From bad to worse

Since long before the 2014 FIFA World Cup, almost everyone in Brazil, including myself, has been predicting that the 2016 Olympic Games and Paralympic Games were going to be a colossal disaster.

This BBC news report does not come as any surprise, nor does the fact that the Brazilian government is opportunistically using the current economic situation as a convenient excuse for the bungling that has been going on since Rio was announced as the host city for the games, and has absolutely nothing whatsoever to do with the current economic problems.

Virtually nothing is ready with less than a year remaining until the opening ceremonies, now it is a virtual certainty that most or all of the lofty promises that were made won't be honored, and the global image of this country (if there ever was one to begin with) will go into nuclear meltdown just as predicted.

Suppose they threw a party and nobody came? Perhaps that wouldn't be such a bad idea after all.

It will be interesting to watch what happens a couple of years from now when somebody starts digging into the accounts for all the spending on Olympic projects, no doubt just like most other things here in Brazil they're going to uncover a lot of graft, bribes and kickbacks which sucked up the money from the public purse like a giant sponge. Just one more major scandal in a country that has turned scandals into an art form.

Cheers,
James   Expat-blog Experts Team

and getting worse by the day
from the BBC

http://www.bbc.com/news/world-latin-america-34471022

The unanimous rejection of Dilmas 2014 accounts puts her one step closer to impeachment. But that is just one step closer and is not to say it is likely to happen.

The matter is now going to be sent to the Congress for consideration, since it is ultiimately their prerogative to approve or reject the accounts.

This will only be the second time that this measure has been taken. The first time was in 1937 in the dictatorship of Getúlio Vargas. At that time the National Congress approved the government's accounts.

If the Congress rejects Dilma's accounts then that could lead to an impeachment process being started. However, Congress also has the ability for Approval in Congress with reservations

Another possible scenario is the approval with reservations. This type of result in Congress may occur, for example, if lawmakers choose to approve the balance sheet. In practice, the reservations do not imply significant punishment. They indicate only that there are problems to be fixed in fiscal management for the coming year. This thesis is defended by the federal government.

My bet is that there will be a lot of deal-making go on, a lot of political IOUs will be called in, members of Congress will be threatened with being "outed" themselves, all kinds of shady deals taking place... but in the end the approval with reservations is what will eventually happen.

The question is really not if Dilma will survive the process or not, if she doesn't have the courage to resign from office first for the good of the nation, I'm sure she'll see the accounts approved. The question is that will the country and the economy survive? This will take a while either way, and global confidence in Brazil is fading quickly. I personally think that she should do the right thing and call for a new election, then turn the government over to the VP until that can take place.

Cheers,
James   Expat-blog Experts Team

when you want to do business in the world, you must play by the rules, and seeing the west set the rules, then if you don't play by them, you will get screwed, and that's what's happening now,
and the more she go's on in power, the more damage she is doing the workers party

Sadly, she's not just damaging the Worker's Party, Pete... she's damaging the credibility of the entire country and its economy on the global scene.

For Brazilian politicians EVERYTHING is about more and more taxes, so they can rake off ever greater amounts from the public purse. They don't give a rat's behind that the scandals, when combined with the most complex set of tax laws on the planet, and suffocating bureaucracy is drying up all foreign investment that this country needs for its very survival. Combining all that with political uncertainty.... will she be impeached, won't she be impeached, will the Tribunal Superior Eleitoral - TSE simply cancel the mandate of both DIlma and Temer??? That's dynamite!!!

Add to the mix the USA's Foreign Corrupt Practices Act of 1977 and there certainly won't be any investment coming in from the USA, nor will there be many Brazilian companies on the US Stock Exchange should they continue their corrupt practices either.

Cheers,
James    Expat-blog Experts Team

When Brasil was awarded the World Cup and Olympic Games, I was the first to question the judgement of the respective committees that oversee such things. I then remembered how Utah got to host the Olympics (bribery) and once again lost my faith in the purity of the Olympics.

Agreed that Brasil should not be hosting ANYTHING on the world stage but the damage was done BEFORE Dilma's administration. Dilma has made several political mistakes, I will do my best to list them.

1. She has actively investigated corruption in Brazil without taking into account that EVERY OFFICIAL in the governing body would fight her.
2. As a result of her miscalculation, the only members being investigated seem to come from her own party. Now her political enemies are driving the investigations.
3. After her reelection which came from the POPULAR VOTE, Dilma made the worse error of all, Dilma applied a tactic of appeasement (which always fails) by not being more aggressive in  her Presidency.
4. Brasil's congress has been busy throwing the country under the bus appointing congressman Eduardo Cunha, to the role of Speaker of the Lower House until February 2017. He has been screwing Dilma ever since.
5. Dilma was once a tortured prisoner of the military regime that once ruled the country. I believe she may be suffering under the delusion that Brasil is ready be a better country.

Remember good people, Brasil's "democracy" was built top down. America's Democracy (cap D intended) was built bottom up.

This political mess is reflective of the political tactics of the Republican party in the USA of the lat 40 years. Combining scandal with the willingness to crash the country in order to get and keep power.

Just to be clear, I am not an idealist-too old, nor do I have any stake in the Dilma regime. My philosophy is simple. Governments are a necessary evil and anyone who craves power is basically corrupt. So I pay my taxes and keep an eye on these crooks while planning my life in such a way as not to be without options. This is part of the reason I retired to Brasil.

