Brazil, like many other Latin American countries, is comprised of a small, rich, governing oligarchy and a very large poor population dependent on government for subsistence, and that's just the way the oligarchs like it, because the dependent poor population gives them a voting majority.
Unfortunately, that's exactly the direction we're moving in here in the US, with the Clintons, Gores, Obamas, Kennedys, etc playing the role of the rich oligarchs, as the middle class shrinks.