I am friends also with someone from southeastern Brazil. He said the chances of someone with only a high school diploma getting a good paying job in Brazil are "bleak." He happily works as a foreman for a landscaping crew... He subscribes to a brazilian portuguese channel to feel connected to home.and flies home periodically to see his extended family, who depend on him for periodic financial help. They arer hardly one step above the Philippines - dreary, meager wages and just getting by. something the statistics-twisting freak show named southamerica overlooks in his constant drivel. I wonder how many mexicans try to sneak into Brazil, as opposed to the US, to alleviate their poverty...
Thanks for the laugh, dude but be careful, Brazilian growth is also causing a technology explosion in blowgun manufacturing. In 7 more years, they might be able to hit you where you live! Housing needs to be adjusted down. Where I live, the average 3-bedroom house hit 1.4 million. That's absurd to think that without ridiculous creative financing and preposterous credit practices that any middle class American with a family of four could pay that loan. They should call this one the Stupidity Bubble... but maybe we should put that one on hold for the oil bubble. Have you heard, we are running out of oil again, just like in 1977! Maybe it was the GWB master plan to make America so unattractive, that illegal aliens would leave on their own. That's saves the US economy tons of money on immigration officials and bus fare. I'd say the man is a genius, but to be one of those requires a brain. He just has dumb luck, and lot of it. Still, if population slows joblessness increases, and families consolidate by moving together, that drives the price of homes down. Less income, less price, too. In the late 1970's, wage inflation was able to float the higher home prices, but that is not the case now, at least not yet. If the Fed raises rates later this year, that should prevent wage inflation. As I see it, too many Fed over-done mistakes and this bubble trouble has come home to roost. This is a correction, not a depression. It is an economic slowdown, not quite a recession. I just hope a year and the corrections will be done. It would help if oil breaks before July. The Fed could cause that to happen by raising rates, but will they? Pete
Interesting thing you brought up, above, SouthoftheCranium. Consider the Berlin Wall. Many East Germans died trying to leave communism. Very few if any West Germans even tried to go the other way. It tells you which system is far better SO You estimate about 650,000 Brazilians live in the US ILLEGALLY. How many Americans you think risk trying to live illegally in Brazil for a better life? Huh? No answer? Kind of tells you which economy is far better...
. Trader Zones: I wonder how many mexicans try to sneak into Brazil, as opposed to the US, to alleviate their poverty... ***** May 25, 2008 SouthAmerica: Reply to TraderZones We don't have as many Mexicans in Brazil because the Brazilian government has closed its long borders with Mexico. You can check a world map. And the Brazilian government achieved that without having to build a wall between the two countries. Did you ever try to cross the border between Brazil and Mexico? You should try some time and then let me know how you did it. .
le140, You have just described what should be happening. Sadly reality is a diffferent matter for US regards f9
. July 16, 2008 SouthAmerica: Last Thursday I had lunch at a Brazilian Restaurant in Newark, New Jersey. When I am by myself I sit at the counter and pay attention to the conversations going on around me. About half the people or the number could be even higher of the people who are the regular customers of these restaurants around Newark are illegal immigrants. I like to hear what they are saying for me to understand things from their point of view. The place is huge and over the years I went for lunch to this place often and I could see how busy they were and most of the time at lunchtime it was hard to find a table or a sit at the counter. This time around the restaurant was completely dead at the peak of lunch hour. They had about 5 people sitting on the counter including myself and out of 50 tables there were about 3 tables with customers. I started talking with the fellow who was sitting next to me at the counter. And I found out that he was an illegal immigrant who had been working around Newark in construction for the last 5 years. He was telling me how the construction business is getting very slow and he canât make enough money to survive here in the US. Then I asked him why he does not got back to Brazil? He told me it is interesting that you asked me that question â he said I have been working with the same group of people in construction for many years that includes 10 Brazilian illegal immigrants including myself â but 8 of the guys are in the process of selling everything and they have their tickets on hand and they are ready to return to Brazil with no plans to return to the US. He told me that he is also thinking about going back to Brazil permanently since based on his experience and the experience of his friends it was not worth staying here anymore to work as an illegal immigrant. I was not surprised by what this fellow told during our conversation. But I also spoke with the manager of the restaurant and he told me that they had had a large customer decline for the last year, but he thought that gas price was the culprit for that kind of decline on their business. But he was aware that a lot Brazilians were going back to Brazil for good and that was also having an impact on his business in a negative way. .