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Brazil becomes sixth world economy, overtaking UK by the end of 2011

Monday, October 31st 2011 - 03:11 UTC
Full article 20 comments

At the end of the current year Brazil’s GDP will rank sixth in the world and for the first time ahead of Britain’s GDP, according to the Sao Paulo media based on reports from IMF and private consultants. Read full article

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  • lsolde

    So it ought to be.
    Brazil has:-
    1) More people
    2) More resources
    3) Much bigger in size
    4) More water & hydro-power
    Why haven't they been bigger before this?

    Oct 31st, 2011 - 10:00 am - Link - Report abuse 0
  • GeoffWard2

    Isolde,
    you know why not.

    Brasil is a country populated by 'Mr. 10%'.

    10% depression in growth capability, compounded over the industrial/development history of the country, means that, against other similar competitors like South Korea, it may never 'get there' as a country, though developed enclaves will exist. It will not be alone in never getting there as a nation.

    Forgetit will fill in the details for us - with probably quite a different take on the matter ;-)

    Oct 31st, 2011 - 10:55 am - Link - Report abuse 0
  • Room101

    Balloons always look impressive to begin with, but as it gets bigger and bigger...But there are others in that situation too.

    Oct 31st, 2011 - 11:38 am - Link - Report abuse 0
  • Forgetit87

    I didn't even understand what you were trying to say, Geoff. Are you hiding your ignorance on economic matters behind this uncomprehensible mumbo jumbo? are you angry at this news? You sound resentful. If you think Brazil will never “get there”, then go back to your country and have your children living there, if they still don't. Just make sure to pay attention to the news, for it seems the UK is passing through a period of un-development. Can't say I'll miss your “perceptive” comments on my country.

    @lsolde
    The answer is that certain countries grow over a lower basis, either because they haven't yet passed through a period of industrialization or because development has been stalled by political or social factors.

    Oct 31st, 2011 - 04:04 pm - Link - Report abuse 0
  • Fido Dido

    “Geoff. Are you hiding your ignorance on economic matters behind this uncomprehensible mumbo jumbo? are you angry at this news?”

    He's just showing off his ignorance...as usual.
    He's not only angry, he's getting with the day sad of how his beloved UK(Geoff: ooh my old England, I miss so much) is just fading away....slowly.

    Oct 31st, 2011 - 05:08 pm - Link - Report abuse 0
  • Marcos Alejandro

    “Brazil becomes sixth world economy, overtaking UK by the end of 2011”

    UK who?
    The only thing left in that bankrupted island related to millions is a game show named “Who Wants to Be a Millionaire” nothing else.

    Oct 31st, 2011 - 05:28 pm - Link - Report abuse 0
  • xbarilox

    @ 1 poor argument Isolde, I'm disappointed in you :(

    Oct 31st, 2011 - 10:05 pm - Link - Report abuse 0
  • briton

    UK who?
    The only thing left in that bankrupted island
    very sill marcos,2.21 trillion is not sweets boy,
    so carrying on your point, how much is argentina worth, ??

    Oct 31st, 2011 - 11:37 pm - Link - Report abuse 0
  • S41d4nh4

    POOR little island...fading away, with its angry and confused citizens...

    Nov 02nd, 2011 - 01:46 pm - Link - Report abuse 0
  • GeoffWard2

    “Brasil is a country populated by 'Mr. 10%'.”
    Meaning: corruption is rife, where skimming of contracts is the norm.

    “10% depression in growth capability”
    Meaning: If there were no skimming, the flow of money to develop the nation would be that much more.

    “compounded over the industrial/development history of the country, ”
    Meaning: If investment of the (skimmed) money had been done over the many years, think how much more developed the country might be today

    “means that, against other similar competitors like South Korea,”
    Meaning: We can't compare Brasil with developed countries, that would be unfair, but we can compare her progress against countries in similar stages of development - like South Korea, and check the benchmarks of eg. Education, industrialization, export of high tech, etc, etc.

    “it may never 'get there' as a country,”
    Meaning: the window of opportunity does not stay open forever. Competitors attempt to 'close you down' if it is in their interest to do so. Exploitative nations have a vested interest in keeping you weak and taking your resource at *their* price.

    “though developed enclaves will exist. ”
    Meaning: Even though the whole nation may never achieve developed status, some bits - like Sao Paulo; like Cape Town - will have the trappings of wealth and 'modernity'.

    “It will not be alone in never getting there as a nation.”
    Meaning: Brasil will not be the only nation that may 'miss the boat', Argentina, Mexico, Venezuela, South Africa, and many others may turn out to be 'The exploited provider nations' rather than 'The New Developed Nations'.

    These points were not able to be understood by Forgetit @ #4, so I humbly clarify.

