Here is an essay that I wrote recently about the notion of the "Failed State" rheteric that keeps poping up once a while on DR1.com. What I would like is for most of you to read it, think about the message before posting, then tell me what you think about it.
The Dominican Republic is described by many as the most wonderful paradise on earth. The palm trees, the pleasant climate, the happy and beautiful people, and the vibrant culture does makes the Dominican Republic the island paradise many dream about. Until a few years ago, this paradise was on the road to riches as if it was the "Dance of Millions" again. People the world over were optimistic about this tiny country gaining the status of "Fastest growing economy in the world" in 1997, 1998, and 1999. Unfortunately, what goes up must come down and the Dominican Republic has come down prematurely. With the current economic outlook of the country, is the Dominican Republic takig the risk of becoming a failed state?
In the year 2000, the world seemed to had partied the new millenium a bit too hard. That year being as significant as it was in itself, marked the global economy with a blow. The so called "dotcom" bubble bursted causing havoc 3,000 miles north of Santo Domingo in another island named Manhattan. Once that bubble bursted, Wall Street went into a tail spin virtually collapsing the hardest since the 1980s recession. How can something that happens on Wall Street affect the economy of Santo Domingo?
It's called Globalization. Today, all economies are merging to become one. According to the theory, that should allow Capitalism to become much more efficient. That is such an awkward theory of Globalization since nature has shown us that survival of life on earth is due to divergance rather than convergence. Nature shows us that divergence is the key to success over the long run. We don't see a CatDog species, we see cats and dogs, we see different kinds of birds, lizards, monkeys. It all came from one microscopic organism that eventually passed through evolutions of various species to ensure the survival of life on earth. Some big modern business have figure this out already with Toyota and Honda developing Lexus and Acura in stead of developing luxury cards under their much more established original names. Companies like Kodak which are now moving from regular photography to digital are having real problems because the name Kodak denotes the image of film and old fashion despite them offering digital cameras. For such reason, its almost wrong to believe that convergence of all economies would bring anything good over the long haul.
When the "dotcom" bubble bursted in New York City, that began one of the problems typical of the ups and downs of Capitalism. The burst lead the U.S. economy into a slow downward spiral with the crashing of the stock market. Then came the corporate corruption scandals with well known American corporations collapsing on their own weight. Enron, Worldcom, and Tyco are only a sampling of the many corrupt multi-nationals mostly that bursted under corruption. Then came 9/11 with the attacks and collapse of World Trade Center, the so called symbols of American capitalism and might. I say so called, because the Twin Towers were a creation of the New York Port Authority and they actually were the builders and owners of those edifices since the 1970s. The reality was that because those towers were built with taxpayers money, the towers were really a symbol of American communism and big government more than Capitalism and power. But those things aside, the collapse of the towers and all the other scandals eventually eroded consumer confidence putting the merging global economy into a precarious position, a worldwide recession followed.
Lets now travel 3,000 miles south of New York City into Santo Domingo, the oldest european built city in the Western Hemisphere. In the year 2000, Santo Domingo's glorious and envious position as the leading economy in terms of economic growth was shaken due to its overwhelming connection to the American economy. It was almost a warning for what was yet to come. September 11, 2001 caused for concern in the Dominican Republic because the attacks on the towers put in question the future of global tourism. The Dominican Republic being home to Puerto Plata and Punta Cana, two of the world's tropical vacation playgrounds meant that a downturn in global tourism meant bad news for the Dominican Republic. The degrading global economy, the uncertainty of security from terrorism and the shake in global tourism brought the good times to a screaching halt. The interesting thing is that Santo Domingo was stabbed from abroad, but blead to death from within.
In the Spring of 2003, the Dominican Republic's largest and most prestigious bank (Baninter) collapsed under the weight of corruption. The collapse of Baninter and the shaking up of Banco Mercantil and Bancredito shook the foundations of the once strong Dominican banking sector. The administration of Hipolito Mejia had two choices. Either let the Dominican Republic follow Argentina's catastrophic strangling of its economy or try to save at least the confidence of the wealthiest and powerful people that had money in Dominican banks. The administration opted for the second option under the notion that when things turn for the better, those rich folks would reinvest into the Dominican economy with confidence. In order for the government to be able to do such thing, they would have to tap into the reserves and that they did, dangerously deepleating the reserves of the Dominican Republic initiating the crisis the country finds itself in today.
Numerous times on DR1.com, threads comes up on this issue and usually more than a few pin point to their belief that the Dominican Republic is on the verge of becoming a failed state. How accurate could they be? Lets look at time and history for the answer. The Dominican Republic has an economy that grows and busts by the decades. In 1970s the economy grew with a vengence creating a sizeable middle class for the first time ever in that island nation. The realities were that the Dominican Republic relied heavily on sugar and when sugar prices collapsed in the market, the Dominican economy went down with it. By the time the 1980s rolled in, the Dominican Republic found itself with a huge crisis. Everything seemed to be falling apart, people rumored that the Dominican Republic was going to become a failed state. In the mid-80s, the Dominican Republic began to take advice from the IMF in order to qualify for a loan. The realities of the IMF demands exacerbated the rising cost of living causing for riots to break in Santo Domingo and other major Dominican towns. Only when Balaguer decided to give up the IMF demands in the late 1980s, only then the Dominican economy stabilized. In the 1990s, the economy grew like never before attracting prosperity and optimism. Then came the 2000s and things turned soured, proving once more that the Dominican economy works according to the decades.
