just the beginning

And METRO ridership is up a 100%!

What great decisions Lie-onel and the PLD have taken to improve job creation and retention.

Eh Pa' Lante Que Vamos!

GC, i am afaid you could be right. all the knuckleheads who claimed that the DR is "immune" to the downturn should have their heads examined. most of the manufacturing here is in textile products (finished garments) and footwear. retail stores in the USA are bleeding to death, because of the credit crunch. a guy with a credit card will buy 4 shirts if he needs 3; hey, just put it on the plastic! when he has to pay cash, he will buy 2 when he needs 3. the crap has hit the fan. meanwhile, as we try to weather the storm, new players like Cambodia and Vietnam are spooling up their manufacturing process, so, by the time the upturn comes, we will have competition from them. we better pray that there is no liberalisation in Cuban relations; 11 million well educated , technically trained, and disciplined people constitutes an attractive pool of manufacturing labor.

dread to be honest ...at my age I welcome the opportunity for the masses to turn away from materialism and look to other philosophies in economics and societal structure ...that being said I worry for the less fortunate in this period of reorientation particularly the third world developing countries who rely on 1st world nations to buy their production etc...Let us hope the group of 20 have laid the ground work for a recovery and a new attitude ...But this is globalization at its worst presently..... let us hope Globalization will resolve these issues as it was originally intended and visualized and be the positive it was intended to be....turning inward to protectionism would be going backwards

on Cuba I attended a birthday party last night for a Cuban close friend the guests except for very few were Cubans who travel extensively back and forth it was a very lively party as Cubans know how to get down ...the opinions were very interesting ...These were educators and business men of intelligence and solvency ...they all cannot believe things have not changed yet in Cuba the public is fed up ...there is nothing to eat above survival....it will not take much to collapse the totalitarian structure ...the correct moves diplomatic moves and ......soon I will be in Havana ....Cubas new minister Trade and the most important voice after Raul says their opening position is the return of Guantanamo.....This is laughable a contract is a contract....But now begins something and the Cuban people will demand more say in what is happening in that tropical Gulag

GC, what did you have for breakfast this morning, besides you bowl of roughage? you are making wonderful sense!! it is exactly because i know that the G20 is not going to focus on the plight of the less developed nations that i welcome the opportunity to at least hear the insights of Chavez. and no, protectionism and insularity cannot work either. remember that the Smoot-Hawley tariff that the USA imposed on European goods after Black Friday was one of the driving factors of the Great Depression, worldwide. less materialism among the citizenry, and more circumspect use of national funds, is what is needed. no more asinine Metros, fighter planes, and Harley Davidson motorcycles. my mother used to say "money does not grow on trees". i wish she had raised Leonel.

The intellectual power of the island of Cuba and the Cuban expatriates cannot be under estimated they will be formidable ...this is nothing new in the History of Cuba ...The Puerto Ricans and the Dominicans I am sorry to say have always played second fiddle to the pearl of the Caribbean....as business men it is not for nothing they are known as the Jews of the Caribbean

Here is a little more sobering news!


http://www.listin.com.do/app/article.aspx?id=81282

"But now begins something and the Cuban people will demand more say in what is happening in that tropical Gulag"

You mean the one we run in Guantanamo!

GC, that is exactly what i am saying! while Rome is burning, Leonel is fiddling. the window of opportunity presented itself for decades, and with its opportunities and resources, the DR could have placed itself in a pretty secure position, relatively speaking. now the worry has to be Cuba. i might have told you this, but i met a 20 year old agricultural scientist and his wife on the Havana Malecon some years ago. we sat at an outdoor kiosk to drink a few beers. before long, i was listening to a spirited argument between this young couple ,about the causes of Gorbachev's downfall!!! i kid you not!! here , it would be a discussion about the virtues of the latest cellphone. be very afraid, i tell you. if relationships normalise with Cuba, our small manufacturing is down the crapper..heck, would you not like to recruit your labor force from a population that is 99% literate? so, Leo and the boys did a circle jerk all these years, while the chickens were coming home to roost!

and, GC, if Cuban relationships are liberalised, just think of all the guys who will be headed there with suitcases of cash, looking to buy old Packards and Edsels? then, like they do here, they fall in love with the chicas, and decide to stay and invest. can you say "second and third homes"? and adios DR?