    Nov 02nd, 2011 - 03:39 pm - Link - Report abuse 0
  • Forgetit87

    Geoff, you can try to spin what you said, but it's clear what you had in your mind when you wrote that post: you're pissed at this news. Does Brazil, or any other country, need people like you: whining foreigners whose kneejerk reactions to any piece of news on your adopted country is mockery and theatrical rants intended to humiliate native citizens? Do as I say, Geoff: go back to your f*cking country. You're not needed in here. And in contrast to what you seem to believe, you don't get to see where we're going to in terms of social or economic development, or how do we stand as compared to other nations. You don't have the brains to do that. You don't even understand how the fortunes of the nations have been determined by changeable proccesses; that, as such, there can't be something called a window of opportunity being forever closed for any single nation; that historical systems are ever changing, and so are the opportunities for the nations of the world. You'd rather have it that we're bound to underdevelopment because that's what you want to believe. You pretend you know a lot of things. You know very close to nothing.

    Nov 02nd, 2011 - 05:30 pm - Link - Report abuse 0
  • GeoffWard2

    Dear Forgetit,

    the question Isolde and I are addressing is “why it has taken Brasil so long”.

    The answers seem to be centred around:

    * The opening up of the Brasilian economy in recent years to overseas trade
    * A sea-change in the global economy demanding vast new amounts of steel
    * A world population needing feeding from newly-sourced Brasilian agricultural land
    * A new world middle class needing expanded meat supply
    * The fortuity of oil dispositions
    * An interest rate that floods some countries with money and not others.
    * A Brasilian population willing to work for less money than the developed world
    * A huge hinterland with abundant water resources from which to derive energy
    * A young demography with defered costs attached to pensions and the health costs of old age
    * An export product range that depends to a small extent on the education and skills of the national population
    * A stability of politics and an absence of recent wars
    * A skimming of national resources which, at around 10%, is somewhat less than China and Russia, but allows for slow but sustained advancement
    * Absence of serious competition from within the continent
    * A world geo--political hiatus allowing for the 'super-powers' to compete intensely for Brasilian resources

    Please add to the list and delete as necessary, Forgetit, as I know very little about these things.

    Nov 02nd, 2011 - 08:55 pm - Link - Report abuse 0
  • Forgetit87

    Too long, won't read.

    Nov 02nd, 2011 - 09:00 pm - Link - Report abuse 0
  • GeoffWard2

    “I won't, I won't!”
    Eyes closed, fingers in ears.

    Nov 03rd, 2011 - 12:10 pm - Link - Report abuse 0
  • Forgetit87

    Try “brain block to long crap”.

    Nov 03rd, 2011 - 09:17 pm - Link - Report abuse 0
  • GeoffWard2

    You're a student, for God's sake, and your chosen subject is full of long crap.
    Long crap is 'what you do'.
    Get used to it, it won't get any better.

    Nov 04th, 2011 - 07:59 am - Link - Report abuse 0
  • lsolde

    Maybe Forgetit has caught malvinitis, Geoff.

    Nov 04th, 2011 - 08:52 am - Link - Report abuse 0
  • GeoffWard2

    No, Isolde, it is something deeper than that. And I can't get through. He is a good man and, I believe, highly intelligent. But something is troubling him. I am a lot older, 'knocked about a bit' by life's slings and arrows, and much more resilient and tempered. But there is only so much you can do through blog-posting.

    Nov 04th, 2011 - 10:53 am - Link - Report abuse 0
  • BrunoCantanhede

    Brazilian born, and raised, so i may say that, in the last 35 years, things here( in Brazil) have changed, BUT on the other hand, it has changed nothing, for instance, people get murdered/killed more than in Iraq war, lack of development in almost every area where the government SHOULD provide basic services, education is poor, tech development is poor, research areas Poor, public transportation poor, public health service/hospitals poor, sewer ´s net poor, deforestation high, tropical sazonal desease high (dengue), corruption (we are the best), so, people can buy cars (not updated and extrem. expensive), laptops, cable channel, internet(expensive and slow).
    so we can buy , bad services and pay in general 3 times more than other countries for the same objet. how good is that?!

    Nov 09th, 2011 - 06:55 pm - Link - Report abuse 0
  • GeoffWard2

    I re-post Bruce @ #19; it focuses on the Brasilian condition and supplements my #12

    ”I'm Brazilian born, and raised, so I may say that,
    in the last 35 years, things here in Brazil have changed,
    BUT, on the other hand, nothing has changed.
    For instance:

    1. more people get murdered or killed than in the Iraq war,

    2. lack of development in almost every area where the government SHOULD provide basic services,

    3. education is poor,

    4. technical development is poor,

    5. research areas poor,

    6. public transportation poor,

    7. public health service/hospitals poor,

    8. sewers poor,

    9. internet poor,

    10. deforestation high,

    11. tropical seasonal disease (dengue) high,

    12. corruption (we are the best),

    so, people can buy cars (not updated and extremely expensive), laptops, cable channel, internet(expensive and slow).

    so we can buy ,
    but we get bad services
    and pay in general 3 times more than other countries for the same object.

    How good is that?!

    Bruno Cantanhede (#19)

    Nov 09th, 2011 - 10:47 pm - Link - Report abuse 0

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