Another
"Must Not" While Investing In Brazil!!
NEVER base an investment from not only hearsay, but actual newspaper articles, government reports, even from personal conversations from representatives of the government themselves, here in Brazil concering infrastructure!
Roads, bridges, airports, cities to "soon" get international flights. All of this stuff are things that I have not only been hearing for a decade that is "soon coming"
, and not only here where I am, but in numerous cities throughout the northeast, and really the entire country.
I hope everyone realizes that there are literally thousands of situations, roads, bridges, etc. all throughout this country that if you go to the local governments they have documents, proof, to show you that money was allocated by the federal, state, or local gov't., to pave a road, build a bridge, fix this or that, and it simply was never done. That money allocated just "disappeared". And I'm not only talking about small projects, I'm talking about large ones as well. My fiancé lives in the south of Bahia, close to Minas Gerais, the closest city to her town is a place called Itamaraju. From Itamaraju to her city it is 100 km's. The road from Itamaraju to her city is a dirt road.....a terrible dirt road. When it rains you can only make the journey by 4 wheel drive or heavy truck. The last time I was there it started to rain the night before we left. We paid for a truck to take us to Itamaraju. You can buy a "ticket" on this truck which in the bed are benches where everyone sits. To make a long story short it took us 6 hours to travel 100 km's......6 hours!
Now, if you go to Salvador, which is the capitol of Bahia, not only will they tell you that this road is paved, but they will tell you that it's been paved since 1997!! And since then they have granted monies to "fix" and maintain this road 4 different times!!!
There is a joke I was told here shortly after I arrived to live by a group of Brazilians...it goes like this;
There was an american senator, Joe, and brazilian senator, Jose, who became friends. One day the american senator invited the brazilian senator to Washington and shortly thereafter he arrived. When Jose got to the american senator's office he was very impressed, Joe had a beautiful office, was wearing a $3,000 Armani suit, and driving a $130,000 Mercedes. Jose asked, "Joe, how much money do you make in a year?" Joe replied, "Jose, I make a salary of around $150,000 a year, but come over here for a second." Joe motions for Jose to come beside him in front of the window where he is standing. Joe says, "Jose, do you see that interstate down there?" "Yes, yes I do Joe" says Jose. "Well, 10% of the cost of that interstate....right here", tapping his pocket. "And Jose, do you see that gov't. building over there and that hospital over there?" Jose responds, "Yes, Joe, very beautiful, very modern." "Yes" Joe replies, "10%....all right here", once again, tapping his pocket. "Ohhhhhh", says Jose, "very nice!!"
Well, a few years later the american senator travels to Brasilia at the invitation of his brazilian counterpart who picks him up at the airport in his brand new Lamborghini Countach. Joe notices that Jose is now wearing a taylor made Valentino suit and a Rolex presidential edition watch. They arrive at Jose's office and after some chit-chat Joe asks Jose, "So Jose, how much money do you make?" Jose says, "Joe, come over here beside me at this window. Take a look out there Joe, do you see those bridges? Do you see that hospital? Do you see that airport?" Joe looked, wiped his eyes, and looked again. "What bridges? What hospital? What airport?", asked Joe. Jose replied, "100%.....right here Joe!" tapping his pocket!!!
The situation described above is COMMON all throughout this country. And everyone that lives here knows this. It's no secret.
Even if you see a government "project" and construction begins, don't assume that it's going to be completed, especially if there is going to be a change in government, or an election, during the construction phase. There are literally hundreds, if not thousands, of government projects where infrastructure was getting built, then an election changed the governor or mayor, and all construction came to a halt and was never restarted. May be hard to believe for some, it was for me, until I saw enormous structures or developments, partially finished and rotting from the years of neglect and asked what happened, it's a very sad thing. A terrible waste of tax money while so many here are so desperately poor.
I have an american friend that's been living here in Brazil in my city for a while now, believe he moved here around the same time I did. He tells a story about when he spent some time in India some years ago. He was staying in a rural area and had to travel some distance to buy wood. When he arrived at the place the man said that they were out of wood but the man delivering it was "soon coming". Well every few hours he would ask the man, "When is the guy getting here with the wood?" Always the same reply...."Soon Coming." Well, he waited for 3 days!!!
A Brazilian buddy of mine and myself always got a kick out of that and when we hear these "stories" of big gov't. expenditures and projects, even legitimate ones, we just look at each other and say...."Soon Coming!"
Don't belive it, until you see it!!