By: KENNETH MAXWELL

Folha de São Paulo - Op-ed section - page A2     

In one of the best loved of English nursery rhymes "the cow jumps over the moon". Recently Brazilian cows have been jumping, at least in terms of "value added." And on Wall Street the Brazilian bulls have been stampeding. But corruption and self interested fairy tales to cover are not limited to Brazil.

How else to explain "toilet gate" in Argentina where $241,000 in dollars, euros and pesos was found in the economy minister's private bathroom. Or Mexico where in the mansion of a Chinese Mexican businessman $150M in US and other currencies was found stuffed into walls, suitcases and closets. Or Brazil where politicians persist in making their deals over the telephone despite the fact that almost every corruption scandal in recent years has emerged into public view because of leaked clandestinely recorded conversations or video clips.

Does anyone care? Not so far it seems. President Lula's standing the polls remains high, with a 66% approval rating according to the most recent poll. And in New York the Brazilian/American chamber of commerce recently hosted a line up of "experts from the Wall Street powerhouses" who talked up "Brazil's Bull". The Brazilian economy they claimed was revving up for a take off "that could rival China's and India's".

But caution is very much in order here. Was it not these same Wall Street "powerhouses" who invented the "Lulometer" to track Lula's risk to the financial markets in the months before he took office. Have not political leaders always found that opinion polls can fall more rapidly than they rise, and will.

And it is not only Brazilian scandals that end in pizzas. Take the revelations in London's Guardian newspaper that almost a billion pounds was paid over a decade into accounts at the Rigg's Bank in Washington D.C. for the use of Prince Bandar of Saudi Arabia, the former Saudi ambassador to the United States; a "product" it is alleged of a 43 billion pound weapons deal with Saudi Arabia by BAE systems, Britain's biggest arms manufacturer. The case was under investigation by British Serious Fraud Office until halted by Tony Blair's government on the grounds that its continuance would "damage the national security."

It is not easy after all to stuff a billion pounds into a sock. But at least Brazilian politicians have yet to justify their malfeasance in the name of protecting the national interest.

KENNETH MAXWELL is a weekly op-ed columnist (every Thursday) for Folha de São Paulo, Brazil's leading newspaper