Yes, Brazil was growing in 2005. People were getting out from poverty and gaining access to a lot of things they thought were only accessible in richer places. GDP started to grow fast, unemployment was going down, etc. Basically, all economic and social indicators were moving in a good direction. In 2008 there was an iconic news with the title “We have never been so happy”, talking about those indicators and a research about perception of happiness. Things peaked somewhere in early 2010s, but then got worse, and fast, with political instability, attacks to our democracy and the pandemic pushing it even harder. Now we’re slowly trying to recover, but still too unstable.
I mean, one of the biggest innovations of the last twenty years has been in retail logistics. That’s why Amazon is chewing through the labor pool of every American small town.
You’re right, and that’s where the nuance is. I don’t know how it’s happening in the USA, but in here, those improvements are coming at the high expense of the middle and lower classes losing purchase power while seeing the cost of living going up, and people losing job opportunities. Also, those improvements often mask some things we’re losing. For example, uber availability is masking the deterioration of public transportation in many places, people doing everything from home and avoiding going out is masking the rising in criminality in the streets, etc.
I find it too complex to say that things are improving when the cost of living grows faster than people’s income, and everyone is so desperate, with a constant feeling of anxiety and tiredness, to make the ends meet.
Yes, Brazil was growing in 2005. People were getting out from poverty and gaining access to a lot of things they thought were only accessible in richer places. GDP started to grow fast, unemployment was going down, etc. Basically, all economic and social indicators were moving in a good direction. In 2008 there was an iconic news with the title “We have never been so happy”, talking about those indicators and a research about perception of happiness. Things peaked somewhere in early 2010s, but then got worse, and fast, with political instability, attacks to our democracy and the pandemic pushing it even harder. Now we’re slowly trying to recover, but still too unstable.
You’re right, and that’s where the nuance is. I don’t know how it’s happening in the USA, but in here, those improvements are coming at the high expense of the middle and lower classes losing purchase power while seeing the cost of living going up, and people losing job opportunities. Also, those improvements often mask some things we’re losing. For example, uber availability is masking the deterioration of public transportation in many places, people doing everything from home and avoiding going out is masking the rising in criminality in the streets, etc.
I find it too complex to say that things are improving when the cost of living grows faster than people’s income, and everyone is so desperate, with a constant feeling of anxiety and tiredness, to make the ends meet.