Adventures of a Gringa

Empowering Women in Brazil

Though I mentioned it in this post, I wanted to dedicate a short post to Cynthia Gorney's excellent piece in this month's National Geographic Magazine, Brazil's Girl Power. Here's a short excerpt:  

"That new Brazilian fertility rate is below the level at which a population replaces itself. It is lower than the two-children-per-woman fertility rate in the United States. In the largest nation in Latin America—a 191-million-person country where the Roman Catholic Church dominates, abortion is illegal (except in rare cases), and no official government policy has ever promoted birth control—family size has dropped so sharply and so insistently over the past five decades that the fertility rate graph looks like a playground slide."

Read the whole article here.

There's also a great photo gallery, a map, and interesting graphic.

Then, PBS did a short companion piece this week. Check it out below.

Watch the full episode. See more PBS NewsHour.

Transportation Tragedies

There are plenty of perils when getting around Rio: flooding in the streets during rainstorms, the risk of getting held up at gunpoint at a stoplight or having your car stolen, or getting robbed on a bus, amongst others. Sometimes there are fender benders on buses, or an occasional kombi crash, just like anywhere else. But this week was an unusually deadly week in Rio transportation.

On Saturday, a bondinho, one of Rio's iconic trolley cars, was en route from Santa Teresa to Centro when it derailed and crashed, killing 5 and injuring 57. The crash scene was one of carnage, and one of the first responders described it as "a war scene." A witness said that there was blood everywhere. There was an infant with head trauma, and victims with exposed bone fractures and head wounds. A police officer at the scene said it was the worst call he'd been on in six years, and a resident said he still couldn't get the screams out of his head. The streetcar itself was completely destroyed, a wreck of twisted metal.

Initially, there were theories: overcrowding could have been the problem; there were around 62 people on board, when the allowed maximum is 40. Another theory was brake failure; after the crash, they found a wire in place of a bolt under the brake pads, a type of improvised fix. But today, the State Transportation Secretariat announced that the streetcar in question had been maintained properly, and had very recently had its brake pads replaced. But since the cars are very old and are made with hard-to-find parts, it's possible that it was given used brake pads. Then it was revealed that the streetcar had been in an accident with a bus the same day, and instead of returning to the garage to be checked (without passengers), it continued circulating with passengers, since it had been looked over by another driver who deemed that it was still operational. Authorities are still investigating the exact cause of the crash, and admitted there are problems with the streetcars.

Going downhill in a tram, bus, or car always feels perilous going downhill in Santa Teresa: the sharp curves and steep inclines make you hold your breath, especially if the driver is going faster than you'd like. It can be especially scary in a crowded, antiquated streetcar speeding around a bend; that much even the most seasoned bondinho rider can attest to. This week's accident is the third fatal streetcar accident in the last few years (a tourist fell to his death recently, and a collison with a bus in 2009 left one person dead). But the bondinho is a Rio institution, a literal remnant of the city's rich history. Depending on the season and time, it can be a faster and easier way to get to Santa Teresa from downtown, and is cheaper than the bus. There's a charm to it that makes riding it fun, even if you have no exact destination in mind. While I was in Rio, there was a lot of work done on the bondinho tracks, and also some reforms of some of the cars.

Evidently, there hasn't been enough done to modernize the cars to make them safe, or to put enforceable rules into place to protect the passengers (there was a police officer on board the ill-fated tram to "protect against overcrowding"). The bonde is usually filled to maximize the number of passengers when it comes from Centro, though there are a number of people controlling the flow of passengers. But when the bonde returns from Santa Teresa, it's up to the driver, his cobrador, and supposedly the accompanying police officer to control the number of passengers, and the control is lax. It's not just the streetcars that need to be upgraded; there also needs to be better safety measures for passengers.

Meanwhile, on Thursday, a Rio state deputy secretary who had recently acted as a coordinator of Rio's Dry Law (the anti drunk driving law and campaign) ran over five people with his car, killing one. He was visibly intoxicated, and didn't stop to aid the victims, speeding away and then crashing into a post. The man who died was a 56 year-old construction worker, and a mother and her two young sons, aged five and two, were amongst those injured. Today, the deputy secretary was sacked, and the officer investigating the case says he will eventually be charged with homicide.

