Things are NOT all that good as "some" say

[Bronxboy]

I was shopping on Fordham Road in the BX last week taking in some eye candy at the same time. lol They opened up a store where everything is fake gold and silver. The store was pack!!!!! I walk next to a thrift store. It was jammed pack!!!!!!

Story of the times!!!!

 

[the gorgon]

No matter if they live in Boston,Fall river,Miami,or anyplace else!
When I lived in Boston,the Dominicanos who "Worked" where I did,would ask me to drive by in my "Caddy"
while I took their picture.I said "can't you just sit in the car while I take your picture?"
They say that, "No,everyone does THAT!"
People at home don't buy that anymore,you MUST be driving in the stree!"
They even rent gold chains and jewelery from other Dominicans to wear home at Christmas.
They save all year to spend big at Christmas.
I guy who worked in the kitchen where I worked,making small money,took my wife and I out to dinner,with his "Pareja",and another couple at a fancy hotel in SD when he was here on holiday.Broke out his credit card and paid for everything!
I didn't see him for about 8 years,then he came to see me in SD.He was "Up The River" at a "Club Fed" for 8 years for drug trafficing!
He wanted me to hire him here in SD.
He explained that,"No Era Mi Culpa"!
I told him,"Y no es MI Problema!"
You can take a "Dominicano/a" out of the DR,but you can NEVER take the DR out of the "Dominicano/a"!!!!
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criss colon, you are a human polygraph machine. if there is truth, you will find it. whenever i read your postings, i see everything that i observe to be true of this land. keep on keeping on.

 

[the gorgon]

went to an internet cafe yesterday, to have an article printed, as my printer is on the fritz. i selected the article, and the administrator, who , incidentally owns the cafe, formatted it in word, and told me how many pages it would be. i told him to print it, and i slipped out for a box of orange juice. i knew that when i got back, it would be collated, and stapled. WRONG!on my return, he was gone. his younger sister was running the show. she knew nothing about the goings on between her brother and i. all the guy had to have done was to click the print button, and the job would have been done. he would have made 200 pesos. instead, he finds something more important to do, and i go elsewhere. later in the day, he will be blaming the ?maldito gobierno?. it will be their fault that there is no ?money in the streets?.

 

[bermyboy]

Like I told my Domincan buddy a few months ago we where talking and I was telling him how when I was back home for a few months I was watching a show on Nat Geo I think that was called Border Wars or something. Anyway it was about drug trafficking and human trafficking and the Domincan Republic just kept coming up as one big hub for drugs and human trafficking from South America i was not shocked I have known this all along. Also all the crap that goes on in this country robberies torists getting mudered no justice corruption all the BS is all on the internet I told my buddy you cannot fool people now days with the internet it has everything on it the truth will be revealed. Bottom Lin you can only F#$k people over for so long until they get tired and just say I give up and leave. Because thre are new malls going up and highways bering built dont mean crap if the malls are empty and the highways have big potholes !People are wise to this country and all the crap thats happening people investing money in land getting screwed, the blatant corruption lack of a real police force and being a extranjero makes you a target for all kinds of BS. In saying that people are still traveling but going to places that give more bang for thier South and Central America tourism is doing quite well!
i

 

[Jumbo]

Talk about the eye candy BB. Went to Moca 3 times in Jan/Feb looking for household items and every store ( 5 to 20 employees ) were empty except for the very pretty young ladies falling over themselves to help me. I felt like a rock star.

 

[bermyboy]

Yea Jumbo I used to go Moca with my buddies to buy inventory for thier gift shops very nice eye candy and great atitudes!

 

[donP]

Millionario Tranquilo

went to an internet cafe yesterday, to have an article printed, as my printer is on the fritz. i selected the article, and the administrator, who , incidentally owns the cafe, formatted it in word, and told me how many pages it would be. i told him to print it, and i slipped out for a box of orange juice. i knew that when i got back, it would be collated, and stapled. WRONG!on my return, he was gone. his younger sister was running the show. she knew nothing about the goings on between her brother and i. all the guy had to have done was to click the print button, and the job would have been done. he would have made 200 pesos. instead, he finds something more important to do, and i go elsewhere. later in the day, he will be blaming the ?maldito gobierno?. it will be their fault that there is no ?money in the streets?.

