Identifier
Created
Classification
Origin
09SAOPAULO146
2009-03-16 20:12:00
UNCLASSIFIED
Consulate Sao Paulo
Cable title:  

Media Reaction Sao Paulo; March 14- 2009

Tags:  KMDR OPRC OIIP XM XR XF BR 
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VZCZCXYZ0020
OO RUEHWEB

DE RUEHSO #0146 0752012
ZNR UUUU ZZH
O 162012Z MAR 09
FM AMCONSUL SAO PAULO
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC IMMEDIATE 9017
INFO RHEHNSC/NATIONAL SECURITY COUNCIL WASHDC IMMEDIATE
RUEHBR/AMEMBASSY BRASILIA PRIORITY 0167
RUEHRI/AMCONSUL RIO DE JANEIRO PRIORITY 9063
UNCLAS SAO PAULO 000146

SIPDIS

STATE INR/R/MR; IIP/R/MR; WHA/PD

DEPT PASS USTR

USDOC 4322/MAC/OLAC/JAFEE
E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: KMDR OPRC OIIP XM XR XF BR
SUBJECT: Media Reaction Sao Paulo; March 14- 2009

Global Economy: Financial market crisis; Sao Paulo
March 14, 2009

Title-"Thinking on the unthinkable"

Op-ed in liberal Folha de S. Paulo (3-14) by Clovis Rossi states:
"...estimates show that two thirds of the roughly US$2 trillion of
China's reserves are in U.S. assets, especially Treasuries. It is
natural, therefore, that they [China] are worried.... Since the
aggravation of the global crisis, in the last quarter of last year,
the word default began to be seen, initially timidly, in association
to the U.S.....the fact is that [China's prime minister] Wen Jiabao
said that China's first priority is to defend its own interests,
even if the other eye is on international financial stability,
things that are 'interrelated'. Is this a gesture in the sense that
China may stop financing the U.S.? If this is the case, everyone
will lose."

Title- "Troubled government"

Editorial in center-right O Estado de S. Paulo (3-14) says: "The
summer comes to an end....and the government is still troubled,
without knowing how to face a crisis much bigger than the one
President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva wanted to acknowledge until
shortly ago....There is no way to deny the extension of the crisis.
The [Brazilian] economy contracted in the fourth
quarter.....President Lula does not know how to face Brazil's
problems but has many ideas of how to fix the U.S. economy and how
to put international finance back in order again.....Brazil's
situation will be better, of course, if the global economy bounces
back, but there is no sense in waiting for this change. The global
crisis is the biggest challenge, but it does not excuse the
Brazilian government's lack of action."
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