Ah, things are better. OR ARE THEY?

[Rick Snyder]

Here it is a Sunday morning and I’m feeling bright and chipper and I venture out to the back yard to take in the fresh air. While looking around I see my neighbors doing their daily routines and I think back to 9 years ago when I built this house. Nothing has really changed in all those years other then the house construction that was started behind me 5 years ago now has about 5 courses of block up. From all indications I estimate that the house may be completed somewhere around 2015 give or take a year, but will be occupied in about two years.

My next door neighbor has her tire rim mounted on three metal legs,(wood or coal burning stove), filled with a mixture of both wood and coal and has just poured an amount of gas on the fuel and she quickly jumps back as she throws a lighted match on the improvised stove. Her daily ritual includes the preparation of the meal for her extended family and this stove is what she uses to cook with every day. She had just returned from the little colmado across the street with a plastic bottle partially filled with this gas, kerosene mixture. Such a versatile product as it is used as a fire starter, ant killer and I have seen it used as a medical remedy for arthritis pain. There are probably other uses for this product but off the top of my head I don’t know what they are. As I watch this animation of fire starting I am reminded of my early days in the Boyscouts of America and how I was taught to take a stick of wood or two and shave slivers off and use it as kindling wood as it has a tendency to ignite rapidly and easily and therefore needs no other help other then a match, friction or sparks. I have seen this antiquated fire starting procedure even used out in el campo where the availability of acquiring this fuel is even more difficult. Of course I’ve also seen them use a small container to take a quantity of gas from a motor for this purpose. Being a smoker I am aware of the price of matches and the price of them has increased dramatically. As gas too his increased in price I would assume that the price of the gas, kerosene mixture has also. It is with those thoughts of prices that the thought occurs to me that if a person were taught how to properly start a fire then sales of this gas, kerosene mixture would maybe plummet and savings to the populace would increase. Hey, but I’m no financial wizard and I may be just talking out of my hat. But I digress.

In the process of reading the DR1 news of 18 April I got down to item 8 whereas a poll was conducted and 59% think the government is not efficient in its spending and seven out of every ten Dominicans felt that economic conditions were bad. On top of that 70% of those polled felt that the country was on the wrong road. I had to laugh at the figures only because of how they contradict a lot of what our DR expert has to say about this country.

Item number 9 would have brought merriment if the figures weren’t so true and to the point as to the situation faced by the average Dominican here. The fact that several basic items that Dominicans depend on to live, like milk, beans, garlic, sugar, plantains, bread, water and cooking gas have gone up anywhere between 52% to 200% since the PLD took power. Here is an article that discusses this issue.

Hey expert, what’s that you say about the economy here???? Are we really on a roll???? Darn, I get the impression that it must be that 11%, (the rich?), who said things are good and the 17%, (middleclass?), who said things are okay that might be in agreement with you. As 55% of those polled said that their economic situation is bad or very bad and as 55% is more then half the population here then I would venture to say that you are living in a fantasy world as to the true situation here.

Just for the heck of it let’s see if we can throw a monkey wrench into this whole equation. According to this article there is 30%, or more, of the population without legal documents that even say they are Dominican. It would appear to me that if a country doesn’t even know how many true citizens it has then any speculation concerning numbers can’t be anywhere near to being correct and therefore are more then likely that things are a lot worse then what is being published.

Rick

[Don Juan]

And whose fault is it that things are overtly expensive? The gov? The agricultural growers? Or the enterprising distributing bandits that steal big time from the poor by hiking up prices with impunity?
As I mentioned in one of my posts, there's no logical reason for a tomato costing more in SD than here in MD!
I can understand petroleum derivatives selling for what it does. We have to import that commodity. But what about produce that is locally grown? There's no import tariffs, no sale taxes or any other additional costs to justify the astronomical prices! some must be getting extremely rich by exploiting the poor.
Perhaps I don't know enough to make judgments on why prices should be what they are. Somebody enlighten me.... Please.

[jackieboo]

Supply and demand...... isn't that what capitalism is all about? Prices are reflected by the willingness of the consumer to purchase the product and when the collective consumer no longer can afford to purchase the product then it is either taken off the market or the price is reduced to an affordable level.

But does that work here in the DR where I've seen merchants sit on inventory for what seems like eons waiting to eek out that one Peso rather than turning the product and keeping the cash flowing?

[mountainfrog]

I am told that there was a time when the inspectors of the price control agency (yes, it exists) used to go out of their offices and do their WORK....
Good ol' days.

m'frog

[LatinoRican]

This to the OP:
For your information, kerosene also works to kill head lice infestations! I have seen my Domincan mother-in-law wet her grandchildren's head with kerosene, wrap their heads with a kerchief or a plain rag, and after an hour or so, voila!, no more lice! A wonderful, inexpensive remedy! Who knew?

[Rick Snyder]

Thank you for that information LatinoRican.

[Lambada]

Originally Posted by Don Juan

And whose fault is it that things are overtly expensive? The gov? The agricultural growers? Or the enterprising distributing bandits that steal big time from the poor by hiking up prices with impunity?

Well, the government is certainly squeezing the businesses tax wise. It appears 3386 businesses closed last year; those were the ones with telephones so probably others closed which didn't have a phone..........
http://www.elcaribecdn.com/articulo_...697&Seccion=69

And now there are rumours that E. Leon Jimenez group might be thinking of moving to Costa Rica with loss of another 3000 jobs..........
Desde Dominicana

Then there's the World Economic Forum putting DR in last place among Latin American countries for attractiveness in private investing in infrastucture:
World Economic Forum - Latest Press Releases

Then there are the prison figures: of a prison population of 14,434 some 10,500 are on remand (i.e. not sentenced)

Then there's the Banco Central debt as more and more certificados are emitted. And I haven't even got to crime and drugs yet.

So in answer to are things better................. maybe for the super rich, I wouldn't know. Certainly not for the average Josefina. And worryingly, very worryingly, the gap between the haves and have nots appears to be widening. On the one hand massive glitterati type investments by Trump & Co, the Hazourys and others. And on the other, for the average citizen no apparent right even to the crumbs from the top table. Coupled with no Government net to fish up the indigent and the recently unemployed.

[johne]

Originally Posted by LatinoRican

This to the OP:
For your information, kerosene also works to kill head lice infestations! I have seen my Domincan mother-in-law wet her grandchildren's head with kerosene, wrap their heads with a kerchief or a plain rag, and after an hour or so, voila!, no more lice! A wonderful, inexpensive remedy! Who knew?

Warning: Smoking can be hazardous to your health.Studies show may cause cancer. And for those smokers that use kerosene for shampoo be sure to have large bucket of rinse nearby.

[Rick Snyder]

Thank you Lambada for those links. Those that I have read I've found very interesting and as I continue to read it looks like it will be a bit late when I finsh.

Rick

[Andy B]

The more things change the more they remain the same. With that said I don't think many things are now better and in fact are worse. In the 11 years I've been here my impression is that despite what advances have been made, the quality of life here has declined. I've said this on other posts and now I'm having more and more of my Dominican friends at all social levels saying the same thing. One even wished we'd return to the Truillo years with the law, order and overall societal well being that his dictatorship maintained. How I wish this decline weren't so as after these years here, I can't help but identify with my Dominican friends and have compassion for the tribulations they are subjected to by continued governments that have absolutely no thought for the well being of their people. And when a Dominican really opens up and exposes his real feelings, the despair and hopelessness of "more of the same," an existance that does not bode well for them becomes readily apparent.