If you drive a few minutes south of Copacabana, the beach thats currently teeming with American athletes and tourists, youll stumble onto the richest neighborhood in Rio de Janeiro. Leblon, named after a French plantation owner, is a quiet, stylish enclave of young investment bankers and affluent families; when I walked through the area Friday night, I passed juice shops, gelato counters and a café selling $14 burgers and Caipirinha-flavored shakes. I stopped to watch the opening ceremony at a bar packed with well-heeled 20-somethings, one of whom told me that the reported turmoil surrounding the Games was overblown. Now its inevitable, he said. People are like: Lets have fun.Marco, 25, is a lawyer who grew up not far from Leblon, in Rios glamorous South Zone. His father is a lawyer too. He said he had heard there were protests near some of the stadiums but that he hadnt seen them firsthand. He complained about the traffic, which was stressful. I asked him if he thought the Olympics would hurt or help the favelas, the sprawling hillside neighborhoods where millions of locals live in abject poverty, and he admitted that, despite being born and raised here, he had never visited one. Didnt have a reason, he said, shrugging.The Olympics might be taking place in Rio this month, but theyre really being hosted by two cities: The glittering beaches and upscale districts where most of the athletes, dignitaries and journalists who have descended on the region are staying this month, and, well, everywhere else. This is a microcosm for Brazil writ large. While spending programs directed at the urban poor have narrowed the wealth gap over the past two decades, those hard-fought gains have slipped during the recent recession. Unemployment and poverty are rising, and the GINI coefficient, which tracks inequality, is up.Nearly half of the billionaires in Latin America, according to Forbes, live in Brazil, where the top 20 percent of the country earns nearly 60 percent of its income. The poor got a lot better off in the past 15 or 20 years -- but the very rich also got a lot richer, said Alex Cuadros, a journalist who recently published a book about the countrys titans of industry called Brazillionaires. Districts such as Leblon, Ipanema and Barra, where the Olympic Park and media village were built, have become hotbeds for Rios ascendant upper class. Many of the people who live in these neighborhoods live cloistered, privileged lives. They send their children to private schools, use private hospitals and live in gated complexes with enviable views. Some millionaires avoid the citys crowded streets altogether: They can skip traffic by flying over Rio in helicopters, which cost more than $1,000 per hour.Cuadros, who spent several years investigating the affluent class, said the rise of Brazils super rich is intimately tied to the current economic crisis, which was caused by a toxic brew of imploding commodity prices, soaring debt and government corruption. The government subsidized large corporations owned by billionaires by giving them huge tax breaks, especially in the last six years, and hundreds of billions of dollars in low-interest government loans, he said. These elites also have benefited disproportionately from the run-up to the Olympics. Construction magnates -- some of whom are caught up in the current political scandal -- were given massive contracts to build overwrought infrastructure projects; officials are investigating some of them for skimming money off the top.While the government has invested in a smattering of projects that will benefit the lower class, Cuadros points out that it has poured money into developments in wealthy southern neighborhoods such as Barra, the new endpoint for the much-touted subway line (which also runs through ritzy Ipanema). Once the Games are over, the athletes village --?built by a billionaire with close ties to Rios mayor --?will be turned into a luxury condominium complex. There is a vast north side of the city where millions of working Brazilians live, and desperately need infrastructure, Cuadros said. Despite the gains of the poor, and despite the social programs of the last decade or so -- the bias has always been toward the interests of the elites in Brazil.Between the financial crisis and the ongoing probe into ties between government and industry -- which has brought several businessmen to their knees -- the citys elites have taken a few hits. But many are already bouncing back. According to Bloomberg News, Brazils billionaires have seen their fortunes rebound this year more than their peers in any other country in the world; as of May, Jorge Paulo Lemann, the countrys richest man, added $1.9 billion to his assets. And while the government is flailing under a mountain of debt, Cuadros said Brazils tax system, which is highly regressive -- dividends, for example, are untaxed --?is unlikely to change.Now theres this crisis, and who is being forced to give things up? he said. Its the poor, far more so than the rich.When cities bid for the right to host the Olympics, they typically hone in on the concept of legacy, painting vivid dreams of how the Games will bring about positive, sustainable change. Rio was no exception. But while the projects littered across the city have lined the pockets of the rich, it seems unlikely that many of them will improve the lives of those who need it most. According to a recent census, some 8 million Brazilians live in urban areas without garbage services. Imagine if the government had invested a fraction of the Games $12 billion budget into those neighborhoods instead.In Leblon, where the