Brazil Meltdown

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We are facing similar distractions here in America as our economy and freedoms erode.

February 26, 2013 12:00 AM
Bread and Circuses
Economic growth is anemic, but at least we have a cool first couple. By Mona Charen



Michelle Obama reveals the Oscar winner for best picture, February 24, 2013

Mona Charen

People who once upon a time handed out military command, high civil office, legions — everything, now restrains itself and anxiously hopes for just two things: bread and circuses — Juvenal

Isn’t it grand that we have such a cool couple in the White House? Hollywood would never have deigned to invite any other first lady to present the award for best picture at its annual self-worshipping soporific. Mrs. Obama knew just how to flatter the nearly inexhaustible vanity of people who sell tickets to shows.

“I am so honored to . . . help celebrate the movies that lift our spirits, broaden our minds, and transport us to places that we have never imagined. . . . They made us laugh, they made us weep, and they made us grip our armrests just a little tighter. They taught us that love can endure against all odds and transform our lives in the most surprising ways and reminded us that we overcome any obstacle if we dig deep enough and fight hard enough and find the courage to believe in ourselves. These lessons apply to all of us no matter who we are, or what we look like, or where we come from, or who we love but they are especially important for our young people. . . . I want to thank you here tonight for being part of that vitally important work.” Oh, sorry, did I doze off?

The top grossing films of 2012 were The Avengers, The Dark Knight Rises, The Hunger Games, and Skyfall. Also among the top ten were Ted and The Twilight Saga, Part 2. But the grandees at the ceremony are an unreflective lot and no doubt relished every last syllable of Mrs. Obama’s oleaginous salute.

Mrs. Obama has been all over pop culture. Her Oscar outing followed hard on the heels of a mean “mom dance” on Late Night with Jimmy Fallon. Her husband, meanwhile, has been golfing with Tiger Woods. Some members of what used to be (long ago, boys and girls, when non-cool presidents were in office) the adversarial press corps joined forces to chant a question at the returning President Obama after his golf outing. They had lodged complaints with the press secretary about lack of access, apparently crestfallen that the White House refused to permit pictures of Obama and Woods on the course. Their shouted question wasn’t about the sequester, or Benghazi, or Syria, or Hagel; no, the pressies chanted in unison (Occupy-style) “Did you beat Tiger?” Their crush on Dear Leader is undiminished.

The president makes himself available to friendly questions from the press — see the latest 60 Minutes interview — and is always available to chat about his basketball final-four picks or what’s on his iPod. In short, both he and his wife have mastered the art of being celebrities-in-chief. The man who wrote two autobiographies before he was 45 (earning a tidy fortune in the process) is a genius at marketing himself. Together, the Obamas provide “circuses” aplenty for the masses. As for bread, that’s another matter.

The last quarter of 2012 showed not the anemic growth rates we’ve been accustomed to in the Obama years, but negative growth. The federal behemoth’s weight tramples the private sector. Gas prices are heading toward $4 per gallon. Still, Mr. Obama’s priority is clear: Above all, we must raise taxes (he calls it closing loopholes) on the rich . . . again. To its credit, the New York Times was honest about it. “To reduce the deficit in a weak economy,” the liberal godfather editorialized, “new taxes on high-income Americans are a matter of necessity and fairness; they are also a necessary precondition to what in time will have to be tax increases on the middle class.”

The Times was also honest enough to report that the Obama administration represents a “bread” threat in another way as well: “Health insurance companies across the country are seeking and winning double-digit increases in premiums for some customers, even though one of the biggest objectives of the Obama administration’s health care law was to stem the rapid rise in insurance costs for consumers.”

When Americans were under fire in Benghazi and pleading for help, we’ve finally learned, the president did not make a single phone call. After learning of the attack, he failed to follow up with his defense secretary, secretary of state, or chairman of the joint chiefs of staff. The following day, he left for a fundraiser in Las Vegas.