It probably was not CPS or mbe...

Your experience is like mine.
But then, I tell myself, that you can't make millionaires work...

I had some joiner work to do, not much, but maybe worth 4,000 Peso (mano de obra only).
I enquired in three workshops and left my number in order to meet and buy the wood needed at a local hardware store.
It has been three weeks, none has replied.

donP

 

[the gorgon]

It probably was not CPS or mbe...

Your experience is like mine.
But then, I tell myself, that you can't make millionaires work...

I had some joiner work to do, not much, but maybe worth 4,000 Peso (mano de obra only).
I enquired in three workshops and left my number in order to meet and buy the wood needed at a local hardware store.
It has been three weeks, none has replied.

donP

a buddy of mine has some high level contacts in London, and he sent me an email, asking me to source pharmaceuticals for him in this country. he sent me the official requisition, from a country in the Middle East. they told me that there was no limit to what they would take, in terms of quantity, as long as the supplier could meet the specs. i got the Yellow Pages, called some manufacturers, and faxed them copies of the sheets. i contacted 4 different companies, since i did not think that just one outfit could fulfil the demand. that was 18 months ago. i have never received even a phone call in all this time, from even one company.. Dominican Business Practices at their best. then they tell you that things are hard. they usually are, when you blow a potential multimillion dollar deal, which i told them was open ended, in terms of duration.

 

[caribmike]

Dumb and dumber...

All over the place. And what happens a lot too: Guy opens Fruit Stand (or other biz), makes some Pesos. His neighbor sees that, thinks "Wow, must be a good biz" and opens up one more right next to it. A month later you have 5 of them there and everybody complains "No hay dinero en la calle..."

 

[the gorgon]

Dumb and dumber...

All over the place. And what happens a lot too: Guy opens Fruit Stand (or other biz), makes some Pesos. His neighbor sees that, thinks "Wow, must be a good biz" and opens up one more right next to it. A month later you have 5 of them there and everybody complains "No hay dinero en la calle..."

i probably posted this before, so, if you read it, ignore it, please. maybe 10 or so years ago, a lady started selling hot dogs on a stick, with mustard, on a corner in Santo Domingo. i returned to NY for 3 weeks, and, upon my return, there were 10 other guys, in the same area, doing the same thing. in a few weeks, they were all gone, including the original lady. Dominican Ingenuity at its best. if it works for her, it will work for the rest of us.wait for a guy to come up with something, then copy him. creativity is hard, almost as hard as work, they think.

 

[PICHARDO]

First of all, before getting to the point of this thread, I want to give you a little background. Since several years ago I work in regional media advertising, practically covering the whole east coast (from San Pedro to Bavaro). I have been working in this area with Aster cable company, several independent cable companies, and an independent regional TV channel. My work makes me talk to local small and medium business owners who buy local advertising.

The never-ending, NEVER ENDING flow of their concern is this: Things are slow, things are flat out leveled, things are BAD. You hear this form the mouths of small and medium business owners who have furniture stores, electronic stores, clothing stores, an average small and medium sized business that does, maybe a million of pesos a month in invoicing, and more. Not even a micro small businesses that maybe invoice a hundred or two hundred thousand pesos a month. The people I talk to are SMB who employ 10-20-30 people. And in the last two years, I have not heard, from ONE SINGLE month, saying that "things are great, things are getting better by the day". The opposite, things are either flat out leveled "estamos sobreviviendo con la ayuda de Dios (we are surviving with the help of God)" or they are straight out ugly.

I want to hear from you when ANY of those same people EVER said their biz was good and making good profits?

That my friend will never happen in the DR!

That's why 99.99% of expats will never understand the DR even if they lived here for the next 100 years! You have to be born and raised into it to understand how it ticks!

