Brazil and the USA

Lately we’ve been paying a lot of attention to Iraq and Afghanistan due to our military presence in both countries and on the economic front to India and China. Brazil seems to be a tropical paradise on a forgotten continent. On Friday night March 31, 2006 and Saturday morning April 1, 2006 the Whiteside Forum will hold their annual conference on Brazil here in Morrison at the Odell Public Library community room and hopes to shed a little more light on a country that closely mirrors our own. I hope you can join us.

I spent 6 years working offshore Brazil and enjoyed my time immensely. The natives are friendly. Here is my attempt at a compare and contrast.

Brazil: Portuguese/Mediterranean

USA: English/Anglo-Saxon

Brazil: slightly smaller than the US

USA: slightly larger than Brazil (half the size of Russia)

Brazil: mostly tropical climate

USA: mostly temperate climate

Brazil: large tropical rainforest

USA: small temperate rainforest

Brazil: arable land 6.9%

USA: arable land 19.13%

Brazil: 186,112,794 population (#7 in world)

USA: 295,734,134 population (#5 in world)

Brazil: infant mortality 29.61 deaths/1000 births

USA: 6.5/1000

Brazil: life expectancy 71.69 years

USA: 77.71 years

Brazil: Roman Catholic 73.6%, Protestant 15.4% (world's largest Catholic country)

USA: Protestant 52%, Roman Catholic 24% (world's largest Protestant country)

Brazil: President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva

USA: President George W. Bush

(Political pressure groups and leaders - This entry includes a listing of organizations with leaders involved in politics, but not standing for legislative election)

Brazil: Landless Worker's Movement; labor unions and federations; large farmers' associations; religious groups including evangelical christian churches and the Catholic Church

USA: N/A

Brazil: "jeito". The word is practically untranslatable but refers to ways of "cutting red tape," "bending the rules," "looking the other way," or an alternative "way out." In its worst form, it amounts to corruption. At its best, it means finding pragmatic solutions to difficult problems without making waves.

USA: "litigation"

Brazil: Gross Domestic Product #11 in the world (behind India, China & EU but ahead of Russia, Canada & Mexico)

USA: GDP #1 in the world (slightly ahead of EU)

Brazil: GDP agriculture 10%, industry 39.4%, services 50.6%

USA: GDP Ag. 1%, ind. 39.4%, serv. 50.6%

Brazil: coffee, soybeans, wheat, rice, corn, sugarcane, cocoa, citrus, beef.

USA: wheat, corn, other grains, fruits, vegetables, cotton, beef, pork, poultry, dairy products, forest products, fish

Brazil: oil production 2.01 million bbl. per day, oil consumption 2.1 million bbl. per day

USA: oil production 7.61 million bbl. per day, oil consumption 20.03 million bbl. per day

Brazil: trading partner export 20.8% (#1 USA), import 18.3% (#1 USA)

USA: trading partner export 23% (#1 Canada), import 17% (#1 Canada)

Brazil: Amazon River system (1/5 of all the freshwater in the world and drains the largest area. Navigable by ocean vessels 1000 miles from the Atlantic Ocean but connects few population or industrial centers)

USA: Mississippi River system (3rd largest watershed area in the world, navigable by ocean vessels to Baton Rouge, LA and connects many population and industrial centers).

Brazil: biodiversity bank Tropical rainforests support the greatest diversity of living organisms on Earth. Although they cover less than 2 percent of Earth's surface, they house an estimated 50 percent of all life on the planet. The immense numbers of creatures that inhabit the tropical rainforests are so great—an estimated 5-50 million species— they are almost incomprehensible. The sheer range of numbers alone suggests the limited extent of our knowledge of these forests. For example, whereas temperate forests are often dominated by a half dozen tree species or fewer that make up 90 percent of the trees in the forest, a tropical rainforest may have more than 480 tree species in a single hectare (2.5 acres). A single bush in the Amazon may have more species of ants than the entire British Isles. This diversity of rainforests is not a haphazard event, but is the result of a series of unique circumstances.

USA: relatively small biodiversity bank

Brazil: soccer

USA: football, baseball and basketball

Brazil: Carnaval

USA: Mardi Gras

Brazil: 3,000,000 African slaves. Slavery abolished 1888

USA: 500,000 African slaves. Slavery abolished 1865

(by Marc Adami, Guest Columnist)