But it sure is great that he’s so cool. And didn’t Mrs. Obama look lovely in her shimmering, silver designer gown?

www.nationalreview.com/articles/341518/bread-and-circuses-mona-charen

[American Patriot]

Brazil’s Leftist Ruling Party, Born of Protests, Is Perplexed by Revolt
By SIMON ROMERO
Published: June 20, 2013


SÃO PAULO, Brazil — The protests were heating up on the streets of Brazil’s largest city last week, but the mayor was not in his office. He was not even in the city. He had left for Paris to try to land the 2020 World’s Fair — exactly the kind of expensive, international mega-event that demonstrators nationwide have scorned.
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A week later, the mayor, Fernando Haddad, 50, was holed up in his apartment as scores of protesters rallied outside and others smashed the windows of his office building, furious that he had refused to meet with them, much less yield to their demand to revoke a contentious bus fare increase.

How such a rising star in the leftist governing party, someone whose name is often mentioned as a future presidential contender, so badly misread the national mood reflects the disconnect between a growing segment of the population and a government that prides itself on popular policies aimed at lifting millions out of poverty.

After rising to prominence on the backs of huge protests to usher in democratic leadership, the governing Workers Party now finds itself perplexed by the revolt in its midst, watching with dismay as political corruption, bad public services and the government’s focus on lifting Brazil’s international stature through events like the 2014 World Cup and the 2016 Olympics inspire outrage.

On Wednesday, tens of thousands protested outside the newly built stadium where Brazil faced off against Mexico in the Confederations Cup, as the police tried to disperse them with tear gas, rubber bullets and pepper spray. In what would normally be a moment of unbridled national pride, demonstrators held up placards demanding schools and hospitals at the “FIFA standard,� challenging the money Brazil is spending on the World Cup instead of on health care or the poorly financed public schools.

Now the authorities across Brazil are bracing for a new round of protests on Thursday, with one newspaper reporting that demonstrations are expected in more than 80 cities throughout the country — from big urban centers like São Paulo and Rio de Janeiro to Manaus in the Amazon and Teresina in the northeast.

“We want the act to be bigger today,� said Tadeu Lemos, 22, a student leader at the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro, part of an organizing group that drew up various points to continue protesting, including having a voice over expenditures for the World Cup and the Olympics.

Security forces in various cities are preparing for a large turnout. In the capital, BrasÃ*lia, police said they would cordon off access to buildings like the Congress, a structure that protesters were able to scale one night this week and dance on the roof, providing a shock to political leaders. And in Rio de Janeiro, banks boarded up windows while the authorities placed metal barriers in front of the governor’s palace.

With support for the protests escalating — a new poll by Datafolha found that 77 percent of São Paulo residents approved of them this week, compared with 55 percent the week before — Mayor Haddad and Geraldo Alckmin, the governor from an opposition party, bowed on Wednesday night, announcing that they would cancel the bus and subway fare increases after all. Other cities, including Rio de Janeiro, pledged to do the same.

But while the fare increases might have been the spark that incited the protests, they unleashed a much broader wave of frustration against politicians from an array of parties that the government has openly acknowledged it did not see coming.

“It would be a presumption to think that we understand what is happening,� Gilberto Carvalho, a top aide to President Dilma Rousseff, told senators on Tuesday. “We need to be aware of the complexity of what is occurring.�

The swell of anger is a stunning change from the giddy celebrations that occurred in 2007, when Brazil was chosen by soccer’s governing body to host the World Cup. At the time, dozens of climbers scaled Rio de Janeiro’s Sugar Loaf Mountain, from which they hung an enormous jersey with the words “The 2014 World Cup is Ours.�

“We are a civilized nation, a nation that is going through an excellent phase, and we have got everything prepared to receive adequately the honor to organize an excellent World Cup,� Ricardo Teixeira, then the president of the Brazilian Football Confederation, said at the time.

