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Brasília at Midnight

evenmagazine.com

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Re: Brasília at Midnight

#21

Post by hackernews2000 »

hcarvalhoalves wrote: post #16

> The rich want her out, the poor want her to stay put. That's so oversimplified, it's laughable. The middle class want her out and the poor never participated in politics in Brazil, and it's no different now. The real rich always made money from the government either way, since big companies (banking, construction, telecom, you name it) either get incentives and legislation that help hold monopolies, or have the gov…

The author likely interviewed public university Humanities professors about it all, and they defend PT and its failed policies above everything. They are even still in denial about Venezuela. Maybe they want us to become like it.

I'm very poor (my only comfort in life is my computer; have been using the same clothes for almost 10 years, commute for almost 2 hours on trains and buses to get to the "good parts" of my city etc.) and am I'm hit hard by Dilma and PT, because their policies ruined our economy and even fucking rice and beans (our staple food) is terribly expensive now (the dollar exchange rate is high as ever, so producers now prefer to export everything they can than selling locally).

Re: Brasília at Midnight

#22

Post by geezerjay »

olh wrote: post #3

This article is spot on. There is an important detail that sounds like conspiracy theory and that bothers me as a brazilian: much of the extent of the economical crisis was orchestrated with propaganda by sectors of our society engulfed in corruption charges (from briberies to tax evasion) after the global drop in commodities prices and suddenly investments halted by market fear and a real crisis took place (and then…

> There was a common headline at the time in newspapers: "apesar da crise", meaning "even though in a crisis", followed by the report of a new market/business sector record in profits.

A couple of months ago in a conversation with a Brazilian colleague of mine, who has been living in europe for some years now, the subject of Brazil's crisis popped up. He told me that, at least when compared with the economic crisis experienced in europe, Brazil's crisis was a crisis in name only, which barely had any impact on the economy in general and disposable income of the average brazilian in particular.

Now, having read your comment, I have to say that it fits precisely with the observations made by my brazilian colleague.

Re: Brasília at Midnight

#23

Post by geezerjay »

ittekimasu wrote: post #18
andrenth wrote: post #10

As a Brazilian I can say this article is full of misinformation regarding current political events. The "coup" allegations are nothing but ridiculous. What kind of coups is done with ample defense opportunity and full validation of the Supreme Court? There's nothing flimsy about the fiscal fraud committed by the soon to be former president. And while this is not being considered for the impeachment process (because i…

> everyone wants their own government tit to suck from. That is the general schema by which statist ("socialist") regimes hang on to power... that is until they have inflated themselves out of existence.

> that is until they have inflated themselves out of existence.

Inflation doesn't matter to socialists, because as long as the Mint's printers work they have all the cash they need to conduct a reverse osmosis on the nation's wealth directly into their cronies' pockets.

Then the cronies just save the money in some offshore bank, and the inflation works twice in their favor.

With socialism, the people is the only part getting the shaft. This has been like this for decades now.

Re: Brasília at Midnight

#24

Post by molmalo »

emersonrsantos wrote: post #7

For anyone trying to understand what's happening in Brazil and Venezuela, read about Foro de Sao Paulo [1], a socialist collective that is influencing politics since 1990. Their leaders led Latin-American countries to social and economical disasters and now are facing impeachment or being replaced. The Kirchner family of Argentina were the first to fall after twelve years in power [2]. In Brazil, Dilma is standing th…

To be fair, they got in power mainly because of the economical disasters generated by the neo-liberal governments in the nineties and early 2000's.

Argentina was led to the worst crisis in its history. So, most people here are really tired of the political class, both left and right being perceived as equally corrupt.

Yes, there are fanatical groups that support one or the other, but the vast majority just vote for the lesser evil... Kind of like how some people who I've talked to feel right now in the US, having to choose between Hillary and Trump...

Re: Brasília at Midnight

#25

Post by vertex-four »

geezerjay wrote: post #23
ittekimasu wrote: post #18

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> everyone wants their own government tit to suck from. That is the general schema by which statist ("socialist") regimes hang on to power... that is until they have inflated themselves out of existence.