Even Dominicans born in the foreign lands that come to live and work/invest here are smacked in confusion as you are on all this!

But, to paint it more clearly. Do you really think that Grupo Ramos, CCN and others make their money from drugs or money laundering? Do you really think that they MUST be jam packed to the rim in order to make money in those jumbo sized biz here? Again, if you can't tell what is what, you're counted in the ones that I described about...

It's been like that ever since Colon times. We're mostly descendants of the Spanish Gypsies culture that got the upper hand in trade within the colony. To this day, there's not one of these surviving people of the culture that will answer any different when asked how biz is going. Here on the DR or in Spain!

You guys live in a different world as the rest of us Dominicans, for you can never be able to see behind the veils of the talk in the surface...

 

[donP]

Crystal Ball's Name

I want to hear from you when ANY of those same people EVER said their biz was good and making good profits?
That my friend will never happen in the DR!

There's a (German) saying like "Complaining is part of the trade", nothing new. Dominicans probably learned that from foreigners.

We're mostly descendants of the Spanish Gypsies culture ....That's why 99.99% of expats will never understand the DR (...) You have to be born and raised into it to understand how it ticks!

I see.
Will you allow me to call my crystal ball 'Pichy'?
[You know, it was given to me by a gipsy in Spain... ]
Will it help to see things more clearly or even like you?

donP

 

[Bronxboy]

if it works for her, it will work for the rest of us.wait for a guy to come up with something, then copy him. creativity is hard, almost as hard as work, they think.

I wish this was the same for all the reality shows on tv. grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr.................

 

[the gorgon]

I want to hear from you when ANY of those same people EVER said their biz was good and making good profits?

That my friend will never happen in the DR!

That's why 99.99% of expats will never understand the DR even if they lived here for the next 100 years! You have to be born and raised into it to understand how it ticks!

Even Dominicans born in the foreign lands that come to live and work/invest here are smacked in confusion as you are on all this!

But, to paint it more clearly. Do you really think that Grupo Ramos, CCN and others make their money from drugs or money laundering? Do you really think that they MUST be jam packed to the rim in order to make money in those jumbo sized biz here? Again, if you can't tell what is what, you're counted in the ones that I described about...

It's been like that ever since Colon times. We're mostly descendants of the Spanish Gypsies culture that got the upper hand in trade within the colony. To this day, there's not one of these surviving people of the culture that will answer any different when asked how biz is going. Here on the DR or in Spain!

You guys live in a different world as the rest of us Dominicans, for you can never be able to see behind the veils of the talk in the surface...

i confess that i have no idea what PICHARDO is trying to say here. i know he is trying to make some kind of a point, but the gravemen eludes me. what does the success of Grupo Ramos have to do with the failure of 20 other smaller merchandisers, because of economic conditions?Ramos has the kind of advertising budget to bring customers in the door, even when they sell something for 80 pesos, and i can get it elsewhere for 60. you have a peculiar understanding of arithmetic, which seems to deny the existence of SUBTRACTION. to you, it is all malls and high rises going up, but no mention of the things going down. it paints a rosy picture for guys living in Arroyo Hondo. my carnicero could care less, since he had to close last Friday, after being in business for 15 years. he could no longer achieve breakeven..you might email him some photos of the latest underground parking lot, with the sodium vapor lighting. he should be mightily impressed, and consoled.

 

[Criss Colon]

I must "ECO" DonPs" experience.
When I bought my house,I invited 7 awning companies to come and give me their "Bid".
Three came,and only one returned their bid.
He got the job!
I also invited carpenters to come and give me their bids to replace all the "Wood" in my house with "Caoba",a several thousand dollar job.Only two came,one bid.Again He got the job,and cosequently a lot more work from people who saw what he did in my house!
The problem often is that the business is managed, but the owner is not present.The manager,as a "Dominicano", thinks that the fewer jobs bid,or even visited,means less work for him,failing to take the long term reality,that he will eventually have no job.Most Dominicans go from one job to another never realizing that if they worked hard,they will have a job for a long time,and have the opportunity to advance.
The long term reality is that if a Dominican has a roof over their head,and food in their belly,they seldom look for a job.Many,even in my extended family,move fom one relative's house,to another,only leaving when they are "Thrown Out"!
My ONLY question is,how do they ALWAYS have "Beer Money"????????????????????
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The problem for all small business' in the DR,like colmados,and food/fruit vendors,is that there are only two options in their business plan,
#1,Don't give credit,and go out of business.
and,#2,Give credit,and go out of business!