The reality is that the Dominican Republic is not going to become a failed state just because it is in yet another crisis. History has shown us that when least expected, that is when Santo Domingo turns for the better. In addition, the Dominican Republic has been in crisis since the spring of 2003, barely a year! Talking about the Dominican Republic as a failed state is not only extremely pessimistic, but also wishful thinking by those who would like to see the Dominican Republic fail. Whoever believe that the Dominican Republic is becoming a failed stat, are themselves failures. They are failures of society, they are failures of life, they are failures. Only failed people make premature unoptimistic predictions based on a crisis that is barely one year old! Large financial institutions the world over continue to predict little or no growth for the end of 2004 and growth to return by 2005. Ladies and gentlemen, don't jump onto the wagon of premature pessimism. The Dominican Republic is made up of resilient, brave, and hard working people who have manage to survive five hundred years of colonization, destruction, wars, economic meltdowns, crime waves, poverty, earthquakes, floods, droughts, hurricanes, invasions, embargos, ethnic cleansing, dictatorships, environmental degredation, disease, and now an economic crisis again!
During the 1980s crisis, people were saying that that was the worst crisis the country had ever experienced and people kept doubting how the country could ever lift itself up. Those same people learned how to swallow their own words in the 1990s prosperity period. Lets learn from our past and accept that boom and busts is hwo the Dominican Republic works. It doesn't mean that it is a failed state, it doesn't mean that it is ungovernable, it doesn't mean anything, except that that is the way Dominicans do their thing. We will lift ourselves up from this crisis as we have done before! Five hundred years of mostly misery and we have survived, why would the current crisis bring the end to our country? Our country was meant to exist, otherwise it would have perished hundreds of years ago!
The Dominican Republic is a paradise, the Dominican Republic is a great country, the Dominican Republic is a brave country. Give this country the optimism and respect it deserves. Five hundred years of mostly misery and destruction and we are still here alive and well. That is not a story that repeats itself too often in this world of ours. The Dominican Republic will continue to exist until the end of time. This country will not perish from earth ever. Lets work together to help this beauty of a country get ahead, rather than criticize it. This country after all that it has been through truly deserves it!
DOMINICAN REPUBLIC
A FAILED STATE?
The Dominican Republic is described by many as the most wonderful paradise on earth. The palm trees, the pleasant climate, the happy and beautiful people, and the vibrant culture does makes the Dominican Republic the island paradise many dream about. Until a few years ago, this paradise was on the road to riches as if it was the "Dance of Millions" again. People the world over were optimistic about this tiny country gaining the status of "Fastest growing economy in the world" in 1997, 1998, and 1999. Unfortunately, what goes up must come down and the Dominican Republic has come down prematurely. With the current economic outlook of the country, is the Dominican Republic takig the risk of becoming a failed state?
In the year 2000, the world seemed to had partied the new millenium a bit too hard. That year being as significant as it was in itself, marked the global economy with a blow. The so called "dotcom" bubble bursted causing havoc 3,000 miles north of Santo Domingo in another island named Manhattan. Once that bubble bursted, Wall Street went into a tail spin virtually collapsing the hardest since the 1980s recession. How can something that happens on Wall Street affect the economy of Santo Domingo?
It's called Globalization. Today, all economies are merging to become one. According to the theory, that should allow Capitalism to become much more efficient. That is such an awkward theory of Globalization since nature has shown us that survival of life on earth is due to divergance rather than convergence. Nature shows us that divergence is the key to success over the long run. We don't see a CatDog species, we see cats and dogs, we see different kinds of birds, lizards, monkeys. It all came from one microscopic organism that eventually passed through evolutions of various species to ensure the survival of life on earth. Some big modern business have figure this out already with Toyota and Honda developing Lexus and Acura in stead of developing luxury cards under their much more established original names. Companies like Kodak which are now moving from regular photography to digital are having real problems because the name Kodak denotes the image of film and old fashion despite them offering digital cameras. For such reason, its almost wrong to believe that convergence of all economies would bring anything good over the long haul.
When the "dotcom" bubble bursted in New York City, that began one of the problems typical of the ups and downs of Capitalism. The burst lead the U.S. economy into a slow downward spiral with the crashing of the stock market. Then came the corporate corruption scandals with well known American corporations collapsing on their own weight. Enron, Worldcom, and Tyco are only a sampling of the many corrupt multi-nationals mostly that bursted under corruption. Then came 9/11 with the attacks and collapse of World Trade Center, the so called symbols of American capitalism and might. I say so called, because the Twin Towers were a creation of the New York Port Authority and they actually were the builders and owners of those edifices since the 1970s. The reality was that because those towers were built with taxpayers money, the towers were really a symbol of American communism and big government more than Capitalism and power. But those things aside, the collapse of the towers and all the other scandals eventually eroded consumer confidence putting the merging global economy into a precarious position, a worldwide recession followed.
