BRAZIL: Everything Cheaper

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President Getulio Vargas and the Brazilian people find it simplest to blame their country's inflation on profiteering dealers (who have a noteworthy, but not a primary, role in forcing prices up). To prove that it is resolutely battling inflation, the government periodically announces dire anti-profiteering measures. In December, it said that people's courts, where high-markup shopkeepers could be tried by juries of irate housewives, would be set up; the courts have yet to start operation. Last week, after price riots in Belo Horizonte (TIME, Feb. 18), Price Boss Benjamin Scares Cabello announced the newest plan: a chain of 24 government-run stores in all state capitals to "sell everything 15 to 25% cheaper." Said Cabello: "We'll knock prices down all right! We'll modernize the trade system of Brazil!" When would the first store open? "Within three months," said Cabello.