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RIO DE JANEIRO -- When Rio de Janeiro was awarded the 2016 Summer Olympic Games seven years ago, Wagner Bastos was a hotshot car salesman for Rio Citroen-Peugeot. Some months he earned 17,000 Brazilian reais -- about $5,200 now and much more back then.But Brazils fortunes -- and Bastos -- have taken a sickening tumble. His last monthly paycheck in June was for 1,400 reais ($425) -- too little to cover his rent or school fees for two children. So Bastos, 54, quit and started driving a taxi.I needed cash urgently, he says.In the past, hosting the Olympics often allowed newly prosperous countries to strut on the world stage and showcase their glitziest cities. Think Tokyo in 1964 or Seoul in 1988.And in 2009, when Rio won the competition for this years Summer Games, the picture looked similar. Brazils emerging market economy was sizzling -- one of the worlds economic superstars, along with Russia, India, China and South Africa.But the 16 Games come at a dire moment for Brazil, which is enduring myriad calamities: A deep recession. A political crisis. Widespread street protests. Reports of filthy waterways. And a health emergency caused by the Zika virus.There have been political and economic problems in other (Olympic) host cities, says Andrew Zimbalist, an economist at Smith College who has studied Olympic Games. But the combination here has probably been as foreboding as any I have seen.Brazils economy shrank 3.8 percent last year and will likely contract an additional 3.3 percent this year, according to the International Monetary Fund. The economy was rocked by a plunge in prices for iron ore and other commodities it exports, partly a result of slowing demand as Chinas powerhouse economy decelerated.In the booming mid-2000s, Brazilians celebrated their collective arrival in the middle class by borrowing heavily to buy cars, refrigerators and iPhones. Now, like Americans after the devastating 2008 financial crisis, they face diminished livelihoods.A political crisis has compounded the economic troubles. President Dilma Rousseff was suspended in May for allegedly violating budget laws. She is awaiting a trial this month in Brazils Senate that will determine whether shell be permanently ousted.Business investment has been paralyzed by an investigation into corruption at the state-owned energy giant Petrobras. Once worth more in the stock market than either Microsoft or Wal-Mart, Petrobras has been reduced to selling assets -- from oil fields to corporate subsidiaries -- to raise cash to offset lower oil prices.The Olympics might be making things even worse. To prepare for the Games, the state of Rio spent heavily. When it ran into financial trouble, the federal government stepped in to help share the costs, thereby deepening the countrys budget woes.The Brazilian real has plunged 47 percent against the U.S. dollar since Rio was awarded the 16 Games in October 2009. The weak real makes imports costlier and helps escalate inflation, which was running at an annual 8.8 percent in June.High inflation means Brazils central bank cant slash interest rates to juice the economy for fear of sending inflation even higher. As a result, the central bank has kept its key rate at a punitive 14.25 percent.Nationally, since the end of 2014, more than 5 million people have lost jobs. Unemployment has nearly doubled to 11.3 percent.The anemic job market has depressed real estate. Gone are the bidding wars for choice apartments in Rios seaside neighborhoods. Office rents plunged 6.1 percent in Rio from the fourth quarter of 2015 to the first quarter of 2016, making it the worlds third-worst office market in that period, according to the real estate firm JLL.Leo Ickowicz, who is Brazilian but has worked for two decades in South Florida real estate, has experienced the transformation. At the height of Brazils boom in 2010, when the economy grew a blazing 7.5 percent, many Brazilian clients sought to capitalize on the currencys strength to buy Miami real estate as an investment or vacation property.Now, his firm is busier than ever. Inquiries have quintupled. But his clients have a different goal this time: They want to leave Brazil for good. His company has had to add relocation services to meet the demand -- everything from help in applying for visas and selecting schools to offering psychological aid to families victimized by Brazils violent-crime epidemic.Despite the litany of bad news, the Brazilian stock market has surged 30 percent this year. Investors have detected signs of hope. Commodity prices have stabilized, and investors have expressed confidence in the economic policy team assembled by interim President Michel Temer, which says it will get government spending under control.The IMF has also slightly upgraded its outlook for Brazil, predicting that the economy will shrink 3.3 percent this year, compared with its earlier forecast of a 3.8 percent contraction, and will return to growth in 2017.Investors appeared heartened when the economy shrank just 0.3 in the first three months of 2016 from the fourth quarter of 2015. It was the best quarterly performance since the end of 2014.But the economy was still 5.4 percent smaller than it had been a year earlier. And May retail sales were down 9 percent from a year earlier.I dont see where growth is going to come from, says Monica de Bolle, a senior fellow at the Peterson Institute for International Economics. People are still being fired. We do not know when the labor market is going to stabilize... I do not see anything coming from consumption.De Bolle says that while shes impressed with Temers economic team, she wonders whether it can get its plans for spending cuts through a dysfunctional National Congress.The overall situation is still extremely murky and very, very uncertain, she says.Bastos, the former car salesman, is trying to adjust.His wifes job at a construction company looks wobbly now that the massive buildout for the Olympics is drawing to an end. He has stopped shopping at the supermarket in his middle class neighborhood and now drives across the city only once a month to pick up necessities at a wholesale market.Family vacations? A distant memory. He thinks hell have to get used to a more modest lifestyle.This isnt something that we can fix in one or two years, Bastos says. Itll take Brazil at least 10 or 15 years to get back to where we were.