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Middle Class in DR
PICK and NAILS
If you do not understand the cynicism and sarcasm with which I wrote that statement, then God help you, LOL. I tried to state that if the middle and upper classes are so great numerically speaking, then giving the poor Haitians DR citizenship would present no problem at all. It is called an IF-THEN statement. IF-THEN statements are one of varied conditions for advanced thinking skills.
I'll tell you something positive about my country. I love the video Pick put up about Juncalito. I have been watching it everyday since he put it up. Yes, the Naturaleza Viva part is beautiful. The environment is lovely. I love when I do go there to drive from Constanza to San Jose de Ocoa. How about going from Constanza to Jarabacoa to Jumunuco, I believe, and then traversing to Juncalito and then from there going to San Jose de la Mata. From San Jose de la Mata you can go to Moncion and down to Valverde Mao where I was born.
You can go all the way from the SUR in Ocoa to the Mao Valley region in the North- LA LINEA without ever leaving the Cordillera Central. You never have to leave the mountain range. Just make sure you have a very good vehicle and the time to do it. I have done it stopping along the way with the pine forests, the eagles, the whirling winds and the frigid air as my companions. It is a thoroughly cleansing event spiritually and emotionally. That is where my love for my country resides.
NAILS
In terms of the economy Nails- YES the divergence is disturbing and portends an ominous future but in terms of the ecological and environmental beauty- a resounding NO!!!
It is always good to be prepared Mr. Saunders. It is always good to be prepared.
If you do not understand the cynicism and sarcasm with which I wrote that statement, then God help you, LOL. I tried to state that if the middle and upper classes are so great numerically speaking, then giving the poor Haitians DR citizenship would present no problem at all. It is called an IF-THEN statement. IF-THEN statements are one of varied conditions for advanced thinking skills.
I'll tell you something positive about my country. I love the video Pick put up about Juncalito. I have been watching it everyday since he put it up. Yes, the Naturaleza Viva part is beautiful. The environment is lovely. I love when I do go there to drive from Constanza to San Jose de Ocoa. How about going from Constanza to Jarabacoa to Jumunuco, I believe, and then traversing to Juncalito and then from there going to San Jose de la Mata. From San Jose de la Mata you can go to Moncion and down to Valverde Mao where I was born.
You can go all the way from the SUR in Ocoa to the Mao Valley region in the North- LA LINEA without ever leaving the Cordillera Central. You never have to leave the mountain range. Just make sure you have a very good vehicle and the time to do it. I have done it stopping along the way with the pine forests, the eagles, the whirling winds and the frigid air as my companions. It is a thoroughly cleansing event spiritually and emotionally. That is where my love for my country resides.
NAILS
In terms of the economy Nails- YES the divergence is disturbing and portends an ominous future but in terms of the ecological and environmental beauty- a resounding NO!!!
It is always good to be prepared Mr. Saunders. It is always good to be prepared.
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If you do not understand the cynicism and sarcasm with which I wrote that statement, then God help you, LOL. I tried to state that if the middle and upper classes are so great numerically speaking, then giving the poor Haitians DR citizenship would present no problem at all. It is called an IF-THEN statement. IF-THEN statements are one of varied conditions for advanced thinking skills.
I'll tell you something positive about my country. I love the video Pick put up about Juncalito. I have been watching it everyday since he put it up. Yes, the Naturaleza Viva part is beautiful. The environment is lovely. I love when I do go there to drive from Constanza to San Jose de Ocoa. How about going from Constanza to Jarabacoa to Jumunuco, I believe, and then traversing to Juncalito and then from there going to San Jose de la Mata. From San Jose de la Mata you can go to Moncion and down to Valverde Mao where I was born.
You can go all the way from the SUR in Ocoa to the Mao Valley region in the North- LA LINEA without ever leaving the Cordillera Central. You never have to leave the mountain range. Just make sure you have a very good vehicle and the time to do it. I have done it stopping along the way with the pine forests, the eagles, the whirling winds and the frigid air as my companions. It is a thoroughly cleansing event spiritually and emotionally. That is where my love for my country resides.
NAILS
In terms of the economy Nails- YES the divergence is disturbing and portends an ominous future but in terms of the ecological and environmental beauty- a resounding NO!!!
It is always good to be prepared Mr. Saunders. It is always good to be prepared.
Well you've become a glass half empty person, instead of a glass half full. You can be a realist and still be an Optimist. I have been to Juncalito, as my wife has a classmate from University from there. I love the DR mountains, as that's were I'm from in Canada.
