1 00:00:02,310 --> 00:00:05,740 Many American millennials seem to be drawn to socialism. 2 00:00:05,740 --> 00:00:10,700 They came out in big numbers for Bernie Sanders in the 2016 presidential primaries. 3 00:00:10,700 --> 00:00:14,320 They rail against capitalism on their college campuses. 4 00:00:14,320 --> 00:00:18,340 They wear Che Guevara t-shirts to signal their socialist virtue. 5 00:00:18,340 --> 00:00:20,200 I know a lot about socialism. 6 00:00:20,200 --> 00:00:25,880 I live in Rio de Janeiro and I work throughout Brazil as a journalist for a popular magazine. 7 00:00:25,880 --> 00:00:30,289 In the early 2000s, Brazil’s economy was growing rapidly. 8 00:00:30,289 --> 00:00:35,860 The government had enacted economic and monetary reforms and divested holdings in some state-run 9 00:00:35,860 --> 00:00:39,600 companies, giving the private sector more room to breathe. 10 00:00:39,600 --> 00:00:44,600 Inflation—a chronic problem in Brazil—was dramatically reduced. 11 00:00:44,600 --> 00:00:50,440 Foreign investors poured into the country, eager to catch a portion of our expanding economy. 12 00:00:50,440 --> 00:00:52,540 The future seemed promising. 13 00:00:52,540 --> 00:00:58,940 But today, our economy is in shambles, unemployment and debt are massive and powerful politicians 14 00:00:58,940 --> 00:01:04,030 are being investigated for involvement in the largest scandals of fraud and corruption 15 00:01:04,030 --> 00:01:05,680 in the country's history. 16 00:01:05,680 --> 00:01:06,880 What happened? 17 00:01:06,880 --> 00:01:12,820 In 2002, a socialist politician named Lula da Silva ran for the presidency. 18 00:01:12,820 --> 00:01:17,780 He was a socialist, but painted himself as a modern, cool kind of socialist. 19 00:01:17,780 --> 00:01:23,260 He would be the politician who would heal national divisions and unite everyone. 20 00:01:23,260 --> 00:01:28,540 He even had a nickname, “Lulinha paz e amor”, which means "Little Lula peace and love" 21 00:01:28,540 --> 00:01:30,040 in Portuguese. 22 00:01:30,040 --> 00:01:34,940 But the old message about the need for income redistribution to decrease inequality was still there. 23 00:01:34,940 --> 00:01:39,600 The media, academic elite and celebrities assured Brazilians that by transferring the 24 00:01:39,600 --> 00:01:43,620 money from the rich to the poor, the poor could finally be richer. 25 00:01:43,620 --> 00:01:49,619 But the only ones who really got rich were Lula and his corporate and political friends. 26 00:01:49,619 --> 00:01:54,389 It only got worse under his successor, Dilma Rousseff. 27 00:01:54,389 --> 00:01:59,119 The socialists increased government spending, deficits, and debt. 28 00:01:59,119 --> 00:02:01,299 They called it a stimulus. 29 00:02:01,299 --> 00:02:04,869 They increased the minimum wage and the benefits of social programs. 30 00:02:04,869 --> 00:02:07,399 They called it social justice. 31 00:02:07,399 --> 00:02:11,370 They increased the salaries and retirement benefits of the civil service. 32 00:02:11,370 --> 00:02:14,040 They called it investing in the future. 33 00:02:14,040 --> 00:02:18,900 They handed out thousands of jobs in the government and state-owned companies 34 00:02:18,900 --> 00:02:21,180 as favors to their political allies. 35 00:02:21,180 --> 00:02:23,940 And they called it good governance. 36 00:02:23,960 --> 00:02:25,360 It worked for a while. 37 00:02:25,360 --> 00:02:28,640 Socialism always works at the beginning. 38 00:02:28,640 --> 00:02:33,980 But government spending just kept going up and then Lula’s socialist paradise fell apart, 39 00:02:33,980 --> 00:02:35,860 and the economy fell with it. 40 00:02:35,860 --> 00:02:41,820 The outcome: from 2008 to 2015, government spending grew nearly four times as fast 41 00:02:41,820 --> 00:02:43,640 as tax revenue. 42 00:02:43,640 --> 00:02:50,600 The economy shrank 3.8 percent in 2015, the worst result in 25 years. 43 00:02:50,600 --> 00:02:55,520 That same year, a World Bank survey found Brazil’s economy to be one of the world’s worst. 44 00:02:55,520 --> 00:03:02,560 Out of 189 countries, we were the 16th hardest place to open a business, the 60th most difficult 45 00:03:02,560 --> 00:03:08,400 nation in which to register property, and the 12th most complex place to pay taxes. 46 00:03:08,400 --> 00:03:14,860 Economically and morally, the almost 15 years of Socialist policies have greatly harmed Brazil. 47 00:03:14,900 --> 00:03:20,560 We also remain among the world's leaders in murder and robbery, and we rank near the bottom 48 00:03:20,560 --> 00:03:25,100 of industrialized nations in terms of education and health care. 49 00:03:25,100 --> 00:03:29,640 Americans take it for granted that they can be born into the lower class 50 00:03:29,640 --> 00:03:32,219 and reach the middle or even upper class. 51 00:03:32,220 --> 00:03:35,560 Many Brazilians take it for granted that they can’t. 52 00:03:35,560 --> 00:03:38,240 But finally some things are starting to change. 53 00:03:38,240 --> 00:03:40,180 There may be reason for hope. 54 00:03:40,190 --> 00:03:46,780 Today, more and more Brazilians see that capitalism and limited government are the only way forward. 55 00:03:46,780 --> 00:03:52,390 Thankfully for Brazil, Lula has been charged in several lawsuits for corruption, involvement 56 00:03:52,390 --> 00:03:58,380 in a criminal organization, influence peddling, money laundering, and obstruction of justice. 57 00:03:58,380 --> 00:04:04,180 Rousseff was impeached in 2016 for falsifying the government’s finances, and illegally 58 00:04:04,180 --> 00:04:08,379 using money from state-owned banks to run the government. 59 00:04:08,379 --> 00:04:13,400 This crisis prompted the new government to freeze federal spending, reduce the government’s 60 00:04:13,400 --> 00:04:19,620 role in state-owned companies, and to encourage some of the massive federal workforce to resign. 61 00:04:19,620 --> 00:04:25,360 No one knows whether these basic measures will be enough to rescue Brazil economically. 62 00:04:25,360 --> 00:04:31,800 Truthfully, the damage has been so extensive, it may take decades for the country to recover. 63 00:04:31,800 --> 00:04:35,580 But if we do, it won’t be socialism that saves us. 64 00:04:35,580 --> 00:04:37,900 American millennials take note. 65 00:04:37,900 --> 00:04:42,360 I am Felipe Moura Brasil for Prager University. 66 00:04:42,360 --> 00:04:45,090 Hi Everyone, I am Felipe Moura Brasil, a journalist and 67 00:04:45,090 --> 00:04:46,740 columnist in Brazil. 68 00:04:46,740 --> 00:04:50,840 PragerU videos have made a deep impact on me and many Brazilians. 69 00:04:50,840 --> 00:04:54,300 If you have been impacted by these videos too, please consider making 70 00:04:54,300 --> 00:04:56,260 a donation to PragerU. 71 00:04:56,260 --> 00:05:00,560 Your support will help ensure that PragerU can keep these videos free 72 00:05:00,560 --> 00:05:02,660 and continue to make a difference. 73 00:05:02,660 --> 00:05:04,000 Please donate today. 74 00:05:04,000 --> 00:05:06,080 Chao, from Brazil.