The Lei Seca has been controversial in Rio, and drivers have devised high-tech ways to avoid checkpoints, using Twitter and other social networks to warn drivers which areas to avoid. Quite a few celebrities, athletes, and high profile politicians have been caught drunk driving in Lei Seca traffic stops, and many have paid the nearly R$1,000 fine and got points on their licenses. One of the best known cases was of former Minas Gerais governor and current senator Aécio Neves, who not only was caught and fined, but was also found to be driving with an expired license. In April, a federal police officer (the equivalent of the FBI), was arrested at a Lei Seca stop, after cursing at officers and pulling a gun on them. Some drivers view the law as inconvenient and restrictive, but hopefully the tragedy and hypocrisy of this week's accident will show that at best, it's meant to provide more safety for drivers and pedestrians.

Senna

There's a saying that God is Brazilian, but few Brazilians come close to deity status like Ayrton Senna. While Formula 1 is a popular sport in Brazil, it's not on the same level as soccer, but mention Senna to any Brazilian and you'll visibily see the change in his or her expression: his face will soften, and he may get a far-away look in his eyes. He'll likely be able to remember where he was when he found out about Senna's passing, like Americans can recall about JFK's death. There are many beloved national figures, but Senna is something between an idol and a martyr, an adored brother-like figure in the grande família brasileira. It's hard to provide an adequate comparison, but it's like if Michael Jordan had died young and tragically at the height of his career. Learning about Senna is helpful for understanding Brazilian culture, and being able to speak about him is an excellent way to make a personal connection with Brazilians.

So if you haven't seen Senna yet, go and find it as soon as you can. (You can find upcoming screenings and release dates here) The documentary about Senna's rise to fame was recently released in the U.S., Australia, Europe, Canada, and Mexico, and is coming out on DVD soon in the UK. It has broken box office records in the UK, U.S. and Australia, and won the Audience Award at Sundance this year. As a documentary alone, it's spectacular, skillfully weaving dozens of interviews with carefully selected excerpts from hundreds of hours of archival footage.

It's hard to really understand Senna's stature from just reading about him, and the film very clearly shows how it was not just his victories that made him a hero, but also his determination, patriotism, honesty and humility. While the movie really is focused on racing (I was disappointed there wasn't as much focus on his life in Brazil, or the context of his fame in Brazil), it really gives you a real appreciation for his appeal. It ranges from touching to hilarious, inspiring to infuriating, and while it ends in tragedy, the filmmakers make sure to explain the positive results of his legacy.

Perhaps one of the best scenes is when Senna wins the Brazilian Grand Prix for the first time, a personal victory to win at home. He was focusing so intensely on finishing first that he gripped his whole body to the point that he actually passed out, and when he came to, had excrutiating pain all over. It was the moment that Senna stood on the podium, grimacing in pain as he painstakingly lifted the trophy above his head, that I really understood his hero status, beyond his titles, charity, and racing fame. One of the repeated themes throughout the movie were Brazilians remarking how Senna was one of the "only good things Brazil has" and how happy he made Brazilians with his success, and how proud he made them feel. At a time of economic and political turmoil, Senna's international wins in a sport dominated largely by Europeans were clearly considered a national victory, and every win was a win for all Brazilians. I wonder what he would think of Brazil now, now that athletic champions are just a small part of so many triumphs making Brazilians proud.

Q&A With Andrew Fishman of Rio Radar

I came across Rio Radar by way of Rio Real Blog, and quickly discovered that I had a lot in common the writer, editor and translator behind it. A graduate of George Washington's Elliott School, Andrew Fishman speaks Portuguese and Spanish, studied abroad in Latin America and moved to Rio de Janeiro after graduating. In fact, he's in Rio on the very same fellowship that nearly brought me there (instead, I ended up doing the same project, but without funding). His project is his blog, Rio Radar, which is a mixture of media coverage and unique content. He provides English translations of news articles about public security, crime, drug trafficking, militias, and favela pacification in Rio, and also shoots videos of excellent interviews about these subjects with people on the ground, with English subtitles. He also keeps the blog layout simple with easy navigation, so it's easy to find what you're looking for. I spoke to Andrew about the blog, his interest in Brazil, and his views on public security in Rio.

How did you become interested in Brazil, and how did you become fluent in Portuguese?
I came to Brazil by something of a coincidence. I was looking for study abroad programs in Latin America and found that GW was offering a $4,000 scholarship through the US Dept of Ed to study at UFSC in Florianópolis or the Federal University in Curitiba. There was almost no support structure and a lot of challenges—principally learning a new language in two months—and that’s what most appealed to me. Nobody else applied. I mean, you'd have to be a sucker to turn down $4,000 to live in an island paradise like Floripa.
 
