State of the Global Economy
(c) Wayne Stayskal

Patrus Ananias is Brazil's minister of Social Development and Fight Against Hunger. His ministry is organizing the International Symposium on Social Development, held in Brasilia

The financial crisis has left few corners of the global economy unscathed, but many of the loudest cries reflecting the deepest pain are largely ignored. These are the cries of the world's poorest citizens whose suffering is not measured in battered portfolios and retirement plans but in their daily survival. Poverty silently kills with hunger, malnutrition and absence of basic care. At the same time, inequality breeds violence of which too often the poor are the first victims.

The much-touted globalization of resources and wealth has mainly resulted in an internationalization of concentrations of resources, accumulation and excessive consumption. For much if not most of the world, globalization has meant that financial hardships logged in New York, London, Tokyo and elsewhere in the developed world become their hardships, too -- while the reverse remains to be seen.

As the International Symposium on Social Development opens its doors in Brazil, the backdrop -- the global economic crisis -- remains bleak. Resources have grown scarcer to support each country's struggle to help reduce economic, social and cultural inequalities and, in the process, protect human rights.

Yet the conference's goal is nothing less than to make strides in the movement to devise development models that are fairer and more sustainable. Similar to the global mobilization triggered by the environmental crisis, this movement responds to the failure of a model based on an excessive accumulation of wealth and the need to identify alternative ways the world economy can rise while lifting all its citizens.

Social inequalities are so ubiquitous that policymakers everywhere need to prioritize this search to build alternatives for a fairer world. The fight against hunger and poverty is a common task in every country. The solutions must be specific and adapted to the realities of each country, based on their unique characteristics, diversity, territories and cultures.

Still, we can learn from -- and help -- each other. Countries can cooperate for the greater good, and Brazil has been actively engaged in a South-South process of collaboration, in which nations that face similar problems exchange their experiences and solutions in the fight against hunger, poverty and inequality.

The world needs to remember its humane duty to look after those who most suffer financial consequences. Above and beyond the noble task of helping those in need, every stratum of society benefits from this effort. Studies around the world corroborate the impact of social policies that reduce inequalities on such ills as joblessness and crime.

Moreover, lower levels of inequality are strongly associated with higher levels of economic development and social cohesion.

In Brazil, programs for income transfer, such as the Family Grant (Bolsa Família), have accounted for a 21 percent reduction of our inequality rate. Social policies also have a significant anti-cyclical impact on the economy, as they foster the domestic market, encourage regional development and make local economies more dynamic. The Brazilian economy was affected by the financial crisis, but we were one of the last to be impacted and we are overcoming the difficulties in a good position to resume our growth.

At the symposium, Brazil's expertise in social policies will make an important contribution to the discussion of a new global development agenda. In 2003, the first year of his presidency, President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva told the U.N. General Assembly's 58th Session, "It is time to call peace its correct name: social justice."

In Brazil, that has taken the form of active social policies in place to lift citizens out of poverty and strengthen the middle class, aggressive investment in education, and a strong stance against violence by combining social initiatives with crime prevention.

The consequences of the financial crisis make it all the more important, not less, to pursue such policies on a global scale.

 

 

Working Together, Brazil, Russia, China and India Increase Leverage
Ian Bremmer

In 2003, a report authored by Goldman Sachs economists popularized the term BRICs -- Brazil, Russia, India and China -- to describe a whole new category of emerging-market powerhouse. The report argued that with sound political leadership and relative international stability, the BRIC economies would together outpace the original G6 industrialized nations in dollar terms by 2040 -- a fundamental shift in the global balance of power. Since then, these four countries have assumed ever-greater importance in the international investment community's collective imagination.

(c) 2009 Global Viewpoint - Tribune Media Services, Inc.