Brazzil

This is one more person that does not live in the real Brasil but claims to know everything about it. "Ivory-tower" academics rarely know as much as they claim because they are totally out of touch with the realities of the subject. After three years of living in the country I don't see any of what he so self-righteously proclaims existing. Instead, almost everyone I know works either for themselves, or for a large company, not for the state.

Even the unemployment figures for Brasil are far wrong because so many people work "under the table" and seem to do very well at it.

Even the Flanalinas that help park your car can earn R$100 a day. Far above the minimum wage and are still listed as "unemployed" as they seem to have no means of support.

Perhaps you don't live in the country too, above poster. I have lived here since I was born and I can say everything Augusto Zimmermaman wrote is true. I live in Curitiba and I have dozens of friends who work for the government now, and that's the same all over the country, wherever I have traveled. Or perhaps you don't have so many friends, afterall you call the Flanelinhas as Flanalinas. And I would like to see where those Flanelinhas earning R$ 100 a day live, because everyone who I know only gives cents to them. And they also live in poor houses.

I agree and disagree with both of the above posters. There is a measure of truth in both their statements and therein lies the problem. You are back to the axiom "give a man a fish and you feed him for a day, teach a man to fish and you feed him for a lifetime"...........
BUT.... academics are out of touch and always have been as they live and work in an insulated society.

This is a great article, from a rare sort of Brazilian academic who knows exactly what is he is writing about.

As a Brazilian, I can testify that everything mentioned in this article is absolutely ight.

Congratulations for your courage Professor Zimmermann!

" A government is not supposed to provide wealth to the citizens.
A government must provide a positive environment for entrepreneurs, whoever they are.
And those who succeed, must pay something back to the government and society , through taxes "



Just think about it.

Afterall it is with taxes that basic and high education can be provided.
Without continuous better learning and knowledge, a country will never develop on a sustainable basis.
Government, in a positive environment, should make sure that every citizen goes to elementary school, and that those who have the ability but not necessarily the money, should be able to go to university.

And over time, the entrepeneurs will reveal themselves.

And with good tax collection, the government could also build roads, hospitals, etc etc for the well being of their citizens !

But Brazil doesnt provide this to their society, but only to a minority.
This is why you have the world worst wealth inequality after Sierra Leone, but the worst of all within the 24 countries called developing nations.

But why should anyone believe that something will change knowing that :
- less than 10 % of the Brazilian population pays income taxes !!!!!!!!
- corruption is everywhere in your governments.
- red tape is the bureaucrats game.
- the only ones getting good retirements benefits are the civil servants, paid by tax money, not from their own retirements savings.
- Brazil is the ONLY country in this world (rich or poor) paying interests in local currency at a rate that is far ABOVE 10 % INFLATION.

You are really at the queue of the queue in many respects, despite the natural wealth your country has.

Simply stated your are still a medieval country not even developing !

...it is not only 10 % of the population that is paying income taxes...but only 10 % of the ACTIVE population.

The reality is then even much darker than said.

I think it is not entirely correct to lump all the officers involved in the 1964 coup under the "highly natinoalistic" label. The basic division, well documented by, for example, Paulo Francis' "Trinta anos estas noite" is between the "Escola Superior de Guerra" group, which strived for economic opening and liberalization, and the "caserna" people (highly nationalistic group). Of course the latter's influence predominated, and the influence of the military régime on statism is well documented, but the generalization is rather unfair, economically speaking t least.

I must congratulate Prof. Zimmerman for a well written, scholarly article. I might suggest an improvement, though: add the references at the end. Looks like there is much interesting reading in the works cited.