POTUS Will Travel This Weekend to Brazil, Despite Turmoil & Devastation in Japan & Libya
Posted By Vicki McClure Davidson on March 16, 2011
Iconic symbol of Christianity, Christ the Redeemer statue, standing 98 feet tall, overlooks Rio de Janeiro, Brazil from the peak of Corcovado mountain
Why Pres. Barack Obama is planning a trip to Brazil and not devastated Japan or assaulted Libya right now is murky. You’ll never get the full story from his team’s spin with the press — the word from Al Jazeera, Sec. of State Hillary Clinton’s favorite news source for “real news”, is that he wants to “rebuild lost influence.”
Suffice it to say, though, that FLOTUS Michelle and the kids will have a ball on this vacation, which follows close on the heels of last month’s Vail, Colorado skiing vacation — might even close down a beach or two while there. And Barack is adored in Brazil, so no doubt there will be over-the-top Carnival-style festivities. They will also be stopping in El Salvador and Chile.
From Forbes, Obama Heads to Rio Sunday; Maximum Security Awaits:
President Barack Obama will take his first official trip to Brazil this weekend where he will speak in the popular Cinelandia Square in downtown Rio de Janeiro. Access, of course, will be tightly restricted and security measures so secretive that not even the Embassy or US Consulate in Rio know exactly who it’s all going to go down. Obama’s speech will be free and open to the public and take place around 15:00 local time (14:00 EST). Access to the square will begin at 11:30, and is sure to draw a crowd. Obama is popular in Brazil. One politician seeking office in Rio actually changed his name to Barack Obama in 2008 to solicit votes. He didn’t win.
The Obama family will also take in the sights in Rio. A trip to Corcovado mountain, where the Christ the Redeemer statue stands (France gave us Lady Liberty, gave Brazil Jesus) is supposedly on the itinerary. What trip to Rio would be complete without it? If they do make it to the top of the mountain, they will do so with an entourage of secret service and Brazil’s Elite Squad, known as BOPE.
From Associated Press, White House: Obama Latin American trip still on:
WASHINGTON (AP) — Determined to boost the U.S. relationship with Latin America, President Barack Obama will stick to his upcoming itinerary in Brazil, Chile and El Salvador despite mounting international troubles demanding his time, the White House said Tuesday.
“The trip is on,” Obama spokesman Jay Carney said as Japan’s nuclear power plant crisis and upheaval across the Middle East consumed the administration’s attention. “You have to remember that economic growth in the United States is the president’s top priority, and this trip is very focused on economic opportunities for the United States and trade relationships.”
Yet foreign trips by presidents are often shaped or overshadowed by the context of the times. This one comes in the aftermath of Japan’s devastating earthquake and tsunami, including the ongoing nuclear radiation scare in Japan, and in the midst of more Mideast unrest. Carney said Obama always has the capability to deal with any issue while traveling abroad.
Obama will be out of the country from Saturday through the following Wednesday.
I don’t know much about Brazil (except for what has been portrayed a few seasons back on CSI Miami) — learned a great deal after reading this eye-opening piece at American Thinker by Pedro Primavera.
Perhaps POTUS is going for some governing and/or economic tips?
Welcome to Brazil: Lessons for the American People to Learn
February 27, 2011Recently, Hillary Clinton touted the ways of Brazil as an economic lesson to the world. The economy has consistently grown by 3-6% recently, depending on the estimate, and soon Brazil will display itself on the world stage with soccer’s World Cup and the Olympic Games in 2016. But scratch below the surface and you see a different picture.
Brazil’s economy actually is growing at a superheated pace, this much is true. It is the B in the BRIC, which together seems to have a controlling destiny in the world economy. After generations of misrule and flirtations with Communism, Brazil seems to have its legs beneath her. The currency is finally stable (with interest rates, however, from 14% and upward) and taxes now just onerous rather than impossible. There exists a growing middle class and considerable upward mobility that never really existed before. The problem is that Brazil still cannot shake its pinko roots.
