Look Who's Down and Who's Up

Supplemento al numero odierno de la Repubblica Sped. abb. postale art. 1 legge 46/04 del 27/02/2004 — Roma MONDAY,JUNE2,2008 Copyright © 2008 The New York Times Look Who’s Down And Who’s Up LALO DE ALMEIDA FOR THE NEW YORK TIMES; LEFT, TONY CENICOLA/THE NEW YORK TIMES The news has been grim in the financial world, with up to 65,000 jobs lost. But in places like Brazil, above, consumers are borrowing and spending freely. LosingaJob,andSocialStatus By JAN HOFFMAN inquisitive family members at barbecues. Theneighbor,ajovial presence at the school bus Forsomany,theloneliness is palpable.“I stop in the mornings, disappeared for a while last stopped getting together with colleagues from the fall. Nobody saw him for weeks. Finally he began office,”saidaManhattanmanwhohadworkedfor to venture out —atafternoonpickup, in jeans nearlytwodecadesinsalesandtradingforalarge and a T-shirt.A senior manager of a technology investment bank and was laid off in January. department,hehadbeenlaidoff.Neighborsdidn’t Hisofficefriendscouldofferlittlesolace,he know what to say to him. said.Theyarepreoccupiedwiththeirownanxious Acrossthesoccerfieldsofsuburbia,conversa- limbo. Still trying to slough off his anger, he said: tions are stilted these days; the bravado has a tin- “I see less of my closest friends in these past three ny ring, the gallows humor is more prevalent, the or four months. Everyone I know works.” deft change of topic more abrupt.As classes let out American companies have shed 240,000 jobs in at a city school, a normally chatty woman, whose the first three months of the year, according to the banker husband was recently escorted out of his federalBureauofLabor Statistics.Business-pa ge office building, rushes in, sweeps up her child and headlines announce layoffs by the thousands at dashes off, avoiding glances. majorAmericancorporations:2,000atAOL,5,000 The newly jobless are learning an ungainly new at Morgan Stanley, 4,000 at Merrill Lynch. language: How to explain their situation to other Despite thepervasivenessofthecuts, many parents. Howtoconveynonchalanceduringpaus- es in the golf-club locker rooms.Howtofendoff Continued on Page IV Boom Inspires Confidence in Brazil By ANDREW DOWNIE ingfastastheU.S.is,inourview,already in reces- SÃOPAULO,Brazil—Thankstoanewfound sion.’’ economic stability and vitality, here and in much Brazilisdoingwellthankstoacombinationof of the region, Latin America is looking less depen- factors.High commodity prices, pushed by de- dent on the fortunes of the United States. mand from China, have brought in hard currency WhileAmericanconsumersarecuttingback, and created jobs. Brazilians are spending like there’s no word in Foreigninvestmentlastyeardoubled,to$34.6 Portuguese for recession. billion, much of it into the stock market, which is Middle-class Americans are surrounded by a one of the fastest growing in the world.The curren- rising tide of angst; Brazil’s middle class is grow- cy is strong, hitting a nine-year high against the ing. dollar recently, and will likely strengthen further Even some creditworthy Americans cannot find given Standard & Poor’s recent decision to raise amortgage;Braziliansaretakingout loans like Brazil’s investment grade. never before. Inflation, which ended 2007 at 4.5 percent, is “It used to be that when the U.S. sneezes, Brazil under control and the economy has grown consis- catches pneumonia, but that is no longer the case,’’ tently, if not spectacularly, thanks to the compe- said Marcelo Carvalho, executive director of re- tent management of President Luiz Inácio Lula da search at Morgan Stanley in Brazil. Silva.Hisfar-reachingassistanceprogramhas “There is hard decoupling taking place,’’ Mr. Carvalho said.“The Brazilian economy is grow- Continued on Page IV PUBBLICITÁ The Dutch Love Soccer, but Take a Swing at Baseball By JOHN TAGLIABUE tioninWorldWarII,whenDutchchildren Kingsale grew up playing ball in his na- ROTTERDAM,theNetherlands—If turned to American baseball in defiance tive Aruba, but in 1996, at 19, he joined the you want to know about honkbal, Robert of the German occupiers. Baltimore Orioles organization, and later Eenhoorn is the man to ask.Honkbal is Most Dutch baseball teams were start- went on to Seattle and San Diego, for 211 theDutchwordforbaseball,andMr.Een- ed by soccer clubs in search of a sport for major league games. hoorn, besides being a former player for the months between soccer seasons. Mr. “We sent five guys to the major leagues the New York Yankees, coaches the Dutch Eenhoorn said his own years as a soccer insixorsevenyears,onanislandwithnot national team. player improved his baseball game.