The many millionaires in the Abinader administration, President Abinader declares RD$4 billion+

Dolores

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Dominican law requires that high-ranking government officers present their personal worth statements at the start and end of their terms in government. The law gives the officers 30 days to do so after being sworn in. The Chamber of Accounts extended the period for delivering the worth statements to the end of the month. Among the first to declare are:

President Luis Abinader: RD$4.1 billionHacienda Minister Jochy Vicente: RD$501 millionAgriculture Minister Limber Cruz: RD$434.4 millionPresidency Minister Lisandro Macarrulla: RD$427 millionHealth Minister Plutarco Arias: RD$400 millionPresidency voice Milagros German: RD$186 millionLabor Minister Luis Miguel De Camps: RD$159 millionHigher Education Minister Franklin García Fermín: RD$104.4 millionDefense Minister Carlos Luciano Diaz Morfa: RD$77.1 millionInterior & Police Minister Jesus Vasquez: RD$70.5 millionPublic...

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Jan 9, 2004
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When was the last time we saw elected officials presenting their personal worth statements? To me this is another good sign of things to come.

It is a good start..........and assuming the financial statements are accurate.........they should pass a law that requires them to do the same.........upon exiting. Then you would see who has benefited while in government..........and by how much.

As an aside, the AG has the lowest personal wealth. If the math is correct, her net worth is USD $113,793. She is in poverty compared to most of her peers in government.

Respectfully,
Playacaribe2
 
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Dolores

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The law requires the officers to present exit statements. The same DR1 news story also includes exit statements of some of Medina administration officers.
 
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The law requires the officers to present exit statements. The same DR1 news story also includes exit statements of some of Medina administration officers.

Perhaps my post could have been clearer.............the law as it exists should have some enforcement mechanism if they do not file exit statements (auditing/documentation etc.)

How many of them actually do/did comply with both entrance and exit financial statements?

The President is off to a good start..............verbally. Now people need to see some real action. Otherwise his administration becomes another revolving door of theft/corruption/broken promises.

I wish him well. He has a difficult economic financial road ahead that may consume a lot of his time and energy, taking him away from fighting the embedded inherent corruption/theft..


Respectfully,
Playacaribe2
 

JD Jones

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Perhaps my post could have been clearer.............the law as it exists should have some enforcement mechanism if they do not file exit statements (auditing/documentation etc.)

How many of them actually do/did comply with both entrance and exit financial statements?

The President is off to a good start..............verbally. Now people need to see some real action. Otherwise his administration becomes another revolving door of theft/corruption/broken promises.


I wish him well. He has a difficult economic financial road ahead that may consume a lot of his time and energy, taking him away from fighting the embedded inherent corruption/theft..


Respectfully,
Playacaribe2

If he can make progress in the fight against corruption and theft, it will make his economic-financial road much easier to travel.
 
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If he can make progress in the fight against corruption and theft, it will make his economic-financial road much easier to travel.

I do not disagree, but those amounts likely pale in comparison to the revenue losses to the government from lost tourism, exports etc.

And when he actually takes away the two pay check earners who show for neither job, when he actually has those one pay check earners actually show up and do a job, when the country has less generals than the US and Canada combined, when he actually builds schools..........and equips them properly, when he actually eliminates duplicitous government agencies, the list goes on..................he will be on the right course internally.

The external economic factors will have to play out.........and those are matters, at this time, beyond his control.


Respectfully,
Playacaribe2
 

Joseph NY2STI

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I've always wondered how people can make millions of dollars in a third world country. Do the Dominican people a favor and share your secrets!
 

NALs

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Hopefully you are aware the DR produces around US$77 billion (US$173 billion PPP) in a given year, plus an amount rising every year. That's just legal money, then there's the unknown monkey businesses that creates additional billions.

Plenty of money to create plenty of millionaires. Becoming a leading company selling lightbulbs is already a mutimillion dollar business and that's just lightbulbs in the DR.
 
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Caonabo

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Just as there is no middle class, or nuclear family structure in the RD as well. 🤫
 

Joseph NY2STI

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Hopefully you are aware the DR produces around US$77 billion (US$173 billion PPP) in a given year, plus an amount rising every year. That's just legal money, then there's the unknown monkey businesses that creates additional billions.

Plenty of money to create plenty of millionaires. Becoming a leading company selling lightbulbs is already a mutimillion dollar business and that's just lightbulbs in the DR.

I understand that there is wealth in D.R. (and every poor country) but in D.R. is it something that is attainable by "regular" people? The old "lift yourself up by the bootstraps", or is it mostly a matter of being connected or coming from family money? Can a person work hard, get good grades in school, have ambition, live a clean life and make it? Criminal proceeds don't count.
 
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NALs

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I understand that there is wealth in D.R. (and every poor country) but in D.R. is it something that is attainable by "regular" people? The old "lift yourself up by the bootstraps", or is it mostly a matter of being connected or coming from family money? Can a person work hard, get good grades in school, have ambition, live a clean life and make it? Criminal proceeds don't count.
You mean like Luis Marino López from Adrian Tropical and Lavandería Óscar or Román Ramos Uría from La Sirena/Súper Pola/Aprezio/Multicentro, to name two?

