Less than 1% of money for preventive works in a big federal investment plan (called the PAC) found its way to flood-prone Rio de Janeiro state last year.
If a mere fraction of the public money spent on big irrigation projects were spent on small-scale works in the semi-arido, he argues, subsistence farmers could survive the drought with their animals and livelihoods intact and with no need to beg for aid from the local political bosses.
It wasn't until 1983's "She Works Hard for the Money, " which became a ubiquitous video as well as a big radio hit, that Summer's fame approached its late '70s zenith.