Newfie wrote:And my initial point was and is the government has a deep interest in wealth redistribution so as to avoid such destabilizing events.
I was travelling about 8 times a year to Brazil in the late 90's and early 2000's. I had the opportunity to discuss politics with quite wealthy Brazilians and we discussed the democratically elected socialist presidents of the time. Lula in particular came from a socialist party who then adopted quite a few neo-liberal practices in an attempt to stimulate the economy.
The citizenry elected a socialist who then turned somewhat capitalist in his agenda.
What was this push pull back then embracing socialist agenda and at the same time adopting neo-liberal policies in order to develop a thriving economy?
The reason is exactly Newfie's point. The social dislocation of the urban and rural poor in Brazil made Brazil one of the most crime ridden countries in Latin America. Every wealthy person had to invest money and time in personal security in order to bunker themselves in from crime. Wrought iron on windows, broken glass on tops of wooden walls, fancy electronic security systems. The wealthy lived in urban ghettos for the rich, imprisoned. I went to many of their homes when socializing with them on business trips.
And so why did even the business elite embrace socialist presidents at that time.
Because of an understanding that if you want any kind of liberty and freedom in moving about Brazil without getting robbed or mugged or your daughters kidnapped you better have some social policies in place to create a basic social safety net.
Brazil is a New World Country full of diverse peoples from all over the world, a land of immigrants much like the United States.
It is representative to this discussion exactly because of where we are currently heading in the US, skewed toward dismantling the social safety nets, tax reform for the wealthy, removing health care options for the poor.
We are planting the seeds of social dislocation similar to Brazil.
In other words we are planting the seeds for future socialist presidents, unlike Venezuela and much like Brazil, neo liberal economic policy will still be present.
It's all about balance my friends.
Balance, something we do not have with the jingoism political discourse we get here at peakoil.com
After two unsuccessful attempts (losing both to Fernando Henrique Cardoso, a Social-Democrat, who soon adhered to the Third Way neoliberal agenda), Lula was eventually elected in 2002. In spite of criticism of his government for alliances with right-wing politicians and practicing some unorthodox neoliberal politics,[2] which caused the departure of some factions of the PT, Lula claims he still has "socialist skills".[3] A major departure from his government and his party was from the group which created the Socialism and Liberty Party (Partido Socialismo e Liberdade – PSOL). In 2010, PT's Dilma Rousseff was elected the first female President of Brazil. During her term, there were widespread protests for better living standards, in which PT was criticized for distancing itself from social movements and youth organizations; for many it seems the PT's reformist model of left-wing politics is reaching its limits.[2]
Patiently awaiting the pathogens. Our resiliency resembles an invasive weed. We are the Kudzu Ape
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