Benefits of living in 3rd world country.

[Larry]

No crime in the DR? You have to be kidding...........I hope.

I believe he was being sarcastic .

 

[NALs]

There you have a perfect example of people not knowing dominicans at all. The people who live outside of DR or the people who live in north coast have little clue of dominicans. They think we have 99% dirt poor folks and 1% elite class and nothing in the middle.
Now let me tell you a secret: There is also (so called) the middle class. I am middle class and so are many dominicans I socialize with. Middle class simply means: an educated person who lives in a decent neighborhood in a simple to luxurious house and drives an old to new car and can travel to USA at will. The elite class own this country so lets leave them out.
The middle to upper middle class folks are not the ones jumping onto yolas to get away from miseries. They are doing fine here. I live in a middle class home in a middle class area. Most of the people around me own late model cars and have lived in USA sometime in their life or visit there regularly. Yes I have a barrio near-by me but then again, who doesn't? These middle class people are not 1% of dominican population. They are everywhere, even in puerto plata. It so happens the expats choose to mingle with restaurant waitresses and girls from poor barrios. Seems like these are the only people they feel comfortable with. People who look up to old expats as gods. So in reality, many you folks are acting like the big fish in a gutter not me. I live among people who are either in the same socio- economical level as I am or better. By doing that, I don't feel like I live among people who need me for material value, non of my friends need me to lend them money or to pay for their dinners. In fact I get treated by them on regular basis. These people live exactly like you folks do in USA. They have everything you people can possible buy in USA and lastly, they are far more than 1% in DR.
AZB

AZB,

Don't even bother explaining to people the DIFFERENT types of Dominican Republic's that exist. It does not matter how many times you tell them that the country is not all poor and that things are actually better today than they ever have been, to many folks here, it's like talking to a wall.

Let them believe what they want about this country, the fact that they believe such does not changes the reality.

Are there poor people? I think it would be a crime to say no!

Are there middle class people? In absolute numbers, they outnumbered the entire population of the lesser antilles! They are larger than the total population of Jamaica by 1 extra million. They are larger than the populations of entire countries in Central America including Panama and Costa Rica. In fact, they are the largest middle class in the Central American region and the fourth largest in North America after the US, Mexico's, and Canada's.

Are there rich people? Yes, plenty. Of course, not as many as middle class, but more than expected. Since most of DR1ers have never seen how rich people in their own country lives with their own eyes, you can't expect for them to ever have an idea that rich people exist here too! And surprise surprise, the rich make up a full 10% of the population. That is quite a high percentage in a part of the world where the rich make up from 1% to 5%!

Oh, and I can't forget to mention the 30% of the population that lives a middle class lifestyle, the 35% that are part of the lower middle class, and of course the 25% that are poor.

Of course, the categorization of rich and middle class (or upper middle class) is a lifestyle that is at par with the equivalent in the US and Europe. The categorization of lower middle class and poor is much lower than its counterpart in US, Canada or Europe.

But, it does not matter how many times you tell these people these things, many will simply live with the notion that we are some real poor country. In fact, we are categorized as a middle income country by all major economic thinktanks and organizations worldwide!

But, they don't want to hear that!

So, just don't bother.

It's not as if they were here before the 1990s, when the economic boom took place.

Afterall, in 1970, only 3% of DR was rich, the remainding population was poor, no middle class to speak of.

Compare that to today, but it does not matter, people on DR1 still consider that the DR is worst than it ever has been, despite the much larger proportion of the population that is wealthy and middle class, even as the population continues to boom!

 

[Snuffy]

I have been Santiago and yes, one of things I enjoy about Dominicans are their ability to just hangout and have fun, they've elevated it to an art form. But, give the people a little credit of having some amount of complexity. People do talk about their situation, how things are in their country and how things could be better. I saw lots of smiling faces, some serious faces and at times some angry ones. This notion that it is a country full of happy, smiling, people without a care in the world is about as absurd as the notion that it is a country full of hookers. People go to third world countries and infantilize the poor people because it makes the squalor a tad more romantic. This is just a continuation of the condescending notion of the noble savage.

