That's been exactly my (and dreads) point, frog. You see, there aren't any kind of restrictions or rule books discerning the exact nature the foreign cash entering this country as it's the case on the majority of the countries in the eastern caribbean, so one can't help but being mistrustful about all this money entering the country all of a sudden.

DR started in the lately 1970's to be promoted as a tourist destination so it has been more than 30 years of hard work to become DR in a hot spot for tourism and investment in this sector... so it didn't happen that easily..... and as I said before not every foreigner living in DR is a drug dealer... DR is a paradise full of beauty.... who wouldn't want to live here....

Well Lautaro and Mountainfrog, USADR said it best, DR is mostly concerned with the short come benefits. Right now, DR is doing whatever it can just to be the NYC of the carribean. To be the best country in the carribean. Personally, if the government new where the money was coming from, they would still turn a blind eye. Moreover, if this "investor" is being pursued by any foreign governements, DR will later on take the investments and make it their own personal property. In a way, i feel that the government is only worried about the short run. I would like to ask what would be the problem in the long run, if most of the investments were created due to illegal activities.

As Frank said, if we put all the defficiencies of our state aside, then yes, this is indeed a beautiful country.

Damn Anonymous, choose a name already! LOL

Then it would send the message that the DR is a country where everything is a free-for-all, that any riff-raff with a few greens on his/her pocket can come and dictate the law of the land as they please, and for the populace the message would be that, if you're going to steal or committ any other crime, you'd have to make sure that it's BIG.

"Then it would send the message that the DR is a country where everything is a free-for-all, that any riff-raff with a few greens on his/her pocket can come and dictate the law of the land as they please, and for the populace the message would be that, if you're going to steal or committ any other crime, you'd have to make sure that it's BIG."

Some would argue that's the case now.

Yeah, but believe it or not, there's still a good reservoir of people with good values yet. We haven't reached our bottom, yet....

I think the same, still plenty of good people who truly want the best for the country.
And I think a couple of other LatinAmerican countries have much worst corruption than DR, but then you can argue that they have many more other assets that might balance it out.

USADR, the main asset of this country is the decency of the common man. i am yet to see more generous and selfless people anywhere. it is possibly because they are so decent and trusting that they allow themselves to be abused by all and sundry. Arsenio Lembert gave me a royal tongue lashing because i invoked the habits of english caribbean peoples, who do not take shorts from foreigners. i mentioned before that i spent some time in costambar in the past, and it pained me to see a bunch of gringos set up a gate to restrict the movement of locals who wanted to use the beach. it broke my heart to see women walking long distances, with little children in tow, crying in the noonday heat. all because gringo did not want " too many of them " in their colony. that crap would not fly in the british isles. it is the same feeling i get when i see Mr Dom showing off all these monuments to opulence in his daily real estate fiesta. who is going to occupy these magnificent structures, given the realities of the dominican economy? yes, sure, Dom and his buddies will probably be making beaucoup money selling beachfront lots to guys from Odessa, who will hire a dominican maid and gardener, and avail themselves of the services of one of the million limpiabotas. then, in twenty years, these guys will have so much power and influence, they will be able to get a permit to set up a brothel across the street from your mother's house!!!