The Economic Case of Brazil

In the 1500s Pedro Alvares Cabral landed on Brazil, previously a inhabited by tribal nations, and claimed the land in the name of Portugal. Brazil remained a Portuguese colony until September 7, 1822 when it declared its independence becoming the Empire of Brazil making the nation a constitutional monarchy with a parliamentary system. In early 1964, a Military junta took control of the nation until it fell in 1985 further changing the structure of the nation, and finally in 1988 a formal constitution was created enacting 26 states encompassing its boarders. Throughout the history of Brazil, the nation was never able to fully immerse itself in the international market and expand its economy, until today. Latin America has not had the best of luck when it comes to economic development and many nations in Latin America have similar issues when it comes to economic and societal development, and many of these issues are cause by the same things. For example, before the military coup in 1964 Brazil was in massive amounts of debt to international partners, however, during the military rule the payment of this debt was halted so the trust and economic backing of countries stopped with the payments. Many plans have been enacted after the fall of the military control to reverse the economic downfall that occurred in the country and continent in the 20th century and especially in the 1980s, the lost decade. In Brazil alone, there have been at least seven economic plans to reverse the economic hardships of the country, from the Cruzado Plan to the Real Plan, none seemed to work. However, in the past decade the Brazilian economy has seen an amazing increase and the condition of life of the people in the nation has increased with it. The quest...

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...n as impressive as years past however it is still growing. There are things to look forward to that will surely improve the economy like the FIFA World Cup in 2014, which generally has positive economic effects on a nation for around 10 years after the games. However while the nation is spending so much money in preparation for the World Cup and the Olympic games in 2016 they are not concentrating on the people as they were before. The spending on infrastructure for the games are good however there are glaring problems in education and health in the nation that this money could go towards improving. Looking into the future Brazil has to maintain some of its current ideals but expand them further, the government needs to be held accountable and the betterment of the standard of living needs to be a priority so that the workforce and economy can grow as society grows.