Brazilian Elections: Lula's Legacy

From the Amazonian state of Acre all the way down to the German settlements in Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil is a nation of contradictions and paradoxes. 


The world's fifth largest nation in terms of both geography and population, Brazil has been a wonderment for those around the world, with images of Ipanema Beach and Carnival.  But there is more to this sprawling country that takes up more than two thirds of South America than meets the eye.


Brazil is currently in the midst of it's national elections and looking for a new face to continue to lead the country in the direction that current President Lula ( Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva) managed to put it in during his eight year term. Lula, as he is affectionally called, is so loved that if it were constitutionally possible, Brazilians would reelect him for a third term.


Within his two terms, Lula helped bolster a bourgeoning middle class as well as tackle his country's several challenges. Before his presidency, Brazil was a country with an enormous disparity between the rich and the poor which prevented it's economic growth. In just this decade, thanks to Lula, 27 million Brazilians managed to "move on up" in the social ladder to the middle class. 


The country was also able to narrowly escape the world financial crisis and even see it's economy grow by six percent. Education became a primary concern for Lula's administration with the Bolsa Familia being enacted to encourage poor families to send their children to school for monthly monetary cheques from the government.


All of Lula's work has paid off, Brazil's Gini coefficient on inequality has dropped dramatically in the last decade, making Brazil a success story.


So now that Lula's time is sadly drawing to a close, who will be his best successor?


Three main candidates have come to the forefront but no one has seemed to resonate with the public as well as the current president initially did. Perhaps, it has something to do with his extremely humble beginnings in the Brazilian Nord-Este state of Pernambuco. 


In tomorrow's post, I will explore the candidates that have been drawing the most attention and comparing their backgrounds and their presidential promises. 


I haven't seen or heard anything convincing as yet from the candidates, but I could be biased because as far as I'm concerned, whoever is going to replace Lula has some big shoes to fill.


V.K.L

Economics According to Rachida Dati: To Inflate or To Fellate?

Keep up with world news, France just continues to pop up on my radar recently, hence this little mishap surely would not go unnoticed. 

Ex-justice minister turned European Minister of Parliament, Rachida Dati is no stranger to the press, but the gaffe she made on French television network Canal Plus has thrust her back into the limelight for an embarrassing fifteen seconds. 

Dati, known for her lavish living, was talking strictly business in an interview with Canal Plus this past weekend when she accidentally used "fellatio" instead of "inflation"  in a sentence discussing French economics,

"When I see some of them looking for returns of 20 or 25 percent, at a time when fellatio is close to zero, and in particular in a slump, that means we are destroying businesses," Dati said. 

The saving grace for Dati is that, according to Agence France Presse, the word for "fellatio" in French is "fellation", which can easily be confused with "inflation."

Dati has laughed off the situation, claiming she spoke too quickly.

I, on the other hand, am convinced that French politics and economics could not be any sexier. 


V.K.L

Lapsus: Dati confond "inflation" et... "fellation"
Uploaded by LePostfr. - News videos hot off the press.

The Sarkozy's: The Sexed Up, Less Amicable Version of the Obamas

Roma expatriation. Retirement age strikes. These ongoing issues in France are likely to occasionally flash across your television screen, granted you are watching the BBC or in your newspaper, if you're reading Financial Times or Wall Street Journal.

France always seems to have some of the hardest news stories to come out of Europe, and I find myself addicted to them. Yet, I can't help but notice that more and more, it's not necessarily the political and social news that North Americans are being informed of from the "Hexagon" but rather, the inside life of the Sarkozy's. 

Carla Bruni-Sarkozy, supermodel/singer turned First Lady to the often and rightfully so, vilified president Nicolas Sarkozy , always seems to be in the news. During the spring, she and her husband were rumoured to be having extramarital affairs. Last week, she was reported to have said in her new biography that Michelle Obama called life in the White House "hell". Now, she is being slammed in Germany for attempting to use her celebrity status as a "charity plea" to the Bundestag. Never mind the fact that she is obviously going to come out with a new CD at some point. 

Her huband, Nicolas. on the other hand, is apparently losing allies within his own government. Just this week, French prime minister Francois Fillon claimed Sarkozy was never his "mentor" and that their relationship is a political alliance while allegedly "distancing" himself from the president  This coincidentally comes at the time that Sarkozy's government is seeing it's approval rating decrease to 49 percent in August, with Roma deportations and the plan to raise the national retirement age to 62 as obvious concerns. 

I'd like to parallel the image of Nicolas and Carla Bruni-Sarkozy with that of the Obama's. While Sarkozy's presidental campaign and entrance to the Palais d'Elysee was not a red carpet walk like it was for Obama, he still has received rock-star like press coverage, from quickly divorcing his former wife at the beginning of his term to his union to Carla. The only difference is Sarkozy never had as many people as Obama in his camp to begin with, and now, right at the same time of Tea Partiers and Republican rhetoric, he is starting to look like a single term president.