Brazil's Anti-Poverty Policy

Whatever the ulterior motives of the Tavis/West 16 city poverty tour, we need to address the poverty issues of the underclass.

We have roaming thugs, organized via Twitter and other social networks, flash mobbing in cities like Philadelphia, Cleveland, London, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Washington, DC.

Should we be surprised?

Jonathan Taplin, director of the innovation lab at the University of Southern California's Annenberg School for Communication, said he was not surprised to see people using social media for organizing flash mob robberies.

"You are essentially having a world where you have 25 million people who are underemployed and 2 percent of the population doing better than they ever have," Taplin said. "Why wouldn't that lead to some sort of social unrest? Why wouldn't people use the latest technologies to effect that?"

Not to excuse wanton violence committed by roaming thugs who want to loot, rob, steal and wreck havoc on innocent victims, but with a constricting middle-class and ever increasing poor-class, this behavior is a symptomatic of the failure of more than just poor parenting.

Brazil, far from being utopia, has taken the proactive approach by adopting anti-poverty policies - these policies, very successful, is demonstrating what a nation can do when motivated.

When Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva addresses a meeting of world leaders next week, he is expected to proudly claim that his country has already met – and exceeded – one of the key U.N. development goals: reduce by half the proportion of people living in extreme poverty and hunger.

The deadline was 2015, but Minister for Social Development Marcia Lopes told IPS that Brazil was way ahead of its targets.

She said President Lula has made a lot of progress in helping implement the U.N.’s eight Millennium Development Goals (MDGs).

"We are on the right track," she said, pointing out that "millions of Brazilians have been lifted out of extreme poverty."

Brazil attributes much of its success on the government’s cash transfer programme called "Bolsa Familia". Since 2003, the ministry has invested over 103 billion dollars in this social protection programme, reaching out to more than 70 million people living in poverty.

Marie Pierre Poririer of the U.N. children’s agency UNICEF says the world’s largest income transfer programme in Brazil has resulted in significant progress in education, health, social development and the fight against hunger.

"This single programme, which focuses on Brazil’s poorest social groups, has significantly reduced poverty and social inequality in Brazil, and has been recognised nationally and internationally for its success," says Poririer, who is based in Brazil.

But Brazil apparently has survived the global financial crisis – at least judging by its economic performance.

Brazilian Finance Minister Guido Mantega was quoted last week as saying the country’s economy will grow by at least 7.0 percent this year, which he described as "the best performance in 24 years, and without inflation."

Of the world’s biggest economies, only China is doing better, he conceded.

A country with a population of over 195 million, Brazil is also marching towards the achievement of several other MDGs by 2015, including universal primary education, gender equality, reduction in infant mortality, improvement in maternal health, reversing the spread of HIV/AIDS and ensuring environmental sustainability. read more

Brazil proves that infrastructure building, universal health care, environment protection, and poverty initiatives can be a net win-win for big business and the small guy.

In our corporate owned congress, the poor only hear - especially from the Tea Party/GOP -

Poverty is you own fault and You have to pull youself up by your own bootstraps.