OP and most other people on this thread don't seem to know much about Brazil at all, although TrailingComet came pretty close when he mentioned "bad government policies, colonial legacy, corruption and nepotism". I'm Irish/Brazilian and have LIVED in Brazil most of my life. You people seem to be talking about how Brazil was 30+ years ago. The government is corrupt, yes, but a government is nothing but a mirror of the society it represents, and this is a society where corruption is a cultural thing. Inflation is currently at
6-7% yearly, which could hardly be called "hyperinflation".
The most important thing to bear in mind, though, is that Brazil is, like the USA, basically a bunch of States forced to remain together in spite of a series of profound differences between them. How would you define the USA, for example? Is it New York? Is it the southern states? Is it California? Is it Montana? See the point I'm trying to make?
In Brazil's case, in terms of wealth, we basically have 2 very different countries: the States from the North and Northeast regions, and the States from the Central-West, Southeast and South regions (Brazil is divided like that, in 5 regions). The northern and northeastern States are poorer, but we're definitely not talking of poorer as in "people starving to death" here. They are just less developed. The southeastern and southern states are way more developed (in all senses).
Brazil and the US are actually very similar, which could help Americans understand Brazil better than people from other countries. There are, like I said, the differences between the various States and regions. I think I don't even need to start talking about corruption, about how large corporations run both countries from behind the scenes, or how passive and brainwashed by the media people have become. Both are also countries of immigrants, mainly European - just replace the English with the Portuguese in Brazil's case. Brazil has the largest number of Italian descendants in the world, with the US coming in at a very close second place. In the southern states there's a strong German presence, with at least 20% of the population being of German descent. There's even a significant number of Dutch descendants in some northeastern states, from the time the Dutch invaded that region until they were expelled by the Portuguese. Unlike the US, though, we do not have a significant hispanic component in our population - Brazil and hispanic South America are in practice like two separate continents, and the two do not mix much.
There are so many other misconceptions I could address - favelas, violence, drugs, etc. - that writing an in-depth essay about the complexities of Brazil would be too much work, so I'm just gonna leave you with these observations:
- OP seems to come from a poor family and that directly affects his ability to see the big picture (which is perfecly understandable). Pick anyone from any country who is not wealthy and that person will describe that country in a completely different way than a wealthier person.
- For Satan's sake, take everything you see in the media with ten grains of salt.
- If you really want to get a glimpse of Brazil, come live here for a few months (or years), and in different regions - and no, a 2-week holiday won't suffice.
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