I studied Spanish since I was a kid, but was never that dedicated. Classes started in August and I got there in June. I moved into a house with seven Brazilian guys, memorized 25 flashcards a day, did some online lessons, spent hours every day watching Two and a Half Men, Friends, and The Simpsons with Portuguese subtitles (something I would never do back home), and spent a lot of time with two very patient friends who helped me out a lot! I also watched the same Brazilian movies over and over again with English subs, then Portuguese, then without. MSN messenger with people I met was also helpful. Way more coffee than I was used to drinking…and a beer or two never hurts either in the beginning.

What was your major and area of interest at GW?
I studied International Affairs with a concentration in International Development at the Elliott School. I lived in Ghana for a while before going to college, but started moving towards Latin America over time. Some of my favorite and most influential classes were National Security Decision Making with Col. Lawrence Wilkerson, the Anthropology of Development with Steve Lubkemann and Jose Muñoz, Arts and Culture with Leslie Jacobson, History of Latin America with Peter Klaren, and US Diplomatic History after WWII with Chris Tudda. I wrote my senior honors thesis on the geopolitics of US foreign policy in Colombia and the pending military base deal that Obama was pushing through that eventually fell apart under regional pressure. I also worked for the Institute of Brazilian Issues/Center for Latin American Issues with former acting US Ambassador to Brazil, Jim Ferrer, which was a great way to prep for my fellowship.

What inspired your fellowship project?
I was sitting in one of my less engaging classes at UFSC one day and decided that I had to find a way to get back to Brazil, and preferably on somebody else’s dime. Brazil had won their World Cup bid and Rio had just won their Olympics bid the week before. The UPP program had just taken off and was receiving a lot of positive international press; Paes, Cabral, and Lula were all working in harmony and talking about huge infrastructure investments; and the pre-salt oil fields had just been discovered off of Rio’s coast and were being talked about as the biggest find in the past thirty years—I realized that Rio was going to be the hot spot for the coming years. Studying a new security policy, based on successes in Colombia, that seemed to be entirely structured around the 2014 and 2016 mega-events, but done in a way that was supposed to be very different from what happened in the 2007 Pan-American Games, really interested me. So I started talking to a lot of professors, past Fulbrighters, and anyone else I could find about how I could do this project and what I could reasonably achieve. I figured applying for the Shapiro fellowship would be good training for the Fulbright and then I could modify my (failed) proposal to get that, but I ended up getting lucky the first time around.

What are your goals for your blog? Do you plan to continue it after your fellowship ends?
The proposal was originally to write a research paper, but I realized that, even if I could get it published, aside from my mom, few people would read it. Once I got here I suggested a multimedia blog centered around subtitled video interviews. When I am interested in a new subject, the first thing I usually do is try to get my hands on as many documentaries and YouTube videos as I can because it is a quick and easy way of getting a feel for the basics.

Rio Radar is essentially designed to target someone like me three years ago—a non-Portuguese speaker who probably has never been to Brazil but wants to hear the view from the ground straight from the mouths of people directly involved in the process. I try to keep the videos short and sweet but all of my interviewees have just had way too many interesting things to say.

I tried to come into it as neutral as possible—to be an interlocutor and represent the views of people who understand the situation better than I do. When I head back to the States I will write up and post my own analysis. I don’t know if the blog will continue when I go back, but I would like to keep it going.

After the fellowship, what do you hope to do?
After the money runs out, I will move back to Washington DC and jump into the job hunt. I have spent so much time and energy getting into Brazilian issues that it would be a shame to start working in a totally unrelated field. That being said, a Brazilian friend from college and I are working on putting together a new online project related to Brazilian issues. More on that later…

