As time goes by, it becomes obvious that recent governments in the DR (or is this all over?) do OK the first couple of years and then on the second half of their terms things begin to fall apart. It happened with the first PLD government in 1996-2000, it happened to Hippo 2000-2004 and now the current government does not seem to be doing too many things right.
The recent flip-flopping, changes and revisions in regards to the Fiscal Review for the 2007 budget is a case in point. The president spoke to the country once and then had to rectify and speak again in less than 3 weeks without sending to the congress the corresponding project from the first speech. Now in the second speech he made corrections but left many things in the air and once the project finally got to the congress we see that he was not straight with the people in his speech.
The feared new taxes on basic foods did not occur in a direct way but by placing additional duties on gasoline and diesel and increasing fees on license plates and higher taxes on new vehicles the effect on basic foods is the same, perhaps worse, than if he had done it directly. As we know, if the price of fuel goes up 10%, the increases in ALL PRODUCTS will not be proportional and can be 40, 60 or 100% since all the middlemen will take advantage of the situation to make a profit.
I don't know, it just seems that these guys of the PLD who are supposed to be the best, or at least the 'menos malo' (not as bad?), compared with the rest, perhaps are overrated, including the President. He does not seem to have a good hold on the daily trials and tribulations of the people and is somewhat aloof with his academic and professorial attitude as well as his international relations leans and preferences.
To complicate things further, the PLD now has internal turmoil regarding personal interests regarding the next presidential term and each day that passes they resemble more and more the other major party of chaos and disorder, the PRD. What in the world is in store for us?
The recent flip-flopping, changes and revisions in regards to the Fiscal Review for the 2007 budget is a case in point. The president spoke to the country once and then had to rectify and speak again in less than 3 weeks without sending to the congress the corresponding project from the first speech. Now in the second speech he made corrections but left many things in the air and once the project finally got to the congress we see that he was not straight with the people in his speech.
The feared new taxes on basic foods did not occur in a direct way but by placing additional duties on gasoline and diesel and increasing fees on license plates and higher taxes on new vehicles the effect on basic foods is the same, perhaps worse, than if he had done it directly. As we know, if the price of fuel goes up 10%, the increases in ALL PRODUCTS will not be proportional and can be 40, 60 or 100% since all the middlemen will take advantage of the situation to make a profit.
I don't know, it just seems that these guys of the PLD who are supposed to be the best, or at least the 'menos malo' (not as bad?), compared with the rest, perhaps are overrated, including the President. He does not seem to have a good hold on the daily trials and tribulations of the people and is somewhat aloof with his academic and professorial attitude as well as his international relations leans and preferences.
To complicate things further, the PLD now has internal turmoil regarding personal interests regarding the next presidential term and each day that passes they resemble more and more the other major party of chaos and disorder, the PRD. What in the world is in store for us?