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Ex, you are not alone, it's worse than a Whirlwind Romance. It just keeps getting bolder by the minute for the country. This is so out of line. I wonder how long before the business as usual turns into business as unusual. Can we say "All The Usual Suspects"!
Take care

It might be time for º£½ÇÂÒÂ×s to wonder how this will affect us. Crowd sourcing time, people. Any thoughts?

On the lighter side of this. Blame the Duck. I could only laugh at this one!

Artist Says Brazilian Protesters Copied His Giant Rubber Duck - The New York Times


This thing is out of control, enjoy the humor!

While there are many things much more pressing to deal with in this country, I must say that the arrogance of some people is impressive.

The rubber duckie has been a childhood bath toy for decades,  Dutch artist Florentjun Hofman is hardly the creator of the image, which has been in the public domain since long before he was even born. Copyright? Hardly likely, but nice try anyway Mr. Hofman. How could he possibly copyright something for which a patent has existed since the early 1940s? Hell, I had a rubber duck at least 65 years ago and wouldn't bathe without it.

While Hofman may hold claim to the largest rubber duck created to date (in 2007), he certainly is not sole owner of the image by any stretch of the imagination. If anybody has infringed copyrights it's Hofman himself who used an object patented in the early 40s by sculptor Peter Ganine.

Hofman also ignores the fact that the idomatic phrase "pagar o pato", which roughly translates to "pay the piper" in English has existed since long before he was born too. The phrase is part of the Brazilian culture.

Hofman is nothing but an opportunist looking to cash in on a bit of free publicity, by stirring the pot with his insane accusations.

Have to wonder if this guy took a knock in the head with a wooden clog at some time in the past???

Cheers,
James
expat.com Experts Team

I was thinking that if there is a regime change, The first big change will be the currency exchange rate. We might see 2 to 1 or less.

What else might we see?

Regardless of what happens any effects on the exchange rate or Brazilian stok market will be very short-lived.

The truth of the matter is that ALL of Brazil's politicians are more crooked than the proverbial corkscrew, and no matter who ends up filling the presidency this country's economy has already tanked. If God, himself, came down from heaven to run this country fixing the economic and political problems that got us to where we are now will take at least a decade or more to have any results.

There are just too many major problems to be fixed. First and most urgent is the economic crisis, putting Brazil's financial house in order and changing economic policy to prevent the gross overspending that put us in this situation.

Changing the whole political landscape of this nation, electoral laws, super-salaries for politicians, and a massive reduction in the number of politicians, all of which require changes to the Constitution. Creating a system in which NOBODY has absolute power would be a great start. A parliamentary system where the head of state and congress together make the decisions, nobody can make unilateral decisions and govern by decree as is presently the case, would be a good start. Again this would require changes to the Constitution.

Politicians must also be held criminally responsible for their wrong-doings, not protected by privileged courts as they are currently. If convicted of wrong-doing loss of their mandate and future political rights should be automatic, not subject to a secret vote by their equally crooked counterparts. Corruption is in the DNA of this country's politics at all levels from the federal on down to the municipal governments and Brazilians have let it go on for far too long for it to change quickly.

Once the Brazilian people realize all of this, and understand how futile things really are the short-term bubble will burst and things will quickly go back to being as bad as ever. And that's not to mention the other corruption scandals that haven't hit the fan yet that will make Petrobras look like small potatoes... the BNDES scandal for example.

The future doesn't look at all good and if there is a faint light at the end of the tunnel you can bet your ass that it's just the headlight on the train coming towards us.

Cheers,
James
expat.com Experts Team

I'm a Realistic person when it comes to politics. Economics, however is easier to deal with. If regime change comes the exchange rate will go more in Brasil's favor at least- as you wrote- for a time. I would not mind that if it came with say some cuts in the retail sales tax (plenty of room there to cut) or fewer politicians on the dole.

It is important to remember that Lavajato never charged President Dilma herself with any wrongdoing and the impeachment charges were dubious at best, and clearly part of the sour grapes her opposition had been fed after losing to Dilma.

Dilma's screw up was interfering with a very valid investigation of former president Lula.

The curtain has been drawn back, however and there is a very public back lash. Attention has been paid and "business as usual" will not be as easy to accomplish.

The realist in me is looking ahead now.

Move along now, nothing left to see here.