“As even 100,000 people,” Mr.Kingsale, 31, Mr.Eenhoorn,40,startedplayingball an infielder,” he said, “I was always a good said, taking a break from a practice ses- at Neptunus, the club outside this port defensiveplayer,becauseIplayedsoccer, sion.In 2004, he was knighted by Queen city,beforeplaying37gamesintheAmer- where footwork is important.” Beatrixwithtwoothermajorleagueplay- ican major leagues. And the Dutch team Ofcourse,theDutchhavetocontend ers from Aruba, Calvin Maduro and Sid- he coaches was the only one in Europe with a rainy climate, which is not condu- ney Ponson. chosen to compete in the Summer Olym- cive to baseball.“Sometimes you wait Still, the Dutch baseball federation, pics in Beijing. tilltherainstops,”saidPimvanNes,a with its 30,000 members, cannot compete Asked what Dutch youngsters like retired diplomat and part-time sports- with soccer, whose federation boasts 1.5 about baseball, Mr. Eenhoorn said: “It’s writer.“But in Holland, sometimes the million. American; it’s a summer sport, filling rain never stops.” Tim Roodenburg, a 19-year-old pitcher the gap left by soccer in spring and early In 2007, five Dutch nationals were play- with Sparta Feyenoord who got a tryout summer. You know, we did research and ing in Major League Baseball in the Unit- with the Yankees last year at a camp in foundthatkidslikebaseball,theylike ed States, among a total 250 foreign play- the Dominican Republic, can attest to the hitting the ball with the bat, they like the ers, according to the Baseball Almanac. gap. clothing. I don’t think it’s peaked.” SomeofthebestDutchplayersare “I’veseenitonthestreet,”hesaid. His father played ball, he said, recall- from Dutch territories in the Caribbean, “Kidswilltakeasoftball,dropitonthe ing the years under the German occupa- like the Netherlands Antilles.Eugene ground, then kick it.” Mexico’s Deadly Drug War Needs Ice, Oysters and Love Police officers are being killed in the fight Smart, musical and social, walruses face a against the drug cartels. WORLD TRENDS III new threat. SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY VI Repubblica NewYork II MONDAY, JUNE2,2008 OPINION & COMMENTARY EDITORIALS OF THE TIMES NICHOLAS D. KRISTOF Where Breathing Can Be Deadly The Failures BADUI, China China’s biggest health disaster isn’t the recent terrible Sichuan earthquake. Of Mr. Mbeki It’s the air. Thequakekilledatleast60,000peo- ple, generating a response that has been Dangerous theories on AIDS. Ex- Mandela, South Africa was swiftly heartwarming and inspiring, with even treme and widening levels of income emergingastherespectedleaderof schoolchildren in China donating to the inequality. Enabling Zimbabwe’s a proud, postcolonial Africa. victims.Yetwithlittlenotice,somewhere Robert Mugabe and only belatedly UnderMr.Mbeki’sleadership, between 300,000 and 400,000 Chinese trying to halt mob atrocities against thefruitsofthenation’shard-fought die prematurely every year from the ef- desperate Zimbabwean and other victoryoverapartheidhavegone fects of outdoor air pollution, according African immigrants. This is the mainly to officials and former offi- to studies by Chinese and international legacy of South Africa’s president, cialsoftherulingAfricanNational agencies alike. Thabo Mbeki, who has one more Congress, not to the millions of poor Inshort,roughlyasmanyChinese year in his second term. people in the townships who faced dieeverytwomonthsfromtheairas It would be hard to imagine a down the dogs, the bullets and the were killed in theearthquake.Andthe more depressing contrast with the pass laws and still must live without problem is becoming international: just leadership of Nelson Mandela, Mr. adequate Jobs, education, housing as Californians can find Chinese-made Mbeki’spredecessorandoneofthe or health services. shoes in their stores, they can now find 20th century’s great heroes. The resulting frustration and an- Chinese-made haze in their skies. History will laud Mr. Mandela ger helps explain, though it cannot Thissummer’sBeiJingOlympicswill NICHOLAS D. KRISTOF/THE NEW YORK TIMES forleadinghiscountry,peacefully, Justify,therecentoutbreakofxeno- showcase the most remarkable econom- China’s pollution is linked to mental retardation and birth defects. from hateful apartheid to demo- phobic violence in the shantytowns. ic explosion in history, and also some A 6-year-old girl, center, is the size of a 2-year-old. craticmaJorityrule,marvelathis At least 42 victims have been killed of the world’s thickest pollution in both commitment to honesty and heal- — many beaten, stabbed, hacked air and water. So I’ve returned to the ingandcelebratehispromotion of or burned to death — andsome Yellow River in western China’s Gansu Pacific and descend on America’s West whenthelakefilledwithtoxinslastsum- SouthAfricaasadiverseandtoler- 25,000 have been chased from their Province to an isolated village that has Coast.TheimpactonAmericanhealth mer — shortly after the authorities

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