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| Sao Paulo, my hometown |
I was very surprised when I read this post at Bill Maher's.
Brazil is indeed on a roll.
Take a look at what he wrote:
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| Brazilians believe that God is indeed Brasileiro |
August 2, 2012
Rio de Dinero
By Bill Maher
The greatest thing about America was that you could come here with nothing and, purely by hard work, become fabulously wealthy.
But this isn’t happening anymore. More and more money is concentrated in the super-rich while wages for the middle-class are stagnant and the poor are, well, if they’re lucky they might get some cheese and a flu shot.
The worst part is, while America is turning into a banana republic, actual banana republics are starting to turn into what America used to be.
I don’t know much about Brazil, other than that they do amazing things with wax. And have you seen the carioca? It’s not a foxtrot or a polka. There I go quoting 1930's show tunes again.
CONTINUE to READ HERE
The greatest thing about America was that you could come here with nothing and, purely by hard work, become fabulously wealthy.
But this isn’t happening anymore. More and more money is concentrated in the super-rich while wages for the middle-class are stagnant and the poor are, well, if they’re lucky they might get some cheese and a flu shot.
The worst part is, while America is turning into a banana republic, actual banana republics are starting to turn into what America used to be.
I don’t know much about Brazil, other than that they do amazing things with wax. And have you seen the carioca? It’s not a foxtrot or a polka. There I go quoting 1930's show tunes again.
CONTINUE to READ HERE
6 comments:
Good article!!
As for Brazil being more equal than the US: as of this second I still think the US may be more "equal", but what he says is true and the US is becoming the banana republic and Brazil is turning that around. I don't know when Brazil will have the same level of equality the US once had (back in the day) but I think it will probably be within the next 15 years.
Abraço
Great find! I'm definitely going to share. However, I wonder how far this would take someone up the ladder. I think that in the U.S., if you are smart and work very hard, you can make yourself wealthy, maybe even make it into the 1%. But I think that is still virtually impossible in Brazil. However, something like this could be a game changer in the future. Thanks for posting!
Alex, I think if we can get away from the "trickling down" mentality, we should get back on the right track of progress and stop moving backwards.
Ray
B.A.B,
I think it is getting harder and harder for smarts and hard work help someone get ahead in the US, big money is playing an ever increasing roll here and it still amazes me how the Conservatives manage to manipulate the masses against their own interests... take Universal Health care for example, many Americans still have the absurd notion that countries with Universal health care have it worse than we do in the US. How can this be???
Brazil is a hit or miss, I know of many examples of people who came from absolutely nothing and are now MILLIONAIRES, many times over...in Sao Paulo. There is opportunity everywhere you look :)
Abracos
Ray
Not quite the same thing but a friend and I were debating which country was more racist, as of now, Brazil or the US. What do you think?
Rachel,
We could definitely write a book on the subject, but after living in the US for 15 years, I can easily say that both Brazil and the US are at the same level of racism.
Americans are definitely more politically correct about it, but that doesn't stop some random racist bastard to choose someone else when hiring a new employee, solely on the basis of race, and we will never know, because said bastard doesn't want to be sued.
Brazilians are as racist as Americans if you ask me, but are getting more politically correct, by force, literally, the new laws passed in the 90's will land your little racist ass in jail for humiliating someone with diminishing slangs and racist slurs.
Having said that, I truly think we all have come a long ways since the 1950's, and will only get better in the next 20 years or so.
I am the eternal optimist :)
Abracos
Ray
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