(Oped piece) Leonel Fernandez setting up his next job

[Lambada]

Originally Posted by Scandall

Can't argue with you there, but don't you get the impression that he's always "showing off"? And what did you make of the main point - that he (like too many American politicians) doesn't seem to have a plan on some very important issues?

RHM

By 'showing off' you mean using 'clever' language to mystify? As in:
YouTube - Rueda de prensa presidente Fernández

YouTube - Rueda de prensa presidente Fernández

We're told he has a good brain. The body language in the clips tells me he knows full well what he was doing and he knows he doesn't have an answer. He always gets more earnest when he feels cornered. But the honest thing to have done would have been to admit it. Not the second hand car salesman tactics as displayed. Not even an attempt to deal with the lack of Governmental austerity. Just the hope that the Dominican memory is so short term that when he doesn't present the 'answers' which were expected, later this week or next week everyone will have forgotten about it. For a person with the President's good brain it is, sadly, both transparent & pathetic. If he isn't a pragmatist it could be rectified by surrounding himself with a cabinet which is. Instead of which we have..............don't get me started .

I honestly think change will only come from the bottom up, here. And I do have the feeling it may not be the peaceful change we all hope for. And, like all expats, I will then have to decide whether to join my sisters on the barricades or leave..............

Yes ExtremeR it probably does sound like complaining but if only, if only he had come good on the austerity promise - that would have been enough for everyone to give him time for the other things. But..........he didn't & he won't. So people have to empower themselves. One way or the other.

[cobraboy]

Politicians only tell folks what they want to hear. That is what they do. When folks decide they want to hear something else, they elect new politicians.

It's really simple.

If we could only separate politicians from politics...

[Lambada]

Guillermo Moreno's reaction to President's press conference:
El Nacional, la voz de todos

[cobraboy]

Originally Posted by Scandall

Can't argue with you there, but don't you get the impression that he's always "showing off"? And what did you make of the main point - that he (like too many American politicians) doesn't seem to have a plan on some very important issues?

RHM

Randy, seriously, why do you expect anything different? It's the same around the entire planet!

No one is discussing the most fundamental problem that the Dominican Republic has: there are more people here than the resources present can support. Every "problem" that gubmint faces can pretty much be distilled down to that. Every "poor" country has that problem. Every "rich" country doesn't. Too many rats in the cage.

I'm not defending Fernandez. He's a politician. But what can he do about fuel prices? I give him credit for the smokin' deal he got from Chavez, 'cuz without that, the DR would REALLY be screwed.

Oil drives every economy on the planet, period. The DR has no oil. World demand and controlled production is causing escalation in prices. I don't know what Fernandez can do about any of those facts. And even if taxes on fuel were abated (the only real short-term solution, with questionable unintended consequences), oil would still be very expensive vs. per capita GDP.

[RHM]

"No one is discussing the most fundamental problem that the Dominican Republic has: there are more people here than the resources present can support...too many rats in the cage." - Cobraboy


(I cut Cobra's quote down a bit but didn't change the gist of his point.

Is it really "too many rats" (hereafter referred to as people) and not enough cheese?

Or is more that the distribution of the resources is so unfairly out of whack that it appears that way? Honestly, if you aren't in the top 5% of this society (and thus have opportunities for education, health care etc) you are pretty much screwed and had better get used to being impoverished.

The DR has plenty of money, but it remains in the hands of a select few and they hold on to it with a Kung-fu "Death grip".

I'm no socialist but the playing field is anything but level.

Back to Fernandez - No, I don't expect miracles but I do expect people to do what they say they will. BTW - I hold the same contempt for my own politicians in the States but that would be way off topic.

I appreciate all the comments and criticisms.

RHM

[cobraboy]

Originally Posted by Scandall

"No one is discussing the most fundamental problem that the Dominican Republic has: there are more people here than the resources present can support...too many rats in the cage." - Cobraboy


(I cut Cobra's quote down a bit but didn't change the gist of his point.

Is it really "too many rats" (hereafter referred to as people) and not enough cheese?

Or is more that the distribution of the resources is so unfairly out of whack that it appears that way? Honestly, if you aren't in the top 5% of this society (and thus have opportunities for education, health care etc) you are pretty much screwed and had better get used to being impoverished.

The DR has plenty of money, but it remains in the hands of a select few and they hold on to it with a Kung-fu "Death grip".

I'm no socialist but the playing field is anything but level.

Back to Fernandez - No, I don't expect miracles but I do expect people to do what they say they will. BTW - I hold the same contempt for my own politicians in the States but that would be way off topic.

I appreciate all the comments and criticisms.

RHM

Randy, do some math. What is the per capita GDP of the Dom Rep? Roughly US$4500. That number evens out the rich 5%.

Please explain mathematically how a single country can provide all the social services you describe with that kind of national GDP? The gubmint budget is what? US$8 billion? US$900 per capita? About what? 20% of GDP? That's not an extraordinary amount?

Heck, with the same GDP and half the population you might be able to ~begin~ to do something (just a crude offering; I know that incrementally the GDP would go down at a rate possibly less that the population decrease.)

Fact is the DR could NOT function as a country without the charity of the rest of the world, and by charity I mean all loans, grants, outright charity in money or in kind, etc.

