Brazzil

I hope you are accessing this web site regularly and if so, it is worth reading this article. John Fitzpatrick did make a point when he said:

Brazilians are not known as great planners and organizers. This is not necessarily a criticism because they are great at improvising and reacting to negative events but it is surely time that Lula realized that running a government means more than shouting demands at ministers and making speeches to supporters.

Of course, John in his own diplomatic manner said that "This was not necessarily a criticism". But I consider his statement as a "general observation" by many right thinking Brazilians. For example, we have a Minister of Finance, a Minister of "planning" and a secretary (on Ministerial level) for "long range planning". My question: With all these three smart people, why are we just "reacting to negative events" and not "making things happen"?

I would like you hear your line of thoughts.

I spent an evening with one of the up there's from Brasilia's finance planning group while visiting Cabo Frio / Arrial do Cabo. Talked over a few of my idea's, small batata stuff but good for many in the long haul. His ideas were most centered on how to get his coastal villa sold. Poor planning on his part or maybe he just needed to make the money he put into it move or disappear?

Poor planning on his part or maybe he just needed to make the money he put into it move or disappear?

More likely that he wants to buy a villa in Switzerland and move in there

Admittance to Suicalandia - not bloody likely for that old letch. Saw a big brush fire / showcase home burning across the bay the day after - when it first started up it looked like maybe someone's backyard BBQ got away from them. Place wasn't exactly readily accessible for the fire trucks. It made me wonder a bit further - insurance claim? Crossed one to many of the local gals? If the latter, the prime suspect would be the one he said he'd had before and was "good" who apparently wasn't the one he was making the moves on that night. Not my bag / not my worries, I was just out sipping a couple cold beers and taking in the local culture, tuning the ear to port sounds, savoring the smells from the charrasco. . . Will check on the property availability / price next swing by, might be good for doing a quick flip to AES (or at least find a place his brother-in-law can pitch a tent vs being a squatter in the condo he built). Speaking of which, where's that old latin stud been tied up lately? Haven't seen him say anything about his bronze / brown B baby in cali nor how vovo has been doing here lately.

Speaking of which, where's that old latin stud been tied up lately? Haven't seen him say anything about his bronze / brown B baby in cali nor how vovo has been doing here lately.

Ah, you must be referring to GTY. Last I heard from him was in September 2007 after he moved to CA.He was getting bored with the site and said goodbye to all of us. He sounded very disappointed with his trip to the Amazon. Besides, in his new position, his new designated territory was South East Asia and had to travel more to China & India.Probably savoring the flesh pots of the East!

He was quite a hilarious character, wasn't he? It is funny that you remembered him. Hope he drops by and says hello to us.Might pep up the spirits of the bloggers, especially the new ones in this site.

Ihre Mutter ist wie ein Staubsauger: sie saugt, bläst und landet dann im Wandschrank.

Hehehehe

Costinha

Most of the government employees salaries are based on a multiple of the minimum wage.

Therefore increasing the minimum wage automatically increases most government employees by the multiplicstor they are paid.

PLUS they can also disguise and hide pay increase by increasing the perks !!!!!!! And in Brazil you have many !

More simple there is not.

This said it is very strange that in a real democracy (if Brazil is a democracy) that the President of the country has a "presidential right" to increase some taxes at his will !!!!
THIS DOESNT HAPPEN ......EVEN IN BANANA REPUBLICS !!!!!

So great...that at you cut 3 zeroes from your currency.......4 times in the last 60 years !!!!!
And you pretend to have a strong currency.
Your currency is still DOWN 40 % against the weak US$......in the last decade !!!!!
And you pretend to have a strong currency !!!!!!!


Hmmmmm.....looks like you have either a short memory or you are idiots. OR BOTH !!!!!!!!!!!

House Burning happen all the time.....everywhere in the world.
Count your OWN house burning...and come back.
What is sure is that YOUR air safety engineers are the smartest in the world.
Have they not put fuel tanks at the end of tha landing strip in SP ?
Ohhhh yessssssss.......YOU got the world largest BBQ !!!!!!

And Brazil also got the world largest crater....with your SP metro tragedy !!!!!

What else do you want to compare ??????

My appologies ASE if you're still out there, got mixed up on my CAPS locked monikers v personas - JDS corrected me in a nice way as always can be expected of him. (He keeps good records ya know.) I can understand with more or less 500 hits per (mostly from duplicate peeks from those that don't track / remember what the last post count was) and 0-20 reality based non-ch.c / non-coctsta posts per, this site really hasn't had much draw power lately. Joao, if the ad rev has fallen off in parity, maybe you'd best sell out and restart / reinvent a new space to play. That or stick it out for the next round of more ludicrous inditements / trials to go oglobo.