What do you think is the least complicated public security issue to tackle in Rio? The most difficult?
The easiest problem to solve (theoretically, of course) is to remove the primary profit source of criminal gangs in Brazil (and thereby simultaneously increase border security) by legalizing narcotics…good luck getting reelected. However, one thing you can see with the rise of militias is that a culture of informality and corruption allows criminal syndicates make large profits without drug sales. There is no drug dealing in Rio das Pedras, but militias are making serious profits there through monopolies on gato telecom and gas sales, taking a cut on real estate sales and irregular transport, and straight out extortion. The culture of corruption and impunity is the most intractable problem in Brazil—it has existed since the country’s founding, whereas armed drug trafficking is a relatively new phenomenon. While the Police Pacification Units (UPPs) may be dealing a blow to drug dealers—on a limited scale—they are incapable of combating corrupt politicians, militias, death squads, a 92% rate of unsolved homicides…in June of this year, just June, the police were officially responsible for 63 murders in greater Rio. One way of dealing with this—and this is not a universal truism by any means—is greater pay, better training, and a renewed institutional culture. Professionals who are better paid, better trained, and more respected are more likely to think twice before making that poor decision, be it pulling a trigger, taking a bribe, abusing their position, etc.

This applies to civilians as well. Security Secretary Beltrame talks about this, but little is being done about it—but it’s a hard area to tackle: creating legal, well-paying, viable alternatives for potential criminals. The only way to do that in the short term is basically a direct government stimulus plan, and that is unsustainable. It’s a long-term process that starts with education and ends with the private sector, preferably with some government incentives.

What's your take on the murder of Judge Acioli? Do you think it will create more pressure to reduce impunity for the militia?
This story immediately made international news. Killing a respected and controversial judge is a big deal, even in Rio de Janeiro. This is the first killing of a major public figure obviously perpetrated by a militia in Rio to my knowledge. On Monday three judges came together to take over her seat at the head of the 4th Criminal Court of São Gonçalo, but is this going to change anything? I don’t think so. Professionals and regular citizens have already feared these groups—from what I can see, more so than drug gangs. Now that there are three judges fulfilling her role, perhaps they can be three times as effective, but they probably won’t stick their necks out as much. Plus, as Judge Acioli mentioned in the final interview before her murder, the court has a backlog of 7,000 killings by police officers in São Gonçalo alone; what can one judge (or three, for that matter) realistically do about it?

In terms of public security, how do you think Rio will fare in 2014 and 2016?
Even the most critical voices that I have interviewed seem to readily believe that the 2014 and 2016 games will go off without a hitch security-wise and they will be wonderful exhibitions of the best side of Rio. The federal, state, and municipal governments are pouring some serious money into expanding the police forces, creating a “security belt” in the areas that most tourists will frequent, upgrading technology and equipment, and so on. The military will probably provide some level of tactical assistance and, as it was during the 2007 Pan-American Games, police presence on the streets will be through the roof.

The question that people are worried about is, “what about 2017?” With so much investment in infrastructure and security and construction being games-focused, how much of this will serve to benefit the people of Rio after the last medal is awarded? And like all things in this world, it will probably be a mixed bag. Hopefully Rio will end up being a safer city, with a better equipped, better trained police force, with a more cohesive transportation infrastructure, but billions of the reais invested will be pocketed or pilfered and little of this investment will serve the communities further removed from the city center and zona sul that are most in need and that tourists never see.
 
That said, these concerns are not unique to Rio or Brazil and I really do believe there is forward momentum here. It’s just that things move slower than people would like. Always. And when your governor makes huge promises and then raises the advertising budget of the state by 40% while his new police recruits are undertrained, people who are paying attention reasonably tend to get a bit cynical.

Defining The Middle Class

Last week, when I wrote about Brazil's new middle class, I included figures that show that this group, largely the C class, is a much different middle class than an American or European one. With monthly salaries between R$1,000 and R$4,000, or US$631 and $2,526, income is just one facet that defines this new mass of consumers. In fact, identity is at the heart of the evolving socioeconomic spectrum in Brazil, as Brazilians try to redefine themselves within a rapidly changing country.

Defining who qualifies as middle class not only depends on the source, but even Brazilians themselves can't seem to decide. According to a recent survey by Data Popular, only a third of those who are considered in the C Class defined themselves as middle class; the other two-thirds defined themselves as "lower income or poor." While most low-income workers defined themselves as such, 55 percent the upper class defined themselves as middle class.

