These days, it has become a habit of the Brazilian government and those in the neighborhood to tell the developed countries what they should do to improve their lives and get out of the sad situation in which they find themselves.
In contrast, of course, with Brazil, where everything is better these days, from the economic policy to the french fries and where management of public administration practically has no rivals anywhere else in the world in terms of wisdom, quality of decisions taken and number of problems solved.
An attentive person doesn’t need more than half an hour in some rich country to see that everything is finished there, as we are told by key figures in the current administration and, mainly, its predecessor. It’s not exactly what millions of Brazilians traveling abroad see with their own eyes, but who cares about their opinion?
In Brazil, meanwhile, anyone can see how, finally, problems that have been a headache for mankind for the past 10,000 years were solved with perfection.
Just last week in Brussels, the capital of the European community, president Dilma Rousseff offered a new package of advice to the developed nations. Look at the beauty that is Brazil, the president said. Why can’t you do like we do?
Dilma believes Europe, the United States, Japan and other countries currently in ruins should learn from Brazil that the financial system needs to be tightly controlled throughout the world.
It would be nice, too, if they were able to see how the Brazilian government, with its superior understanding of things, managed to provide the country economic growth, rising income, more jobs, improved productivity and a balanced public account.
Governments should have a “policy coordination” among themselves to handle the “crisis” and possibly rule the world the way it really should be ruled, and in case of any doubt, Brazil is right here ready to teach them whatever they need.
The president is far from being the only one to teach “good governance”, as they say today, to rich countries – and only to them, of course, because where is the fun in giving advice to a poor country.
Her predecessor in office has been doing this for a long time. One of his favorite lessons it to teach the United States (or, as they say, “Obama”) that the country’s problem is not having (“as I had in Brazil”) a Central Bank, a Bank of Brazil, a Federal Savings Bank, a Bank of Economic and Social Development and other wonders funded by the state. Had they something similar, the international crisis would have been solved long ago.
Even the Finance minister, Guido Mantega, who in Brazil usually prefers to stay seated during class instead of going to the blackboard, gets that urge to teach lessons when the audience is from the First World. He suggested, for example, that the BRICs should provide help to the euro area to solve the current problems of the European currency.
It is true that he didn’t explain how such a thing could be done in practice, nor what other BRICs would think of his idea, anyway this is just another contribution to the betterment of the world.
Likewise, political analysts, economic science brains and even national entrepreneurs cited in the international lists of billionaires have also decided to provide lessons of wisdom. What they have in common is that very little or nothing results from all their chatter around the world.
Brazil spent the last 100 years listening from the First World, through their most respected heads, all possible types of advice.
Leaders of governments and world organizations, captains of big industry and big finance, economists who have made history, Nobel laureates – all at one time or another, have told Brazil how the country was wrong, and how it should behave in order to have any hope of salvation.
It is well known and confirmed today that much of the advice they gave is among the most stupid ever recorded by human history. It would be prudent, faced with this experience, that authorities eager to advise others would think a little more before speaking, in order not to end up making the same mistake.
Most of all, in fact, rulers of a country that has the rates of crime, illiteracy and corruption as Brazil does, to name just a small portion of the permanent national disaster, should keep their mouths shut at all times and work to solve our miseries, instead of meddling into other peoples problems. But that would be too much to expect.
This article appeared originally in Portuguese, in Veja magazine, where J.R. Guzzo is a columnist.
