Word: bolsa
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...does not like admitting it, but once in the presidency, Lula embraced Cardoso's macroeconomic orthodoxy. He then used that as a base on which to weld social programs, such as Bolsa Família, a grant scheme that has paid out more than $20 billion in aid to poor families in return for parents getting their children vaccinated and making sure they attend school. Brazil's business leaders insist record profits during the 2005-2008 boom allowed Lula to aid the poor; Lula argues his antipoverty crusade fueled the economic growth. It's a chicken-and-egg debate...
...breach between Washington and Caracas matters less to Brazilians than the huge chasm between the nation's rich and poor. Lula, who as an impoverished kid shined shoes on the streets of São Paulo, has pumped some $100 billion into anti-poverty projects like Bolsa Familia (Family Purse), which provide everything from rewards for poor families who keep their kids in school to financing for small farmers and entrepreneurs. As a result, 52% of Brazil's 180 million people now occupy the middle class, up from 44% when Lula took office...
...tighten his belt again if he wins another term, economists agree. Growth is stunted - at an average of 2.6% over the last three years, it is around half the Latin American average and way behind rival emerging markets such as like China and India - but his success with the Bolsa Familia makes victory almost certain, in spite of his lack of action elsewhere. Although he failed to enact the political, union, labor, agrarian or tax reforms he promised, polls put him between 22 and 25 points ahead of nearest rival, Geraldo Alckmin, and within reach of the overall majority that...
...those people, economists say, are helping breathe life into the economy, especially in the places where it was suffering. While retail sales in the south actually dropped 0.29% in the year ending May 2006, they rose 16% in the impoverished north and northeast thanks largely to the injection of Bolsa Familia cash, says Marcelo Neri, director at a Rio business school and author of a recent report on inequality. "In some places that were so poor that money practically didn't exist, you greased the wheels," Neri said. "That's because of the Bolsa Famila, the rise in the minmum...
...overlook the corruption scandals that forced many of his closest advisors to resign and destroyed the credibility of his Workers' Party (PT). "Lula is no saint, he probably steals a little," said Silvana de Oliveira, an unemployed mother who gets $30 a month from his government. "[But] without the Bolsa Familia I couldn't afford anything. It isn't a lot, but people in precarious situations like me count...