BRICs

  • 06 Aug 2009 at 11:42 AM

Brazil’s Geithner

By Equity Private

brazil3.jpgTax evasion, insider transactions, Oil, Senate committees, potential corruption. Could be a prime-time dramatization of the Tim Geithner story (true, we haven’t found the Turbo Tax angle yet, but give the story some time to germinate), or just another bit of BRIC background noise.

Petroleo Brasileiro SA, struggling to meet output targets and finance a $174 billion spending plan, faces a new challenge today as Brazil’s Senate probes claims it evaded taxes and funneled cash to government allies.

Shocking. Of course, in jurisdictions with large extraction economies, political power and scandal, natural resources and opposition parties all roll into one big slime pool. Of course, that seems to be the case in jurisdictions with large financial services economies as well.

The investigation, prompted by opponents of Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, focuses on allegations Rio de Janeiro-based Petrobras evaded 4.4 billion reais ($2.4 billion) of taxes, overpaid for goods and may have favored the president’s supporters when it made charitable donations. Chief Executive Officer Jose Sergio Gabrielli denies the claims.

When the largest oil company in a commodity driven economy finds itself in the crosshairs of the Brazilian President, it doesn’t take much to wonder after the BRIC perma-bulls.
Petrobras Probe Starts as Gabrielli Faces ‘Crisis’ [Bloomberg]

  • 29 Jun 2009 at 9:55 AM

A Green Shoot From The BRIC Saviors

By Greg Michaels

putin_judo_dvd.jpgLife in Russia must be a lot better than the consensus belief. Faced with an economy expected to contract close to 8% this year and comically reliant on high commodity prices, the government decided that now was a good time to throw 400,000 people out of a job in the name of clean living. Back in 2006, then president Vladimir Putin started on a campaign to clean up Russia’s gambling industry. On July 1st, every casino in the country is being shut down, thereby eliminating close to half a million jobs.
Having dismissed the notion that the overly leveraged US consumer is going to lead the world out of the economic abyss, many have shifted their attention to the BRIC countries. If the world is seriously pinning their hopes (in part) on a government currently contemplating bailing out large banks rotting from bad loans by taking board seats and willing to voluntarily place hundreds of thousands of people into unemployment, the BIC countries better pick up the pace.