Spain and Brazil have launched a joint initiative to promote higher tax contributions from the super-rich worldwide, aimed at tackling soaring inequality by ensuring those with the most pay their fair share.
This is unquestionably a good thing. But it’s also kind of weird that it’s Brasil of all places in on this, since the inequality there between the super wealthy and the folks living in the favelas is just an accepted part of life…kind of like the caste system in India.
I’m not saying that that’s a good thing. I’m just saying that I wouldn’t imagine the Brasilian authorities would actually give a shit considering the state of their own inequality and how it’s just kind of taken as a “reality of life” down there.
That’s good to hear. It’s been many years since I’ve stayed in touch with either my extended family or my friends who live down there. (Most of my family moved from Portugal to Canada, but a couple of distant cousins moved instead to Brasil…around Niteroi if I remember correctly)
I last spoke with them in the early 2000s, and back then it was a pretty crazy contrast between the rich and the poor. Almost no true middle class. You either were wealthy enough to have servants, or you WERE the servant and went home to your favela that (if you were lucky) had electricity.
This is unquestionably a good thing. But it’s also kind of weird that it’s Brasil of all places in on this, since the inequality there between the super wealthy and the folks living in the favelas is just an accepted part of life…kind of like the caste system in India.
I’m not saying that that’s a good thing. I’m just saying that I wouldn’t imagine the Brasilian authorities would actually give a shit considering the state of their own inequality and how it’s just kind of taken as a “reality of life” down there.
From the statistics I’ve seen, things are getting better in Brazil… slowly but improving
That’s good to hear. It’s been many years since I’ve stayed in touch with either my extended family or my friends who live down there. (Most of my family moved from Portugal to Canada, but a couple of distant cousins moved instead to Brasil…around Niteroi if I remember correctly)
I last spoke with them in the early 2000s, and back then it was a pretty crazy contrast between the rich and the poor. Almost no true middle class. You either were wealthy enough to have servants, or you WERE the servant and went home to your favela that (if you were lucky) had electricity.