BRAZIL’S FUTURE DISAPPEARS ONCE AGAIN
The dream of a Brics ascendancy has ended in sadness and squalor after the iconic figure of the era was seized by police at his home here, to the rapturous applause of Brazil’s stock exchange.
Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, or “Lula” to the world, is sacrosanct no more. The once beloved president – and former Fiat car worker – who came to personify Brazil’s seeming rise to prosperity and global stature is under criminal investigation for his role in the ever-spreading Lava Jato (car wash) scandal.
So are his three sons, and his wife. “Nobody is above the law in this country,” said the lead prosecutor, Carlos Fernando dos Santos Lima.
The shock comes as Lula’s economic legacy turns to ruin. Output has been falling for most of the past nine quarters. It contracted 3.8% last year. The OECD expects another 4% fall this year, the deepest slump since national records began in 1901.
It is a cruel twist of fortune for those who thought Brazil had reached the premier league, with deep-sea oil reserves fit for an emirate, and a currency so strong that it cost more for a coffee in Sao Paolo than in Oslo, Tokyo, or Zurich in the glory days of 2008. Those days are gone, as is Brazil’s future yet again.
Join the forum discussion on this postAN ENDLESS NUMBER OF MILLION DOLLAR GIFTS
The presidential candidates have been decrying the real stagnation in income over the last seven years. People are unhappy but are not rioting in the streets. Why aren’t they?
Because despite wage stagnation, most people are living much better. How can that be? It is because those reviled capitalists all over the world are creating more and better goods and services at lower cost, and in doing so improving everyone’s real standard of living, well-being and happiness.
There are now 2.6 billion smart phones in the world — a product that is less than 20 years old. The Apple iPhone is only 10 years old, but it has changed the world.
Some economists have calculated that 20 years ago, if one had to buy all of the devices that do what iPhone apps can do, it would have cost much more than $3 million (that does not include those features that could not have been bought at any price two decades ago because the technology did not exist).
And that’s only the start of an endless succession of million dollar gifts capitalism has bestowed upon each of us.
THE MEXICAN WORD OF THE DAY
HALF-FULL REPORT 03/04/16
Port Blair, Andaman Islands. Welcome to the most interesting islands on earth for an anthropologist, as they are home to the world’s only Paleolithic people, untouched and uncontacted since they arrived here 40,000 years ago.
We don’t even know what they call themselves. Since they live on North Sentinel Island (out to the left of South Andaman in the map, we call them Sentinelese.
In the HFR of February 1, 2013, they were the HFR Heroes of the Week for being the world’s greatest example of sustained defiance of external authority over their liberty. The relevant excerpt of that HFR is appended at the end below.
Who might be the HOTW today? Figuring that out is the task at hand. First however, I must express my deep appreciation and gratitude to my buddy Rod Martin for writing such a wonderful series of HFRs while I’ve been in India. From all the many kudos expressed in the Forum, my opinion is shared by many TTPers. Thanks, Rod!!
My opinion on Trump, however, is not shared by all TTPers. But that’s the deal here – I get to say what I want, and you get to disagree if you want.
Thus I was overjoyed to see Trump get sliced and diced last night in Detroit. The most revelatory moment came right at the start, when out of the blue he gratuitously informed the entire planet exactly why he has such a massively boastful yet paper-thin ego:
STRANGLING PARADISE
Bangaram Atoll, Laccadive Islands, India. Welcome to the Strangled Paradise. Sure looks beautiful doesn’t it?
Thatch huts under swaying palms, perfect white sand beach, crystal clear water of translucent turquoise. Do you wish you were here?
Don’t.
The picture is real – I just took it. This place could be a real dream-paradise, but it’s not. And there is a very clear reason why.
The Laccadives are a microcosm for India. It’s critical for the world it not be.
THE WORST POLITICAL BLUNDER OF ALL TIME
The worst political blunder of all time, according to scientist Freeman Dyson, was the decision of the emperor of China in 1433 to cut off his country from the outside world.
In the wake of that decision, China lost its position in the forefront of human achievements and fell behind, over the centuries, to become a Third World country.
Before the end of this month, the United States of America may break that record for the worst political blunder of all time.
Professor Dyson attributed the Chinese emperor’s blunder to “powerful people pursuing partisan squabbles and neglecting the long-range interests of the empire.” That can be our path to disaster as well.
AN AMERICAN UNION?
The US Secretary of State, John Kerry, thinks his country has a ‘profound interest… in a very strong United Kingdom staying in a strong EU.’ President Obama is planning to join in campaigning against the “Brexit” (Britain’s exit from the EU, on which there will be a national referendum on June 23).
They say this not because they think it is good for us British, but because it is in their interests that we influence Europe in a free-trading, Atlanticist direction.
Well, two can play at that game.
How would Americans like it if we argued that it is in our interests that the United States should forthwith be united with all the countries in their continent north of the Panama Canal — Canada, Mexico, Guatemala, Nicaragua, Costa Rica, Belize, Honduras, El Salvador and Panama — into a vast customs union governed by a trans-national, unelected civil service.
Let’s call it the American Union, or AU.
NO HYPERBOLE – TRUMP REALLY IS A FASCIST
Eyes roll whenever comparisons to Nazi Germany are made, and for good reason. The analogy is almost never called for, and is almost always an example of rhetorical hyperbole. George W. Bush was compared to Hitler. Barack Obama has been as well. Neither comparison is fair.
But that does not mean Nazi comparisons are always inappropriate. If anything, the overuse of Nazi references has desensitized the public to manifestations of actual fascism. When "fascist" becomes nothing more than a pejorative, few will take its meaning seriously.
Right now, we have an actual fascist running for president of the United States, and he seems poised to secure the Republican nomination. Donald Trump is a fascist, not in a vague rhetorical sense, but according to the father of fascism's own definition.
Benito Mussolini coined the term and defined it as complete subjugation of the individual to the state. He wrote:
WHO CARES IF THE EMPEROR HAS NO CLOTHES?
There he was, stripped bare and standing in the middle of the debate stage.
Donald Trump was eviscerated in last Thursday’s debate (2/25). Marco Rubio and Ted Cruz took turns pummeling the founder of Trump University with his own words, his own history, and delivering body blow after body blow.
It was more than enough to convince any thinking person he was not a serious candidate for president. But Trump isn’t your typical presidential candidate. He’s Barack Obama-light, in every sense of the term.
What does Donald Trump stand for? What will he do if elected? What core conservative principle will he advance?
If you’re being honest, the answer to each of those questions is you have no idea.
Don’t feel bad, neither does he.
That’s not entirely true. He was fairly unambiguous about one thing he’d like to do: change the law so he can sue newspapers. When it comes to solutions to the nation’s problems, Donald Trump is the equivalent of a constitutional dumpster fire; and that’s just fine to his worshipers.
HOW TAXPAYERS WERE SOLD OUT FOR THE PRICE OF A GOOD MEAL
If a member of Congress told you that he was going to use some of your hard-earned tax dollars to support an international organization that demands that you pay higher taxes, what would you say?
Unfortunately, the question is not hypothetical, because that is exactly what is now happening. Congress is giving more than $70 million a year to the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), which has morphed over the last two decades from an organization that promoted trade and growth policies to an organization that pushes for higher taxes, which will reduce economic growth.
Meanwhile, the organization’s officials and lobbyists in Washington undertook an active campaign to wine and dine members of Congress and other agents of influence in order to preserve the funding they obtain from U.S. taxpayers, which accounts for about 25 percent of the OECD budget.
Here’s how we’ve been sold out for the cost of a nice lunch.