Traditionally, the middle class was something different entirely, and something closer to upper class than working class. There's entertaining insight to this traditional middle class online, with blogs like Class Média Sofre and The Classe Média Way of Life, that mock the tendencies and habits of this group of people. This socioeconomic class would be closer to the B class today: educated professionals who own their homes or rent relatively expensive real estate, who pay for private health care and education, take international vacations, buy name brand clothing, have a full-time maid, and maybe own or rent a second home in the mountains or at the beach. It's a group with disposible income, but one with a heavy tax burden. They tend to be sophisticated and worldly; they likely speak another language, at least on a basic level. The new middle class, on the other hand, has lower levels of education, and tend to be first-time homeowners. They may be taking their first trips abroad, and buying their first washing machines or flat screen TVs. They might send their children to public school, or if they can afford it, to less expensive private schools. They tend to be newer to technology and the internet, and they're far less likely to speak another language.

Given the cultural differences alone, the traditional middle class is very much at odds with the new middle class. As described in this July Financial Times article, the old middle class isn't necessarily overjoyed by the rise of new consumers.

"Unlike in India, where the old middle class benefited from the creation of new industries, such as information technology outsourcing, many in the Brazilian middle class complain of rising prices, taxes, congested infrastructure and increased competition for jobs."

In addition, according to one of the most comprehensive studies on the new middle class by Professor Marcelo Neri at the Fundação Getúlio Vargas, incomes have grown faster and by larger amounts for the least educated members of society, while in some cases salaries have actually decreased among the more educated. Coupled with inflation and a rising cost of living in cities, the traditional middle class can even see itself as at odds with the new middle class.

The traditional middle class sometimes looks down at what is now the new middle class, and some in the traditional middle class would consider themselves "culturally superior" to the new middle class: more American, tech-savvy, and literate than a more Brazilian pop-culture, newer to technology, and less well-read (or with little access to books). A traditional middle class teenager, for example, might look down on a new middle class teenager for liking sertanejo (Brazilian country music), rather than say, White Stripes, and Brazilians who have been on Facebook for years complain about the "Orkutization" of Facebook by the new middle class. It's the same dynamic you might find between urban yuppies in the U.S. and lower-income working class Americans living in rural areas, but more acute and on a deeper level, since the two groups co-exist and interact.

A key example of the divide between the traditional and new middle classes is clear in this recent article from Época Magazine, where a São Paulo marketing consultant claims to debunk the "myths and truths" of the new middle class. The traditional middle class can sometimes show disdain for Northeasterners, from the poorest region of Brazil. This type of attitude is implied - he claims the Northeast is where the "real" C Class lives, and goes on to explain that they have different consumption (and cultural) habits than the middle class in other parts of the country. But he also makes some good points about why it's important to understand the C class from a realistic perspective: "These guys were living in poverty until recently. They were going hungry, and now they have a plasma TV in the living room." And he also asserts that because of this diverse middle class, Brazil "is in search of a new identity."

Meanwhile, despite the cultural divide between the traditional and middle classes, one thing they have in common is the empowerment of women, a factor that is too infrequently credited for Brazil's economic growth. In this excellent article from National Geographic, Cynthia Gorney explains why fertility has dropped across the board in Brazil. It's not just smaller families that are helping women excel - with more educational opportunities and job prospects, they're flourishing. Women with previously little access to the formal job market are now entering in droves. As this BBC article about domestic workers explains:"Even with a basic education, job opportunities in supermarkets, telemarketing, cleaning companies, restaurants and offices beckon for women who would previously have worked as home helps for a middle-class family."

In a recent article for the Christian Science Monitor, friend of the blog Julia Michaels profiles a typical member of the new middle class: a woman who previously lived in a favela, received job training, and now earns US$1,000 a month working at an Ipanema spa. After getting help from her friends and family to "pad" her bank account, she was able to afford to buy her own home. She owns a computer and sends her two daughters to private school. It's really illustrative of the changes of the new C Class, and indicated that culture and identity will change as incomes rise and opportunities grow.

It's useful to have a realistic perspective on Brazilian social classes, since the media often provides a confusing view on what it's really like, especially with all of the excited and sometimes overblown talk of an economic miracle. The most recent example is this New York Times article from last weekend, heralding the influx of foreigners in Brazil, chasing the country's economic boom. It only glossed over the fact that many of these foreign workers are getting hired instead of Brazilians, either because of a lack of skilled local workers or because some firms prefer to import managers from the US and Europe. It also briefly mentioned that more educated Brazilians are returning to Brazil looking for jobs, a reverse brain drain, and are sometimes finding themselves competing with highly-paid foreigners with hefty relocation packages. It failed to mention altogether than the vast majority of the work visas issued are temporary, for between 90 days and 2 years, and less than 4,000 work visas were extended in 2011 (meanwhile, nearly 25,000 temporary visas were issued this year, over half of which were for a stay of one year or less). This means that while Brazilians coming home from abroad are coming for good, many foreigners coming to work aren't relocating permanently - at least not officially.