Since then, the sentiment surrounding Brazil’s preparations for the World Cup, and much else overseen by the government, has shifted. Mr. Teixeira himself resigned last year, under a cloud of corruption allegations, and while the Brazilian government says it is spending about $12 billion on preparing for the World Cup, most of the stadiums are over budget, according to the government’s own audits court.

The sheen that once clung to the Workers Party has also been tarnished by a vast vote-buying scheme called the mensalão, or big monthly allowance, in a nod to the regular payments some lawmakers received. The scandal resulted in the recent conviction of several of high-ranking officials, including a party president and a chief of staff for Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, who was a popular Brazilian president.

“There’s been a democratic explosion on the streets,� said Marcos Nobre, a professor at the University of Campinas. “The Workers Party thinks it represents all of the progressive elements in the country, but they’ve been power now for a decade. They’ve done a lot, but they’re now the establishment.�

The economic growth that once propelled Brazil’s global ambitions has slowed considerably, and inflation, a scourge for decades until the mid-1990s, has re-emerged as a worry for many Brazilians.

But expectations among Brazilians remain high, thanks in large part to the government’s own success at diminishing inequality and raising living standards for millions over the last decade. The number of university students doubled from 2000 to 2011, according to Marcelo Ridenti, a prominent sociologist.

“This generates huge changes in society, including changes in expectations among young people,� he said. “They expect to get not only jobs, but good jobs.�

Unemployment is still at historical lows — partly because of the very stadiums and other construction projects that have become the source of such ire among some protesters. But well-paying jobs remain out of reach for many college graduates, who see a sharp difference between their prospects and those of political leaders.

“I think our politicians get too much money,� said Amanda Marques, 23, a student, referring not to graft but to their salaries.

Earlier this year, Mr. Alckmin, the governor, announced that he was giving himself and thousands of other public employees a raise of more than 10 percent; his own salary should climb to about $10,000 a month as a result. High salaries for certain public employees have long been a festering source of resentment in Brazil, with some officials earning well more than counterparts in rich industrialized nations.

Both Mr. Alckmin and Mr. Haddad followed the protests together in Paris last week on their smartphones. But at the time, Mr. Alckmin dismissed the protests as the equivalent to a routine strike by air traffic controllers in Paris, something “that happens.�

“What has to be done is be strong and stand firm to avoid excesses,� he told reporters then, before the protests had spread on the streets of São Paulo and dozens of other cities across Brazil.

By this week, it was clear how thoroughly officials had miscalculated. At one point on Tuesday night, protesters tried to break into the Municipal Theater, where operagoers were watching Stravinsky’s “Rake’s Progress.� The doors to the elegant theater remained shut and as the show went on, they spray-painted the outside of the recently renovated structure with the words “Set Fire to the Bourgeoisie.�

[American Patriot]

Blogs I Follow





Brazil: Police Officer Refuses Orders, Sides With Protesters ~ MoC

http://stopmakingsense.org/2013/06/2...rotesters-moc/

[American Patriot]

25 June 2013 Last updated at 08:00 ET Brazil leader Dilma Rousseff promises reform referendum



President Dilma Rousseff: ''Brazil is ready to advance''






Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff has proposed a referendum on political reforms in an effort to tackle protests that have swept the country.


She also promised to boost spending on public transport and focus on health and education as part of what she called "five pacts" with the people.


She later met regional mayors and governors, who agreed to her plans.


But some activists promised to carry on with the largest protests Brazil has seen for at least two decades.


Ms Rousseff said the reforms would be broad and focus on five areas:

• Fiscal responsibility: guaranteeing economic stability and curbing inflation
• Education: investing 100% of Brazil's oil royalties in education
• Health: hiring foreign doctors to provide medical services in remote and under-developed areas
• Constituent Assembly: establishing an assembly to eventually amend Brazil's constitution to ensure reforms make it "from paper to practice"
• Public transport: investing more than 50 billion reias ($25bn, £16bn) for new investments in urban mobility projects and to improve public transport

Mayara Longo Vivian, a leader of the Free Fare Movement, said there had been "concrete measures" among the president's proposals and that the "fight would continue".