> that is until they have inflated themselves out of existence. Inflation doesn't matter to socialists, because as long as the Mint's printers work they have all the cash they need to conduct a reverse osmosis on the nation's wealth directly into their cronies' pockets. Then the cronies just save the money in some offshore bank, and the inflation works twice in their favor. With socialism, the people is the only part…

Of course, with capitalism in most countries, exactly the same thing happens in reality... it's almost like when you have entities with huge amounts of power that are almost entirely disconnected from the population, the population gets the short end of the stick, no matter what propaganda is pushed on them.

Re: Brasília at Midnight

#26

Post by ucaetano »

molmalo wrote: post #24
emersonrsantos wrote: post #7

For anyone trying to understand what's happening in Brazil and Venezuela, read about Foro de Sao Paulo [1], a socialist collective that is influencing politics since 1990. Their leaders led Latin-American countries to social and economical disasters and now are facing impeachment or being replaced. The Kirchner family of Argentina were the first to fall after twelve years in power [2]. In Brazil, Dilma is standing th…

To be fair, they got in power mainly because of the economical disasters generated by the neo-liberal governments in the nineties and early 2000's. Argentina was led to the worst crisis in its history. So, most people here are really tired of the political class, both left and right being perceived as equally corrupt. Yes, there are fanatical groups that support one or the other, but the vast majority just vote for t…

That's exactly the opposite of the history in Brazil.

In the 8 years before PT took power, the country finally had stable economics, decreasing unemployment and increasing income levels.

Re: Brasília at Midnight

#27

Post by ucaetano »

caiob wrote: post #15
kevin_thibedeau wrote: post #11

> Brasília, the country’s Oscar Niemeyer-designed modern masterpiece of a capital I think it's more of an dehumanizing homage to concrete and the car.

In the 60s, that was a modern masterpiece. Can't blame Niemeyer for living in a time where cars and roads were a priority.

Actually, you can, Niemeyer and Co. (Corbusier, Moses, etc.) were responsible for this prioritization. There was the silly dream that people should adjust to city planning, and not the other way around.

Lucky, modernist city planning died out in most of the world. One only needs to walk through Brasilia or the suburbs of Paris to see the abomination that it became:

"...the car would abolish the human street, and possibly the human foot. Some people would have aeroplanes too. The one thing no one would have is a place to bump into each other, walk the dog, strut, one of the hundred random things that people do ... being random was loathed by Le Corbusier ... its inhabitants surrender their freedom of movement to the omnipresent architect."

Re: Brasília at Midnight

#28

Post by _jgvg »

caiob wrote: post #14
andrenth wrote: post #10

As a Brazilian I can say this article is full of misinformation regarding current political events. The "coup" allegations are nothing but ridiculous. What kind of coups is done with ample defense opportunity and full validation of the Supreme Court? There's nothing flimsy about the fiscal fraud committed by the soon to be former president. And while this is not being considered for the impeachment process (because i…

> _What kind of coups is done with ample defense opportunity and full validation of the Supreme Court?_ Ermmm.. defense opportunity? A totally partisan-biased Supreme Court does not leave much for a defense strategy. That's like putting Benghazi to be judged by the GOP. >_It's funny because in 92 the same politicians who are now claiming a coup is going on have voted in favor of impeachment_ Maybe because they're bei…

The impeachment process isn't judged by the Supreme Court.

Re: Brasília at Midnight

#29

Post by ittekimasu »

personlurking wrote: post #6

A good article, aside from the art world/gallery angle which didn't speak to me. At least in regards to the Car Wash investigation, there is some sentiment in Brazil that the country will get better once the old system gets flushed out. It's a bit of a tall order, though, as corruption exists on many levels. There was a study a few years back showing how most Brazilians have a high distrust of each other, save for fa…

... and Brazil is one of the better BRICS (actually the highest in per-capita, if I remember right).

Re: Brasília at Midnight

#30

Post by andrenth »

_jgvg wrote: post #28
caiob wrote: post #14

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> _What kind of coups is done with ample defense opportunity and full validation of the Supreme Court?_ Ermmm.. defense opportunity? A totally partisan-biased Supreme Court does not leave much for a defense strategy. That's like putting Benghazi to be judged by the GOP. >_It's funny because in 92 the same politicians who are now claiming a coup is going on have voted in favor of impeachment_ Maybe because they're bei…

The impeachment process isn't judged by the Supreme Court.

There were multuple appeals to the Supreme Court, which has always let the process continue.

And in senate, the president of the Supreme Court leads the final judgement.

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