See The Future in the US... Look at Brazil....

[Steve_A]

Hi Everybody,

I'm going out on a limb here and going to predict what will happen for next years' elections in the US. It's a similar thing to what happened down here in Brazil over the past few years.

Brazil is a socialist country now. It is slowly but surely moving away from a democracy and I feel is moving towards a one party State, not that other parties won't exist, it's just that the public will not be able to afford to support them.

Over the last eight years, Lula has done two things. The first thing he did was to offer constant financial help to the lower class citizen in the way of supplements to their wages and then he named a program called PAC (Programa de Acelaração do Crescimento - Accelerated Growth Program) which is to stimulate the growth in the economy by ways of public projects for roads and bridges and the like. (Sounds familiar?)

It's clear that as the elections become closer he must be seen to be inaugurating these public projects, as he did in Recife recently, inaugurating Parque Donna Lindú - a local park and theatre complex - named after his mother. The thing is that the place hasn't even been finished yet! But you can see the impact in the press for the rest of the country seeing him inaugurating projects every week, just to keep in the media and promote his choice for candidate for election for President next year.

But the crunch is this. When the elections come round the party in power is going to tell the lower classes that if the opposition gets elected, they will lose all the financial help he has offered them. All those wage subsidies. Which poorer person will support that?

So we can see more or less the same thing that Obama is doing in the US. Huge stimulous bill for public works (which will intensify for sure next year - along with personal appearances by the President supporting his candidate) and the possible threat that food stamps for kids, extended social security and other social benefits would be cut if the Government would change.

It's a dilema, but if you want to control the masses (the vast majority is not wealthy) you give them something and then threaten to take it away if they mis-behave.

Only the smart will survive.

Best regards,

Steve