Has Brazils success in navigating the economic crisis changed investors views?
I’ll give you an example. At the beginning of the crisis, the head offices of the car industry ordered everyone to lower production, lower inventory, and remit their reserves. Later they called on the Brazilians to explain to them what miracle they had performed to revive their markets so quickly. There was no miracle. We had a strong domestic market. We had consumers who wanted to buy cars. We reduced part of the sales tax and asked the companies to offer consumers credit on affordable terms. And the result is that we are beating record after record in car sales in Brazil. It’s the same case with refrigerators, stoves, washing machines, and with computers and housing construction. If all the countries had done this as quickly as Brazil and China did, certainly the world could emerge from the crisis more rapidly. Already we’re beginning to see signs of recovery. If I told you that this year we are going to generate a million jobs you probably wouldn’t believe me. But just wait for the
