Brazil's economic indicators prettier than the US's

My daily Google Alert for Brazil news turned up an article this morning: "Brazil Emerges From Recession, Led by Domestic Demand." Pretty good news overall. I got to wondering how the situation in Brazil matches up with that in the United States these days. So I tracked down a few comparative figures.

My understanding of economics is very thin at best, but I tried to match apples to apples. Perhaps I have it all wrong, but it looks like we may have switched countries at a pretty good time (except for that hatchet job to our US securities investments!)

Take a look.

Brazil

Economy expanded 1.9% over last quarter
Gross Domestic Product fell 1.9% from a year ago
Six straight months of job growth
Unemployment rate: 8% in July
International Trade Surplus: $20 Billion (through August)
Economy predicted to end 2009 with 0.0% growth for the year.

United States

Economy shrunk 0.6% over last quarter
Gross Domestic Product fell 6.9% from one year ago.
Six straight months of job losses (longer, actually)
Unemployment rate: 9.7% in September
International Trade Deficit: $32 Billion (through July)
Economy predicted to end 2009 with 2.8% contraction for the year.

Make no mistake about it, life is very tough in Brazil for most people and wages are rediculously low (with consumer goods rediculously expensive!) We knew that coming in. But I have been amazed at how little we have felt any affect of the international economic turmoil over the past year (again, except for those darn stock values, which are actually rebounding pretty well.)

Things are looking up! (Fingers crossed.)