In Brazil Only 35% Say Economy Is on the Right Track
Written by Ivan Richard
Wednesday, 23 November 2005
After falling in July and September polls, consumer confidence in Brazil remained steady in the latest Sensus poll (November) with 52.7% of those interviewed saying government economic policy is inadequate, and 35.3% saying it is correct.
These polls are carried out every two months under the auspices of the Brazilian National Transportation Confederation (CNT).
The only significant change in the three polls (July, September and November) was a drop in those saying economic policy was correct (it was 40.2% in the July poll).
The difference, in the three polls, between those who said economic policy was inadequate was less than one percentage point (As the poll has a three percentage point margin of error, that difference is insignificant).
The numbers were also steady in the last two polls (September and November) with regard to opinions about the future. Those who were positive were 41.2% and 42.3%, respectively. And those who were negative about the future 48.6% and 49.4%.
The Sensus/CNT poll was conducted at the beginning of November in 24 states where 2,000 people were interviewed.
Industrial Sector
Another survey, this one by the Economic Research Institute at Brazil's Getúlio Vargas Foundation has found that businessmen in the industrial sector are less optimistic about next year, at least as far as their investment plans go.
The survey asked 1,015 businessmen about their plans for new machinery and equipment for 2006. The result was that 38% said they would be making new investments. For the sake of comparison, the same survey for 2005 found that 52% of those interviewed said they had investment plans.
This is the fourth consecutive year that the survey has been conducted. This year's survey showed lower optimism in all the categories surveyed, compared to 2004.
Even so, the vast majority of those interviewed remain positive. For example, in 2004, 83% said they expected more sales revenue. This year that number was 72% - down, but still high.
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Brazil received a huge boost in its international image with its selection as the host of the 2016 Olympics, but it was really just the cherry on top of the overall recognition of the country's ascension to the ranks of one of the world's most important countries. Now, as it finally takes its place on the world scene, there has been a great deal of concern about what kind of image Brazil hopes to project, now that the world is really paying attention. 
The only good thing to say about the visit to Brazil of Iran's president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, on Monday November 23, is that it was mercifully short and lasted less than 24 hours. Ahmadinejad had his picture taken being hugged by president Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva who gave him a warm welcome and said Iran had every right to develop nuclear energy for peaceful purposes. 
The small, coastal town of Condé is located just a twenty minute's drive from João Pessoa, the capital of Paraíba. The Northeast of Brazil has historically been a place of encounter and mixing between peoples. For millenia groups of indigenous people fished, farmed, migrated and sometimes fought along this large, fertile area. 
The Brazilian diplo-MÁ-cia (bad diplomacy) carries on its accelerated course towards the non-acknowledgment of human rights, although sometimes it takes pleasure in saying that it does precisely the opposite. The visit of Iran's president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, is another example of a diplomatic omission that verges on hypocrisy. 
On July 4, 2006, representatives of Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay and Uruguay met in Caracas to sign the protocol for the entrance of Venezuela into the Southern Common Market (Mercosur). After two and a half years, the protocol was approved by the legislative bodies of Argentina and Uruguay, and as of now it may be only days away from being ratified by the continent's economic megalith, Brazil. 
Some sectors of the fight against AIDS have suggested that Thabo Mbeki, the former president of South Africa, committed genocide through his absence from the fight against the illness in his country throughout his two terms. 
One hundred and eleven years after Brazil abolished slavery, the number of workers deprived of their freedom is still huge. They raise cattle, produce charcoal, sugar cane or timber. Some of them, most undocumented Bolivians, work in basements of small apparel factories in São Paulo and other metropolis. 
On November 7, 2009 a few friends and I had an opportunity to take a look inside a Brazilian jail outside the city of Rio de Janeiro. We were able to take some amateur footage of our experience on video (see link below). It's no surprise, of course, that the typical Brazilian jail lacks some of the functionality of those in North America or Europe, but our experience that day was quite shocking. 
Depletion of the Amazon Rainforest is not a new concern facing environmentalists, biologists, ecologists, and a growing number of the Amazonian indigenous peoples. For decades they have feared for the fate of the world's most biologically diverse and species-rich hothouse. 
Geisy Arruda made history this week in Brazil, but for all the wrong reasons. What began as a poorly planned fashion statement has become a worldwide tale. Geisy decided to wear a pink mini-dress to her private college in São Paulo state, and after that, all hell broke loose.