calvisson-leblon

Calvisson is a small town in the south of France, located in the Languedoc region, between the cities of Nimes and Montpellier.   The town has 5500 inhabitants. It has been growing fast thanks to an influx of retirees (the French equivalent of snow birds!) and of younger people who commute to the above-mentioned cities for work.   Calvisson looks very much like a Proven ç al village without the Provence markup.   Languedoc’s traditional wine making activity is significantly growing and tourism is booming.   Nonetheless, the region is poorer than the French average.   To compensate, and to keep the folk quiet and comfortable, the government dishes all sorts of benefits.   As we know, this policy worked until November last year, when the violent Yellow Vest protestors started trashing the Champs Elysees in Paris.   The protesters wanted more purchasing power, more benefits and less tax (with an 8 percent unemployment rate, oddly jobs were not an issue...

Two years ago, Brazil reached the landmark number of one million lawyers, and this number keeps increasing as business is brisk in this profession.   It is estimated that Brazil has one lawyer for every 200 inhabitants, more than the United States which tallies one lawyer for each 244 citizens (1.34 million lawyers in 2018 according to the American Bar Association).   Currently, Israel tops the list with one lawyer per 139 residents.   Brazil has more law schools than anywhere else in the world, and as a result 0.5% of the Brazilian population has a law degree.   The country is also more litigious than the USA; however, it is Brazil’s above average and pervasive corruption level that is stimulating young people to become lawyers.   Since 2005, the escalation of political scandals has increased the profession’s attractiveness and workload.   In the current period of economic morosit é , and unemployment, law firms are still recruiting. Brazil brings to ...

When people land in New York city, the first thing they notice is the ever-changing skyline.   The craze is for reaching the sky! Downtown and midtown Manhattan are spiked with skyscrapers increasingly tall and skinny.   The borough of Queens is also attracting developers’ interest and a building boom is now taking place along the East River there.   Nondescript buildings are erected with great views of the river and rents more affordable than in Manhattan.   Pritzker prize winner architects like Tadao Ondo and Alvaro Siza have yet to venture into Queens; so far Manhattan is the sole preserve of their creativity.   Sadly, their creations seem lost among the neighboring unremarkable constructions.   Siza is contributing to the gentrifying drive in Hell’s Kitchen, and Ondo that of Nolita in lower Manhattan. The new kid on the block so to speak is Hudson Yards, the huge US$ 25 billion real estate development built over the Long Island rail road tracks ...

If you liked the Kardashians, you will love the Bolsonaros.   Like the Kardashians in the United States, the Bolsonaros are household name in Brazil with some 10 million followers on Facebook.   These two clans are social media and reality television sensations.   If Americans have managed to keep up with the Kardashians, the Brazilians may have a harder time to follow the personal and professional lives of the Bolsonaros.   If the Kardashians are a pop or trash culture phenomenon, the Bolsonaros are wild political animals.   These dynamic, although borderline dysfunctional families have attracted a high viewership rating in both countries.   The Bolsonaros started later in the game, but are quickly catching up.   According to the Economist (March, 16, 2019) “The Bolsonaros’ success owes something to Brazilian’s sizzling passion to social media.”   Brazilians are the world’s third largest Facebook users. The Bolsonaro tribe is led by t...

A couple of days ago, I took the catamaran ferry to visit my friends in Niteroi, Rio’s sister city across the Guanabara bay.   To my surprise, the ride (about US$ 10 return) was free because I am over 65.   Public transport in the State of Rio de Janeiro (subway, tram and buses) is free for people over 65.   And the seniors’ perks are not limited to public transport.   Sport and culture are available at half price for seniors over 60.   It is enshrined in a federal law.   Visitors can also enjoy the benefit! Brazil is a country where people pine to become senior citizens! They prepare early, many retire as young as 50 (58 is the average retirement age) therefore they reach 60 in prime shape.   Statistics indicate that the richer they are, the earlier they retire. Public servants usually retire with a pension equivalent to their last salary.   Rio is a paradise for seniors, and we are many to enjoy the perks.   The suburb of Copacabana...

This famous sentence came to my mind upon returning form my two-week stay in France during the Xmas and New Year’s holidays.   President Macron is not Richard III, certainly did not utter these lines in a soliloquy, and dogs don’t bark at him, but his nemesis, the gilets jaunes, or yellow vests yell for his resignation. The discontent is on the side of the yellow vests.   Since November, the French president has been haplessly watching the yellow vests’ protests descend into open warfare.   Triggered by a fuel tax rise, the protest started in the countryside as a demonstration of social discontent and loss of purchasing power by low and middle-income people.   The rural regions feel marginalized and ill-treated by the technocratic government of an urban and aloof president who appears to pamper the richer citizens at the expense of the working class.   At its onset, the movement received 80% support from the French people, who always side with the underdog...

“‘In the name of Jesus-Christ you are all cured. Let what needs to be done be done in the name of God.’ ” Joẩo de Deus. In the original story, a shopkeeper in a flower shop grows a plant which feeds on human blood and flesh.   In the Brazilian version, the shop’s owner Jo ẩ o Teixeira de Faria, feeds on his devotees by exploiting their distress, gullibility and innocence.   In the thousands, followers come from around the word to visit his spiritual healing center in the middle of Brazil where they are tricked, milked and often sexually abused.   “Jo ẩ o de Deus” or “John of God” Teixeira’s nom de guerre ruled the roost of world-renowned faith healers, mediums, psychic surgeons, and in other words quacks.   His fans are world celebrities like Oprah Winfrey, soccer stars and even Lula da Silva and Dilma Rousseff, two former Brazilian presidents.   Brasilia, being just 100 kilometers away, the current president Michel Temer, also paid a visit.  ...