convict him in the Senate...maybe that was what he was refering too, but he officially he was impeached even if he left office before

God Bless Lula the PT and Brazil

God would bless Brazil by getting rid of Lula

Lula was elected, at least it was a popular vote, not a stolen election like Bush.
If Lula simply staged a fake terrorist act in Brazil, he could then ask to increase the military budget. When the Brazilian press cries out that Lula is cutting the throat of the budget by unnecessary military spending, Lula could then plead to the world that Brazils hands are tied by high interest debt. A good enough reason to justify nonpayment of debt.
Refill the coffers and disperse the wealth internally.
Screw the IMF.

Also, I think Brazil's interest rate SELIC is now actually at 19.25 and not at 19.50...But whatever it is too high...