President Dilma Rousseff addressed Brazil’s National Legislature on its opening yesterday. The next few posts will address a few concrete policies to expect in the coming years, as well as a few aspects of the speech that are worth further consideration: MINIMUM WAGE The minimum wage was $510 Reales per month in 2010 and the proposal—an executive decree issued by Lula and awaiting approval in Congress—is to raise it to $545 per month. Unions are demanding $580 and employers are silently pushing for the minimum. Given that...
Tag - economy
Booming Brazil and Buoyant Brazilians An Ipsos Public Affairs poll measuring national economic optimism in 24 countries placed Brazil far ahead of the pack, with 78 percent of people optimistic about the country’s economy, according to today’s Globo newspaper. India came a distant second at 61 percent and France a gloomy last, with just 3 percent buoyant about the country’s economic outlook. Charitable Potential Today the Folha de São Paulo reported on a McKinsey Consulting study that placed Brazil’s potential for...
The current trend toward rogue debtors in Brazil is a result of at least two phenomena: first, the conditions surrounding a boom in credit, including the way purchases are parceled out over time and a society with little credit experience; second, the phenomenon I wrote about last entry--the fantastical price of consumer durables here in Brazil.