My Op-Ed in Reuters and Thoughts on Brazil's Police State/State of the Police

Employment sits heavily on my mind as I ponder the current state of what has been happening in Bahia. In the past week, police have gone on strike in the Northeast, leading to murders and chaos. Now police and firefighters in Rio threaten similar action, with only days left to go before Carnaval begins. Should the action go forward, you can expect bloodshed. Street cops in Brazil, along with teachers, are among the lowest paid civil servants--and yet, their influence and power are directly related to the levels of crime and chaos within Brazilian society. Is it any wonder that police in Rio now form the largest faction of the militias that took over from drug traffickers in the favelas? Officers seeking to garnish their state wages now oversee the rackets gangs and druglords once commanded, including the provision of cooking oil, electricity, sewage, cable TV and public transport--all at extortionate rates--to the poor and captive denizens of the slums. A vicious cycle ensues, with less respect accorded to police, which drives them further to victimize their targets.

The strike action was meant to force the government's hand to raise salaries; but of course, this is hardly the way to go about things. President Rousseff will have to take serious resolute action to deal with the wage inequality that maintains corruption, instability and violence as a part of daily Brazilian life. Should the situation in Rio break down in the coming week, Brazil's soft-power gloss will be greatly tarnished--a major setback. Check it out here.

Employment and its effect on civil society were the main issues covered in a new op-ed I published in Reuters today. The US and China are not so far apart in their corporate disregard for the rule of law in their own labor statutes, leading to a trend I call Foxconnification--the individual tendency towards self-enslavement in tough labor markets. I contrast the unpaid intern problem in the US with the blue collar manufacturing situation in China to come to the conclusion that the net effect of globalization drives us further away from respecting our laws that protect labor rights and more towards reluctantly subjecting ourselves to the whims of employers.

Stay tuned for the Monday relaunch of the Brazilian Bikini Body Program website! More on that then...