- Thread starter NALs
- Start date
The Growth of the Dominican Middle Class is Intentional
No one would had made it in the free zones, in the local manufacturing, in tourism, etc if it wasn't for the government. Those sectors would had never been created.
A perfect example is the cibarparks industry never took off. That's a case of the government starting one (in Boca Chica) and then not giving it more support in order to make investing in ciberparks very profitable. If the government would had done in the 2000's what it did to favor the development of the local industry, tourism, the free zones, etc in the 1960's and 1970's, today there would had been several cyberparks throughout the country, similar how there are free trade zone industrial parks, with much of it driven by the private sector. The rich will put their money where it creates the most profits for them and will not put it where it isn't profitable. The purpose of the government is to make potential sectors that can be large jobs producers that in their natural state aren't profitable, artificially profitable enough to attract their investments.
There are many other examples of how the government influences the development of many sectors. Take Bisonó as an example, which has been and continue to build massive communities of mostly 4-stories apartment buildings. Basically, they are all the same with a few cosmetic differences. That style was actually created by the government in the "multifamiliares" mostly for poor people and some for the military and government workers. All that Tato Bisonó did was see these buildings and the layouts of its apartments and basically, apply the same. Apartment sizes in the Bisonó complexes aren't that much different from apartment sizes in the multifamiliares. Had the government never created the multifamiliares, it's very unlikely Tato would had adopted the same buildings and apartment styles with which his business is now profiting from as the largest builder of apartments for the lower middle class/middle class. There are a few other following the same example, the differences between all of them is cosmetic of their apartment communities. Essentially, they are all the same. That is just looking at one aspect, because the government supports the development of the industry with further incentives such as the "bono" it gives to buyers of their first home. Much of it ends up going to his and the likes builders.
I forgot to add another example which is the Dominican movie industry, a rather new sector still in its early development stages. The support of the government towards developing that sector is at the moment so intense that a producer will make a movie, nobody will see it and they never loose money.
Right now some people are "shocked" with the new AERODOM renegotiation where the government guarantees AERODOM to make money because their losses will be covered by the government (essentially, the government gives them money if they end a year with losses instead of profits. The thing is that has always been done mostly to sectors the government is interested will receive a certain amount of investments, but without that guarantee the investments will never reach that amount. It will be too risky for investors to pour their money in that sector, unless that risk is reduced or eliminated. It's the government's job to do just that.
Right now some people are "shocked" with the new AERODOM renegotiation where the government guarantees AERODOM to make money because their losses will be covered by the government (essentially, the government gives them money if they end a year with losses instead of profits. The thing is that has always been done mostly to sectors the government is interested will receive a certain amount of investments, but without that guarantee the investments will never reach that amount. It will be too risky for investors to pour their money in that sector, unless that risk is reduced or eliminated. It's the government's job to do just that.
The the only differences between Fidel Castro's government in Cuba and the DR's government right after Trujillo was:
- Fidel had to expropiate properties and business from many families while all the DR did was expropiate properties and businesses from one family and it owned most of the country.
- Fidel followed by implementing socialist economic policies and strengthening dictatorial political policies.
- The DR followed by implementing basically a form of state capitalism as what was thought that in any sector where there was one Trujillo company (essentially a monopoly) there could be more (it was even suggested and taken seriously that the Dominican government would start different companies in each sector and then give them to the private sector -most likely family and friends of the politicians in power-) and further development of democracy.
The Cuban government went the route of fomenting development of various sectors by discouraging the further development of the private sector (and by consequence the result was of destroying private fortunes and wealth) and discouraging the further growth of the Cuban middle class which already existed especially in Havana (in fact, what it did was to further destroy the middle class.) In the 1960's and 1970's it was basically encouraging the emigration of al rich and middle class Cubansbut stripped of everything they had except the clothes on their back before the were allowed to leave the island. Then in the 1980's it began to support poorer Cubans to leave with the Mariel where it basically open all its jail for criminals, murderers, rapists, thieves and political prisoners would leave for the USA, particularly Florida. Lately, courting business relationships with foreign hotel chains to develop its tourism, but the Cuban government is essentially the owner of every single hotel and resort in Cuba.
The Haitian government after the Duvaliers didn't went the route of anything and now you can see the result of that. If you need more evidence, look anywhere in the DR and there are at least one or two Haitians while do the same in most places in Haiti and the Dominicans shine due to their absence.
Jamaica took a more conservative approach than the DR starting in the 1960's, didn't follow Cuba's or Haiti's steps. The result is that Jamaica is nothing like Cuba, much better than Haiti, but with an economy not doing better than the Dominican one. This has lead a recent change in their policy where now they are diplomatically getting closer to the DR and see if they can emulate what the DR has done in their native Jamaica. The DR is now wealthier than Jamaica when in the 1960's it was Jamaica that was wealthier.
To put it another way, if the DR government wanted to impose a socialist/communist regime like in Cuba, after Trujillo in the 1960's it could had done that with not much effort, in fact with less effort than Cuba itself. The DR government practically owned everything when it expropiated all the assets of the Trujillo family. It would had been the dream of Fidel Castro given how easy and quick it was.