I think you have the DR mixed up with Niger. You are the one suggesting the fantasy you describe...not me. I find nothing romantic about the squalor. At the same time it is not as bad as I once believed it was. I have been in hundreds of barrio homes. How many have you been in? The difference is that I have lived here for four years and you have not.

 

[xamaicano]

I think you have the DR mixed up with Niger. You are the one suggesting the fantasy you describe...not me. I find nothing romantic about the squalor. At the same time it is not as bad as I once believed it was. I have been in hundreds of barrio homes. How many have you been in? The difference is that I have lived here for four years and you have not.

And that qualifies you to make gross generalizations. So you are telling me that after four years you are unable to find one Dominican who is dissatisfied with is his or her life. So you have lived there for four years, from what I read from you, the States is dour place filled a bunch of sad, depressed people who can't get laid. That couldn't be further from the truth and I'm sure you lived here a lot longer than 4 years.

 

[Dragonfly32837]

Where you get this crap from is beyond me. You sound more and more like LaZB than is believable! I would easily survive in the US as I do here. It is only a condition of weather to me my friend. If the US had DR weather 82 degrees as a mean temp I would NEVER have moved here.

You are really freaking me out with your BS. Perhaps you are an equal to AZB. Were you also not able to get laid in the US? Are your political and religious beliefs questionable also?

Escott

Miami?

 

[Dragonfly32837]

Ferrari, Pavarrotti, Versace etc.

vs.

Sammy Sosa, Pedro, Manny etc. etc.

Oh Please. All you can think about is some damn baseball players. Grab a book.

 

[Dragonfly32837]

Three years ago, when I arrived in the DR, there was a national poll reported on in the DR1 news. 60% of those surveyed said they would leave the country to live abroad if they could. Reasons were not given so we can only speculate but I'm pretty sure it wasn't because they were content here.

Scandall

Ask the same thing in the US. Actually, ask the same thing in all countries in this world. Many people dream about living in another country.

 

[Dragonfly32837]

As a general rule (remember, I said general), new cars can run 20-30% more in the DR than in the states. If you finance you usually end up with an extremely high interest rate. It's better to save and just buy it outright if you are able. Many people here finance cars that they cannot afford and will never have any equity in (because of a high interest rate) but don't care. They care more about looking like they are affluent. Not everyone but many. A lot of other people are smart and look for a good deal on a used car. If you live in the city a car is not necessary. I had one for the first years or so and ended up getting rid of it.


Scandall
Professor of Automotive Economics

When you say here what are you referring to?

 

[RHM]

When you say here what are you referring to?

I was talking about the DR. Before you reply, yes people in the US stretch their incomes immensely as well. But this site is about the DR so I did not mention that.

As for me reading a book. You're a bit off the mark. I read lots of books. My post about baseball players was because that is what most of the people in the world know the DR for. It was a post about perceptions. Not because I am criticizing the DR. I live here because I love it here and appreciate the overwhelming majority of things here.

As for dreaming about living in other countries. Yes, you are right, many people do. But the difference is that most Dominicans will never be ABLE to leave the island, even to visit other countries. Sad but true.

Scandall

 

[Dragonfly32837]

I was talking about the DR. Before you reply, yes people in the US stretch their incomes immensely as well. But this site is about the DR so I did not mention that.

As for me reading a book. You're a bit off the mark. I read lots of books. My post about baseball players was because that is what most of the people in the world know the DR for. It was a post about perceptions. Not because I am criticizing the DR. I live here because I love it here and appreciate the overwhelming majority of things here.

As for dreaming about living in other countries. Yes, you are right, many people do. But the difference is that most Dominicans will never be ABLE to leave the island, even to visit other countries. Sad but true.

Scandall

OK. I did not mean to say that the US does it as well. I just didn't know what country you were talking about. I'm not saying that you are dumb with the baseball players remarks. I'm just tired of hearing about them when there have been more important Dominicans in our history. Of all the people that dream about living in another country, most never will. It's just a fact. It is not just in the Dominican Republic.