Cuba as I said when ever it rejoins the international commercial pursuits will be formidable it is inevitable and always was ....but this is the same song they are singing on every island in the Caribbean the fear of a free Cuba strikes terror into the hearts of all the islands .....for the 35 years I have been hearing that old song I have never agreed with it....Cuba opening in the long run is in our best interests and every other Caricom sandbar and Spanish Antillean island.....So be it ....Dont expect to see Obama shaking hands with Raul for quite a while....But Cuba as we knew it is over

not so Dread the first wave of gringos will get skinned just like here it will take a long long time to bring that country up to speed ie. East european countries with higher education levels and better access still are normalizing

Agriculture is the future for ourselves and Cuba plus tourism

from the Miami Herald.today..... " The Obama conundrum threatens the Castro brothers' dysfunctional dynasty. Democracy and capitalism, the duo's argument goes, is only good for the white and the comfortable preying on the black and poor.

Then this son of a black Kenyan dad and a white Kansas mom gets 53 percent of the vote in a country where black Americans are only 12 percent of the population. He wins over the suburbs, grabs the youth vote, sweeps the Hispanic vote, attracts about half the white and elderly vote and overwhelmingly claims the Jewish vote despite Hussein for a middle name.

Explain that to 11 million Cubans -- the majority black or mestizo -- who have been spoon-fed the regime's ''racist U.S. imperialists'' propaganda for five decades.

Imagine the monumental challenge of this historic moment for a regime in which Afro-Cubans hold virtually no high-level posts beyond a handful of old black generals who fought with Fidel and Raúl Castro.

There's no glass ceiling for Cuban blacks and women on the communist island it's a fortified white male wall of condescending machista

Forget the immensity of the civil rights movement, the rise of a growing black middle class, the election of African Americans and their appointment by both Democratic and Republican presidents to top Cabinet posts. Nah, just watch Mississippi Burning the Cuban regime's favorite TV rerun. That's the revolutionary drill.

Omar López Montenegro, the 54-year-old executive director of human rights for the Cuban American National Foundation, calls Obama's election the debunking of the Tarzan syndrome.

''There's a fundamental condition to the issue of race in Cuba,'' said López Montenegro, who is black and was repeatedly detained in Cuba for civil disobedience until he left in 1992. `It's that the Cuban population has been trapped in the Tarzan syndrome The white superhero who has to defend blacks in Africa because they cannot do it for themselves

So that means that Cubans voting for Republicanitos all these years prolonged the misery of their brothers and sisters on the island.

I would agree to that!

I know, I know, Chauncey the truth hurts!

trust me on this, GC. republicans are also being skinned alive by the economic morass. Cuba is a massive market. the USA is going to enter a phase where the agricultural lobby is going to pressure the leadership for change. if Bush is fighting so desperately for a free trade agreement with Colombia, do you not believe there are businessmen who covet a market 90 miles from key west? when the bank note becomes due for some farmer in Wisconsin, do you think he cares that there are political prisoners in Cuba, any more than Sam Walton was disturbed by the events at Tieneman Square?

To Parphrase Abba Eban's quote

The Miami Cubans never miss an opportunity to miss an opportunity!

If these socalled "Jews of the Caribbean " are so smart how come they substituted the Batista Dictatorship for Castro's and have not be able to overthrow such an unpopular regime?

dread for me cuba as an open market is a non issue....the more the merrier as I said I have been hearing this story of fear everywhere I have ever been in the Caribbean ....Cuba envy goes back to before Castro

josean How come ?...... firing squads and mass emigration

Now the Cuban people for the first time .....I say now because I dont think the Castros and their apparachiks are going to get away dealing from the bottom of the deck the old anti American card this time

Clinton was trying his best to open avenues to Cuba when Castro shot down those unarmed Cessnas with Migs for dropping pamphlets over Cuba.....they were in international airspace.....and Clinton had no choice but to break off negotiations.....What will the Castro brothers do this time to fan the anti Yanquista feelings this time ...he may have run out of cards to play let us hope so

They should do what their hero McCain said "Stand up my friends and fight, fight for your freedom, fight for your children, fight for your country." I guess that was just a figure of speech though.

