Over the past few decades, South America has capitalized on the development of several different industries– namely agriculture, mining, manufacturing, service and banking (The Pennsylvania State University, n.d). The result of these economic progresses are evident in the overall improvement of education and technology as well as substantial modernization in buildings and structures (The Pennsylvania State University, n.d). At the forefront of this economic growth and advancements is Brazil; Brazil has been indicated to have become the eight largest economy in the world, largely due to their efforts in the logging and mining industries (The Pennsylvania State University, n.d). In light of these economic improvements, Brazil has spurred further economic growth through their investments and expansion in tourism; resulting in popular, modern attractions such as hiking, skiing and snowboarding (The Pennsylvania State University, n.d). However, despite Brazil’s shining economic success in recent years, they may now be facing the longest recession since the 1930’s and suffering from great inflation, political tension and corruption (Gillespie, 2016). Although this economic crisis appears to be targeting Brazil and South America as a whole, it may in fact be a worldwide issue– a global recession that we’ll all soon feel. As we continue to approach a more globally interconnected state, we must be culturally aware and our attention must be wholesome to recognize all matters including those outside of our own. As global leaders, our ability to demonstrate cultural synergy is imperative for our global success and survival.
Since last December, Brazil’s inflation has risen over 10.7% from the prior year; the largest inflation rate the country has seen in over 12 years (Gillespie, 2016). To make matters worse, the unemployment rate is ever-increasing, delivering a massive blow to the middle-class and further widening the already existing economic gap (Snyder, 2016). So what exactly were the denominators that contributed to this economic crisis? Debts and a collapsing oil market (Snyder, 2016). During Brazil’s major economic, upward hike, the governments and business of South America took out enormous loans in U.S. denominations; to pay back these loans now, is even more difficult due to the increasing disparity between the appreciating U.S. currency and depreciating South American currencies (Snyder, 2016). To make matters worse, the collapsing oil prices has devastated South America as a whole; South America relies greatly on exporting these goods which are now worth far less than they were before (Snyder, 2016). As a result of inflation and depreciation, South America’s import trade has taken a significant hit as well, greatly affecting the middle class and small business owners. The lack of import goods such as wheat has even spurred a craze among citizens resulting in attempts to hoard basic supplies in advance, resulting in food shortages. For example, Snyder (2016) indicates that the economic impacts on Venezuela has been “absolutely frightening” with several Venezuelan bakeries hanging cardboard signs on their door, warning, “No Bread”. Even more frightening, this reduction of import trade has also affected a range of items including medicine and toilet paper (Snyder, 2016).
Stuenkel (2016) indicates that until only a few years ago, Brazil had still been on the forefront of the developing world and boasted some of the most active foreign policies. Brazil had built an “impressive network of embassies and consulates” with over 60 posts during the 2000’s all over Africa, Asia and more (Snyder, 2016). Snyder (2016) also indicates that these foreign policies extended into debates ranging from humanitarian intervention in Libya to rethinking development aid and other relation interventions. However, Brazil has now been victim to the worst economic crisis since the 1930’s and was further worsened by poor leadership and public contempt of former president, Dilma Rousseff (Snyder, 2016). Rousseff, according to several critics, was incompetent, indifferent and ignorant to all of the country’s political and economic conflicts and failed to address any real issues alongside her deep-rooted corruption (Snyder, 2016). Dilma Rousseff was impeached and removed from office on August 31, 2016 after a senate vote of 61 to 20 (Romero, 2016). Despite, her removal from office, Brazil still faces the same political and economic issues. Even worse, Brazil now has to confront the new acting president, Michel Temer, a man who has been found guilty of violating campaign finance limits and has allegations of being a beneficiary to a $300,000 bribe (Romero, 2016).
Aside from Brazil’s economic and political corruption, there are several other vulnerable countries that contribute to the global matter including China and the United States. Snyder (2016) indicates that Chinese state industries are planning to lay off over 5 million workers and U.S. factory orders has now fallen for 15 months in a row with the corporate default rate in the U.S. higher than Lehman Brothers during their collapse. Snyder (2016) says that the “hard economic numbers” indicate a significant slow-down to overall global economic activity and is representative of a new global recession that has already begun. The economic and political mayhem that is consuming Brazil may not appear to be a relative matter for others countries just yet, however, as we’ve seen with the result of Venezuelan economic slow-down; the economic impacts of one country intrinsically impacts the economic status of another. Though the trickle affects of Brazil’s current economic and political status may already be affecting us, it is not too late to educate, proliferate and employ concepts of cultural synergy. The Pennsylvania State University (n.d) defines synergy as cooperative or combined action, which occurs when diverse or disparate individuals or groups collaborate for a common cause. The objective is to “increase effectiveness by sharing perceptions and experiences, insights and knowledge; The Pennsylvania State University (n.d) also defines high cultural synergy as the embodiment of highly cooperative and community-oriented thinking, with the good of all in mind. By employing high cultural synergy and forward thinking as a global leader and community, we are capable of creating solutions for our entire worldwide community. The effectiveness of our group cohesion is contingent on multiple factors including our ability to accept and familiarize ourselves with each other, on several different planes; cultural, social, financial, political, and more. As Venezuelan and Brazilian inflation and depreciation has demonstrated for us; our global community is highly interconnected, and the negative results can be devastating.
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Romero, S. (2016, August 31). Dilma Rousseff Is Ousted as Brazil’s President in Impeachment Vote. The New York Times. Retrieved from
www.nytimes.com/2016/09/01/world/americas/brazil-dilma-rousseff-impeached-removed-president.html
Snyder, M. (2016, March 04). The Economic Collapse Of South America Is Well Underway. Activist Post. Retrieved from
www.activistpost.com/2016/03/the-economic-collapse-of-south-america-is-well-underway.html
Stuenkel, O. (2016, April 25). How Brazil’s Crisis Is Bleeding into the Rest of South America. Americas Quarterly. Retrieved from
http://www.americasquarterly.org/content/how-brazils-crisis-bleeding-rest-south-america
The Pennsylvania State University. (n.d.a.). Lesson 06: Cultural Synergy. The Pennsylvania State University. Retrieved from https://psu.instructure.com/courses/1802572/modules/items/21179088
The Pennsylvania State University. (n.d.b). Lesson 08: South America: Focus on Brazil. The Pennsylvania State University. Retrieved from
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