Dear João,

Not forgetting the Health Minister of Brazil and the yellow fever........... Yesterday I was at he General Hospital in KL and to my surprise, Dr. Chua (an-ex Health Minister of Malaysia) did an official opening ceremony of the Eye Bank in 2000. Some diplomats might have noticed it too..........

A friend of mine told me that one of our state ministers went to Brazil just to get a face lift last year. He was not in the government office for so many days........when he returns from Brazil, suddenly the latest news I heard was that he got married to a new wife. Now he has 2 wives in the Year 2008.

From the point of view of a President,

The President point of view,

http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=07ff94eb19&p=1

Your German sounds better than English..........If you translate it to French it should be like this..........

Sa mère est comme un aspirateur: elle suce, les coups, puis a atterri dans la garde-robe.

Hehehehe

Costinha

Someone on this forum send me an email with your question, sorry but I have not looked this website for a few days because I have been sick with a terrible gripe (flu).

Joao you quoted the following: “Brazilians are not known as great planners and organizers. This is not necessarily a criticism because they are great at improvising and reacting to negative events…” and asked me my opinion on this subject.

The fact that Brazilians are not know as great planers have a very simple explanation – Brazilians have been living for a long time with a very high rate of inflation in Brazil, and at times we had hyperinflation.

Brazilians have been conditioned over the years to improvise and react to the latest wave of bad news affecting its economy – In my opinion, inflation is not a good thing to have in any country’s economy, since inflation distorts everything in the economy, and if inflation is not brought under control the entire economy becomes a mess and impossible to do any long term planning for that economy.

On the other hand, this ability to improvise and react very fast it might be an asset for a country trying to survive under economic globalization.

.

Before someone says that we have a Minister of planning in Brazil and so on….

What I am trying to say is that until a few years ago Brazil had a high rate of inflation, and most Brazilians have been conditioned and developed a mindset to survive under such a system of high inflation.

Even though the inflation rate has been lower in the last few years, by the Brazilian historical standards, I don’t think the average Brazilian has developed a mindset to think in terms of the long-term. Since when you have a high rate of inflation it is almost impossible to plan for the future.

.

Someone on this forum send me an email with your question, sorry but I have not looked this website for a few days because I have been sick with a terrible gripe (flu).

Sorry to know about your illness and hope you are nicely recuperating. May be you need to spend a couple of weeks in the "pousada" of your friend on the Southern coast, to escape the cold winter!

Thanks for the answer.I am posting below a link that explains part of the "Long Term Plan" put forth by Roberto Mangabeira Unger, the Minister for Strategic Planning. You may (or may not)find it interesting.

http://blog.estadao.com.br/blo...1#comments

Wish you a speedy recovery.

Muito obrigado. Eu ja estou melhorando da gripe.

You said: "I am posting below a link that explains part of the "Long Term Plan" put forth by Roberto Mangabeira Unger, the Minister for Strategic Planning. You may (or may not)find it interesting."

I did read the long-term plan that you posted from Roberto Mangabeira, I am sorry to tell you but in my opinion, it is a terrible plan for a number of reasons.

.

I did read the long-term plan that you posted from Roberto Mangabeira, I am sorry to tell you but in my opinion, it is a terrible plan for a number of reasons.

You don't have to feel sorry to express your opinion! I anticipated your views!!

live from the UN (outdated but it is fun to watch)

http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=d4525_4407&p=1

NEW DELHI (Reuters) - The International Monetary Fund should set up an early warning system to prevent crises like the global credit crunch, Prime Minister Gordon Brown said on Monday.

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Proposing sweeping changes to international institutions, Brown called for rapid response teams of police and experts to be set up that could be sent quickly to trouble spots to restore order and begin rebuilding after conflicts.

And he called for the creation of a multi-billion-dollar global climate change fund within the World Bank to finance environmentally sustainable development in the poorest countries.

Brown believes that the rapid spread of the credit crisis last year after problems with U.S. sub-prime mortgages points to failings in global financial supervision that must be fixed.

"With financial markets and flows transformed by globalisation, I propose that -- acting with the same independence as a central bank -- the IMF should focus on surveillance of the global economic and financial system and thus prevent crises, not just resolve them," he said in excerpts of a speech he will deliver to business executives in New Delhi.

The IMF, working with the Financial Stability Forum -- a group of central banks, regulators and international bodies -- "should be at the heart of an early warning system for financial turbulence affecting the global economy," he said.

