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Author Barbassa on Book About Rio's Challenge With the Olympics · Bloomberg Intelligence

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  Speaker 1: That's a Bloomberg Business flash. This is taking Stock with
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  Speaker 1: Bin Box and Kathleen Hayes on Bloomberg Radio. Rio de
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  Speaker 1: Janeiro home of the Summer Olympics. It is also the
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  Speaker 1: city in which the headquarters of Petro Brassays, well as
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  Speaker 1: many other petrochemical companies and service industry companies are located.
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  Speaker 1: And here to tell us more about the city is
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  Speaker 1: Julianna Barbassa, author of the book Dancing with the Devil
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  Speaker 1: in the City of God, Rio de Janeiro and the
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  Speaker 1: Olympic Dream. Julianna, thank you very much for being with us.
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  Speaker 1: Thanks for having me. Now. When the Olympic Games, when
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  Speaker 1: the Summer Games were awarded to Rio in two thousand nine,
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  Speaker 1: Brazil and the brazil An economy looked very different. Tell
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  Speaker 1: us a little bit about the changing fortunes of the
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  Speaker 1: country and also of the city of Rio de Janeiro. Well, indeed,
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  Speaker 1: it looks very different from from what it looks like now.
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  Speaker 1: It's as if the state of Rio, the city of Rio,
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  Speaker 1: and the country had been turned inside out from that
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  Speaker 1: moment back in two thousand and nine. I mean, back then,
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  Speaker 1: the economy was booming, Brazil was seen as sort of
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  Speaker 1: the next big thing internationally. Uh. Foreign direct investment was
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  Speaker 1: at record highs. I mean almost every indicator that you
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  Speaker 1: looked at, Brazil was doing really, really well, and the
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  Speaker 1: installation was low. Politically it was stable. Uh. And then
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  Speaker 1: there was a huge oil discovery off of Rio de
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  Speaker 1: Janeiro's coast, which was expected to continue to bring in
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  Speaker 1: money into the future. Uh, to remedy things like the
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  Speaker 1: deficits and education and health that we're so important to
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  Speaker 1: to Brazilian. So um, you go from that moment to
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  Speaker 1: this one where you know, state of Rio camp you know,
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  Speaker 1: paid police officers are, the hospitals are shuttered, you know,
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  Speaker 1: for a lack of fund. Again, almost every indicator is
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  Speaker 1: looking at negative. President is facing impeachment. It's an entirely
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  Speaker 1: different country, an entirely different city. And of course your
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  Speaker 1: book Dancing with the Devil in the City of God
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  Speaker 1: has great anecdotes, and you really you give us. It's
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  Speaker 1: like I'm reading a novel. You describe describe drug used
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  Speaker 1: to describe coming back to Rio, coming back to Brazil
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  Speaker 1: you're from there, what that was like and over the years.
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  Speaker 1: But what is the mood now in Rio? What are
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  Speaker 1: people in the streets saying that they have some pride
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  Speaker 1: that they're on the global stage and I mean there
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  Speaker 1: have been some staff foods, but it looks pretty darn good.
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  Speaker 1: Or are they angry that so much money was spent?
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  Speaker 1: I think it's it's a strange balance of both. There's
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  Speaker 1: some tension in the air, for sure. I mean, some
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  Speaker 1: of these big protests that we saw before the World Cup,
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  Speaker 1: you know back in two thousand two fourteen, the questions
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  Speaker 1: that fuel goes are still there. You know, is this
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  Speaker 1: the right way to spend our money? Are these the
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  Speaker 1: right priorities for our our government? But at the same time,
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  Speaker 1: you know, once the game started here in Rio, much
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  Speaker 1: again has happened during the World Cup, which I was
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  Speaker 1: here for. You know, once the ball starts rolling and
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  Speaker 1: the medals start coming in, you know, those beautiful stories
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  Speaker 1: of the athletes. Um, you know, people Brazilian seeing Rio
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  Speaker 1: on international TV and knowing that it looks good. Uh,
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  Speaker 1: there is an enthusiasm that that that percolates up. You know,
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  Speaker 1: there there is a sense of local pride. But I
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  Speaker 1: don't think that people forget for a minute that this
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  Speaker 1: is a very expensive party and that we're going to
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  Speaker 1: have to pay for it once it's all over. Does
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  Speaker 1: anyone believe that the total bill for the Rio Olympics
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  Speaker 1: will be about four billion dollars or is that just
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  Speaker 1: an estimate? I don't think so. I mean, that's the
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  Speaker 1: official estimate just for the sporting venues for point six
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  Speaker 1: billion um. The official estimate that I've heard for for
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  Speaker 1: total infrastructure plus sporting venues is about twelve billion. But
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  Speaker 1: there are experts who study the Olympics and the cost
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  Speaker 1: of the mega events that has put the total at
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  Speaker 1: nearly twenty billion, which, as you can imagine, for for
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  Speaker 1: Brazil and for Rio right now, is astronomical. The title
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  Speaker 1: dancing with the Devil in the City of God, where
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  Speaker 1: does that come from? It was the sense that Brazil
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  Speaker 1: in the IOC, really, if you think about it, we're
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  Speaker 1: engaging in sort of a Fosterian bargain. Both of them
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  Speaker 1: were taking a little bit of a leap, uh, you know,
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  Speaker 1: since taking a dance with the devil in a way
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  Speaker 1: selling your soul to see if you can grasp at
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  Speaker 1: something bigg or something better. Um, you know, from from
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  Speaker 1: Rio's perspective, grasping this idea that it's now a world
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  Speaker 1: capital and it can host the biggest sporting event on
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  Speaker 1: the planet. And from the IOC's perspective, they were you know,
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  Speaker 1: they have been selling this idea that the Olympics are
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  Speaker 1: not just a warding event, they're also, uh, this catalyst
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  Speaker 1: for tremendous urban transformation and Rio was supposed to be
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  Speaker 1: a shining example of that. When Rio bid for the Games,
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  Speaker 1: It's bid was by far the most expensive, and it
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  Speaker 1: was competing with far well fair places like Tokyo, Chicago, Madrid.
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  Speaker 1: And part of what made it so expensive is that
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  Speaker 1: it promised so much uh infrastructural urban change. And I'll
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  Speaker 1: see one of the sort of attached brand to that,
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  Speaker 1: you know, a remade Rio, and as you can see,
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  Speaker 1: things that can work out for either one of them
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  Speaker 1: so well. So it was a dance with the devil
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  Speaker 1: that platility pay off now because of Rio's extensive port facilities,
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  Speaker 1: a lot of their products, whether it's Crewe petroleum, semi
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  Speaker 1: finished iron products, or steel products, it's all commodity driven.
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  Speaker 1: Will Rio's fortune continue to be tied to commodity prices.
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  Speaker 1: I think so, and I think this is one of
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  Speaker 1: the unfortunate aspect of these last few years, not just
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  Speaker 1: for real but for Brazil. A lot of expectations. We
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  Speaker 1: were tied to that moment of economic success that Brazil experience,
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  Speaker 1: you know, two thousand seven, two thousand eight, two thousand nine,
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  Speaker 1: the lead up into these games, and uh, unfortunately Brazil
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  Speaker 1: didn't use that time to really take the difficult reforms
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  Speaker 1: that it needed to and and it's tax code and
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  Speaker 1: other sort of unsexy aspects of the Joiana Barbosa. We're
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  Speaker 1: going to leave it there. Thank you so very much
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  Speaker 1: for joining us today. She's the author of Dancing with
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  Speaker 1: the Devil in the City of god Rio de Janeiro
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  Speaker 1: and the Olympic Dream. Thank you for joining us. This
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