Brazil: Economic Turnaround

I grew up in Nepal being told Nepal was second only to Brazil when it came to hydropower potential. But what made news year after year was not yet another hydel power plant that was put up, but monsoon floods and landslides. Potential is one thing. Deed is another. Brazil has had the potential. And this past decade it seems to have put its house in basic order. But there is so much that remains to be done. A 6% growth rate is not 10%. Lifting tens of millions out of abject poverty still leaves tens of millions more to be lifted. Brazil could be but still is not a world power.

The China Debate: The Other Angle

I think China should teach Africa how to lift hundreds of millions out of poverty, fast. I think China should teach America the art of total campaign finance reform. I think China should teach America fast trains and clean tech. Those are not new thoughts on my part. And China is right in wanting a new global currency. The American dollar is specific to a country. A lot of the American fiscal recklessness this past decade was due to the fact that the dollar is the de facto global currency.