Comments (0) Greenpeace activists mark the 25th anniversary of Chernobyl with a puff of orange smoke in front of BNDES, Brazil’s development bank, to get it to suspend financing of the Angra 3 nuclear plant.
All the coal miners who’ve died in mining accidents were unavailable for comment.
Walter Russell Mead writes in The American Interest that the relationship between the U.S. and Brazil have changed, for the better.
The new US-Brazilian relationship does not quite live up to [the US-India relationship], but the ramifications of the changing relations between the two dominant powers in the western hemisphere will nevertheless make waves. It is likely in the 21st century that Brazil will join the group of countries Americans listen to and rely on the most, and the countries whose interests Americans take the greatest care to address.
With the fall of the Soviety Union, Mead argues, the U.S. no longer has a reason to meddle in South American affairs. And for Brazil?
On the Brazilian side, something even more important has happened: Brazil has begun to believe that the world economic system might just work to Brazil’s advantage. . . . Brazil’s success in a range of industries, like aviation, and the success of Brazilian companies that have become fully-fledged multinational players (a Brazilian firm now owns Anheuser-Busch, for example) make more and more Brazilians feel that on a level playing field, Brazil can win.
That’s certainly the feeling I get as I read the Brazilian press. That was the feeling I had yesterday when I spoke to Roberto Garibe, Special Advisor of the Executive Office of the Presidency of Brazil. I was calling to interview him for an article I’m writing about foreign investment in Brazil in preparation for the upcoming World Cup and Olympics. I asked him about the Reuter’s story I posted about the other day, the one critical about PAC, Brazil’s accelerated growth program. He acknowledge that they might not meet the people’s expectations, but thought those expectations might not have been realistic to begin with. That said, he reminded me, PAC is much more than the Word Cup and the Olympics. Long after those sporting events have turned off the lights, Brazil would be busy improving its infrastructure and the standard of living of its people. He sounded like someone intent on making sure that would happen. And if my experience with him is indicative of the work ethic of the people working with him, Brazil will meet its development goals.
I’ve been listening to Michael Lewis’s book, The Big Short, the first book I’ve read on the financial crisis of 2007-2008 (and who’s kidding whom, the crisis we’re still in). The cast of characters is beyond interesting: Steve Eisman, Greg Lippman, Dr. Michael Burry, and many others.
I went online today in search of some information on the three people I just mentioned, found a little at Wikipedia, and then found this, which lead to this, which lead me to a copy machine.
Among other pursuits, I teach Honors Thesis Writing at BYU. The projects my students are involved in are quite impressive. Can’t wait to read Barnett-Hart’s thesis to see how it stacks up.
Alexandre Tombini, president of Brazil’s central bank, said today that the country’s stock and credit markets weren’t up to financing all the projects planned for the country, including projects important to the 2014 World Cup and the 2016 Olympics. Those markets “don’t have the capacity, by themselves, to handle the demand for investment,” he said. “Other sources of funds will be necessary.” That other source will be a new market for corporate bonds announced today by Anbima, the Brazilian Association of Institutional Finance and Capital.
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