April 30th 2008 will be a day to remember for Brazilian economists and investors. Standard & Poor upgraded Brazil to “Investment-Grade” status. What this means, in a few words, is that the Brazilian economy has become stable enough to be deemed investment-safe.
This is excellent news, since the upgrade will make it possible for many more international investors, such as pension plans, to get into the Brazilian stock market.
More details about all this can be found in this story over at BusinessWeek. It’s a great report on the state of the Brazilian economy and the role of government in keeping things under control.
On July 17th, a TAM Airbus A320 carrying more than 150 passengers crashes in São Paulo, Brazil white trying to land. It’s the worst air crash ever in the country and the second in less than a year. No survivors.
São Paulo is the city I grew up in. It’s a city of more than 15 million people and I know it well. Most of my family still lives there and although I’ve been living in the US for more than a decade, I still keep in touch with some friends. Unfortunately, one of my best friends in São Paulo, Enrico Shiohara, was inside that plane.
It’s hard to describe the feeling of going over the list of victims and finding the name of someone you know. My heart beat rate went up and I didn’t know what to say, what to think. Could it be someone else? Highly unlikely, his name is quite unique. Shit, it’s really him! Disbelief settles in for a while, but the more I read about the tragedy, the more his name popped up. Then today I heard from his family.
It’s been a struggle to focus on anything else over the last couple of days. Enrico was a good friend, someone I admired and enjoyed hanging out with. We were very similar in many ways, we shared lots of interests. I keep thinking about our moments together. It is just not right for his life story to end this way. He had so much more to give.
Living in the US, I often hear people fantasize about Brazil, the exotic land where people go to the beach, play soccer all day long and then samba until sunrise. Accidents like this expose a much harsher reality. Yes, there’s a lot of caipirinha, but there’s also a whole lot of incompetence all around.
The institutions in charge of the Brazilian air space and airports, stretching from the airlines all the way up to the president should be ashamed. The situation only got worse as months went by and nobody lifted a finger to address the situation. It’s absolutely disgusting.