Finally, it's important to understand the financial limitations of both the new and traditional middle classes: namely, a high tax burden, inflation, and a rising cost of living, all of which reduce purchasing power and increase consumer debt. This week, UBS released its cost of living study, which showed that despite rising salaries, Brazilian purchasing power has actually declined. It is now as expensive to live in São Paulo as it is to live in New York, but salaries in São Paulo are 61 percent less than in New York. Similarly, the cost of living in Rio is amongst the highest in the hemisphere, but Rio salaries are 66 percent less than New York salaries. (Read the full report here)

So what does this mean for the middle class? The culture gap betweeen the traditional and new middle class will likely persist, but the new middle class is challenging perceptions about how increased access to higher salaries, skilled jobs, and increased consumption can change a person's standing in a country that has historically been highly stratified, and where social mobility wasn't always easy. It will be interesting to see how people self-identify in five years to define what the Brazilian middle class has become.

The Death of a Judge

Late last Thursday, a forty-seven year old mother of three was arriving home from work to her family in Niterói. Her car was approached by men on motorcycles, who fired on her, spraying the vehicle with 21 bullets. She was killed instantly.

But this was not a random act of violence in Rio. The victim was a powerful judge, known for her tough style and 60 convictions of policemen with ties to militias and death squads. She had also convicted some of the most hardened criminals in the São Gonçalo region, including local mafia chiefs and gambling bosses. Her name was found on a hit list, and she'd been threatened frequently before; she had official protection for years. Reports vary about why she didn't have a security detail the night of the attack; members of her family have said she requested one recently, but was denied; another report says she gave up security when she started dating her boyfriend, a military police officer, in 2007.

Initial reports show that the bullets at the crime scene came from weapons typically used by civil and military police, as well as guns issued exclusively to the Brazilian army. A state congressman, Flávio Bolsonaro, from the Bolsonaro clan and a close ally of military police, issued several statements on Twitter after the murder, claiming that the judge was known for "gratuitously humiliating defendants" and for calling policemen names in her courtroom.

It seems apparent that the judge was a target of militia and mafia groups, but finding her killers may not be easy. After the news broke, the Minister of Justice announced the Federal Police, Brazil's equivalent of the FBI, would be investigating the case. But later in the day, the Rio de Janeiro Security Secretariat announced that the case would be handled "exclusively" by local civil police. It's unclear why the state government rebuffed the federal government's offer, but it doesn't necessarily look good. Judge Acioli's family expressed dismay with the decision, and are hoping for a federal investigation. An outside investigation could find more connections between police and militias, and could potentially trace the murder back to even higher levels. A local investigation, on the other hand, may not yield the same results.

Such a brazen attack on a high-level government official isn't just a blow to impunity in an already beleaguered justice system. It appears to be a warning to judges, law enforcement, and lawmakers alike that anyone who takes on militias and organized crime is at risk, and that no one will be immune. It will not only be important to see how the investigation plays out, but also how the criminal justice system will continue to handle arrests and convictions of police connected to militias and the mafia. It's the same challenge Sérgio Cabral's government has been striving for in its multi-faceted public security campaign: proving that the state - not paramilitary groups, drug traffickers, or organized crime - is really in control.

The New Middle Class

One of the most impressive results of Brazil's economic rise has been the explosion of the middle class, and the expansion of what is called the C Class. Beyond the stock market, the oil fields, and the upcoming international events, the new middle class is what really has helped fuel growth and has attracted so much investment and international business.

In Brazil, socioeconomic level are divided by letters: A and B (upper income), C (middle income), D (lower middle income), and E (low income). This week, a new government study from the Strategic Affairs Secretariat (SAE) was released that provide insight into the new middle class, and provides an interesting look at Brazil's biggest consumers. One of the authors of the study discussed the rise of the middle class earlier this year:

The middle class now encompasses 52 percent of the Brazilian population, with around 95 million people. A new middle class family earns between R$1,000 and R$4,000 per month, or US$615 and US$2,461. The average monthly salary for a middle class family is R$2,295, around US$1,412, which amounts to about US$18,356 a year (including the "13th" bonus salary). Most are urban dwellers (89% live in cities) and largely concentrated in Brazil's wealthier regions (the South, Southeast, and Central-West). The majority are adults (63 percent are over 25), and slightly more than half are female and white. Amongst those in the C Class, six out of ten are employed. Plus, the rise of women in the workplace and higher education levels have helped propel families into the C class.

