Emerging South

Yesterday the Financial Times published an excellent well-balanced article on Brazil's state in the current economical turmoils.
"2008 highlighted the importance of Brazilian domestic consumption.  Growth remained solid due to flourishing but conservative lending and well run groups in sectors such as retailing and telecoms. Countries spending on infrastructure to stimulate their economy (like the US, China,...) will need iron, so hard commodity prices should rise in the longer term."
You can find the full article here.
While in Europe and the US architects are all falling without working and see their revenue falling like a rock, in Latin America architecture firms are all growing.

"In recent years, as many major U.S. architecture firms expanded internationally, they often bypassed Latin America in favor of Europe, China, and the Middle East. Gradually, though, that may be starting to change, as architects open offices and enlist for projects in Central and South American countries, where population and economic growth have been strong in recent years. Even as financial troubles mount around the world, and increasingly put some Latin nations at risk, there’s a sense that much of the region, which has been buffeted by severe recessions before, can weather the current crisis.Another driver of Latin America’s building boom is tourism. Despite a global drop in travel due to the economic downturn, Bryan Algeo, AIA, principal of WATG, an Irvine, California-based firm, says the Latin American tourism industry shouldn’t be as badly affected as other parts of the world because the region’s still relatively affordable compared with other destinations."