Ordem e Progresso

"Ordem e Progresso" is the motto that is inscribed in capital letters on the Brazilian flag. It means "Order and Progress". This motto is inspired by Auguste Comte's motto of positivism: L’amour pour principe et l’ordre pour base; le progrès pour but ("Love as a principle and order as the basis; progress as the goal"). It was inserted due to the fact that several of the people involved in the military coup d'état that deposed the monarchy and proclaimed Brazil a republic were followers of the ideas of Comte's thought.

I'm in Sao Paulo this week and I can say that after 118 years (this flag was adopted in November 19 1889), order is the last thing you will find in Brazil. The traffic here is as crazy as in India and you should be very careful walking or crossing the street (I wouldn't even try to drive here). From a progress prospective the situation isn't much better. I visited here last time in 1994 and not much has changed since then.

On a positive side, I can say that Brazil had an amazing progress on their fuel program and is actually a world leader in the amount of cars running on ethanol fuel. The western world can learn a lot from their accomplishments in this field. The Brazilian government, after the 1973 oil crisis, decided that it cannot depend any longer on imported fossil fuels (such as gasoline) and initiated a nation-wide program to phase out the automobiles that consume such fuels in favor of ethanol. The ethanol fuel used in Brazil is based on sugar cane and provides a cheap alternative (production cost of 22 cents per liter) and basically an unlimited renewal energy source since they can keep on growing it again and again in their climate. Today more than 84% of the cars sold in Brazil can run on ethanol or "flex-fuel" (both ethanol and gasoline).

Why does it work there and not in the rest of the world? The answer is simple: Unlike in other countries, this program was financed and pushed by the government which made all gas stations to have ethanol pumps to provide the demand for consumers. The car manufactures in Brazil are the same as in the rest of the world so there is no reason why we can't buy the same cars in USA, we just need the government to make the gas stations (or gas companies) put ethanol pumps and the consumer will start switching to ethanol (or flex fuel) cars, especially with the constant increasing gas prices. General Motors is actually selling most of their vehicles already with this option in the USA. More data: http://www.gm.com/explore/livegreengoyellow/