Adventure, Life and Risk

I was watching a movie about a skydiver! Courageous! Brave! No fear! That what is a skydiver needs! That kind of stuff we need to practice dangerous sports or even dangerous professions. Professions like professional scuba divers, mountain climbers and many others. But I was thinking about Brazil! How courageous we are to live here!? Opening a business here looks insane as our skydiver. Our fragile economy, our political system and too much corruption makes Brazil a very dangerous place to live. It is a jungle and we live one huge adventure: stay alive.

By Fernando Katayama 08 fev. 06

350

In my last article the Brazilian Soccer National Championship had not ended yet. Now, we know that Corinthians is the Champion. We know who’s in second division, who’s not. Also we know that Dirceu went down, but it isn’t the end of the government crisis soap opera.

It looks like Arabian world, but it isn’t. One bus was burned and some people died. A terrorist attack. In the counter-attack, who burned the bus was dead. Outlaw-Justice. It shocks the country. Does it shock?! No, it dosen't shock. Neither Ze, neither Mane, neither Pele. Nothing shocks anymore.

Horrible themes don’t shock anymore. Our brutal daily life has already dominated us and convinced us about it. About some miserable lives of some people or about some millionary lives of others. The daily life has convinced us about drug dealers, corruptions and rapes. We have already been convinced about dog’s life.

Sometime ago, scarred, we watched the live news on tv - Muslim-Xiites exploding themselves in car bombs and burning the white-dyslexic-north-American monkey’s flag and pictures. We believed they are crazy. One of them with his turban and another one with his red tie. They are insane. Now, we are asking ourselves, who is crazy? Crazy people must be the healthy people.

After the episode – 174 Bus - the sequence of this movie is 350 Bus. Is it possible to tell the origin of this barbaric story? Maybe we need one new long TV show for that.

The 350 Bus is Rio de Janeiro’s realistic portrail. Rio was cover of many magazines. Rio was the best place to find the most beautiful buts of world’s posts cards. Rio inspired Jobim. Now, it is the visceral sample of the Brazilian daily life. Politicians discuss many things without value as whether the post cards can or can't expose an ass. The police force kills more than the bad guys and nobody knows where the limit of one of them begins or ends. It is impossible to separate the slam from the city, or should be the city from the slam? Cristo Redentor, the famous statue on top of a mountain, stays with his hands up, because he is thinking that he is being robbed.

The 350 Bus shows to us our terror state that we live. Our terrorism here has a number of types and ways. We have terrorists inside the Planato Central until the Palacio do Catete. All of them are wearing suits and ties, and treat themselves by “ilustrissimo”. We have terrorists in uniform and without uniform, but with official’s vehicles. We have terrorists with sandals and shorts, and treat themselves by “what’s up dude?”. And we have another one, the white terrorism, like the white weapons, no sound, we can't see very well, we don’t know who is a terrorist or if there is one terrorist cell. Anyway, we just know that it exists. I call it "employment terrorism". Be a hostage of your own job. You can’t drop it away, even if that is killing you. It is a constant threat.

350 shows us that the law from the outlaw is the law.

by Fernando Katayama 11 dec. 05

Soccer and Tevez

The referee blows the whistle. The championship ended. Corinthians’ fans jumps on totally delirious on the stands. Black and white. The Blacks and the Whites, he-man or not, hug themselves, kiss themselves, crying with this conquest.

It doesn’t matter. This Brazilian Soccer Championship will be soiled forever by the corruption inside and outside fields. Certainly, it is one real reflex of our disastrous situation in Brazil. Soccer, the national passion, moves millions of dollars in internationals deals, exporting our best net product, man. Such as any entertainment, someone always gets high profits.

However, this Championship will be marked forever. In this year, the political crisis destroyed the Government and worst than that, cheated millions of people, betrayed by PT’s historical promises.

The corruption industry gets so big that involves all higher levels of government. But that we were tired of. What really soiled soccer was the corruption around all country. We were involved in such way that is impossible to see the way out. Soccer can’t be away from it.

Selling and purchasing game’s results just show to us that nothing is immune. The national passion was raped by the ass and with her, millions of ball lovers. Truly, it just brings up all dirty things that already exist.

Before of all those things, I see one guy from Argentina that came to play here. And look, the biggest exporter of the best football players, that only in this current year, seven of ten are best players of the world by Fifa raking, are from here and we imported him from our most rivals.

Weird hair, languid month, scar, ugly tooth and coiled speech. What calls my attention the most in that guy, isn’t his aggressive manner to play, his ball’s ability or his fantastic goals. No, it is not.

Tevez shows us that we can and we have to speak what we believe. Maybe because he is a foreigner or because he earns millions, I don’t known. But I don’t care about it. He shows us, when he said to Lula to stay in his presidential place, and don’t come suck up now, when the team is at the top, because when he arrived here, Lula scorned him. Tavez also said that he does what he wants do and football managers don’t command him. The message has the importance.

I believed that kind of conduct, maybe too hard, is missing in Brazil. Speak truly and don’t put the head down by intimidations and make you self respected.

[When I wrote that article, the Brazilian Soccer Championship wasn’t finished]

By Fernando Katayama 4 dec. 05

Surplus, the fragile hero

While I’m writing this article, Representative Zé Dirceu is being judged by the Supreme Court. There even exists a movement pro-Dirceu; his political career has been spoiled already. But nothing is important right now, because the consequences on us are very tough.

The specialists said that the Brazilian economy was “protected by a shield” from the political crisis. I never believed it.

Unfortunately, I didn’t write, keep it clean or register it. Like almost every human science, economics takes some time to react to the effects of the crisis. It was impossible to stay away from it. Like some Swedish business guru said: “the world is moved by shopping and sex”. And he seems correct. The woman of the moment is Jeane and this crisis finally hits the market.

Lula and his palls, speaking with the little whistle and with their lips sound, characteristically from the PT party, spoke about the “shield” based upon the surplus theory. But this crisis hits minister Palocci [inside the PT it sounds Paloffi] and the surplus theory was destroyed.

Off course everybody wants to spend less than they earn. Everybody! - me, you, them. Lula wants to justify everything with it. Those that ate that, now get gastritis. I didn’t eat it.

I have always said that a favorable balance of trade was a consequence of our commodities export - exporting that doesn’t heat our internal market, and more, helps to concentrate the Brazilian income - and high taxes.

You can understand that just looking at the Brazilian GDP. Little production. Poor production.
Justify everything with that favorable balance of trade just shows us one side of the ass! Brazil hasn’t had a significant growth in its industry. The country doesn’t grow.

To understand this trade balance, look how it is done: how much you earn minus how much you get. Very simple, like the school times: addition and subtraction. Now ask yourself, “where is the government’s money coming from?”- Taxes, correct? - Now, what’s happened to our taxes? Grew!

And the expenses? It is payments and investments. Increase the number of employees in the public sector and decrease the investments.

With that abundance it is possible to pay part of our external debt. The government stipulates a surplus max platform around 4.5. But truly, it is 6 and something. With the rest they pay the external debt, it is almost what they say.

But I ask myself:

In one pour country like our country, how is it possible the overflow of money to increase the public machine and pay some interest of the external debt? Could it be much money or no money?

It is understandable because we have a bad school and it is going to be worse, subhuman hospital conditions, unprepared police, horrible infrastructure, and much more, how is possible to have a favorable balance of trade?

I don’t believe that it is money’s absence, it is bad investment. Good investments are not with Jeane’s girls or put inside the sack, that from underpants.

By Fernando Katayama 30 Nov. 2005