this is what Castro did the last time it appeared that there was a possibility....http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pFGZBjzR254&NR=1

you jerk the Cuban prisons are full of people that did stand up ....the gulag for them

what happen to crisiproff????????

stefano, correct me if i am wrong, but i guess you meant crisis proof. well you know what happened to it? crisis, thats what!

even though manufacturing is down by 30%( or so they say; it could be more), and tourism is also down, along with exports and mining, watch the lying statisticians tell us that the economy EXPANDED BY 5% THIS YEAR!!!

only the politician are crisis proof

Cuba opening up will not be a threat to whatever little manufacturing is left in DR. Really what matters the most in that industry is the abundance of cheap labor. Literate and educated people are recruited more for things like call centers.
I do however believe that tourism in DR will pretty much be obliterated if the embargo is lifted. The reason being is that the tourism industry in DR was built up to purposely cater to tourists while ignoring the needs of the rest of the population. Now you have the electricity fiasco or the rise of ghettos around tourist areas and it backfires. Because (to my understanding, I've never visited the place) Cuba does meet the basic needs of its population already, long-term sustainable tourism development will be a piece of cake. They will also know what mistakes not to make since they've developed tourism before

So they shoot down a couple of planes and they give up the cause of FREEDOM?


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brothers_to_the_Rescue

This isn't a "doom and gloom " post but reality.

Only 30% the Dow is down 35% year to date..

Has little to do with Leonel on the contrary I am impressed he has kept this country from sinking this long.


Retail is the worst in decades , these free zones will be dead zones...

They didn't organize the G20 summit for shits and grins, THE SCOPE OF THE CRISIS IS MASSIVE"

Anyone who ignores the clear message being sent is either wealthy or ignorant.

"Has little to do with Leonel on the contrary I am impressed he has kept this country from sinking this long."

"Anyone who ignores the clear message being sent is either wealthy or ignorant."

Or in your case DELUSIONAL if you think Lie-onel has little to do with the suffering of the Dominican people.

Do you drink your KOOL-AID straight up or on the rocks!

josean is now more than ever a repetitive know nothing....stick to your Metro whining ...that is amusing

"josean is now more than ever a repetitive know nothing"

Sort of like Sarah Palin and you were ready to elect her Vice Presidente, one McCain constipated bowel movement stroke away from the Presidency!

if you have nothing clever interesting or funny or intelligent to say ......say nothing ...when you grow up you will thank me for this advice....and saved the world a lot of pain listening to your whining

"if you have nothing clever interesting or funny or intelligent to say"

Translation: If you do not repeat right wing talk show gibberish like I do then I will not listen to what you have to say.

How superior of you, republicanito!

they were used to describe an even more grindingly boring poster than yourself if you can imagine

If we are boring why do you feel compelled to respond. At least to my nonsense.

A man of your superior intelect should not burden himself with the untutored peseantry!

I am sometimes amused by the peasants

Cuban president Raul Castro will visit Russia next year, in a move that will deepen ties between the two countries.


Don't get to worked up over Cuba just yet.

This is about as good as it will get.

"Mr Obama said during the election campaign that as soon as he became president, he would allow unlimited family travel and financial remittances to the communist island, although he would maintain the economic embargo. "

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/w....-Raul-Castro-to-visit-Russia.html

Oh and guess what , Russia who was recently flexing their military muscle again.

Russia's banal reality lies in between energy superpower and bankrupt state
Russia has been losing $10bn in foreign reserves a week since it snatched South Ossetia and ramped up the new Cold War with nuclear threats.

Like i said earlier the Crisis is massive..

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/financ....uperpower-and-bankrupt-state.html

"Mr Obama said during the election campaign that as soon as he became president, he would allow unlimited family travel and financial remittances to the communist island, although he would maintain the economic embargo. "


The operative phrase is "during the election campaign."

Now the election is history and so is the EMBARGO!

you better start your rosaries for this now or add itt on to your prayers that the Metro will not be up and running soon

I think it is you who better pray to Santa Barbara y Chango that the EMBARGO is not lifted because "El negocito de exilio Cubano will be over!"

As a Fortune 500 businessman, if I can get government guaranteed free enterprise in Cuba (like China), an amended free trade agreement, a cheap Cuban labor with a 99% literacy then why would I want to manufacture in the RD or Asia?

