The Interconnected World

The Interconnected World is a film in four parts about the International Monetary Fund and the global economic crisis.

We need better multilateral governance. And if we don’t get it, our children and our grandchildren are going to pay the cost of that.— Mohamed El-Erian, CEO of PIMCO

The four videos discuss how the world economic order is being shaped by the global crisis, the rise of Asia and the implications for the rest of the world, how the discovery of oil is affecting a low-income country in Africa, and the transition of a country in Eastern Europe from communism to a market economy and membership of the European Union.

The IMF was established to foster economic stability and promote peace following the devastation of World War II. This global financial institution has been undergoing rapid change to meet the challenges of the 21st century, and played a vital role in helping countries deal with the international crisis.

Watch here the movie:

The Interconnected World

The Global Outlook in Summary

You can read the full report here.

Repeal Obamacare

REPEAL OBAMACARE (iq2us.org) from Intelligence Squared US on Vimeo.
Watch this debate on Bloomberg Television starting Friday, January 14th at 9PM ET.

In March 2010 President Obama signed into law the Affordable Care Act, the biggest overhaul of our health care system in decades.  According to a November poll from the Kaiser Family Foundation, 40 percent of the public would like Congress to expand the new health reform law or leave it as is, while 49 percent are in favor of repealing all or parts of it.  Can the new law reduce the deficit and expand coverage to millions of uninsured Americans, or, as its critics warn, will it actually increase the deficit and fail to control costs that are spiraling out of control?

Hello everyone.

Today I was watching an interesting debate related to the Obama's health care reform and it was worth watching. There is a predefined theme and there are two groups that one is favor and the other one is against and the mail goal is to try to convince the public of their position.  Although there are a lot of things I could say about this debate, I would like to focus on a question asked by the audience about the government on the influence on people's behavior in relation to change eating habits.
Both of the groups weren't in favor about that question and I almost hit the computer screen. How can they say that? They were just worried about the economic issue of the health problem...
I believe that government must have the obligation to change the people behavior (for better) to improve their quality of life, through this we can prevent a lot of diseases that could happen some day! For example, if the government through the law imposed on business that junk-food enterprises encouraged people to eat a better food, if the government encouraged those business to build a better menu, on the long run I believe that the goverment would spend less on health care because the quality of life would improve and the percentage of some diseases related to bad eating habits would reduce to lower levels. Don't you think we (the entire society) are able to change things?

The Economist Debate: Cities

Today at the The Economist website I was reading a debate related to the growth of cities and 'the house' were saying that resctricting the growth of cities will improve quality of life. However, I don't agree on some parts what the house is saying because I believe that people nowadays fear drastic changes and opt for a quick and a feasible decision like this one; I believe that if we control the growth of cities we can keep some things under control and enphasize what is missing to improve people's lives. Nevertheless, if this works, how can we manage the newborns? How can we say to people that are able to enjoy good quality of life, good jobs and health care for example,  that they can't have kids? How can we say no to those people who lives in a city with a slightly worst quality of life and would like to move to another city better than they are now? I think this goes against the right of freedom and may cause another problem in the future. So when this problem happens we will look foward to find another solution and so on.

So, the disagree part comes so deep in my mind because I believe that we are able to make drastic changes, breakthroughs or revolutions when we want to; we just need to leave aside our fears, perceive what need to change,  be creative and open-mind all the time. For cities to grow without losing quality of life I believe the government, whether local, state or federal need to put aside the partisan issues to govern on behalf of people today and tomorrow; they need to build things not to boast themselves, but rather to serve the interests and welfare of people. When the parties work together I can assure that there will be a more efficient work, in which the population will be benefited.

Simon Sinek: How great leaders inspire action

Simon Sinek has a simple but powerful model for inspirational leadership all starting with a golden circle and the question "Why?" His examples include Apple, Martin Luther King, and the Wright brothers -- and as a counterpoint Tivo, which (until a recent court victory that tripled its stock price) appeared to be struggling.

Brazilian Economic Outlook in 2011

Always at the beginning of the year the market is reached by a storm of predictions about how the year should be. To confirm this phrase I will begin this post with an interview that I watched yesterday with Eike Batista @ RedeTV where he talks about the Brazilian economy.

The interviewer start asking about what are the scenario for the brazilian economy for 2011 and what would be the good and bad news. "The positive part I think that the Brazilian economy will keep growing above the american and european standards, this is very important. However, there are several points that we need to control. I dare to say that the GDP would grow between 4 to 5% in 2011 (...). Obviously this several points such as infrastructure and skilled worker are pressing the inflation up." says Eike Batista. As businessman, the market also predict that Brazilian GDP will grow less compared to 2010 from 7,5% to 4,5% in 2011 due to a  number of factors including the increase of the SELIC benchmark interest rate to hold the inflation in its target defined by the Brazilian Central Bank. Speaking of Central Bank, Alexandre Tombini,on his first speech as the new president of the institution said that the current inflation target of 4,5% for 2011 and 2012 should be reduced.

Back to the interview, the interviewer asked Eike about the valued local currency against a basket of currencies especially the dollar and Eike answered: "There are a few industries in our economy that need sort of a help such as lower tax; on the other hand the valued currency can help companies to become more efficient because they can buy for a cheaper price machines and tools that are just fabricated abroad (....)".

If you would like to watch the full interview, please click here.

It is impossible to talk about scenario without citing the Public sector net debt. Tulio Maciel, Deputy Head of Economic Department of the Central Bank announced the increase in the forecast for the level of net public sector debt relative toGross Domestic Product (GDP) in 2010 but he also point to the fact that the trajectory of the indicator has been falling over recent years. For 2011, thecourse must be repeated, since theofficial forecast for Central Bank is that the debt will drop to37.8% of GDP at the end of next year.

I will keep updating the brazilian economic outlook for you readers.