Election day in Brazil

[DanishDynamite]

Today, the Brazilians will be voting for a new President. The current President of this country of 190 million, Lula, will apparently have a hard time getting the 50% necessary for an instant win, according to the polls published Saturday. Given the corruption scandals his government has been involved in, I certainly hope the polls will reflect the vote.

 

[Rob Lister]

Today, the Brazilians will be voting for a new President. The current President of this country of 190 million, Lula, will apparently have a hard time getting the 50% necessary for an instant win, according to the polls published Saturday. Given the corruption scandals his government has been involved in, I certainly hope the polls will reflect the vote.

Interesting country. For a quick review...
https://www.cia.gov/cia/publications/factbook/geos/br.html

Oddly, this stat didn't make sense:

Infant mortality rate:
total: 28.6 deaths/1,000 live births
male: 32.3 deaths/1,000 live births
female: 24.7 deaths/1,000 live births

ETA: on reflection, and after viewing other countries, I guess this M/F ratio is pretty much standard...I still don't know why but that's a different thread.

I was there very briefly in the late seventies. At the [some] beach.

Wonderful!

I don't remember much because it was a long time ago and I was...erm...you know.

 

[DanishDynamite]

Oddly, this stat didn't make sense:

Infant mortality rate:
total: 28.6 deaths/1,000 live births
male: 32.3 deaths/1,000 live births
female: 24.7 deaths/1,000 live births

In what way don't you feel it makes sense? It makes perfect sense to me.

I was there very briefly in the late seventies. At the [some] beach.

Wonderful!

I don't remember much because it was a long time ago and I was...erm...you know.

I know!

It is a wonderful place. Lot's of problems but also lot's of possibilities. For example, did you know that there's a Brazilian company which produces planes? Or that Brazil has it's own rocket-launching facility where they regularly launch satellites into space?

 

[Rob Lister]

In what way don't you feel it makes sense? It makes perfect sense to me.

Please see my edit: but can you explain the difference? Not a challenge, I'm just curious.

 

[Rob Lister]

In what way don't you feel it makes sense? It makes perfect sense to me.

I know!

It is a wonderful place. Lot's of problems but also lot's of possibilities. For example, did you know that there's a Brazilian company which produces planes? Or that Brazil has it's own rocket-launching facility where they regularly launch satellites into space?

erm...like I said, I was young, prone to things not so complex as politics and technology and industry and economy. I just remember the beach (somewhere in Rio) and the babes, and the booze, and the weed, and the...well, you know.

 

[DanishDynamite]

Please see my edit: but can you explain the difference? Not a challenge, I'm just curious.

Yes, I can explain the difference. Perhaps an example will best illustrate things:

A thousand babies are born.

500 are males and 500 are females.

Within 5 days (let's say) only 400 of the male babies are alive. However, 450 of the female babies are still alive.

Given this, the Total Infant Mortality rate would be:

= Number of dead/Number of born

= 150/1000

= 0.15

However, the male mortality rate would be:

= 100/500

= 0.20

while the female rate of mortality would be:

= 50/500

= 0.10

Understand now?

 

[HeavyAaron]

If I'm not mistaken the question is why do little boys not have as good a survival rate as little girls. I doubt the question hinged on the meaning of an average.

Aaron

 

[DanishDynamite]

If I'm not mistaken the question is why do little boys not have as good a survival rate as little girls. I doubt the question hinged on the meaning of an average.

Aaron

I personally think two things:

1) Your wrong.

2) This thread is getting seriously derailed.

So, to get back to the topic of issue, do you think this is the chance Brazil has in entering the world of fairly-uncorrupt government, or do you think it will have to wait a while?

 

[geni]

Please see my edit: but can you explain the difference? Not a challenge, I'm just curious.

Y chromosome means that any faults on the X means you are going to have problems

 

[Rob Lister]

If I'm not mistaken the question is why do little boys not have as good a survival rate as little girls. I doubt the question hinged on the meaning of an average.

Aaron

Exactly. What is it about baby boys that make them more prone to death?

In places like India (55:54) and Iran (40:40) and China (25:20) indicates some sort of cultural difference. The numbers flop.

What is it?

 

[DanishDynamite]

Exactly. What is it about baby boys that make them more prone to death?

In places like India (55:54) and Iran (40:40) and China (25:20) indicates some sort of cultural difference. The numbers flop.

What is it?

Sorry for misunderstanding your question.

If you wish to discuss this question, please start a new thread. Thanks.

 

[HeavyAaron]

Exactly. What is it about baby boys that make them more prone to death?

In places like India (55:54) and Iran (40:40) and China (25:20) indicates some sort of cultural difference. The numbers flop.

What is it?

In those places I would guess infanticide of little girls (we wanted a boy, attitude.)

Aaron

 

[Bjorn]

Exactly. What is it about baby boys that make them more prone to death?

In places like India (55:54) and Iran (40:40) and China (25:20) indicates some sort of cultural difference. The numbers flop.

What is it?

In India and China boys are more worth than girls. It is probably not a coincidence that mortality is higher among infant girls than boys in some countries:

Sex differentials in infant mortality have been observed universally. In the majority of the world regions, girls have lower mortality, at least for the first few months of life (Curtis and Steele, 1996; Sastry, 1997). Exceptions have been noted in some Asian countries. In India, girls are 30 percent more likely than boys to die before their fifth birthday and this is thought to be a result of son preference, which is manifest in lower spending on health for girls and higher prevalence of immunization among boys (Claeson et al., 2000; Timaeus et al., 1998).

 

[DanishDynamite]

In those places I would guess infanticide of little girls (we wanted a boy, attitude.)

Aaron

Kindly start a new thread. Thanks.

 

[DanishDynamite]

In India and China boys are more worth than girls. It is probably not a coincidence that mortality is higher among infant girls than boys in some countries:

Kindly start a new thread. Thanks.

 

[Bjorn]

Sorry for misunderstanding your question.

If you wish to discuss this question, please start a new thread. Thanks.

... and I agree.

Brazil is fantastic, but is has been corrupt since Ed knows when and is no more so now than earlier. Do you think it will improve if Lula is not reelected?

 

[Rob Lister]

new thread

 

[DanishDynamite]

... and I agree.

Brazil is fantastic, but is has been corrupt since Ed knows when and is no more so now than earlier. Do you think it will improve if Lula is not reelected?

Thanks for getting back on track.

Personally, no, I don't think things will improve greatly if Lula was shoved aside. But , if the reason he was shoved aside was that many Brazilians felt his corrupted government was just too corrupted, that would be a start.

 

[Bjorn]

Thanks for getting back on track.

Personally, no, I don't think things will improve greatly if Lula was shoved aside. But , if the reason he was shoved aside was that many Brazilians felt his corrupted government was just too corrupted, that would be a start.

But wasn't he elected at least partly because the (previous) government was too corrupted?

Silva won by a landslide four years ago on promises to do more for the poor while keeping his hands clean of the political corruption rampant in Brazil.

And his competitor isn't much cleaner:

His main rival is former Sao Paulo Governor Geraldo Alckmin, who is polling around 35 percent.

Alckmin has been unable to capitalize on the scandal in part because members of his Brazilian Social Democratic Party have been linked to similar corruption schemes during the previous administration.

Newspaper article, one of many.

 

[DanishDynamite]

But wasn't he elected at least partly because the (previous) government was too corrupted?

And his competitor isn't much cleaner:

Newspaper article, one of many.

Sigh. Yes, you are right. I just tried to feel as positive about Lula's fall in the polls as I could.

One day I would like to start a thread on why it is that some countries continue to be marred by corruption while others have almost rid themselves of this pest.