Given a future pro-business Cuban Gov (like China) why would I manufacture on the other side of the world (Asia) increasing my ship time (to USA, Canada & EU)? Why would I want extra risk exposure to rising transportion costs via volatile gas & oil prices by going to Asia or the RD vs 90 miles offshore in Cuba?

There's much upside in Cuba once they figure out they can be Communists (Gov) but capitalist in everything else (like China).

There are too many benefits to mention. FACT: The RD Gov has wasted an opportunity and been sleepin' behind the wheel & now it may be too late! There should've been an ESL for grade schools 40 years ago to attract call center jobs (from India today).

RD Gov = Clueless!

The situation is tough, but if we want to compete with countries that we have no competence, we need to take drastic measures. Most plants are being shipped to china, Indonesia and Bangladesh. So what can we do? The first thing is to bring plants to the countryside where people are jobless, and willing to do something even if is performance based, second educate them on the use of this machinery and train them to do whatever is that these plants do.
On the other hand, is not easy to compete with a population of a billion, when we have a scarce 8.5, maybe is time for us to start finding other ways to survive or really take care of our tourism industry, and when I say take care, I mean seriously take care of that sector. Because the Dominican market as any other country is being fillied with products from china and that is afecting the internal manufacturing industry. http://nicolasdelvalle.wordpress.com/

the DR has a small number of exceptionally brilliant people, without a doubt. however on a general level, the rest of the populace is not up to the standards of international competitors. i just wrote a post this past week, wondering how "professional cashier" could be a university course. what in God's name is a professional cashier, anyway? how long does it take to learn the intricacies of a cash register? the service end of the deal, such as calculating discounts, accepting returns, and all other niceties could be learnt in a fortnight.

dread, they teach that course right next to the class on underwater basketweaving, which is a much shorter course! You are absolutely right though, something like cashiering should be part of a "small business management" or "small business accounting" course to offer the students a broader scope of business skills therefore more employment opportunities.

How wonderfull !!!!!

Hey I just wanted to fit in with the negative spirit running up and down this website.

domericano, here is my scatterbrained idea for economic development preparation. every province should have its own Office of Economic Development. it should be staffed by professional economists who would evaluate investment projects, do feasibility studies, provide assistance for venture capital and bridge loans, provide accounting services for existing businesses, periodically evaluate the current conditions of going enterprises, and provide assistance and counsel for businesses in peril. decentralise the issue, and make it more manageable. the quality of the outcomes will vary from province to province, depending on the personnel. but emerging entrepreneurs need assistance, especially in the light of the lack of business courses taught in school or university. my friend informs me that they do not teach economics in high school. business cannot be attempted without basic accounting practices.

Dread my dear friend this sounds like you are positioning yourself for Professorship in some economics teaching scam .....you would probably be very good at it

why, thank you for your kind remarks, GC. actually, teaching is my first love. i would really welcome the opportunity to establish an economics and small business course; i think it would be useful. hey, you have to throw things at the wall, and see what sticks!!! and, why do you characterise my honorable intents as a "scam"? that is strange, coming from a man who made a king's ransom selling battery whips at Saratoga.

I am sure you would find a way to pad your expense account to pay for your many bad habits dread

i skipped school the day when they taught "creative expense account embezzlement".if my memory serves me right, i was recovering from my night at the Black Angus, where, incidentally, you would have visited last night, had it not been removed from service/

dread, are you elidgible to run for the presidency? you've got my vote and you could realize your dream and teach at the national level!! At the very least I would hope someone reads your post and picks up on the idea, and I'm not talking about selling the zappers at race tracks.

domericano, you are too kind. i am just a washed up old academic. i have some economic ideas i would love to share with some government guys; simple stuff, really. nothing of earth shattering importance. as to the zappers, GC sold the exclusive rights of distribution to one of his favorite nephews.

Dread it is true what you say about passing something on I also would teach my little specialty to any young people who were interested in the hospitality industry

GC, you have far more areas of expertise than i will ever aspire to. actually, i am a little sad that this forum has so many brilliant minds, and they never get put to use helping to advise some of the drones who blunder on, dragging the country into the ditch.

Dread,

Finally something Chauncey has in come with a historical figure and his number one HERO:

http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/news/article1945960.ece

speaking of drones blundering on