Flying down to Rio a smart idea with these interest rates

Brazilian real coins are seen in this picture illustration taken in Rio de Janeiro October 15, 2010. Brazil's real crept up to a two-year high in thin trading on Monday as speculation grew that the Federal Reserve is about to pump more money into the struggling US economy. World financial leaders failed to reach an agreement on currency imbalances at the weekend meeting of the International Monetary Fund, effectively giving a green light to the Fed to pursue loose monetary policy. REUTERS/Bruno Domingos (BRAZIL - Tags: BUSINESS) *** Local Caption *** RJO105_BRAZIL-_1015_11.JPGShow less

If there's one place small savers are probably wishing they'd rather be in a world where deposit rates are at record lows, Brazil would have to be at the top of their bucket list.

Thanks to 19th-century regulations, Brazilians enjoy - rather, celebrate - an impressive fixed rate of 6 per cent a year on their savings accounts. Add in a raft of tax incentives and other factors and that already handsome figure rises to a "de facto" 9 per cent, Reuters reports.

In comparison, savings account holders in the UAE receive a miserly 0.1 per cent to 0.6 per cent for their money, while fixed-deposit rates have plummeted since the height of the global financial crisis to less than 1 per cent for a six-month term.

I know where I'd rather be.

But the heady days of high deposit rates in Brazil could be coming to an end if the country's president, Dilma Rousseff, has her way.

In an effort to shake Brazil's economy out of its funk and return it to its status as the shining light among the Bric countries, Reuters says Ms Rousseff is planning to "overhaul the rules governing domestic savings accounts to allow interest rates to fall further in coming months".

According to Reuters, cutting Brazil's interest rates is a top priority. But resistance from the country's savers, who view savings accounts as the most secure and profitable vehicle to park their money, could derail Ms Rousseff's efforts.

Andre Guilherme Pereira, an economist for Gradual Investimentos, was quoted as saying that the savings plan was a "historic decision".

"They're making a really, really high-stakes bet," he wrote in a note to clients.

However, Reuters says even before the details became public, the opposition PSDB party's leader in the Senate decried the changes.

"The first victim of this effort against high interest rates is the small saver," Senator Alvaro Dias said.

No surprise there.

---

Forget the normal avenues of investing in commodities, such as through managed funds or even via shares in, say, an up-and-coming metals miner.

If you don't have the cash to invest like regular investors, there is another, albeit illegal, way to take advantage of the high price of metals. At least in New York City.

According to Reuters, thieves are stealing manhole covers from the city's streets to sell for scrap metal.

It's hard to imagine gangs of thieves monitoring the price of metals like a bunch of traders, but weirder things have happened. Like companies being too big to fail, which we now know isn't true. Just ask Lehman Brothers and its cahoots.

Authorities say there's been an increase in thefts of manhole covers since March, when, coincidently, scrap metal prices in the US hit a four-month high of 60 US cents a pound, according to www.recycleinme.com.

So, if the average weight of a manhole cover is about 300 pounds, or 136 kilograms, then each one would bring in a tidy US$180 (Dh661). The scrap metal price has since dropped to 52 cents a pound, but that doesn't seem to be deterring the thieves - who are probably thinking long term, like any sensible investor.

"Stealing manhole covers is dangerous," Milovan Blair, the vice president of Brooklyn-Queens Electric Operations, told Reuters. "Anyone who steals these covers creates a serious hazard for pedestrians and motorists."

Profits before people appears to have taken on a whole new meaning.

---

Nadya Suleman, a California mother who gave birth to octuplets (that's eight babies) in 2009 has run out of money and filed for bankruptcy, according to Reuters.

With 14 children (she already had six before the octuplets came along) to support, it's no wonder the single mother, dubbed "Octomom", is struggling financially.

Reuters says she is in debt to the tune of US$500,000 (Dh1.8 million) to $1m - and has less than $50,000 in assets.

Ms Suleman told ABC News last week that she was receiving $4,000 to $5,000 a month in public assistance. Break it down and that's about $347 to feed, clothe and house each child a month, not to mention all those extras kids seem to constantly need.

It's hard not to feel sorry for the children, but it was only ever going to end in tears.