Brazil and the Spirit of Liberty

My most surprising findings in Brazil, aside from the amazing fruits that I didn’t know existed because the US government doesn’t think I need them, were the young American kids who have moved here to find economic opportunity. This I had not expected, but now fully understand.

Brazil is a marvelous and massive country where private wealth thrives without embarrassment, where well-protected and healthy familial dynasties form the infrastructure of social and economic life, where technology is popular and beloved by everyone, where the police leave you alone and where Americans can feel right at home.

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Brazil and the Spirit of Liberty

My most surprising findings in Brazil, aside from the amazing fruits that I didn’t know existed because the US government doesn’t think I need them, were the young American kids who have moved here to find economic opportunity. This I had not expected, but now fully understand.

Brazil is a marvelous and massive country where private wealth thrives without embarrassment, where well-protected and healthy familial dynasties form the infrastructure of social and economic life, where technology is popular and beloved by everyone, where the police leave you alone and where Americans can feel right at home.

[Read more...]

Why the World’s Unemployed Youth are Flocking to Brazil

Man wasn’t supposed to labor like this. Not under these conditions…with a clear view of a clearer sea…a white sandy beach below his room…the sound of the crashing waves gently carrying through his window…

…and his head stuck firmly in his computer screen.

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Why the World’s Unemployed Youth are Flocking to Brazil

Man wasn’t supposed to labor like this. Not under these conditions…with a clear view of a clearer sea…a white sandy beach below his room…the sound of the crashing waves gently carrying through his window…

…and his head stuck firmly in his computer screen.

[Read more...]

Your Best Real Estate Investment is a Moat

Reporting from International Living’s “International Real Estate Investment Forum”

During recent flooding in the Midwest, an enterprising Arkansas man built a moat around his home and property to protect it from the floodwaters.

It worked. His house, possessions, and family remained safe.

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Food and Drink Prices to Soar

Today's report begins with an abominable horror: The world's most valuable commodity has soared to its highest price in a generation.

Record High for Coffee Futures

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Awash With Bad Data

Stocks are in the dumps today. As we write, the major US indexes have all but erased the hard-fought/delusional gains of the previous two sessions. The Dow, S&P 500 and the NASDAQ are all nursing losses of around 2%.

The panicky mood on Wall Street comes thanks to a “trifecta of bad reports,? as one news site put it.

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The Land of the Future… Today

Stefan Zweig pegged it right after all. In the late 1930s, the Austrian playwright and writer sought relief from war-torn Europe and settled in Brazil. He loved it. In 1941, he moved there and wrote his book Brazil: Land of the Future. Brazil, he thought, “was destined to become one of the most important factors in the development of our world.?

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Fields of Dreams

Imagine yourself standing in fields of soy and sugar cane that carpet the land out to the horizon as far as you can see and sweeping blue skies overhead. Only an occasional tree or silo gives you any sense of distance.

You are standing on a vast savannah that is one of the most productive farming regions in Brazil. Called the cerrado, it produces 54% of Brazil's soybeans, 28% of its corn and 59% of its coffee. It also supports 55% of Brazil's beef industry.

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