Brazil's Political Problem

Guest: Greg Michener, PhD, Professor of Politics and Public Administration at the Fundação Getulio Vargas’ Brazilian School of Public and Business Administration (FGV-EBAPE) in Rio de Janeiro President Dilma Rousseff is on the verge of being impeached for steering Brazil’s economy into recession and allegedly hiding a budget deficit so she could get re-elected in 2014. The lower house of Congress already voted to oust her. The upper house votes in the coming weeks. The awkward thing here is that more than half of those people in Congress are, themselves, under indictment or investigation for corruption – some in connection with the massive scandal dubbed “Operation Car Wash” in which billions of dollars were skimmed from the state oil company. What’s causing the stench in Brazilian politics?  Gregory Michener says it’s the political system itself – built to foster more political parties in its Congress than any other country.