Brazilians from the new middle class are spending record numbers on consumer goods and services, and are expected to spend US$1.5 trillion in 2011. Shopping malls, which have becoming increasingly popular in the last few years, are mushrooming all over the country. This week, BR Malls acquired four new malls, and has plans to expand to Argentina and Chile. Also this week, Australia's Westfield Group purchased a 50 percent stake for US$440 million in Brazil's Almeida Junior Shopping Centers. Companies are opening offices and turning their focus from the U.S. and European markets to Brazil. As this LA Times article explains, companies disappointed with zero growth in the US are expanding to Brazil where opportunities for new investments abound - particularly with middle class consumers.

So what are they buying? Just about everything. According to the study, the new middle class spends around 31.5 percent of their yearly budgets on expenses for the home, which include bills, repairs, and big purchases like TVs and computers. They spend about 23 percent of yearly budgets on services, including beauty salons, housekeepers, and government services. About 18.5 percent is spent on food and drink. A few other interesting numbers: the C Class is responsible for 48 percent of supermarket purchases and 60 percent of beauty salon expenditures; members of the C Class make up 70 percent of Brazilian credit card holders and 80 percent of Brazilians who access the internet. For the new middle class, two of the main aspirations for purchases are cars and homes.

One of the most notable consumption trends in the new middle class is travel - now more than ever, Brazilians are going abroad and are spending billions. As the U.S. Ambassador Thomas Shannon noted at the Council of the Americas conference in São Paulo this week, "Brazilians travel with almost fanatical zeal to the US." In the first six months of 2011, Brazilians spent US$10.18 billion abroad, an all time record and a 44 percent increase from the same period the year before. This June alone, Brazilians spent US$1.8 billion on international travel. Many travelers are coming to the United States, much to the delight of embattled retailers. Miami is a popular shopping destination, and in 2010, 550,000 Brazilians visited the Florida city, spending US$1.14 billion there. Some even come with actual shopping tours. Wealthy Brazilians are buying up Miami real estate; as one broker told The New York Times, “The Brazilians walk in, they don’t even negotiate...It’s a no-brainer for them.”

But with this massive group of new consumers whipped up in a spending frenzy, debt is a real problem, and luckily the government is concerned. Ensuring education about credit and expanding unemployment insurance, amongst other measures, will be key in the sustainability of development, noted an EXAME article this week. Also, The Guardian revealed new consumer debt numbers this week:

"...A current representation of traditional Brazilian financial mismanagement is the high level of indebtedness of its families, which reaches 65% on average in the main cities of the country. In Curitiba, for example, the average level of indebtedness of its families – according to the Brazilian Federation of Commerce – has reached 88%. In Natal, the capital of Rio Grande do Norte, 40% of the family income is, on average, committed to debts. In the last year, 10 Brazilian states...were showing levels of indebtedness of its families beyond 70%. In 2011, at least 15 states are in the same situation."

There are also American-style heath problems - as the middle class has grown, so have Brazilian girths: nearly half the population is overweight, and childhood obesity has more than quadrupled in the past two decades.

Despite gains in salaries and purchasing power, the new middle class still falls behind the upper classes in access to education, services, sanitation and culture. A 2009 study found that while 87 percent of the upper class finished high school, only 59 percent of the middle class completed a high school education. The latest SAE study found that the middle class typically spends less than 30 percent of what the upper class spends per month on leisure and culture. While over 80 percent of wealth households have landline phones, less than 50 percent of middle class homes do. Seventy-two percent of upper class homes have an internet connection, compared to only 30 percent of middle class households. Nearly all wealthy households have adequate sanitation, compared to three quarters of middle class homes.

These challenges will very likely recede over time, assuming real wage growth and low unemployment hold. Brazilian middle class salaries are lower than in developed countries, which would be less of an issue if it were not for inflation, a high cost of living, and extremely high prices in major cities. Aside from reigning in consumer debt, striving to keep prices within a reasonable range of middle class salaries will help sustain this enormous contingent of consumers fueling Brazil's booming economy.