<iframe width="560" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/kdIuj5W6yPk" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe> More than 100,000 people took to the streets in largely peaceful protests in at least eight cities Monday, demonstrations that voiced the deep frustrations Brazilians feel about carrying heavy tax burdens but receiving woeful returns in public education, health, security and transportation. full article
it doesn't matter if you're glorious comrades or profitable capitalists, this is what you get when you let a woman run things! I'm kidding!
Public education in Brazil truly is pathetic. It's so bad that despite the fact that Brazil is still a developing nation much poorer than the US, management level or engineering jobs in Brazil on average pays more than in the US. Also outside of cachaca and churrascaria, why is everything so damn expensive in Brazil!
It just feels so predictable, right? All of these "emerging" countries that are on the hook for hundreds of billions of dollars worth of stadiums, upgrades and, likely, bribes (How do you think the wheels at FIFA and the IOC get greased?) use the World Cup and Olympics as "coming out parties" at the expense of the majority of their population. The divide between the haves and have-nots is widened, but swept under the rug when the cameras are turned on, and the stadiums sit empty once the spectators leave.
My wife is Brazilian and we've watched the news there with interest. A lot of what has provoked the protests (I didn't click on the links, maybe it's mentioned) is that Brazil has spent....I don't know, the equivalent of $15 billion dollars...to prepare for the World Cup. They're calling these new stadiums "white elephants". In the meantime, education continues to be crappy, public services is a joke, corruption there makes our politicians all look like George Washington, and so on. My wife can be harder-hearted about it than me, having seen firsthand for her entire life how it can be there. And yes, it can be expensive. You CAN enjoy yourself there for not too much money, if you have a beach to hit, but once you enter even a halfway decent restaurant, forget it. Cha ching. I've been to Brazil twice, I loved Rio (freaking incredible place), I have Brazilian friends, I speak their language, and I have to say, despite some improvements here and there, they have some real problems. Cruelty, racism, and every-man-for-himself-ism over the centuries has not died out. The fact that Brazilians in general can put on such a happy and cheerful face in spite of it all is amazing, because I'm surprised they can survive on such low wages and high prices and poor education. (Their universities, however, are pretty darn good.)
We need da1 to espouse the benefits of complete reliance on public transport. http://qz.com/95345/brazilians-spend-as-much-as-26-of-their-income-to-ride-the-bus/
One of my Brazilian friends posted this on facebook <iframe width="560" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/ZApBgNQgKPU" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>
F that, I am going there anyway. Party pooping girl. But we'll have bodyguards like in 2010. P.S.: Anyone seen City of God?
From what I understand, those things will bring an economic boom to the country. They have plenty of critical mass and interest to put those stadiums to use afterwards. It's not a situation like Qatar where the entire population of the country would fit into the stadiums they're building. What seems to be more frustrating is that there was seemingly no money to do this - then the money appeared, and of course corruption is always going to be rife when you have events with so many infrastructure related projects attached. It's a real downer for me - have been planning on attending that entire World Cup since the day it was announced. But with what's in the media about brutal cleaning up of neighbourhoods, corruption, deteriorating standard of living - you have to feel for them in making this desperate show for attention. Apparently there was a brutal crackdown today as well. It's easy for us to expect them to wait to see if these events change things economically, but the situation must be dire if BRAZILIANS are doing ANYTHING other than watching football during a relatively major international competition.
So sad, I've been looking at houses for rent for the month around several of the stadiums and deals can be had. Found a 4 bedroom house in Salvador for less that 6K. But after all this...?
I just reserved a room at an international luxury hotel for 10k for the whole month. That girl should explain to me how that is bad for Brazil's economy. But I think I will end up changing my booking and just watching over the WAGS of the German team again.
I'm 5000% sure we heard the same thing about the stadiums built for the Beijing Olympics Then less than a year after the closing ceremony, the Bird's Nest was dead empty every day.
There's a LOT more interest in football in Brazil. You should see how packed their stadiums get for games. At worst, it takes a lot longer to pay for the stadiums than anticipated. They have 4 divisions (almost 100 clubs IIRC) and they're a hub for other South American players. They will be fine and the upgrade in facilities is sorely needed anyway.