Oh! and if you want here are some great articles on this subject.

http://frombrazil.blogfolha.uol.com.br/ … explained/http://www.businessinsider.com/afp-cris … age-2015-9

Cant help but make a comment on Exyners post :

Why should Brazil not host anything ? Last years world cup was a great arrangement for both spectators as well as players. Brazil has had the best national fotball beam in the world for the majority of the last 100 years and Brazilian fotball players has improved the game all over the world. They are in a slump at the moment, as most teams in any sport will experience from time to time, but they will be back.

Fotball is by far the biggest and most popular sport in the world and Brazil has every right to be proud of their achivements in the game ! Of course they should host the world cup - after all, even US has hosted the world cup and there they do not even care about the game.

US democracy (not American i beleive) has much to be proud of but to claim that it was "built" from the bottom up is not one of them - a few white men was the only ones who could vote and they elected rich, white males to represent them

I am VERY concerned about the image the world will get about Brasil. I do not believe Brasil will be as effective at hiding its failings as well as China did. I can visualize the world press emphasizing the corruption in the construction of stadiums and that at one point the idea of  Chinese company's being brought in to do the construction. These are the kind of FACTS that would roll off the back of an economy on the rise, but Brasil is in a vulnerable position and the press can and will be cruel.

Many countries have created democracies based on the US model. They usually leave out those parts that are annoying to those in power. The USA Democracy is ground up. It was designed to shift the power to all citizens and not just those born to power. Many of the signers of the Declaration of Independence found their lives ruined afterward. I consider the US Democracy a true attempt to correct what was wrong with the existing system of the time.

Finally your racist statement is wasted on me. As you live in the state of Rio (based on your code name) which is going to cash in BIG from the Olympics, I can understand why you choose to miss the point of my comments. Please reread them and if you are still confused let me know.

Your comment about the power going to the people instead of the ones born into power didn't take into account the career politicians. That's what is killing the US slowly with the majority of politicians taking large amounts of money from special interests. We need term limits for all portions of government here. The corruption is happening here also. Hell our government is still blaming a president from 7 yrs ago and not holding the current one accountable.

If you review my original comments, you will see I said all you claim I did not say. I liked New Mexico BTW. When do you expect to move to Brasil?

January I will be there! House is almost done and household goods will be there real soon.

I see from the news ,that  Brazilians president is out buying fighter jets
the best time to buy this type of thing, is when your "broke". well not you your country,
she don't care for her country
she just wants to live a big mess for the blind people that voted her in

exnyer wrote:

I am VERY concerned about the image the world will get about Brasil. I do not believe Brasil will be as effective at hiding its failings as well as China did. I can visualize the world press emphasizing the corruption in the construction of stadiums and that at one point the idea of  Chinese company's being brought in to do the construction. These are the kind of FACTS that would roll off the back of an economy on the rise, but Brasil is in a vulnerable position and the press can and will be cruel.

Many countries have created democracies based on the US model. They usually leave out those parts that are annoying to those in power. The USA Democracy is ground up. It was designed to shift the power to all citizens and not just those born to power. Many of the signers of the Declaration of Independence found their lives ruined afterward. I consider the US Democracy a true attempt to correct what was wrong with the existing system of the time.

Finally your racist statement is wasted on me. As you live in the state of Rio (based on your code name) which is going to cash in BIG from the Olympics, I can understand why you choose to miss the point of my comments. Please reread them and if you are still confused let me know.

Racist ?? I have no idea what race you are and i can not see what my comment had to do with race.

Why should Brazil hide its failings ? It is not like it is a secret. Maybe more focus on corruption and the waste of public money is a good thing - lack of transparancy is what has enabled the corruption in the first place.

US citizens are rightly proud of their democracy and their constitution - My own contrys constitution, Norway, was written a few years after the us war of independence and was partly based on the us constitution as well as the french revolution. (And the US constitution did not come out of thin air either - it is partly based among many other documents, the english bill of rights written almost 100 years earlier)

But to claim that the US democracy was built from the bottom up is simply not true - neither the declaration of independence or the constitution even contained the word democracy and the members of the continental congress expressed fear of the idea of a democracy - it would lead to caos to give every man a vote.

David Zirin, is an author of eight books on the politics of sports, most recently, "Brazil's Dance with the Devil: The World Cup, The Olympics, and the Fight for Democracy".
It's a great book which exposes the current Olympics as nothing but a neoliberal trojan horse.  Hosting the Olympics, lets developers run wild, suspending any environmental or zoning laws.

I am glad to see Brazil has the sense to cut spending to this two week waste of time and money.  Cities all over the world are now refusing to host the Olympics, with Boston the latest example.

https://zinnedproject.org/materials/bra … the-devil/

"a few white men was the only ones who could vote and they elected rich, white males to represent them"

Your words not mine. I try not to use this type of language. I do not even like the term "Gringo." I maintain that you could have made your case without the use of derogatory terms.

As to "hiding it's failures", Brasil has a history of doing so when the world is watching. My concern is that this will not work this time as everyone is aware of this tactic. This will have a domino effect making things worse. I just don't understand why it is so difficult for you to see that world opinion matters in the long term.