Brazzil

become the next world cup champs?

Yeah, right! hehehe

Is this true?


It must be remembered that 70% of Brazil's population is functionally illiterate, according to published studies. With a population of 186 million, the IVC (Instituto Verificador de Circulação or Institute of Circulation Verification) shows that only 3.4 million read a daily newspaper.

There is an old saying that one must base his arguments on actual facts. Is it true that only 3.4 million Brazillians read newspapers. If that is the case the citizenry should demand better. Iraq under Saddam Hussein had a literacy rate of 95%, what are the leaders of Brazil doing.

Yes. This statistic was compiled by the Instituto Paulo Montenegro (a branch of IBOPE, I think). The research's nuts and bolts are available in a 100-page .PDF on their website

The one fault with Mr. Hayes' articles is that they're not very frequent.

Regarding the congressional inquiries petering out and not finding anything, the latter does not surprise me, as, despite all the sound and fury of the hearings, no one was really interested in digging in too deep, as everyone there has skeletons in the closet (campaign or otherwise). Bluntly, this is how Brazil has always been run.

The inquiries did serve as mudslinging instruments though. Lula took a hit. However, the PT's tactics of picturing the whole system as corrupt proved more effective than I expected. The opposition's last card seems to be impeaching PT congressmen during the presidential election. Whether that will put a dent on Lula's candidacy remains to be seen.

I've had the displeasure of seeing Serra's arrogance first hand in a Brazilian hospital. My regard of his super-duper managerial competence is also low, and I fear his outdated, exotic economic ideas. Brazil should not repeat previous macroeconomic mistakes.

I also think that, frankly, believing in his promise to remain in office in São Paulo is naive. Considering that he always had presidential ambitions, having a running mate from the PFL is much more revealing of his intentions than a(nother) campaign promise.

Much of Brazil's status quo, in particular the purveyors of exotic monetary schemes, seems unaware of how much low inflation is popular among the poor, who have precious few defences against it. If you're in Brazil, try the following experiment: mention inflation to a poor person, say, your maid or a janitor, and see the look on his/her face...

Mr. Hayes is correct in his main point: 2006 should be another lost year, not only because of the vagaries of politics, but because the present lot has neither a grasp the problems he mentions nor the capacity to solve them.

You factually described Brazil reality.

But on Lula economic prowess, you are dead wrong !
You forgot to mention that due to the collapse of the currency, suddenly all brazilian exports became highly profitable. And the collpase of the currency earlier has nothing to do with Lula.
Another reason of the economic recovery was due to World demand, not du to Lula prowess.
This world demand was due because the U.S.A. decided to :
- put their interests rates at historic low.
- Accept US$ 600 billions and now over 700 billions in trade deficit.
- Create a huge budget deficit.
And these decisions created a world recovery, proofiting mostly the developing nations to whom Brazil belongs, amongst other nations.

This was not due to Lula either, but he got the benefits of decisions taken elsewhere...ONLY !

And as to his economy prowess, sorry but Lula failed miserably, lamentably !!!!!!
BECAUSE BRAZIL HAS THE LEAST ECONMOMIC GROWTH OF ALL DEVELOPING NATIONS, WETHER ON A 1 OR 3 YEARS BASIS. ON THE QUEUE OF THE QUEUE OF THEIR CLASSROOM !
But opbviously Lula compare his performance to the recent history AND NOT COMPARED TO HIS PEERS WHICH DID NOT DO ANY BETTER THAN BRAZIL BEFORE THE WORLD RECOVERY INITIATED BY THE USA....AND NOBODY ELSE !!! ANY ONE CAN GUESS WHY LULA IS COMPARING HIS PERFORMANCE WITH THE PAST AND NOT WITH HIS PEERS !!!!!

Finally no one should forget that Brazil has been nicknamed a BOOM AND BUST ECONOMY.
Therefore after having had a BOOM, A BUST should follow....!!!!!!
Unfortunately, due to Lula mismagements and failures, Brazil DID NOT get the REAL BOOM they should have had, just as the other developing nations HAD DURING THE LAST 3 YEARS !!!!

BRAZIL JUST LOST, ONCE MORE, THE OPPORTUNITY TO DEVELOP FAR MORE THAN THEY ACTUALLY DID.....DUE TO LULA FAILURES !!!!

AFTERALL NUMBERS ARE NUMBERS, EXCEPT LULA NUMBERS THAT ARE maniulated and taken out of context to hide the real truth !!!!!

I cannot believe that Brazilian would re-elect this drunk again!
70% Illiteracy? There is NO way to fix that, maybe in a million years. Where do these illiterate people come from mostly? Anyone's guess? Look North!

The right in this page care abouth the problem US is into. The people of us is well know overseas as "baby doll" because they believe in everything Bush says, Lula Drunk????? Well look the fact, I believe Mr Bush have problem with "Tequila, "DUI", unfortunately what's happening in brazil should stay in Brazil., The brazilian time is caming and i beliave the problem in this world is a problem with short memory .

I didn know 70% of Brazilian are illeterate. Sorry to tell u guys but majority of site defamers belongs to brazil. How cum one group of people get so much competency while others live in fools paradise.