Analysis Gary Duffy Executive editor, BBC Brasil, Sao Paulo



The most headline-catching part of her proposals was to suggest a referendum to establish a constitutional assembly to consider political reform. It has the advantage of handing a decision back to the people, but is also a commitment to what will be a long drawn out process that will allow the government time to draw breath.


It is either a bold move or a very clever one.


Some are already arguing it could be unconstitutional - others are complaining that political reform didn't need such an elaborate proposal and could have been done more effectively and with greater speed. In a country plagued by dodgy deals few are going to argue with the idea of making corruption a more serious offence. However Brazilians are more likely to be impressed when the corrupt are actually convicted and jailed.

• Brazil leader plays hand over protests

On Monday evening, there were fresh demonstrations in several cities, although they appeared to be smaller than those that led to clashes with police last week.


The BBC's Julia Carneiro in Rio de Janeiro says exactly a week ago 100,000 people marched down the city's Rio Branco Avenue, but on Monday just a few dozen were chanting in front of the Candelaria church.


More people joined in as they marched, and soon a few thousand demonstrators had popped up and were occupying the city centre's main avenue.


Street vendors were selling Brazilian flags and Anonymous masks for those who came unprepared, she says.


In other protests, hundreds of people blocked the main road to Brazil's busiest port, Santos, and hundreds more came out to protest against corruption in the capital, Brasilia.


Two women were killed at a protest in the central state of Goias, not far from Brasilia. Police said they were killed by a driver who sped through a roadblock they had set up with other protesters.


The deaths bring to four the total number of lives lost in the unrest.


'Signals'

The president met leaders of one protest faction before meeting with state governors and mayors.

The protests have become the largest of their kind in Brazil in at least two decades


"My government is listening to democratic voices," she told a televised news conference.


"We must learn to hear the voices of the street. We all must, without exception, understand these signals with humility and accuracy.


"Brazil is ready to move forward and has made it clear it does not want to stand where it is."


She also suggested tougher penalties for corruption, and warned against any repeat of the violence that was seen last Thursday.
'No plan B'

Ms Rousseff faces re-election next year, when Brazil is also due to host the football World Cup. Rio de Janeiro will also host the Olympics in 2016.


Many of those demonstrating are unhappy at the cost of building stadiums in a country where many live in poverty and ticket prices for such prestigious international competitions are out of reach.
Continue reading the main story Brazilian press on proposals

Rio daily O Globo quotes ex-Sao Paulo governor Jose Serra describing the proposal for a constituent assembly as "without rhyme or reason".


The former president of the Supreme Court, Carlos Velloso, says the proposals are "a way of distracting the people who are [protesting] in the streets", according to O Estado de Sao Paulo newspaper. Mr Velloso says that the protesters are demanding an "end to unbridled spending and a reform which will improve the political regime".


Sao Paulo daily Folha writes that opposition lawmakers accuse the president of "going over Congress' head". "It is one of Congress' exclusive competencies to call a referendum," the paper quotes Senator Aecio Neves as saying.



Unrest has dogged many of the fixtures currently taking place in Brazil as part of Fifa's Confederations Cup, seen as a dress rehearsal for the World Cup and using many of the same facilities.


Fifa's Secretary General Jerome Valcke has said the organisation has "no plan B" for next year's World Cup.


The wave of rallies in more than 100 cities began in Sao Paulo, where residents were unhappy at planned rises in public-transport fares.


Those increases have since been shelved, but the protests rapidly became more widespread and the protesters' demands more wide-ranging.


Brazilians have been demanding better health and education, saying they are fed up with paying relatively high taxes and feel that they do not get enough back from the state.


Protesters are also angry about corruption and are scornful of politicians.