Even with current debt ceiling negotiations and some market participants fearing it will bring the tax exempt status back on the chopping block, it remains highly unlikely that anything will change, given the dire straits some localities and states are in, the impact to public services and the dent it would make to the Federal deficit.

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In Manaus, local politicians keen to keep the current regime argue that the presence of the factories has given people seeking to make a living an alternative to chopping down the rainforest.

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