How Brazil, the darling of the developing world, came undone

How Brazil, the darling of the developing world, came undone - The Washington Post:
"BRASILIA — It was called the “Brazil model,” or simply “the Lula model,” back when this country’s economy was roaring and its president, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, was a superstar of the developing world.
By balancing support for big business with big social-welfare programs, the union boss turned statesman presided over an era of growth that lifted tens of millions of Brazilians out of poverty. Lula’s presidency cut a new template for a Latin American left that had long insisted that class struggle and revolution were the only road to fairness.
The coronation came when Brazil was chosen to host the 2016 Summer Olympics, confirming its rise as a global power.
Now Brazil is limping to the Games.
Its economy is facing its worst crisis since the 1930s. 
A Zika virus epidemic rages.
And on Sunday, lawmakers will vote on whether to impeach President Dilma Rousseff, Lula’s hand-picked successor.
...Companies wasted thousands of hours deciphering a greedy tax system. 
And all the while, the old way of making deals — lubricating them with graft — went unchanged.
Big construction and energy companies grew fat on state contracts and government loans under Lula and Rousseff, and the opportunities for illegal enrichment were infinite. 
Slush money poured into political campaigns.
The dirt from those years is now being unearthed by a hard-charging team of prosecutors and a tough lower-court federal judge, Sérgio Moro, who is overseeing the investigation of a bribery scheme at national oil company Petrobras. 
Through wiretaps, raids, arrests and plea deals, the probe has exposed spider webs of corruption throughout Brazil’s elite..."