Word: cruzeiros
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Dates: during 1980-1989
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Inflation, devaluation and near economic collapse have reduced the buying power of Brazil's cruzeiro by 26.4% over the past six months. But in Sāo Paulo (pop. 12 million), the country's financial capital, the currency has gained in popularity with a certain class of entrepreneurs: stickup men, who are carrying cruzeiros away in record amounts. Bank offices in Sāo Paulo have been held up more than 700 times so far this year, nearly double the 1982 pace. Though bankers are reluctant to disclose their losses, one government estimate puts the 1983 haul...
...that unusual price hikes caused by temporary food or energy shortages, for example, were built into wages. Instead of remaining stable, the inflation rate tended to accelerate uncontrollably. The price index in Brazil has become almost like a clicking meter in a speeding taxicab, and the value of the cruzeiro against the dollar falls by 2% or 3% every week. Late last week it took 568 cruzeiros to buy a dollar...
...decade, inflation is now racing upward at the stunning annual rate of 106.8%. Ironically, that is even a little higher than the rate that prompted Brazil's generals in 1964 to overthrow duly elected President Joáo Goulart and establish a military dictatorship. Meanwhile, the Brazilian cruzeiro continues to plummet in value-from 26 to 54 per $1 during the past twelve months. Unemployment is climbing, and only a fraction of the young people entering the labor pool each year ever find jobs. One consequence: alarming crime rates in the ever more overcrowded cities...