The Rio Olympics

In the past two years I have spoken all across North America about the fact that it is not just China and India that will rise in influence in this new century but that Brazil will also be a central player Brazil has been called amp8220a country of the futureamp8221 for decadesamp160 That future is nowamp160 They are the fifth largest country in the world both in population and sizeamp160 Depending on the source they are either the 8th or 10th largest economyamp160 My forecast is that they will become the 5th largest economy in the next 1015 years so they will be triple fivesIt was of course inevitable that Rio win the Olympicsamp160 South America has never hosted an Olympics a fact that says a lot about the 20th century in addition to the politics of the eurocentric IOCamp160 This was a powerful argument in and of itselfamp160 What really won the competition is that the Brazilian proposal was valued at 144 billion dollars three times the amount of the Chicago bidamp160 It is this 144 billion that will in part address the poverty crime and infrastructure needs of Rioamp160 If graft can be avoided always an issue historically in Latin America there is a real chance that this expenditure can directly address the cityamp8217s social and economic short comingsMore than three years ago in a column about the World Cup I pointed out that everything is moving toward a global organizationamp160 Economics comes first followed by culture and politicsamp160 The selection of Rio is an exclamation point to thatamp160 The future of humanity in this new century will be a global future not a continuation of amp160the European and North American lead 21st centuryLast March after a speaking trip to Brazil I wrote two columns about how a vision created a amp8220capital for the 21st centuryamp8220amp160 Then last summer I pointed out that the future of Detroit could be seen in Brazilamp160 Simply put looking at Brazil is one way to see the futureamp160 The impact that Brazil has had on the world stage over the past 50 years will be dwarfed by the impact the country will play globally between now and 2050amp160 They will lead with culture closely followed by economicsThe transition from the Information Age to the Shift Age is acceleratingamp160 The Shift Age is the global stage of human evolutionamp160 The word globalization has up to now been an economic termamp160 It is now also about culture and politicsamp160 Rio winning the Olympics is just another signpostWelcome to the 21st century the Shift Age and the global stage of human evolutionDavid Houle is a futurist strategist and speaker He has always been slightly ahead the curve Houle spent more than 20 years in media and entertainment David can be contacted at DavidDavidHoulecomRead all Davidamp8217s MediaBizBloggers commentaries at David Houle MediaBizBloggers

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The Rio Olympics

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The Rio Olympics

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