The credit crunch claimed a high-profile casualty when mortgage lender Northern Rock suffered the country's first bank run in more than a century last year.

Northern Rock has borrowed about 26 billion pounds from the Bank of England, creating a huge political headache for Brown.

CALL FOR CHANGE

"The IMF and World Bank ... have to change to become properly equipped for a world where national problems can quickly become global -- and contagion can move as swiftly as the fastest communication," said Brown, who ends a four-day trip to India and China later on Monday.

Brown meets the leaders of France, Germany and Italy as well as European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso in London on January 29 to discuss how to respond to the crisis.

Brown said he supported India's bid for a permanent place, with other countries, on an expanded U.N. Security Council.

Officials would not say however how many permanent members they believed a reformed Security Council could have.

Britain, China, France, Russia and the United States have been veto-bearing permanent members of the council since the United Nations was created in 1945. But they face growing pressure for reform with Brazil, Germany, India and Japan all demanding permanent seats.

Brown said another problem was that there was no mechanism for quickly sending in experts, police and judges to get states back on their feet when peacekeepers intervened in a conflict.

"We must do more to ensure rapid reconstruction on the ground once conflicts are over," he said.

"I propose that we constitute rapid response standby teams of judges, police, trainers and other civilian experts who can work on the ground to help put countries on the road to economic recovery and political stability," he said.

He called for a new U.N. crisis prevention and recovery fund to provide immediate support for reconstruction in such cases.

(Editing by Keith Weir)

Dear Brown,

I met few British professors previously and none of them can provide to me with the correct answer about the world bank and the IMF. As a British Prime Minister, you should study your own banking system that stated the compulsory interest rates that needs to be added upon payment and late payment to all customers. In my country, most of your professors are trying to corrupt the minds of both the local bankers and academicians into having the faith that this system will work and will help the poors out of poverty. If you don't trust me Mr. Prime Minister, just asked our Education Minister of Malaysia and his compatriots regarding the Higher Education Fund System. It is truly a system that creates more poverty and sufferings to all the masses.....

When you join the Foreign Office, and once you have been "positively vetted", you are required to sign the Official Secrets Act. This draconian document comprises your agreement never in your lifetime to reveal to outsiders, or to publicise in any way, the content of your work. With astonishing breadth, the act defines the information that you must protect to your grave as any official business, determined by the government itself. In other words, anything that you do in the course of your work is to be kept secret, forever. Any revelation about what that work entailed is, in theory, a criminal offence. When I was offered the document to sign, I did not hesitate. The glamour of secrecy lured me in, and I simply never believed that the day would come when its strictures might seem more a threat than an invitation.

The signing of the Official Secrets Act marks one initiation into the culture of secrecy that pervades government, and particularly those parts of it dealing with foreign policy. When you learn how to handle documents, for instance, you are taught that the originator of the document must classify it, using designations starting with "restricted" up to "top secret". You are taught that only those documents that would not perturb you if they were handed out to passers-by on the street can be designated "unclassified". Unsurprisingly, therefore, almost every document produced inside the Foreign Office is classified "restricted" or above.

This culture is constantly reinforced throughout one's career. Telegrams are transmitted only when highly encryp ted. All computers are hardened against electronic eavesdropping. Telephones carry stickers warning against divulging state confidences. So many and so ubiquitous are these limit ations, that it is soon clear that the only people with whom one can discuss candidly what "we" are doing are one's colleagues - other members of the club of "we". One should only talk to people with a "need to know". This excludes almost everyone, including those in whose name "we" are acting.

The creation of the identity of a British diplomat, the exponent of the state, can seem a process which is innocent, unloaded and necessary. It could be argued that such a process is requisite for the international system the world today enjoys. States interact in this system; therefore the system requires exponents of the state's wishes, steeped in the richest sense of what their nation stands for. But my experience suggests that intrinsic in this process of diplomatic identity- creation is something dangerous.

In spite of the almost complete absence of outside scrutiny, the British Foreign Office does not "do" self-criticism. From the day I stepped into the training department, to the day I left my last full job at the UK mission in New York, it was part of the air I breathed that what "we" were offering the world was good. The oldest parliamentary democracy on the globe, a successful economy, an ancient culture: we represented the acme of what the rest of the world should aspire to. We were, moreover, pragmatic and "sensible" (never idealist, that was too romantic and therefore silly). American diplomacy, though marked with different emphases (the infinitely variable notion of "freedom"), is little different. Even when our motives were transparently different, we were encouraged, subtly and through imitation, to claim that we were offering others versions of ourselves: our democracy, our laws, our "values".