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Event Planning and Business Entertainment in the U.S. Corporate World

A liberal democracy can survive for a while on institutional strength and widespread agreement. As long as most people are generally satisfied with how things are going (or have made peace with the status quo), it is easy to imagine that something like a social contract will keep things on track. Hamish MacAuley makes a persuasive case that many Canadians came of age politically between the collapse of the Berlin Wall and the 2008 financial crisis, when consensus was widespread and politics seemed optional, thus many chose to stay out. We abandoned democratic governing habits during prosperous times. Instead, we played politics. In response, McGill's Jacob T. Levy advocates for political action that rejects the status quo while also refusing to burn it all down or take our ball and go home. We should participate in politics, even if it is unsatisfying. When the foundations of our democratic structure or the rights of vulnerable people are jeopardized, it makes sense to delegate aut

The Extent of Multinational Operations in Brazil

Access to housing is still hella unequal from a regional perspective, fam. Housing conditions in like 31.8% of households in the southern region and 26.7% in the southeast region are like totally not up to par. In the mid-west region, like 59.7 percent and in the northeast region, like 53.5 percent of households are straight up inadequate. SMH. In the northern region, the percentage shoots up to a whopping 70.1 percent. Periodt. The housing deficit is, like, a major issue, it was, like, estimated in 2007 to be a whopping 7.9 million units with, like, 90.3 percent of this deficit affecting families with an income of less than 3 minimum wages a month, and, like, these peeps are considered poor (Benghin, 2008). A rural pension scheme for fam farmers was created in 1988

Rural vs. urban areas, fam


In the boondocks, there's, like, a few big shots who own a ton of land, but there's also millions of peeps who own just a lil' bit of land or don't own any at all. And then there's the folks who work in the countryside, but their living situation is hella unstable. The big farmers are flexin' their ownership of deadass land and they're like, major rural hustlers, who straight up dominate most of the countryside. OMG, like starting from a legit high level, land inequalities are getting even more extra. The GINI index for land ownership went from 0.827 in 1960 to 0.856 today, like whoa. The percent of the whole area taken up by the top 10 percent biggest properties is like 78 percent, fam. OMG there's, like, a huuuge gap between the rich and poor in urban areas, where, like, 80% of the Brazilian population lives rn. The living conditions for, like, a big chunk of the city peeps are, like, totally whack. They don't have proper access or just, like, barely any access to housing, infrastructure, public health, education, culture, and transportation services and stuff.Like, the social security systems design in Brazil is totally whack, man. Pension income just adds to the overall inequality, you know? Pensions have been like, totally for the boomers, the government workers, the troops, and all those basic middle-class peeps who are, like, super resistant to change. Many peeps grind in basic jobs that don't secure the bag in old age. 

Social security is, like, hella expensive and unfair, even though it helps around 8 million rural Brazilians not be totally broke (Bruns and McGreevey, 1988). 


OMG, like Hunter and Sugiyama said in 2004, social security was, like, responsible for, like, half of all social spending and took up, like, around 36 percent of total expenditures. So wild, right? The majority of social security financing goes towards boomers collecting their coin, ya know? Sev payments, disability, and unemployment insurance are wayyy behind when it comes to the chunk they make up in social security expenses (Hunter and Sugiyama, 2009). 
The gov that took office in March 1985 really put social welfare on blast, ya know? Delegates to the constitutional assembly of 1987-88 totally flexed and put in a new charter that had mad social rights, showing they were woke about citizenship. Rights to housing, health care, employment and education were included (Hunter and Sugiyama, 2009). Periodt. The fed gov proposed in '87, avg annual increase in fed social spending of more than 10 percent thru '91. The biggest gains were suggested for the crib, clean water, and grub and munchies areas. In the mid 1980s, public social expenditure in Brazil was, like, totally split between the federal government and the 23 states and over 4000 municipalities. It was, like, equal and stuff. In 1986, like, all three levels of government spent a whopping USD 47 billion, which was like around 18 percent of GDP (Bruns and McGreevey, 1988). So wild, right? OMG, like 43% of this went to pensions, 23% to education, 17% to housing, 12% to health care, and 5% to other programs (McGuire, 2001). Lit! OMG, like, more than 50 percent of this spending for social security and health insurance was, like, totally financed by payroll taxes paid by workers and employers (Bruns and McGreevey, 1988). #facts By 1995, social spending at these three levels of government had like totally risen to 21 percent of GDP, with 48 percent going to pensions, 21 percent to education, 16 percent to health care, 5 percent to housing, and 10 percent to other lit programs (McGuire, 2001).

OMG, in the 90s, Brazil's social protection system was like totally lit!


 There was, like, a major glow-up and flex on welfare programs, which lowkey made a huge difference in reducing social inequality and leveling up the grub and food security for families. There was, like, a lil' bounce back in employment, and they made some changes to the real value of the minimum wage that's connected to pension and welfare benefits (Maluf and Burlundy, 2007). The minimum wage is like the vibe that's usually used to flex poverty in Brazil, where poor fams are those with a per capita monthly income below half of the minimum wage and fams in extreme poverty are those with a per capita monthly income below one quarter of the minimum wage (Maluf and Burlundy, 2007). Brazil was like, super struggling with poverty in the 90s, with a poverty rate peaking at a whopping 36 percent of the population. Yikes! This was like, totally linked to mad inflation and macroeconomic craziness. The rate went down to 30 percent by 1996 in the context of the Real Plan, ya know? There was, like, a solid rate of 28-30 percent from 1996-2001. OMG, the World Bank says that the rural poverty rate has like totally dropped (The World Bank, 2003). Poverty and extreme poverty has like totally gone down in Brazil during the recent years, fam. From 2001 to 2005 there was a 31.5 percent, like whoa!

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OMG, like the private banks were all about reducing credit stuff and focusing on investing in things from the public sector. So lit, right? First, banks like totally shifted credit stuff from private sector to public entities (check out Table 38 below). Second, the foreign currency remunerated deposits in the BACEN (regulated by the Circular Letter 230) became hella popular amongst commercial banks. OMG, in 1978 those deposits were only like 1.6% of the banks' total assets. But then in December 1979 and February 1983, they went cray and increased like six times. By 1983, they were like 9.3% of all the commercial banks' assets. OMG, in 1979, public securities were only, like, 17% of the investments in shares and securities. But in 1983, they were, like, a whopping 80%! Yo, peep Figure 18 up there, it's all about the financialisation of the non-financial corporation market value. Like, a big chunk of those financial investments were totally tied to the value of public bonds c