NALs said:
People like you Nal?s and your cohearts sure do love to blow your own horns and have no idea as to what you are talking about or just love to ignore the truth because you are possible part of those that are lining your pockets with that which should be going toward education of the children in the Dominican Republic. I distain people that enjoy stealing and especially those that steal from children.
Nonesense.
What I do know is that investment in education is gauged as a percentage of the national budget and that is what is used to compare and contrast different countries.
It's no secret that the Dominican economy (thus it's GDP) is among the fastest growing in Latin America. Tax collection has been among the highest it ever has been since the end of Trujillo and this means the government has a larger budget to work with (not to mention the comfy reserves amount).
Guess what happens to investment in education as a percentage of the national budget when the budget increases? The percentage decreases!
Yes indeed, it DECREASES. However, the reasons are not for what many people would jump to believing.
It simply decreases because the amount invested continues to be the same as it was when the national government budget was less. As the budget increases, but the spending for education stays the same, the percentage of the budget devoted to education decreases.
It has nothing to do with budget cuts on education, but it has everything to do with more money in the coffers and the same amount is still devoted to education as was the case when the coffers were a little smaller.
Rick Snyder said:
I would suggest that you read the DR1 news from today if you wish to see your
metro. Before any of you supposed intelligent people continue to talk about the NY transit system I think you should investigate how much that pocket lining monstrosity costs to operate and how much it loses daily and how much it is subsidized by the tax dollars of New Yorker?s from the whole state and not just the city.
For one thing, the San Juan is a city where even poor people have cars. In fact, Puerto Rico has more cars than it has people!
In a car-centric city like San Juan, any mass transit system would be a flop as they are in most places across the U.S.A. mostly due to the low density, high ownership of private vehicles, and car oriented development.
Santo Domingo does not fills that profile. Most Santo Domingans don't own a car of their own, density within the city is rising (albeit a good chunck is car-centric, the increase in density in neighborhoods such as Naco, Piantini, La Esperilla in addition to the increase and crowding in neighborhoods such as Cristo Rey, Villa Mella or Mejoramiento Social is different from the case in Puerto Rico).
In fact, go anywhere in Puerto Rico and there supposedly is a public transport network. Like many places in U.S.A., it's hard to find it. In DR, on the other hand, the country is crawling with public transportation from official bus lines to informal conchos of all types.
Very different scenario the DR1 article is contrasting.
However, regarding your comment of NYC, one must also take into account the increase in productivity and the time saved in travel due to the metro system. It's obvious that the economy of the city benefits substantially from the metro, for that reason government continues to subsidies it and keeps it running.
The economy will benefit more than it will lose in these types of projects and Santo Domingo accounting for no less than 40% of the economic output of the DR, it would be a priority to ensure that such economic importance is not chocked because people cannot go from point A to point B in a decent amount of time.
Rick Snyder said:
As has been stated already, you need to listen to what Robert has to say because he has a better handle of the situation in SD then you will ever have nals and I don't think he and I know I could care less about where your ISP for this week is from.
I'm listening and so is Robert (for a reason he and others continue to respond to my posts regarding this matter).
However, there are several realities at work in this discussion:
1. The project has already been started, might as well finish it.
2. The opinions expressed in this forum will not make any type of impact on whether the project will be finished or not.
3. There is a need for a mass transit system in Santo Domingo. Whether it would have been better to impose an efficient bus route system or some other form is irrelevant since the metro has already been started.
4. The accusations of corruption are rather tiresome. Whatelse is new? At least there is corruption and something is coming out of this. Contrast that to what happened under the previous administration when millions of dollars were taken in loans for projects and not a sand was moved, but the money sure did dissappeared!
It's like that old joke:
"The finance minister of Ghana visited the finance minister of India. After the official meeting, the finance minister of Ghana was given a private tour by the minister of India of his home in New Delhi. The Finance minister of Ghana asks the Indian "how can you afford this nice house with your pay check" and the Indian takes him to a nice bay window in his luxurious home and says to the Ghana minister "you see that bridge over there", the Ghana minister says "yes", and the Indian points towards his chest and says "10 percent".
A few months later the finance minister of India visits the finance minister of Ghana in Ghana. The Indian minister gets a private tour of the Ghana ministers home and the Indian asks: "with your pay, how could you afford this luxurious home?". The Ghana minister takes the Indian to a nice bay window in his home and says to the Indian: "You see that bridge over there?" The Indian responds "what bridge?", the Ghana ministers says "exactly" he points towards his chest and says "100 percent"!
Now, jokes aside, in an inperfect world where people will be corrupt no matter what, what is better:
Leaders who steal everything that is there to steal without giving nothing in return or leaders who steal while at least something comes out of it?
I'll pick the Indian over the Ghanian any day!
Utopias don't exist, never has, and never will and neither will corruption!
But some type of corruption IS better than other types.
-NALs