---Wiseman reported from Washington.---Follow Paul Wiseman on Twitter at https://twitter.com/PaulWisemanAP Cheap Custom Jerseys From China .Y. -- The Buffalo Sabres have placed centre Cody Hodgson on injured reserve and recalled two players from their AHL affiliate in Rochester. Wholesale Custom Jerseys Free Shipping . Bryant, who signed a five-year, $34 million contract as a free agent with Cleveland in March, reported symptoms on Monday morning, a team spokesman said. http://www.customjerseyschina.com/ . 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Dylan Strome is living his NHL dream playing for the Arizona Coyotes, staying in a hotel and avoiding the harsh Pennsylvania winter he endured the past three years playing for the Ontario Hockey Leagues Erie Otters.He just doesnt know how long it will last.Strome was the No. 3 overall pick in 2015 and he is in hockeys version of purgatory: At 19, he is eligible to be sent back to the juniors without burning a year of his contract as long as he doesnt play 10 games.In the NFL and NBA, when youre drafted, youre in, and Major League Baseball prospects almost always start in the minors.NHL teams, however, get the chance to test-run some of their top young prospects before committing to them for a full season.No one feels bad for you, Strome said. Its not really up to me. Obviously I want to be in the NHL.In the same uncertain spot are Coyotes teammates Jakob Chychrun and Lawson Crouse and others around the league, from the New York Islanders Anthony Beauvillier and Mathew Barzal to the Calgary Flames Matthew Tkachuk. Despite making their teams opening-night roster, the players face a nerve-racking nine-game tryout -- and decision time is near for many of them.Its normal to have that kind of tryout because you never know what can happen, said Beauvillier, whose contract will count for this year if he plays his 10th game Thursday. I dont control that. I just control what I do on the ice.The NHLs transfer agreement with the Canadian Hockey League prevents major-junior players under 20 from going to the American Hockey League for some professional seasoning. So even though Strome had 111 points, Tkachuk 107 points and the Toronto Maple Leafs Mitch Marner 116 points in juniors last season, they must remain in the NHL or go back to juniors instead of spending time in the minors.Once considered a top player in the 2016 draft class, Chychrun slipped to 16th and pondered the rule often during camp. But he has played well enough to get into seven games and give himself peace of mind.Now that Ive gotten a taste of the level here and just seen that I can play here, I think Im just trying to really just act like a pro, Chychrun said. You cant play when youre stressed. Youve just got to act like youre sticking here, and if you do that youll have a better chance of showing them why.Easier said than done for Barzal and Strome, who have been out of thhe lineup more than in it.dddddddddddd Coach Jack Capuano implied that a roster crunch could prevent the Islanders from keeping Beauvillier and Barzal all season, but Arizona could let Strome and Crouse practice, learn and wait rather than making them essentially repeat a grade level they already aced.The Coyotes sent Max Domi back to juniors two years ago and watched him dominate and blossom as a result, so coach Dave Tippett understands the nine-game barrier but doesnt dwell on it.Were more in tune of making sure that were doing everything we can to make it so they can play here so the nine games doesnt matter, Tippett said. We have to give them every opportunity, whether through extra coaching, extra workouts, critiquing their play -- everything you do to try to make sure it gives them the best chance to be successful.The Philadelphia Flyers approach was to take the nine games out of the equation entirely with 19-year-old defenseman Ivan Provorov and forward Travis Konecny, telling the 2015 first-round picks before opening night that theyd be around for the entire season. General manager Ron Hextall told them pointedly, This is not a nine-game tryout, so neither had to worry about that.It definitely gives me a little confidence, it allows me to play my game and be comfortable, said Konecny, who has a goal and six assists in 10 games and is in the NHL to stay. He wasnt going to bed every night stressed out (about whether) Im going to get that phone call.That phone call came Monday for 2016 No. 9 pick Mikhail Sergachev as the Montreal Canadiens sent him back to the OHLs Windsor Spitfires after just three NHL games. Along with Provorov and Konecny, Marner and Pavel Zacha of the New Jersey Devils are up for good and Chychrun is all but assured to stick.Meanwhile, Barzal, Strome, Crouse, Tkachuk and Thomas Chabot of the Ottawa Senators must wait.You just kind of have to put in the back of your mind, Crouse said. Its going to be there, but you kind of just have to store it in a spot where youre not thinking about it day in and day out and just really go out there and show them that you deserve to be in this league.---This story has been corrected to show 10th game for Beauvillier is Thursday, not Tuesday. ' ' '