Politicians in Brazil promise everything to everybody. Its astronomically popular recent president Lula was the original community organizer. What kind of promises? Every Brazilian with a “legitimate” job is guaranteed 30 days of vacation after the first year. In addition, their Social Security system makes the US government look miserly. And once you are hired in a legitimate job, you have to try very hard to lose your job — public or private sector.
The only problem is that there are far from enough legitimate jobs. As with the unions in the US, the legitimate jobs have priced themselves out of the market. Fortunately for Brazil, the jobs are driven underground instead of to Mexico or China.
So there is a huge underground economy operating on a cash-only basis that keeps Brazil driving, if not afloat. Some estimates offer that from one-third to one-half of the jobs are under the table. If these jobs disappeared, this supposed economic darling would collapse literally overnight.
The same government that supposedly looks out for the Working Man keeps a blind eye to the underground economy because it has to. Legitimate jobs are just not there aplenty including the make-work public sector jobs. If you are looking for a job, one month’s vacation and generous social security benefits — or future meals on the table — mean nothing compared to food on the table today. This supposedly charitable government locks in the lower class to perpetual poverty by taxing initiative heavily. You can eke out a living in the underground economy or aspire to buy a television or car, but stop right there with your upward mobility unless you play the game.
As you can guess, corruption is rampant. It is one large pay-to-play system with Big Government, in essence, protecting Big Business, an incestuous relationship that will soon befall the entire American social structure. You can operate small but you have to be approved by the powers-that-be in order to rub shoulders with real players.
Saddest of all in Brazil is to see the number of over-qualified people either unable to or discouraged from finding their own way in the world. Although not Soviet-style, they are accustomed to Big Government dictating their way. The joke here is you have to get in line even to die. Brazilians often cannot even dream of starting their own legitimate business and laugh in disbelief when they hear about the US style, or at least former style.
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Its all about the economy and jobs!
When President Barack Obama arrives in Brasilia on Saturday for the opening leg of his Latin American trip, the emphasis will be on the economic relationship between Brazil and the United States and the potential business opportunities the world’s seventh largest economy offers.
Brazil showed a 7.5 percent economic growth last year, its $80 billion trading relationship with the United States and the fact that U.S. exports to Brazil have doubled over the past five years is more than a good reason for the President to visit. Especially at this time when jobs in the US are down.
Fully half of Brazil’s population is now considered middle class, and that creates a great opportunity for us to engage and sell our products there and have a deeper economic relationship.
Obama will begin the day Saturday with conversations with Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff at her Planalto office and is scheduled to be the keynote speaker at the U.S.-Brazil Business Summit at a Brasilia hotel in the afternoon. Rousseff, who took office Jan. 1, also has been invited to speak.
The invitation-only event will bring together 300 top executives from corporations such as Exxon Mobil, GE, Coca Cola, Bank of America and Comcast on the U.S side and Brazilian giants Odebrecht, Embraer, JBS and Vale.
Not to mention the 2016 Olympic Games, which will be held in Rio. Brazil is expected to invest more than $200 billion in everything from roads, public transportation, and airports to sports facilities.
These sporting events will provide countless investment opportunities for U.S. businesses.
“Not to mention the 2016 Olympic Games, which will be held in Rio. Brazil is expected to invest more than $200 billion in everything from roads, public transportation, and airports to sports facilities.”
Every country that hosts the Olympics is plunged into crippling decades-long debt – the only people to really make a killing are those in the upper stratosphere of govt circles. The brunt of the debt is shouldered by the citizens. The short-term jobs and profits made from concessions and hotels and ohter related services last for just a few weeks & are quickly overshadowed long after the games. It’s like a tiny bandaid on a gaping wound.
It took Japan more than 30 years to pay off that Olympics “investment.” Brazilians will be regretting this “honor” long after the games are over. Chicago residents understood that, and fought hard to prevent the games from coming there. The only way Chicago could’ve ever paid for it was to raise taxes through the roof and relocate people and businesses. But it’s now Brazil’s problem, thank god, and not Chicago’s.
You obviously didn’t read the article about all the govt corruption in the country – maybe Obummer is in need of some corruption lessons?