It has been a few years since the Brazilian economy has grown at a satisfactory level, but the Covid-19 pandemic will push Latin America’s largest nation to its worst growth skid on record. Set on righting the ship, Economy Minister Paulo Guedes has argued in favor of freezing public service wages and said all Brazilians would have to “make sacrifices” in the name of recovery. In May, he said that “medals are bestowed after a war, not before,” to explain why wages couldn’t go up while the country was stuck in an economic depression. This metaphor was met...
