EM Consumer/Brazil Credit Card Crisis

scott

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052702304795804579097412611960306.html
Bill Comes Due for Brazil's Middle Class

http://krwg.org/post/economy-cools-brazilians-find-themselves-trapped-debt
As Economy Cools, Brazilians Find Themselves Trapped in Debt

This is the real kicker in the WSJ article: "Plans to improve ports, roads and sanitation stalled. In 2007, Brazil announced a $250 billion infrastructure investment program to make the economy more efficient. But many of the most important projects—new roads in the poor Northeast, new trains, irrigation canals and better ports—have been delayed by years amid poor planning and execution, analysts say."

Brazil needs to focus on improving its infrastructure, especially with the Olympics and World Cup coming up.

catch22

Thanks for the story, Scott.

This portion reads like the U.S. infrastructure investment program—have been delayed by years amid poor planning and execution

Guess we taxpayers/citizens have to build highways and bridges in other parts of the world first.

TSP_Transfer

Same story in The Philippines !
The government has said it needs to raise infrastructure spending from around 3 percent of GDP now to 5-7 pct of GDP, or by about 300 billion to 500 billion pesos ($6.95 billion to $11.59 billion) annually, to keep pace with its regional neighbors and sustain its growth momentum. Business lobby group spokesman"But I am still hopeful that the government will get its act together."
http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/10/14/us-philippines-economy-insight-idUSBRE99D0MF20131014?feedType=RSS&feedName=topNews

Scott,I know you like the owners in the Infrastructure space,any pure plays in the construction areas or is this too fragmented and politiziced on the local level?

scott

Reply to @TSP_Transfer: I still own Brookfield Infrastructure (BIP), which I like from the standpoint of the ability to be opportunistic in terms of infrastructure investment globally, not to mention that their investments are very specific (everything from toll roads in Latin America to pipelines and ports.) The main issue with BIP is that there's a K-1 every year.

You can also look at the various infrastructure funds and ETFs.

I also like what I call "financial infrastructure" companies (FIS and FISV, particularly the former.)

What I wish there was more of is agricultural infrastructure. The Andersons (ANDE) is one, but it's absurdly volatile. Graincorp (GRCLF.pk) is another in Australia, but that was recently bought by Archer Daniels Midland (although whether or not that deal is approved by the Aussie govt is starting to be questionable.)

In terms of infrastructure construction, I'm not as familiar but Fluor is a name that comes to mind (http://www.fluor.com/business_segments/industrial_infrastructure/Pages/default.aspx). I just don't know if needed infrastructure work is ever going to really get done in this country and apparently in other countries. For some reason, despite all the spending going on in the world and all the liquidity, infrastructure does not seem to be a priority (and in this country, we can't agree on anything anyways, so...)

A company like Fluor will probably do fine with energy and other diversified construction projects, but I think infrastructure spending is just not something I really don't have a lot of confidence will happen.