Page's book is presented in great detail, beginning with a realistic "Introducing Brazil" chapter (4-6) in which Page grimly describes how a once optimistic nation now is crime-ridden, so poverty-stricken that "the social fabric is tearing to shreds," with a "yawning chasm" separating "haves" from "have-nots." Economically, Brazil suffers from high inflation rates and still is coming to grips with the "relatively recent shift" from a "primarily rural to a primarily urban society."

Political sophistication and economic prosperity in Brazil, Page continues, was "stunted by two decades of military dictatorship (1

Among the articles available on Brazil's economy is a piece in the journal Historical Materialism (Saad-Dilho, 2003), which asserts that "the deteriorating performance of the Brazilian economy" over the past twenty or so years results from "a range of complex political-economic constraints." Whereas, between 1949 and 1980, the "annual GDP growth rates averaged 7.3 percent (3.8 percent per capita)," and that was among the best economic performances in the world, Saad-Dilho writes. Why the strong growth rate during that period of time?

While he agrees that all the above-mentioned problems contribute to Brazil's woes, Saad-Dilho believes that two major flaws in the economic system aE" that kicked in during the early 1980s aE" need to be pointed out: one, the "inefficiency of the financial system" (Brazil has been "unwilling or unable to fulfill the funding requirements of a rapidly expanding manufacturing sector"); and two, "the Brazilian state was never strong... [rather it was] institutionally disarticulated, and unable to impose a consistent set of long-term policy priorities." Also, the "oil shocks and the international debt crisis" made the balance of payments worse while social conflicts were growing more intense, "political instability" was becoming endemic, and the military ruling government failed to establish any worthwhile / long range policies with reference to economics.

And the sour taste of the economy in the mouths of 100 million Brazilian voters meant the end for Cardoso, and a new president, Lula, who is in office trying to push the right buttons and make the right calls to jumpstart the Brazilian economy.

964-1985)" and has a long history of "corruption." Indeed, Brazil is a "leasing producer of human misery," Page writes, as a Brazilian baby dies every six seconds from "a diarrhea-related disease." Every thirty minutes one Brazilian contracts leprosy and another Brazilian contracts tuberculosis, Page asserts. The misery goes on and on in this chapter, so clearly, the psychology of positive thinking has had a rough time gaining a foothold in a nation with so many social and political ills. On top of that, despite the image that many Americans have of Brazil as a liberated society in terms of social and personal mores and values Page insists Brazilians have extremely repressive attitudes about sex.

A very poor, largely agricultural nation, that had specialized in coffee production and in exporting goods, "became a large, diversified and relatively wealthy industrial power" in the fifty years after the Great Depression, according to the article by Saad-Dilho. Brazil was exporting aircraft to the U.S., construction technology to the Middle East, and "durable consumer goods to China." The success Brazil had in those 50 years, however, could not be maintained. A faltering economic growth in the 1980s evolved into "prolonged stagnation"; and in the past 20-some years, the rate of economic growth has slowed down to 1.8% per year.

Some common words found in the essay are:
Real Plan, Americans Brazil, Silva October, Middle East, Materialism Saad-Dilho, Charles Goodyear, Foreign Affairs, Portuguese Europeans, Indeed Brazil, Grande Sul, brazilian economy, de onis, rubber trees, native indians, page writes, brazilian economy past, called brazil's, article called, tribes native, amazon basin, brazil indians, article called brazil's,
Approximate Word count = 2020
Approximate Pages = 8 (250 words per page double spaced)