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Ask HN: How do you see Brazil?

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Re: Ask HN: How do you see Brazil?

#11

Post by Argonaut998 »

I married a Brazilian, but I probably have some misinformed thoughts

Economic — I think it probably has the most potential of any country out there, except maybe India. A bit too protectionist, I don't understand why taxes on electronics are so expensive when Brazil doesn't produce them at home, as well as food being so expensive, or taxing cheap Chinese e-commerce sites when people don't have much money in the first place.

From what I hear the healthcare is amazing. My wife was shocked at how poor our healthcare system was compared to Brazil — apparently free, fast, high quality, thorough. For example, to see a GP here is sometimes a two week waiting list, on top of not being free, and of quite poor quality for a supposed first world country.

Political/Stability — It's a South American country, not much more to be said, corruption abound everywhere as well as bureaucracy (my father-in-law is waiting 5 years for an inheritance). And of course the country is shockingly dangerous

Entrepreneurship/Tech — One thing that amazed me in Brazil was the technology, I haven't been to the USA but in Europe it's at least a decade behind in terms of adoption of tech. From Pix, to NuBank, to iFood, Rappi, everyone adopting WhatsApp Business (no idea why this is barely used in Europe for small businesses). Maybe superficial examples but it highlights that entrepreneurship seems to be thriving there.

Education I have no idea, I suppose English should be focused more in schools since it opens lots of doors there

Re: Ask HN: How do you see Brazil?

#12

Post by yourstruly-br »

I run a IT services based in Brazil. Deep pool of real talent and commitment to quality in work (very different from what we hear from customers who hire developers from other countries). The country is not cheap though. High taxation makes everything very expensive, from cars (a piece of junk costs $15,000 and up) to MacBooks (US$3,000+). Things like cheese and wine are more expensive than in Europe (and I am talking about locally produced ones).

Re: Ask HN: How do you see Brazil?

#13

Post by PaulHoule »

yourstruly-br wrote: post #12

I run a IT services based in Brazil. Deep pool of real talent and commitment to quality in work (very different from what we hear from customers who hire developers from other countries). The country is not cheap though. High taxation makes everything very expensive, from cars (a piece of junk costs $15,000 and up) to MacBooks (US$3,000+). Things like cheese and wine are more expensive than in Europe (and I am talkin…

My take is high tariffs on high tech stuff holds Brazil back.

Re: Ask HN: How do you see Brazil?

#14

Post by theideaofcoffee »

ilrwbwrkhv wrote: post #5

Once upon a time I wanted to spend new year's eve in Rio. Now I don't want to go because it feels unsafe. I know a lot of great hackers come from Brazil so I know a lot of people still care. That's the thing with countries: they are either getting better or growing worse and Brazil unfortunately seems to fall in the latter category.

Don't go into the communities/favelas (unless you really want to, then find a guide) and you'll be fine. New Years in Rio is high profile and well-known enough that any incidents with foreigners/estrangeiros would be a huge scandal so it's relatively safe at that time.

Re: Ask HN: How do you see Brazil?

#15

Post by DANmode »

Argonaut998 wrote: post #11

I married a Brazilian, but I probably have some misinformed thoughts Economic — I think it probably has the most potential of any country out there, except maybe India. A bit too protectionist, I don't understand why taxes on electronics are so expensive when Brazil doesn't produce them at home, as well as food being so expensive, or taxing cheap Chinese e-commerce sites when people don't have much money in the first…

> no idea why this is barely used in Europe for small businesses

Did they not already witness the pros and cons of relying on other flavor-of-the-week social networks like Facebook for their landing pages and comms functionality?

Re: Ask HN: How do you see Brazil?

#16

Post by DANmode »

theideaofcoffee wrote: post #14
ilrwbwrkhv wrote: post #5

Once upon a time I wanted to spend new year's eve in Rio. Now I don't want to go because it feels unsafe. I know a lot of great hackers come from Brazil so I know a lot of people still care. That's the thing with countries: they are either getting better or growing worse and Brazil unfortunately seems to fall in the latter category.

Don't go into the communities/favelas (unless you really want to, then find a guide) and you'll be fine. New Years in Rio is high profile and well-known enough that any incidents with foreigners/estrangeiros would be a huge scandal so it's relatively safe at that time.

This sounds equivalent to me to "Don't go into the neighborhoods of New York City, just Times Square and businesses."

Do you really visit the place, then?

Re: Ask HN: How do you see Brazil?

#18

Post by theideaofcoffee »

DANmode wrote: post #16
theideaofcoffee wrote: post #14

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Don't go into the communities/favelas (unless you really want to, then find a guide) and you'll be fine. New Years in Rio is high profile and well-known enough that any incidents with foreigners/estrangeiros would be a huge scandal so it's relatively safe at that time.

This sounds equivalent to me to "Don't go into the neighborhoods of New York City, just Times Square and businesses." Do you really visit the place, then?

Enh, some of the more rough neighborhoods in NYC are still far better than a lot of the favelas in Rio. You don't have to go to Rocinha or Vidigal or Vila Cruzeiro to say 'I visited Rio', just like you don't have to say 'I went to Brownsville NYC' there are so many other places too to give you an authentic Rio experience.

(Edit: also my use of 'communities' may have been a bit misleading, that was a direct translation of the portuguese 'comunidade' which refers to a bunch of them)

Re: Ask HN: How do you see Brazil?

#20

Post by LastNevadan »

I read a lot of economics blogs. A lot of them seem to have the joke, "Brazil is the country of the future, and it always will be!"

The meaning is that Brazil should be a more successful country. Great location, favorable demographics, lots of natural resources, peaceful neighbors, large population, mostly stable government. But it just never quite becomes successful. But in could, in the future! But that's what people also said in the past.

Somewhere I read that around 1900, Brazil had the same GDP per capita as the United States. And that was the peak of Brazil.

I'm not trying to pick on Brazil. I have a favorable opinion of Brazil and its citizens. I hope that Brazil proves the economists wrong and becomes the country that it can be.

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