This site Dominican Republic | News, Travel, Business, Real Estate says that the dominican republic is the largest economy in the caribbean.. they say that information is based on the US state Department... Honestly I cant see that at the streets.
I am not Dominican. If I were, I would probably feel a bit upset with your apocalyptic descriptions. That you may be right is not important. As an other poster put it, yes, we will all die.
For all his false statements and/or lies, I like Pichardo's "sales pitch" much more. His posts give a wealth of information about DR, not only about Bloomberg-read news. You can always discuss them -or not, if you prefer so-. But they all say (or sell, OK) that DR is moving forward.
The Naturaleza Part is beautiful, yes. You can see that over the globe. There is so much more to DR than mountains and beaches.
I love DR for the scenery, I love DR for the people. I love them without illusions, but I do. Most people I know there are poor or lower middle class, many from the uggly barrios of SD. Hard working people or buenos para nada, all kind of people.
One thing most of them have in common: they seldom complain. Oh yes, they will tell you that "la calle est dificil", but that's it. They need money?: they make it, they earn it, they steal it sometimes, but they never beg for it.
That's why, when I read your posts, I feel "How this guy can be a Dominican?".
This is a criticism, but believe me, no offence intended, just that your speech sounds so strange.
It is always good to be prepared Mr. Saunders. It is always good to be prepared.
Whether or not you're prepared for that, tomorrow the sun will be up again. Stop preparing, enjoy!
Pichardo: Soylent Green is nutritious and delicious.
Onions & Carrots: Soylent Green is people.
That is the greatest difference you dont want to notice.
RacerX, you don't need to assume what I want or not, you have no idea about it.
Now, if you mean that O/C is describing a reality that Pichardo is trying to hide, (this is my understanding of your post, after googleing for Soylent Green, because I even didn't know about the movie) you may be right.
But this was not my point.
Respectfully,
Barnab?
HOla Pichardo,
You know what happened? that everything is about perception, and yes the reality is that 1% is rich and 99% is poor, very poor. However, as everybody wants to be rich, the perception is different. Everybody think or pretend they are rich because is the only way to be respected in DR. Remember that being poor in DR is a crime, even though you don't have money you have to pretend and that is exactly why we have the Dominican York phenomena. Respect is the most important thing a human being deserve and need, and in DR the only way to get it is by being rich. My opinion, with all respect.
You know what happened? that everything is about perception, and yes the reality is that 1% is rich and 99% is poor, very poor. However, as everybody wants to be rich, the perception is different. Everybody think or pretend they are rich because is the only way to be respected in DR. Remember that being poor in DR is a crime, even though you don't have money you have to pretend and that is exactly why we have the Dominican York phenomena. Respect is the most important thing a human being deserve and need, and in DR the only way to get it is by being rich. My opinion, with all respect.
So 99% of the population is very poor, willing to be rich and pretending to be so, trying to fool themselves and others, living without respect, neither for themselves nor for other poor people. To be respected, one solution only, la jeepeta del a?o... Diantre, que animales!
I'm glad to say that "my" DR is a bit different.
Everything is about perception, I agree on this,
Respectfully,
Barnab?
Right! You really cleared this up big time!
In the DR 99% of Dominicans are VERY POOR and only 1% are RICH/WEALTHY...
That's why we need the handful of expats like you to keep supporting all the biz in the DR aimed at middle class and up, which are the reason they are in existence today anyhow. The rest of us make use of the colmado for surviving the very poor living we have!
Don't you see how simple it's people! As this poster clearly indicated expats are the 99% of owners/residents in the middle and upper classes hoods all around the country, followed in a very long distance by the 1% rich/wealthy of the Dominicans!
No wonder that when one visits any middle class and up hood in the DR, expats are the overwhelming majority and Dominicans can only try to keep up with illusionary means all around them!
That's why all Dominicans from the 99% and 1% get asked what class they belong to they always answer "upper and rich" class...
Have yet to meet the Dominican that admits to be poor in the DR!!!!
Thanks for clearing up this to all of us!!
Ah! Yes! Sorryyyyy! I forgot that within that 99%, 100% of the DR women are surviving on prostitution based on handouts from guys like you with fat wallets full of UD $$$$!
Geez... And I always wondered why my ex got so many calls on her cell phone from her girlfriends...
