Brazzil

He´s always a joy to read (both the english translations and his original texts). He always supplies a healthy splash of pragmatic realism in this sickly sea of obfuscation and political pandering. It is sad that his ripples have yet to produce waves. Alas, he couldn´t cut it under Lula, but then maybe again his honesty and his integrity were too much for this band of theives sucking up at the trough.

Misleading title. Good job.

Many countries have poverty in this world.
Most LDC (Lleast Developed Countries) have poverty and have part of their population in hunger and under nourrished due to the climate and the soil.
Most Developing nations are poors but the population can feed themselves.
None of these nations really export agricultural food ! Either they dont produce enough or produce just enough...at best !

And you have Brazil, with tens and tens of millions of under nourrished people and several millions in hunger
and export Agricultural products worth US$ 50 billions.....annually !!!

Lula's policies to export food in large quantity...instead of feeding its own population in priority.....is an insult and a shame to humanity !

The dummy ones,

The stupid ones, and

The ignorant ones.

That covers them all!

This week´s Veja has an article entitled, A Nova África? Its asks, "Can Latin America be following Africa towards global irrelevance? The answer is yes...." And it goes on to give reasons why Brazil could cease to be a significant player in the coming decades: economic populism, anti-Americanism, rejection of foreign investment, statism instead of private sector, etc. Now, this is not the Brazil I know, but it is the Brazil that Costinha seems to want. I love your jingoistic outbursts, wouldn´t change a letter, but if most Brazilians believed like you seem to, Costinha, the article in Veja would become reality and Brazil wold become irrevelant indeed.

1. The Anti-American ones that need to be re-educated to dispell at least half of their beliefs about what America is to Brazil, and how their own government and the UN has subjugated them....
2. The Educated ones who can differenciate between whats really wrong with America (and theirs alot) and how it affects them and how it really doesn't....
3. and the ones that will never try learn because they are just too happy being Anti American. It makes them who they are and gives them something to speak to...sort of like segragationists in the old south (usa)
Costinha, your assessment is just silly.

The genius with the Bolsa Familia is that it triggers trickle up economics. Poor people spend most of their money locally, and then it eventually trickles up through the economy to the higher social strata after plenty of circulation, generating increased economic activity through each transaction. When on the other hand, the rich get more money, much of it is spent in Miami and Paris (directly or indirectly), and very little trickles down to the poor.

It is also great that the program requires school attendance. Brazil needs to go further on that front though, increasing the quality of education in the public schools though higher teacher salaries, better equipment, etc. The country has a research, science and technology level much higher than most European countries, so it is just a question of expanding the breath and fully utilize the human potential and intellegence of all citizens and not only those whos parents can afford to send them to private schools.

I do not agree with the comment made below. For you have no right to say that Lula is a thieve, for he is still considered inocent.
But I do agree with that about Cristovam, for he is amazing...