Once a symbol of growth and rising confidence, the sprawling suburbs outside Brazil’s urban centers are feeling the pinch as the economy nosedives. And there are few places in the country where it is so obvious how out of touch the bickering politicians in Brasilia are with the realities of daily life. By James Young Belo Horizonte(…)
Arquivo - Tag: Dilma
Dilma’s approval rating
President Dilma Rousseff’s performance in the polls has been absolutely disastrous recently. At the same time, it is misleading to say, in English, that her “approval rating” is 10%. That is because unlike polls done on American presidents, Brazil’s Datafolha polling system is tripartite. Respondents are given three options. They can rate the government “good/great,”(…)
The great illusion
What if they put on Carnaval, and nobody came? A short work of fiction By James Young It was a glorious Saturday morning in Recife. A statue in the form of a multicolored rooster, the Galo da Madrugada, towered over the Duarte Coelho Bridge, streamers hung from the lampposts and on every street corner someone was(…)
A bad week for Brazil’s powerful women
Not long ago, Dilma Rousseff and Maria das Graças Foster were widely praised as the new faces of Latin America. Now, the billion-dollar corruption scandal has finally brought down Petrobras CEO Maria das Graças Foster (above). She had to go. But with President Dilma Rousseff also against the wall, 2015 is shaping up to be(…)
Brazil’s economy and election, summarized quickly
I’ve left the bitterness of São Paulo on a brief vacation outside of Brazil, but I wanted to share insights into the country’s current situation from two excellent commentators that generally hold the “pro-market” viewpoint. The first is from Tony Volpon of Nomura Securities: Structurally, the end of the commodity boom can now be dated(…)
In politics, is Brazil less sexist than the US?
If Brazil is such a macho, backwards country, how has it managed to put on a major presidential race between two progressive women*, with barely a sexist protest in the national media? It may take decades before something like that could happen in the United States. By Anna Jean Kaiser On the heels of Chile’s Presidential election(…)
The Fed and Brazil – a real problem
What’s going on with the Brazilian currency? Like many ’emerging market’ countries around the world, Brazil has recently been unpleasantly reminded just how linked its fortune is to the decisions of the United States, and the Federal Reserve. The real has been all over the place since 2008, making things quite difficult here, and that has(…)
Obama loses. Does Dilma win?
It’s easy to see why the Brazilian government likely sees this as a “Obama 0 – 1 Dilma” situation It’s clear that Obama had nothing to gain from being stood up by Brazil’s President Dilma. He has been given another little kick for being caught spying. At best, he continues to be embarrassed that one(…)
Brazil 2012 – year in review
This year, the country didn’t deliver on everything international observers thought the country had promised, but Brazil still remains one of the 21st century’s most remarkable success stories. 2013 could be decisive. For those paying attention to Brazil headlines, 2012 was mostly a bad year. For some, it was enough to re-evaluate the status as(…)
Brazil economy – bad news
Guido Mantega – Taking heat. In the last 3-4 days, international opinion on the Brazilian economy has turned. It all started last week, when Guido Mantega, Brazil’s Finance Minister, predicted the beginning of a turnaround in the country’s economy. Then the actual third quarter results came out, far below what he, and even the most(…)
