Giving Due Credit to President Lula

Over the last eight years, there is perhaps no head of state who has done a better job than President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva of Brazil. He should be given the Nobel Prize for governing.

On the eve of his visit to the U.S., the Financial Times printed an Op-Ed from President da Silva.
It is worth reading. He concludes by writing, "But, above all, I hope for a world free of the economic dogmas that invaded the thinking of many and were presented as absolute truths. Anti-cyclical policies must not be adopted only when a crisis is under way. Applied in advance – as they have been in Brazil – they can be the guarantors of a more just and democratic society.As I said at the outset, I do not give much importance to abstract concepts. I am not worried about the name to be given to the economic and social order that will come after the crisis, so long as its central concern is with human beings."

The WSJ also has an article about the Brazilian President, titled "Brazil's da Silva Warns Against Protectionism." The article says that "Mr. da Silva's unlikely rise to power -- he was a school dropout and industrial worker who lost a finger in a factory accident -- gives him enormous reservoir of good will in a region with a deep divide between rich and poor. Relations between the U.S. and Brazil, though good, are relatively underdeveloped. The cornerstone is an agreement to develop biofuel technology, a Brazilian area of expertise. Mr. da Silva's impoverished background has raised expectations that he will be able to forge an especially productive relationship with Mr. Obama, whose own background didn't presage power." The Brazilian was effusive in his praise for the U.S. president. "I pray for Obama more than I pray for myself," Mr. da Silva said. "Bush's policies toward Brazil were dignified. But I think they can be infinitely better with Obama."

Mr. da Silva's disdain for investment banks is rooted in the aftermath of his 2002 election, when U.S. and European investment houses led a rout on Brazilian bonds, predicting Mr. da Silva would wreck the economy. Brazil's economy has remained on solid footing, and its financial system is intact. Indeed, Mr. da Silva said the crisis offered an opportunity to create an economy where Wall Street financiers play a smaller role. "The world will be less false," Mr. da Silva said. "The economy that will count is the one that produces corn, rice, a screw, a car, a suit, a watch."