The article evaluates the trajectory of the Brazilian economy since the 1980's and the dimensions that it has reached under the Lula government. It indicates the internal power structures that were created in this period and that shift the axis of accumulation to the financial sector. It indicates that the financial hegemony contradicts the new phase of expansion of global capitalism begun in 1994, which led to a contrast between Brazil's very low growth rates - and accelerating growth of the world economy. It finally indicates that one of the challenges of the Lula government to meet the social expectations that it had created, is to break with this hegemony in order to stimulate development and inclusion.
Lula government; Brazilian economy; social policies; development