It's very easy to speak of the middle class in the DR in the abstract but speaking on the difficulties of being of the middle class is another whole different thing. I notice, as myself, that many of us post on working hours. Pick and Nails, specifically Pick posts on hours when many are toiling away on their jobs. Myself, I barely work yet live and live comfortably.
I was just speaking to some members of the Dominican middle class and while they live comfortably, the work they must do to live comfortably is anything but comfortable. The middle class everywhere in the world is being pushed to work more with less. While in prior times the middle class jobs had more assistants, these days they must not only do their jobs but also the assistant's job also.
They call it productivity which is causing tension to rise on and off the workplace. Put simply, as a middle class worker and below, you will do more work than you have done in the past. They will squeeze more out of you than they did in the past. One such middle class member in the DR told me this.
She works for Claro as management. Her salary is what constitutes the middle class in the DR approximately 45,000 per month. Her husband is also equally pulling in as much. Her workday begins at 11a.m. and ends at 8p.m. Between preparing and getting to work in the morning en "La Kennedy", working and getting home to deal with home chores even though she has a maid-her entire day is gone. They both work 6 days in this routine.
Their only day off is Sunday which is taken up by home related tasks and chores. This is what the middle class is not only in the DR but the world over. Work, work and more work with very little leisure time left over. It's not a very exciting life but one filled with comforts rarely used since everyone is working all the time. Yes, they have a nice home and cars. They eat out on Sunday's when they can. They dress well and eat well. They have coverage (medical, dental, life).
But, is this life? Like so many who compose the middle class, they testify that they are exhausted mentally and physically. I guess the alternative is worse. That's true but they are being taken to the limit. I was just thinking this as those of us who barely work (I'm one of them) speak on the tired and toiling middle class in the DR.
If you have income and don't have to toil as a member of the middle yet being of the middle, then count your blessings. You are in the extreme minority. People on Planet Earth have to work. It is interesting how many of us here post while others toil, LOL.
I was just speaking to some members of the Dominican middle class and while they live comfortably, the work they must do to live comfortably is anything but comfortable. The middle class everywhere in the world is being pushed to work more with less. While in prior times the middle class jobs had more assistants, these days they must not only do their jobs but also the assistant's job also.
They call it productivity which is causing tension to rise on and off the workplace. Put simply, as a middle class worker and below, you will do more work than you have done in the past. They will squeeze more out of you than they did in the past. One such middle class member in the DR told me this.
She works for Claro as management. Her salary is what constitutes the middle class in the DR approximately 45,000 per month. Her husband is also equally pulling in as much. Her workday begins at 11a.m. and ends at 8p.m. Between preparing and getting to work in the morning en "La Kennedy", working and getting home to deal with home chores even though she has a maid-her entire day is gone. They both work 6 days in this routine.
Their only day off is Sunday which is taken up by home related tasks and chores. This is what the middle class is not only in the DR but the world over. Work, work and more work with very little leisure time left over. It's not a very exciting life but one filled with comforts rarely used since everyone is working all the time. Yes, they have a nice home and cars. They eat out on Sunday's when they can. They dress well and eat well. They have coverage (medical, dental, life).
But, is this life? Like so many who compose the middle class, they testify that they are exhausted mentally and physically. I guess the alternative is worse. That's true but they are being taken to the limit. I was just thinking this as those of us who barely work (I'm one of them) speak on the tired and toiling middle class in the DR.
If you have income and don't have to toil as a member of the middle yet being of the middle, then count your blessings. You are in the extreme minority. People on Planet Earth have to work. It is interesting how many of us here post while others toil, LOL.
Ahhh! Don't worry we always have the "rich" uncle gringo that takes out of the misery we live in the DR!
We welcome them in our cheap suits and rubber shoes...
The expat gringos! Our
we're always
to have you masters!
Just don't forget to bring the
with you!
We welcome them in our cheap suits and rubber shoes...
The expat gringos! Our
Just don't forget to bring the
Meanwhile the "poor" keep growing in the DR...
So much these 80% "poor" folks are doing with RD$8,000 pesos each month...
So much these 80% "poor" folks are doing with RD$8,000 pesos each month...
Ok, I agree, but maybe you could find something else than the same buildings pictures again and again to backup your sayings.
Also, many middle class people in SD live in houses, not in the city center, in houses ranging from 5M to 10M RD$, all with doble marquesina, in northern or eastern SD. Probably the same in Santiago. Why do you never show that?
respectfully,
Barnab?
Agree - same applies to his thread about urbanisation - OK we get the point. Parts of Santo Domingo have large numbers of residential blocks.