This has been an interesting thread to read.
As a person who has lived in Brazil, and spends a considerable amount of time here (right now I'm writing this post from Sao Luis, Maranhao state's capital I'll give my point of view.
Brazil is an advanced country in many things, but it also lacks many other things that Mexico has let's see.
Brazil has a working fiscal system unlike Mexico that is dependant of remittances and Oil income, this makes Brazil's economy more robust, many people in Mexico complain about taxes and say that the government is smashing us with them, I'll always tell this people who think that (who are usually "left wingers" look Brazil's president comes from the left and yet the country smashes you with taxes a white collar worker here can end up paying up to 45% of his income in taxes. This is good for the government but it reduces the potential growth of the economy severely.
Unlike Mexican Pemex, Brazilian Petrobras is 50% state owned and 50% private, this has made her a very efficient firm compared to Pemex, that could be a world class company but it's leeched by our government which uses it as a substitute for a solid fiscal base, this has allowed Petrobras to invest in technology and accumulated huge reserves of oil that have tripled during Lula's term, unlike Mexico's whose reserves are dwindling because of the lack of investment, Brazil is also the world leader of alternative fuel development, it is the only place in the world where you can find ethanol in every gas station, and most cars are flex whcih means they can work on gasoline, ethanol or a mixture of both
Unlike Mexico, in Brazil they already passed laws that are slowly eradicating with the nepotism, now if you want to work for the government, police, firefighter, etc you need to make an exam called concurso publico, and depending on the notes you get you will either be selected or not, if your grades are low, you can still apply for a lower position and viceversa.
Brazil is a much more federal country that Mexico which is heavily centralized, yet there are several regions of Brazil that are or were completely abandoned by the government where unequality, poverty, prostitution, violence and analphabetism are rampant. But the developed areas of Brazil are awesome if they were a country, they would rival with the USA or Canada.
Unequality is worse in Brazil than Mexico, this has to do with the fact that for Brazilians is much harder to emigrate to the USA, but also with the fact that the economy of Brazil is much less subsidized, here gasoline, mass transit, food and most services are way more expensive than they are in Mexico, so poor people in Brazil have it much worse than in Mexico and it's way more harder to them to escape poverty.
Mexico has an open market economy, unlike Brazil which is one of the most protective countries in the world, in Mexico even people who are in the lowest levels of the poverty index can afford some commodities than in Brazil even the rich can't afford sometimes because of the taxes they would have to pay, anything imported here has to pay a tax of 85% of it's value to give you an example, this electronic music instrument
APC40 ABLETON PERFORMANCE CONTROLLER that costs 400 dollars in the USA (about 6,500 pesos in mexico) has a price tax of 2,400 Brazilian reais (1,200 USD 14,000 pesos)
This has both advantages and disadvantages an advantage is that this has allowed Brazilian industries to grow and prosper in a huge territory with thousands of cities, but it has also made the country terribly unequal for those among the poorest, access to technology is way more restricted than in Mexico, because the prices of goods here. Also a dishwashing machine, washing machine, etc will be of inferior quality because than the ones you can buy in Mexico, although it'll be 100% manufactured in Brazil.
Access to credit though is much better in Brazil, banks are less restrictive to lend and the interests rates are more attractive than in Mexico, Brazilian banks are strong due to the size of the country and it's economy unlike Mexico whose most important banks are all foreign.
Like Mexico, Brazil has a growing violence problem, with daily murders, shootouts, etc in some places the violence is even worse than in Mexico, drug cartels and police skirmishes happen daily here but they are less publicized though.
Being a huge country, Brazil seems more like a group of countries, regions vary greatly from one place to another, if you go to cities in the south, like Curitiba, Londrina, Sao Paulo, Maringá you'll see that life in those cities is waaay better than life in the USA, Canada, Japan, or even first world countries (for those who have the money) but there are also regions of Brazil (like the nordeste) that look like parts of Africa, there are some regions here where slavery still exists, people are dragged to the fazendas looking for work they get there and literally they are now owned by the fazendeiro, they will work for food and they can't escape or will be killed, there are also parts of Brazil where corruption is next to 0 and others where corruption is as rampant as it is in Mexico.
Now Brazil is Brazil, it doesn't resemble Europe, or the USA or Mexico, although it has more similarities with Mexico than oher countries because of the language and culture, but this varies from region to region, right now I'm in a place that reminds me of Veracruz a lot but i've been in parts that can't be compared to any place in the world. Being a huge country you can find all races here, and it is interesting to see how in most places people mix, unlike the USA or other multiracial countries, white, black, brown, indian, etc all mix and respect each other people are also very tolerant of gays, but like I said only in some regions.
In the end I'll say that both countries are pretty balanced, Brazil isn't far far away from Mexico, although it's making a lot of progress specially in areas we haven't, but the same applies to Mexico in a lot of things, I've always believed that both countries should have a closer relationship, and it would make much more sense to have a free trade agreement with Brazil than the ones we've signed because their economy is more even matched with ours and both countries could benefit greatly from such a deal.
Now, I'm not gonna enter into the debate of if America is one continent or 2 but for sure Mexico has much more in common with Brazil that what we have with the USA there is a cultural affinity between Mexicans and Brazilians that is very strong, all people from Brazil know who el chavo del ocho is, or Thalia, Rebelde was a huge phenomenon here, Lambada was very popular in Mexico, although Mexico's cultural influence in Brazil is stronger than Brazilian cultural influence in Mexico
Portuguese and Spanish might be different languages, but people can understand each other pretty well, I'll give some examples.
Portuguese O Brasil vai ser a 5ta potencia mundial na proxima decada
Spanish Brasil va a ser la 5ta potencia mundial en la proxima decada
English Brazil will be the 5th world power in the next decade
Portuguese Eu quero comprar um quilo de carne para minha familia
Spanish yo quiero comprar un kilo de carne para mi familia
English I want to buy one kilo of carne for my family
Portuguese Brasil e Mexico sao paises irmaos unidos pela cultura historia e tradiçao
Spanish Brasil y Mexico son paises hermanos, unidos por la cultura historia y tradición
English Brazil and Mexico are brothers, united by culture history and tradition.
Something Mexico could learn of Brazil? Brazilians are more proud of their country, they don't know what malinchismo is, they don't glorify the USA or feel inferior as most Mexicans do, they have more self respect and aren't as subservient or obseqious to foreigners as we are in Mexico, yet they are very tolerant and acceptant of foreign ideas and influences even though they face very similar problems.
Regards
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