Lessons from across the world.

The Bolsa Familia program in Brazil has been an acknowledged success story. It is a direct transfer of money to the very poor, dependent on their children attending school and being taken for health checkups. It reaches 13.8 million families, about 50 million people, which is about 1 in 4 of the population of around 200 million. It has helped to alleviate extreme poverty and improved school attendance and child health. " The Bolsa Familia helps me buy food. Sometimes I can even buy fruit for the children. My children know that when we receive the money, they will have more to eat, and that makes them happier. And they don't skip school, because they know that the money depends on their going," said a mother of 3 children. It was thought that as the economy grew more people would find employment so that they would would be able to give up their benefits. But that has not happened. In 10 years only 12% or 1.7 million people, have given up their benefits. The poor have no real estate so rents take away a portion of their incomes, leaving them dependent on the handouts to survive. Brazil is facing a severe drought that is reducing production of hydro-electricity. The currency, the real has fallen by 12.7% since January. The fall in the value of the real is fueling inflation, which reached 7.36%, hurting the purchasing power of the people. Taxes have gone up to reduce the budget deficit, adding to inflationary pressures. Commodity prices are down, hurting exports. To stop inflation and support the real the interest rate was raised to 12.75%, which is expected to cause a mild recession in the economy. Another country suffering enormous inflation, falling value of its currency and a steep decline in earnings, due to low oil prices, is Venezuela where Hugo Chavez won 3 elections because of his social policies. Mortuaries are full while supermarket shelves are lying empty. In India we experienced very high inflation, high taxes and falling growth due to the social policies of the Congress. Real estate prices are too high for the vast majority of the population so that they pay a large portion of their earnings in rent. Demand is down but house prices are not falling. Low consumer demand is pushing people to buy online which is hitting retailers in shopping malls. Social schemes are seen as a surefire way to win elections and can be milked for cash for personal use. So politicians are always looking for ways to tax the people. They have fought tooth and nail to keep alcohol outside the Goods and Services Tax, which will unite all taxes in India. Meanwhile, in the US jobless rates have fallen to lowest level since 2008 while the dollar is becoming stronger. Are there any lessons to be learnt?