If the top 5% had their wealth confiscated tomorrow, I doubt the average Dominican would notice an appreciable difference in the net social services they receive.

Too many people chasing too few resources. That is the fundamental problem. And that is one I'm not aware ANY nation with the resourse base of the DR has ever solved. Perhaps someone smarter than me can find one.

BTW-this is not to say the gubmint isn't corrupt, the top 10% should have the 43% of the national wealth, and all is hunky dory. It's just that in terms of real dollars (or the equivalent) there is just not enough GDP to support the type of social and gubmint services those spoiled to First World perks enjoy. Heck, I pay more in property taxes alone on my modest FL manse than the per capita GDP of the Dom Rep.

It's just numbers, that's all. I'd like to see someone show me how to JUST educate and give all Dominicans "proper" health care on the per capita GDP of the country.

[A.Hidalgo]

A starting point on leveling the field even if its small in the scheme of things is that of raising salaries for the PEOPLE not rats. It seems that some individuals are stirring the pot asking just for that like Julio Cesar Valentin, the speaker of the Chamber of Deputies, Monsignor Benito Angeles, the secretary of the Dominican Council of Bishops among others. Even in established capitalist countries the field has been leveled somewhat because of government programs.

[RHM]

Originally Posted by cobraboy

Randy, do some math. What is the per capita GDP of the Dom Rep? Roughly US$4500. That number evens out the rich 5%.

Please explain mathematically how a single country can provide all the social services you describe with that kind of national GDP? The gubmint budget is what? US$8 billion? US$900 per capita? About what? 20% of GDP? That's not an extraordinary amount?

Heck, with the same GDP and half the population you might be able to ~begin~ to do something (just a crude offering; I know that incrementally the GDP would go down at a rate possibly less that the population decrease.)

Fact is the DR could NOT function as a country without the charity of the rest of the world, and by charity I mean all loans, grants, outright charity in money or in kind, etc.

If the top 5% had their wealth confiscated tomorrow, I doubt the average Dominican would notice an appreciable difference in the net social services they receive.

Too many people chasing too few resources. That is the fundamental problem. And that is one I'm not aware ANY nation with the resourse base of the DR has ever solved. Perhaps someone smarter than me can find one.

BTW-this is not to say the gubmint isn't corrupt, the top 10% should have the 43% of the national wealth, and all is hunky dory. It's just that in terms of real dollars (or the equivalent) there is just not enough GDP to support the type of social and gubmint services those spoiled to First World perks enjoy. Heck, I pay more in property taxes alone on my modest FL manse than the per capita GDP of the Dom Rep.

It's just numbers, that's all. I'd like to see someone show me how to JUST educate and give all Dominicans "proper" health care on the per capita GDP of the country.

The OP (that's me) proposed that Leonel Fernandez is too transfixed on his future to care or even notice the true domestic situation and, most importantly, he doesn't seem to have a plan to help soften the blow for the country. That's the topic.

Your questions are very valid but way off the original topic so you and I can take this to each others personal email accounts like we have before. It's annoying for people subscribed to a thread to get emails that there is an update only to find that we have wandered off the reservation.

I look forward to the exchange, Robert. And I owe you some answers.

RHM

[cobraboy]

Originally Posted by A.Hidalgo

A starting point on leveling the field even if its small in the scheme of things is that of raising salaries for the PEOPLE not rats. It seems that some individuals are stirring the pot asking just for that like Julio Cesar Valentin, the speaker of the Chamber of Deputies, Monsignor Benito Angeles, the secretary of the Dominican Council of Bishops among others. Even in established capitalist countries the field has been leveled somewhat because of government programs.

"Rats" is an analogy, AH.

Then again, one man's "level playing field" is another man's Killing Fields.

Opinions vary...

[RHM]

"President Leonel Fernandez will address the nation tomorrow evening. Fernandez will focus on forthcoming economic and social measures including energy and fuel saving initiatives and an increase in the minimum wage, according to Hacienda Minister Vicente Bengoa, the Minister of Hacienda."

This is what people have been waiting for.

And another spot-on analysis from Moreno:

During a visit to New York City, former presidential candidate Guillermo Moreno said that President Leonel Fernandez is the "governor of the excuses." He said that Fernandez has spent this term blaming his problems in government on his predecessor Hipolito Mejia, and now, even before starting his third term he has a new culprit: "petroleum speculation." Moreno says that presidents are not elected to describe the problems that we know about, but to confront them and lead the nation in resolving them with concrete plans."
As reported in Hoy, Moreno said that the rising cost of oil is not responsible for the government choosing to spend immense resources on building the Santo Domingo Metro, instead of on our true priorities, or for the heads of ministries and autonomous government departments choosing to assign themselves luxury salaries, costly SUVs of high consumption, per diems and commissions."
Moreno also said, "Rising oil prices are not to be blamed, but Leonel Fernandez himself, and his unlimited use of government money to promote clientelism, and the purchase of IDs to impose his re-election."
As reported in El Nacional, Moreno said that the rising cost of oil is not responsible for the legislators choosing to assign themselves the so-called "barrilitos" or millions in complementary allotments for distribution at their discretion, or for choosing to increase their wages, or for the "government's violation of the austerity law that was passed by President Fernandez himself."