Just sent this to Matador after they published that sickening Brazilian tea party article by Marcos Carvalho. ------ I wish our first contact were because of something nicer, but Ive written to talk about this pathetic article youve published: matadornetwork/change/brazil-last-place-host-world-cup/. It was written by radical right-winger and designer Marcos Carvalho. A man no one knows in Brazil, but still got to be a spokesman for Matador and ESPNFC. I find no problem with people being in whatever wing they want, but that doesnt mean they are entitled to their own facts. And this is why I am making this effort in helping you improve your grasp of Brazil. Since not many Brazilian journalists step into the international market, clueless pundits like Carvalho are a real problem for us. It is important I write a short bio so you know where the criticism comes from and where I stand. Ive worked for Reuters, Yahoo and local news website UOL over the last 10 years. Ive covered two presidential elections in Brazil, plus votes in Britain, Uruguay and Chile. I have spent almost two years in Brasilia as UOLs chief political correspondent. Since youre newbies in Brazil, I will be very descriptive in my criticism and use Carvalhos article as a reference. It will hurt, because I like good copy, not that senseless turd he wrote. Brazil deserves criticism for loads of things, but to do that properly it is important those who write it at least try to be intellectually honest. Brazil was led by a pragmatic technocrat called Fernando Henrique Cardoso who stabilized the economy, opened Brazilian markets to the world, and presided over the beginning of what would be Brazil’s latest economic boom. Cardoso was never a technocrat. He was a Social Sciences professor at University of São Paulo, a former senator with loads of votes in São Paulo. He didnt open Brazilian markets to the world, it was actually the only achievement of his corrupted predecessor, Fernando Collor. Cardoso presided over the beginning of the economic boom, but that was in his first term. After he mysteriously changed the Constitution so he could run again, all he got was problems. Russia crisis in 99 spread to Brazil. Cardoso had to give up on the Brazilian currencys peg to the dollar and the Brazilian economy plunged. It got even worse after an energy crisis. Worse still after Argentina submerged in 2001. Unlike Carvalho says, in very partisan blind fashion, it isnt that simple. Brazilians voted in ex-guerrillas / union leaders into power. The retrograde mindset and poor market for ideas that informed the current party in power would make any serious student of public policy or economist laugh out loud. The only ex-guerrila to be elected president was Dilma Rousseff. The only union leader to be elected president was Lula. But that is just a detail. When Carvalho talks about poor market ideas, he sees oposition when there is none. Lula and Dilma basically did the same Cardoso did in the economy. They were just as conservative -- raising interest rates, using a budget surplus to pay for internal debt, reinforced inflation targets. It doesnt seem Carvalho knows these core economic trends in Brazil and just wants to spread his misconception around. Besides, if economists would thought there had been a dramatic change, rating agencies would have given Brazil investment grade in 2008. Brazil has a bigger share in the IMF. We can discuss how important rating agencies and the IMF are, but serious economists are clearly not on Carvalhos side. After all, they have to read to make their assumptions. These are politicians who are guided by the principle that North Korea and Cuba got it right, and that the greatest tragedy in their lives was the fall of the USSR. So Brazil got an investment grade for being influenced by North Korea and Cuba? That is why it is hosting the World Cup and the Olympics, two of the most marketable events on Earth? Lula and Dilma are as much with North Korea and Cuba as Obama is with the terrorists that attacked the US. That sheer perception could only come from someone with a twisted perception and willing to make a political point with made up facts -- and you gave him a platform to say that. Brazil went from being a manufacturing powerhouse to being a raw commodities exporter. Brazil was never a manufacturing powerhouse. In the late 19th century, we went to war with Paraguay because they were a manufacturing powerhouse. Until the nineties, all industry was obsolete and commodities were the only focus. The stabilization of the economy fostered a better national industry, but that doesnt mean commodities arent important anymore. By the works of Cardoso, Lula and Dilma, Embraer became a top jet exporter. All three had policies for carmakers. These have been key drivers out of the commodity world since the nineties. None were destroyed. If this is too little, it has been too little for a century, not since 10 years ago. China was buying soy, steel, and sugar at an increasing pace, and the Brazilian government was hiking up taxes and creating the most convoluted bureaucracy possible to keep industrialists and entrepreneurs in the tightest straightjacket possible while agriculture and mining flourished, which is a simple recipe for economic disaster, and shows incredibly poor vision and judgement. Ask any foreign correspondent you want. Brazilian bureaucracy has been there since time immemorial. In 1987, Brazil had a Ministry of Deburocratization, which is a joke in itself. About hiking taxes: if Carvalho can name three taxes that were lifted I will write a story now about Brazilian reporters missing it in those days of Lula and Dilma. The main reason being: high interest rates make a large chunk of borrowing costs and growth in the last years was based on CONSUMPTION. Any respectable news organization that reports on Brazil knows that. On top of that, dozens of the ruling party’s members and their political allies were caught stealing billions of reais. The mensalão, the greatest corruption scandal in the history of Brazil, has recently landed several politicians from the ruling party in jail, but this hasn’t stopped their cronies from stealing. This would be to long to discuss, but one thing I can say: we impeached a corrupted president before Cardoso took office. How can this be the greatest corruption scandal in the history of Brazil? Only a biased writer can say that. Actually, every year the Workers’ Party is in power, Brazil slides further in the index. Not true. Just check. pt.wikipedia.org/wiki/%C3%8Dndice_de_Percep%C3%A7%C3%A3o_de_Corrup%C3%A7%C3%A3o The current ruling party wants to perpetuate itself in power at all costs, and possibly eternally. No basis to say that. Just check how many elections we have, how the Judiciary is more independent than Spains, for example, and how press is free. Even idiots like Carvalho can say whatever they want. The government also disburses millions in taxpayer money to pay hackers to attack opposition parties’ websites, to fund social activists who sabotage the opposition’s Facebook pages, and to pay for the president’s makeup and lavish travels. HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA That is just pathetic. Do you guys actually read this before you published it? Do you see why people are angry? How can a government that cares so little for its people hold the honor of hosting the greatest, most watched, event on Earth? I should probably tell you polls show Dilma Rousseff is the favourite to win reelection. And she had a 81% job approval before the protests kicked off. Ms. Rousseff, like Mr. Lula da Silva, worship at the feet of brutal dictators like Castro, and Gaddafi, whom Mr. Lula da Silva called “my friend, my brother, and my leader.” That is a fact just in Carvalhos twisted mind. He is probably watching Glenn Beck clips too much and you are spreading his misconceptions as if it were op-ed. Meanwhile, censorship has finally returned to the press rooms of Brazilian newspapers and TV stations for the first time since the re-establishment of democracy. And there are laws in the works to further censor the press. If there is censorship in Brazilian press, I will write you a check of 1,000 dollars. Talk to journalists before spreading smears that have nothing to do with Brazil. I am not someone who grew up in Brazil and left talking about journalism here. I am a journalist here and I can give you 1,000 others who will loathe that piece you published. If you want to be respected here, try looking for better sources. If you just want the attention, even if it is by publishing smears, I should tell you hits is an acronym for how idiots track success. Best regards, Mauricio Savarese
Posted on: Tue, 25 Mar 2014 12:53:22 +0000
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