Lets now travel 3,000 miles south of New York City into Santo Domingo, the oldest european built city in the Western Hemisphere. In the year 2000, Santo Domingo's glorious and envious position as the leading economy in terms of economic growth was shaken due to its overwhelming connection to the American economy. It was almost a warning for what was yet to come. September 11, 2001 caused for concern in the Dominican Republic because the attacks on the towers put in question the future of global tourism. The Dominican Republic being home to Puerto Plata and Punta Cana, two of the world's tropical vacation playgrounds meant that a downturn in global tourism meant bad news for the Dominican Republic. The degrading global economy, the uncertainty of security from terrorism and the shake in global tourism brought the good times to a screaching halt. The interesting thing is that Santo Domingo was stabbed from abroad, but blead to death from within.
In the Spring of 2003, the Dominican Republic's largest and most prestigious bank (Baninter) collapsed under the weight of corruption. The collapse of Baninter and the shaking up of Banco Mercantil and Bancredito shook the foundations of the once strong Dominican banking sector. The administration of Hipolito Mejia had two choices. Either let the Dominican Republic follow Argentina's catastrophic strangling of its economy or try to save at least the confidence of the wealthiest and powerful people that had money in Dominican banks. The administration opted for the second option under the notion that when things turn for the better, those rich folks would reinvest into the Dominican economy with confidence. In order for the government to be able to do such thing, they would have to tap into the reserves and that they did, dangerously deepleating the reserves of the Dominican Republic initiating the crisis the country finds itself in today.
Numerous times on DR1.com, threads comes up on this issue and usually more than a few pin point to their belief that the Dominican Republic is on the verge of becoming a failed state. How accurate could they be? Lets look at time and history for the answer. The Dominican Republic has an economy that grows and busts by the decades. In 1970s the economy grew with a vengence creating a sizeable middle class for the first time ever in that island nation. The realities were that the Dominican Republic relied heavily on sugar and when sugar prices collapsed in the market, the Dominican economy went down with it. By the time the 1980s rolled in, the Dominican Republic found itself with a huge crisis. Everything seemed to be falling apart, people rumored that the Dominican Republic was going to become a failed state. In the mid-80s, the Dominican Republic began to take advice from the IMF in order to qualify for a loan. The realities of the IMF demands exacerbated the rising cost of living causing for riots to break in Santo Domingo and other major Dominican towns. Only when Balaguer decided to give up the IMF demands in the late 1980s, only then the Dominican economy stabilized. In the 1990s, the economy grew like never before attracting prosperity and optimism. Then came the 2000s and things turned soured, proving once more that the Dominican economy works according to the decades.
The reality is that the Dominican Republic is not going to become a failed state just because it is in yet another crisis. History has shown us that when least expected, that is when Santo Domingo turns for the better. In addition, the Dominican Republic has been in crisis since the spring of 2003, barely a year! Talking about the Dominican Republic as a failed state is not only extremely pessimistic, but also wishful thinking by those who would like to see the Dominican Republic fail. Whoever believe that the Dominican Republic is becoming a failed stat, are themselves failures. They are failures of society, they are failures of life, they are failures. Only failed people make premature unoptimistic predictions based on a crisis that is barely one year old! Large financial institutions the world over continue to predict little or no growth for the end of 2004 and growth to return by 2005. Ladies and gentlemen, don't jump onto the wagon of premature pessimism. The Dominican Republic is made up of resilient, brave, and hard working people who have manage to survive five hundred years of colonization, destruction, wars, economic meltdowns, crime waves, poverty, earthquakes, floods, droughts, hurricanes, invasions, embargos, ethnic cleansing, dictatorships, environmental degredation, disease, and now an economic crisis again!
During the 1980s crisis, people were saying that that was the worst crisis the country had ever experienced and people kept doubting how the country could ever lift itself up. Those same people learned how to swallow their own words in the 1990s prosperity period. Lets learn from our past and accept that boom and busts is hwo the Dominican Republic works. It doesn't mean that it is a failed state, it doesn't mean that it is ungovernable, it doesn't mean anything, except that that is the way Dominicans do their thing. We will lift ourselves up from this crisis as we have done before! Five hundred years of mostly misery and we have survived, why would the current crisis bring the end to our country? Our country was meant to exist, otherwise it would have perished hundreds of years ago!
The Dominican Republic is a paradise, the Dominican Republic is a great country, the Dominican Republic is a brave country. Give this country the optimism and respect it deserves. Five hundred years of mostly misery and destruction and we are still here alive and well. That is not a story that repeats itself too often in this world of ours. The Dominican Republic will continue to exist until the end of time. This country will not perish from earth ever. Lets work together to help this beauty of a country get ahead, rather than criticize it. This country after all that it has been through truly deserves it!