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
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
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