Brazil, a rising power, but beware of excessive triumphalism

Friday, October 1st 2010 - 04:27 UTC

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Opinion polls indicate that the candidate from the ruling Workers Party Dilma Rousseff, hand picked by Lula da Silva, will win Brazil’s presidency next Sunday. A run off is scheduled for a month later if no candidate gets 50% of the ballot, but in any of the two options Ms Rousseff is forecasted to take office next January first . Read full article

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Forgetit87
A laughable article by Andres Oppenheimer. The man can't even get the numbers right.

“Triumphalism in the ruling Workers Party, an overdosed pride that they invented the wheel when the truth is that the commodities boom of the last 16 years played a leading role in Brazil’s recent development”

The commodity boom is more recent than that. It started at the first half of the 2000s, promoted by a greater insertion of China into the world economy. But at that time there was no corresponding economic boom in Brazil and the manufacture %age of total exports did not alter from that of the previous decade. As such, commodity boom cannot explain Brazilian growth. Plus, the 90s were to Brazil a period of stagnation: the country grew at 2% a year. What does Oppenheimer mean by adducing economic changes of the 90s? The only economic novelty in that decade was inflation stabilization. There was no growth. The economic growth in Brazil began only in 2007 and has to do with spurring domestic consumption - and that is about the only positive factor in economic growth in Brazil since 2006 - and investment in capital goods. Btw, growth in Brazil will be more about 7%, not 5%.

Oppenheimer is a weaker writer than I had thought before. Previously, I thought he was nothing but a mouthpiece of the LatAm right at American journals. But now I see he is also stupid and tends to invent data.
Oct 01st, 2010 - 05:30 am - Link - Report abuse 0
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Think
(1) Forgetit 87

This is one of the best sides of MercoPress…..
In their “intelligent” effort to present our countries policies in the worst possible light they act as a filter and condenser, presenting us with their best tendentious articles like this one from Mr. Oppenheimer.
Very useful to know how time and mathematics are “relative concepts” for these “experts”….
That’s the main reason I visit this page so often :-)))
Oct 01st, 2010 - 07:06 am - Link - Report abuse 0
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Fido Dido
Mr Oppenheimer is known in the United States for a left wing neo-liberal open border advocate.

Hey Forget, you are Brazilian right? Maybe you find this interesting.
http://michael-hudson.com/2010/09/how-brazil-can-defend-against-financialization/

I'm from Holland, Rotterdam, I have been many times to Brazil, love it. Working hard on it to live there.

Oh here is a video clip for all South Americans to understand why Spain might drag us here in Europe down and why not to follow their expensive welfare programs. http://michael-hudson.com/2010/09/how-brazil-can-defend-against-financialization/
Oct 01st, 2010 - 05:05 pm - Link - Report abuse 0
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