Even before last week’s announcement of what looks like a massive discovery of oil deep below the ocean floor off the south-east coast of Brazil, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, Brazil’s president, was known to be a lucky man. Blessed with the most benign global conditions in living memory – abundant liquidity, high commodity prices – he has made himself the most popular president in Brazil’s history by doing not very much at all. (Credit where it’s due, though: sticking to the previous government’s tight monetary policies has taken guts and determination.)