Here is an interview done to Luis Marino López a few years ago where he tells the story of being born in poverty. He has gone up through his own hardwork. It took years, but he made it.


Unfortunately, one of his sons, after whom Luis named his business Adrian Tropical (the other one he named Óscar, guess after whom), was killed in 2018 on a car accident he committed on Anacaona Ave in Santo Domingo.


Anyway, he major difference between Luis and other Dominicans that started life in the same predicament is that he was focused on being successful in Santo Domingo instead of sitting around dreaming for God to co e down from heaven and fix his poverty or that a visa to Nueba Yol will solve all his problems. Look what happens when a person puts everything they have on achieving a dream that for many it seems impossible and never giving up. I'm sure he has quite a few stories of people that doubted him and made it clear to his face, perhaps blaming the country and not him directly to be nicer to him. Had he put attention to them, none of this would exist.
 
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NanSanPedro

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But doesn't it start with the schools and even before that, the parents? My parents beat into our heads to go to school, get good grades, and then a good job. Guess what? It worked. Now that has morphed in the USA into not just a college degree, but a degree in a meaningful subject.

Here, I don't see the same universal direction to go to school and get a good job. I don't see a ton of motivation.
 

Chirimoya

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People like Luis Marino are admirable exceptions, but not the rule.

True social mobility in the Dominican Republic is very hard to achieve without a leg-up, a lottery win, or making it as a music or baseball star. Or crime, or marriage to a wealthy person, local or foreign. A well-qualified young person from a poor background with a strong work ethic but no connections will be lucky to make it into the lower echelons of the middle class. There are too many structural obstacles to success.
 

NanSanPedro

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People like Luis Marino are admirable exceptions, but not the rule.

True social mobility in the Dominican Republic is very hard to achieve without a leg-up, a lottery win, or making it as a music or baseball star. Or crime, or marriage to a wealthy person, local or foreign. A well-qualified young person from a poor background with a strong work ethic but no connections will be lucky to make it into the lower echelons of the middle class. There are too many structural obstacles to success.

As a retired engineer, I push STEM when I can. What is to prevent kids from going that direction? Besides being a ticket out of poverty, it can also be a ticket to an H1B visa in the USA.
 

JD Jones

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I understand that there is wealth in D.R. (and every poor country) but in D.R. is it something that is attainable by "regular" people? The old "lift yourself up by the bootstraps", or is it mostly a matter of being connected or coming from family money? Can a person work hard, get good grades in school, have ambition, live a clean life and make it? Criminal proceeds don't count.
Hard? Yes. Can it be done? Of course, with lots of hard work and saving money instead of spending it "keeping up with the Joneses."
I can give you a personal example: I used to have a fleet of tractors (as in hauling cargo) I was having a hard time of it because they were old and I spent a lot on keeping them going.
I finally gave up and liquidated the drivers. I told one of them he should take his liquidation money and buy a tractor, and he could move my trailers, so he did.
That was around 12 years ago. He still moves my trailers, and now has a fleet of 7 tractors and moves the majority of trailers in my area. Successful? I think so.
I run a warehouse business that is successful as well.
Here's another story: Back in the eighties, I worked for a shoe company in Santiago. I used to go to the Monument to have a couple of hot dogs. There were hotdog carts all over the area, so I went many times over the years.
When I first started going, I was eating a hotdog when a man walked up to me and said hello, and asked if the hotdog was good? I said yes, and he nodded and smiled.
A few nights later I was eating one at a different stand and checking out the foot traffic (ahem) and the same gentleman walked up to me, said hello, and asked again if the hot dog was good. I said yes and off he went.
A couple of nights later I was at still another stand, and the same thing happened again, so I asked him why.
He said he wanted to make sure I would come back again. I asked him which stand was his, and he said "All of them"
He went on to tell me about how he'd never get rich with a hot dog stand, but when you have dozens of hot dog stands, that changes everything.
Another example? I bet there are only a few persons here on the forum that know how many Helados Bon stores there are on the island and how Bon got started.
The same concept applies to ice cream as it does for Hot Dogs.
I can give you examples all day.
Hard work, and lots of it.
 
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Joseph NY2STI

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Great stories! I hope the following generations appreciate the head start they're being given and can keep it going.
 

La Profe_1

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As a retired engineer, I push STEM when I can. What is to prevent kids from going that direction? Besides being a ticket out of poverty, it can also be a ticket to an H1B visa in the USA.
I'm not an engineer, but I spent thirty years teaching biology, introductory chemistry/physics and earth science - a blend of geology, meteorology, astronomy and paleontology.

Since being in the DR, I've visited schools and, frankly, been horrified by the level of science instruction.

Textbooks I examined had errors of fact which were not brought to the students' attention by the teachers.

We all know that education (at a minimum the public schools) in the DR needs improvement. Until that takes place, I doubt that STEM is likely to be very successful for most students.