 

[caribmike]

I see.
Will you allow me to call my crystal ball 'Pichy'?
[You know, it was given to me by a gipsy in Spain... ]
Will it help to see things more clearly or even like you?

donP

Call it 'Mall Viewer'

 

[Onions/Carrots]

Well Rubio is just more confirmation on what I have been writing on all these years. Central banks can assist the gov't in seeking the finance it needs to continue functioning at least if in false form. What it can't replace is a natural organic economy with real buyers and sellers with subterfuge in the form of it producing the product (insert any product here including financial products) and then buying itself to give the semblance of an actual economy.

I mean it can attempt to mimic a real economic system by doing this and actually make the wheels spin as in velocity of money, but sooner or later something real has to happen or else the whole system will go kaput. They have done this since the crisis began in the FALL of '07 and the most they got out of it this time is a suspension of the laws of economic gravity. Prices that had risen so high were by necessity had to have fallen by equal amounts. The collapse in pricing should have brought us to the point of a Great Depression right here, right now but once the hinges on the global economy started to come off, the central banks came into action.

They via clever banking tricks temporarily suspended the fundamental laws of economic gravity. The problem is that while prices have been artificially suspended in a midair descent, the amount of energy (central bank money printing) necessary to maintain these falling knives from reaching their final destination (the ground where prices will hit a 90% loss to assets) is reaching a boiling point. Let's use the DR as an example.

As I've written on for the longest the DR peso has been in a 30 year decline since the mid 80's when the dollar and the peso were equal. In that 30 year period the peso has lost 97.3% of its value thereby signalling a total collapse in itself just the same as when a company loses that value and goes bankrupt. So, why hasn't the DR and the world for example gone bust as in a depression. It's what the central banks have done to suspend the fundamental laws of economic gravity.

The DR has been assisted over and over again by the IMF, its own central bank and others to keep it afloat. Those that assist have themselves been assisted in the form of if not IMF aid then central banks cross-wiring funds amongst themselves to balance out any imbalances that occur to the global economy. So for ex. if a European nation such as France needs dollars, the FED will facilitate it to them and the FED in turn may get their assistance in the form of US gov't debt purchases.

It's basically everyone covering everyone's back to kepp the ship afloat. It has produced a global economy that in order to maintain the ship afloat trillions of dollars have been added to the liability side of the ledger thereby producing the mother of all debt bubbles in human history. When it bursts and it will, whatever economic malaise you see today will be peanuts compared to that. Rubio's post is just a more vivid and tangible expression of what I have written in a much more abstract economical form.

Generally, Rubio's back of the envelope analysis is occurring the world over. It's report points to the fact that there are few to no jobs, there is very little economic activity outside central bank movements and the only ones benefitting are gov't ministries. Only expect things to get worse for the general population because as Rubio's contacts have stated they are just holding on. How much longer can they keep making payroll in the expectation of a turn around? I guess like central banks suspending fundamental laws they will keep holding on until they can't no more.

 

[PICHARDO]

Blah, blah, blah...

 

[SantiagoDR]

Blah, blah, blah...

Your normal broken record solution to facing the truth and doing something about it.

Perhaps the government could start changing things by eliminating those with jobs HERE in the D.R. that are working by mental telepathy from the U.S.

 

[PICHARDO]

Your normal broken record solution to facing the truth and doing something about it.

Perhaps the government could start changing things by eliminating those with jobs HERE in the D.R. that are working by mental telepathy from the U.S.