BRAZIL-An observation

News from the front

There are two kinds of people with whom having a few drinks is always interesting and usually enoyable. One is the seasoned professional journalist and the other is a Wall Street trader. 

Both are accustomed to taking things with a grain of salt. Both are generally cynical about “absolute truths”. Both have a sardonic sense of humor.

I remember an incident when Iceland went to the financial brink during the 2007-8 financial debacle and one guy on the trading floor asked loudly, “Hey, what’s the capital of Iceland?” The answer came back immediately, “About 25 dollars!”

Seasoned journalists always reminded me of Army sergeants. They have “seen it all” and that includes the errors of the senior officers from the lieutenant all the way up to the commanding general. 

They both constantly search for a ubiquitous person named “Nobody”. 

When ferreting out bad news (which is the most common type of news) they ask those in power, “Who’s responsible for this?” and the answer comes back, “Nobody!” or “Who can tell me who did this?” “Nobody”. They eventually find out who is responsible and when they report it, it goes on the “spike”. 

They usually only discuss their frustrations “in camera” with colleagues and friends they can trust.

Brazil is an excellent place for talking to these two types of people. The others are New York and Washington D.C.

Yesterday the “people” in Brazil took to the streets to protest the increase in public transportation fares. The protest started off peacefully enough but ended in violence.

As you ask around you find that the guy named “Nobody” was responsible for the protest. The transportation fares were increased in response to inflation, which “Nobody” caused. Inflation was the result of external pressures on Brazil from an “international financial crisis”, which only “Nobody” can explain.

When Lava-Jato uncovers cases of fraud and malfeasance the accused claim innocence and insist that “Nobody” gave them stolen money. “Nobody” has paid bribes and contributed to political campaign with money purloined from Petrobrás or any other public company.

“Nobody” is also the guy who is reported to influence Dilma’s policy decisions. When you ask who Dilma listens to and from whom she seeks counsel on economic policy matters, you will be referred to “Nobody”.

The nemesis of “Nobody” is another character named “Everybody”. The latter is always seeking the person responsible for his troubles and when he finds “Nobody”, chaos follows. The two are sworn enemies. “Everybody” finds it unacceptable that “Nobody” is responsible for the problems “Everybody” faces.

It looks increasingly that “Everybody” is close to finding “Nobody” in Brazil and as the former draws closer to the latter, chaos is increasing. 

It will be necessary to eventually bring in “Somebody” – the one guy that is willing to be responsible for whatever happens. Unlike “Everybody” and “Nobody”, “Somebody” is an elusive person. He might or might not emerge from the chaos that occurs when “Everybody” finds that “Nobody” is running the show.

This is Brazil’s principal challenge in 2016.