cobblestone sidewalks were spotless and the air smelled like orchids, complaints about the event were few and far between. When the ceremony spotlighted the citys favelas, bathing a facsimile of the slums in neon lights, the people in the bar craned their necks. For some of them, it was the closest theyll get to the other side of Rio, a city that contains multitudes living miles apart. Cheap NFL Jerseys Free Shipping . Arsenal failed to take full advantage of its main rivals stumbles on Saturday as substitute Gerard Deulofeu levelled with a hard shot from a tight angle in the 84th minute to give Everton a deserved point. Ahead of a crucial fortnight that will see them play against Napoli in the Champions League, Manchester City and Chelsea, Arsenal leads by five points ahead of Liverpool and Chelsea. Cheap Womens NFL Jerseys . The lawyers filed a 33-page amended complaint Tuesday in federal court in Manhattan, expanding on the suit originally filed Oct. 3 in New York Supreme Court. Arbitrator Fredric Horowitz last week refused to compel Selig to testify in the grievance, and Rodriguez then walked out of the hearing without testifying. http://www.cheapnfljerseys.pro/ . Kozun faked to the forehand and beat Monsters starter, Calvin Pickard, pad side in the second round for the winner. Spencer Abbott also scored in the shootout for the Marlies (25-13-4). Wholesale China Jerseys . A knee to the thigh might have stung him the most, but his sixth straight double-double made up for the brief burst of pain. China NFL Jerseys Cheap . In taking its goal tally to 99 in all competitions already this season, City delivered another demonstration of its lethal firepower at Etihad Stadium to set up a fourth-round match at home to another second-tier team -- Watford.LOS ANGELES, Calif. - Don Mattingly isnt in immediate danger of being fired as manager of the last-place Los Angeles Dodgers, with team president Stan Kasten saying none of the players are asking for his dismissal, either. "I do expect things to turn around. I expect Donnie to be here for a long time," Kasten said Friday before the Dodgers lost 7-0 to NL Central-leading St. Louis in the series opener. "I understand there is another side of that if things dont go well. I dont think of things like that. I dont look at things that way. I choose to believe were going to be fine." Mattingly is in the third and final year of his contract, with no extension on the table. "This is not a guy who the players are trying to get rid of. These players are not coming to the front office and saying, Please get this guy out of here," Kasten said. "Its the opposite. This is a group of guys who love and respect Don. And I think this latest plea for a greater sense of urgency will be well received. I hope it is. It should be." For his part, Mattingly didnt appear worried about his future. "If your team doesnt play well, someone is going to go and it isnt going to be them," he said. "Its all about how we play. Thats the only thing I really stress over." The Dodgers are last in the NL West, seven games behind first-place Arizona. They have a 19-27 record, having lost five of their last seven, despite a $215 million payroll and a talent-laden lineup that has struggled offensively. "By far were not out of it," Andre Ethier said. "If we can work our way back into it by the All-Star break, it should be someplace we want to be." Carl Crawford and Adrian Gonzalez have started to come around. Crawford is hitting .302 with five homers and 13 RBI, and Gonzalez is batting .319 with four homers and 29 RBI. But All-Star sluggers Matt Kemp and Ethier have not. They combined to go hitless in six at-bats Friday, with Kemp striking out twice. "Its really nott the way you envision coming back home and getting the home stand started," Mattingly said about the loss.dddddddddddd Kemp is hitting .266 with two home runs and 17 RBI, while Ethier is hitting .258, with four homers and 15 RBI. The team has been hit with a rash of injuries since the start of the season, especially among the starting rotation. "I expect the players who have been struggling to get back to their historical records of performance," Kasten said. "If that happens, I think were going to be just fine. We wont be as good as we can be until Matt returns to being the real Matt Kemp." Mattingly on Friday didnt back away from his critical comments earlier in the week that came after he benched Ethier for the third time in six games during the teams trip to Atlanta and Milwaukee. At the time, he said he was "putting out my lineup that I feel is going to be the most competitive and going to compete the hardest." "Really Im just speaking from my heart. It wasnt an attack on anybody," Mattingly said. "Its my belief about the way to play baseball. Youve got to be willing to fight for what you want." Earlier in the week, Ethier said he took offence to Mattinglys comments. The manager said he and Ethier talked for 20 minutes on Wednesday. "Andre knows exactly where Im coming from," he said. Ethier was back in the lineup on Friday, but Mattinglys "words about the competing part, that bothers me. Thats all people hear, they dont read about the other stuff," he said. Asked if thought he would be traded, Ethier said, "I have no idea. Its nothing Im assuming or looking into. I know what commitment level is here and its never wavered." Mattingly has long defended his players in the mould of his mentor and former Dodgers manager Joe Torre, so his sudden public outspokenness had triggerd rampant speculation that he was on his way out. "It hasnt been that bad, honestly," he said. "Its just a little stormy." ' ' '