So when the Pope visits one slum in Brazil some basic services are established.  Specifically, the road the Pope will travel on is repaved,  the electrical grid is fixed to allow lighting on that street, and more electrical work is ongoing to restore power to the chapel he will visit.  This brings a few questions to mind:

1. Do more “VIPs” (and I use quotes intentionally there) need to visit every street of every slum in Brazil to get basic services restored?
2. Does the fact that so much work being done so spur of the moment negate the “we don’t have the resources” argument?
3. What about the schools and hospitals?  Are they just as important as the street and chapel that will host the Pope?

Brazil, with all of its recent economic growth, is leaving the masses behind.  This smells a lot like the widening wealth gap going on right here in the United States  See slides 14 and 15 of The Cadence of Finance for example.

Make no mistake, Brazil has a 99%/1% problem as does the United States.  Hopefully the U.S. will win the race towards shared prosperity.  Hopefully we will be the first to begin reversing the widening wealth gap…

Here is the LA Times article.