Most end up leaving sooner or later.

[Doug Ward]

[quote=”Scott”]The following article in La Nacion on Thursday speaks of the “crisis” in Guanacaste

Crisis provoca salida de empresas en Guanacaste [ http://www.nacion.com/2011-05-19/Economia/NotasSecundarias/Economia2781801.aspx ]

Highlights would include:

1,500,000M2 of new construction in Guanancaste in 2006 but less than 600,000M2 in 2010

Unemployment in the Chorotega region has doubled from 5.5% in 2008 to 10.1% en 2009

The Guanacaste Chamber of Tourism has 40 less members today than it did three years ago.

Liberia issued 79 business licenses in 2010 compared to 171 in 2009[/quote]
True.
Funny though. International tourism isn’t really down. What’s really happening here is many of the tourists do CR one time and one time only.Once you get ripped off and experience the inefficiency of these morons they call ” law enforcement’ or walk into the shower at the hotel and find out there is no water, or the car rental guy finds a scratch that ” wasn’t there’ when you picked up the car but for $50 he can “let it ride”.
These things are what is killing CR. Greed. ” The helpful , smiling ones” are more concerned with a one time ripoff than a steady flow for years.

Here’s what goes on in the real world. Matter of fact I may vacation in the Florida Keys this coming Christmas.I can get tanked and leave my laptop on the beach overnight. No problem.You better not even leave your flip flops while you visit the pisser at a Guanacaste beach.
http://www.miamiherald.com/2011/03/03/2095984/2010-a-record-year-for-tourism.html

[2bncr]

Finca,

Foe those of us who are invested here this is a shame. I love CR. So what can we do about it.

CR has to go one of two ways. It has to become like the US or isolate its self. Which do you think will happen?

To become like the US Ticos have to be their job. They have to become worker drones. Effectness and efficency must rule.

If this is to happen the people that employ the workers must demand quality execution. No more “Its Costa Rica ” excuse. Accepting excuses here will only enable Ticos to continue their mediocraty. Services are mediocre here at best and they have to improve or the country will not be competitive; hotels will continue to close etc. For me selfishly I wish they would all close and Costa Rica would go back to its conpletly dysfunctional and cheap lifestyle, devoid of westwen comforts and technology.

That aint going to happen.

So it seems to me to keep this place in shape and the have nots ruining it for the haves we need to find away to get them a slice of the pie of change their perception. Arias greed machine has altered perception and Chanchilla is only a period on the end of that sentence.

So Ticos will realy have to embrace competition. Unfortuantely I don’t see that they have the stomach for it. I hope i am wrong.

The stolen wire illustrates two things:

1 Greed

2 The disdain of the haves by the have nots.

How can you enjoy wealth with no peace?

I am not talking revolution here, but the continual disruption of services etc.

When peoles values change, and they PERCIEVE themselves in a differnt way, attimes according to thier neighbors affluence, they become bitter and/or desperate.

Its all abot perception. I think the Ticos did not percieve their lives as empty because they lived without material comforts. Now I think many do. Materialism is a mental illness. I have it, I am recovering from it but am hardly cured. Material fever is spreading to the rest of the world. Get ready as the cure may be worse than the disease.

[sprite]

So the diseased, dysfunctional north american culture of monetized unbridled consumption has infected tiny little Costa Rica. Big surprise. And this disease has no cure. It runs its course by destroying the host. Neither haves nor have-nots get any peace because things are set up so that there is always scarcity resulting in disparity. And the more disparity, the more violence and negativity.

I am ashamed of having more than others and equally ashamed that some others have more than I do. Inequality is a bitch. It divides us putting one against the other. My solution is to live as simply as I can tolerate in a place where there is some semblance of economic equality. The Costa Rican country side seems to be a place where I can find this. So far, most of the people in the two tiny farm communities around my CR property seem t be on a fairly equal economic footing. This certainly cannot be said about Miami.

[Andrew]

[quote=”mpgyacht”]I must have hit a vein. Sorry Scott.[/quote]

There is no need to apologize at all, this is a ‘Discussion Forum’ where we discuss things …

[smekuly]

2bncr

Hey after reading your posts I realized you basically took all the words out of my mouth 😀

let me know about chile

good and valid points

costa rica still has alot to offer

we buy all our fruits and veggies from the local feria we just went this weekend and filled a big cart all for $20 bucxs

I have an unlimited fresh water supply and it cost me ZERO

my property taxes are about $350 per year and Its a large property

Cell phone incoming is all free LOL back home you pay either way…

wed movies are 2 for 1

the women here are still hot latinas and SEX is readily available since its very liberal here. and I love these latinas

The weather here is great..

medical is reasonable I just had my appendix taken out and stayed at the clinica private hospital and cost me $3000.. back home this would have hit me for $15 boxes of macaroni.

I could list alot of benefits..

I do feel sorry for those poor souls still living in the U.S.

here is another new law thats in the works
http://uswgo.com/protect-ip-act-threatens-the-internet-blogs-that-tell-the-truth-site-operators.htm

soon you won’t be able to take a shit without breaking some sort of law. 😀

[DavidCMurray]

[quote=”smekuly”]

soon you won’t be able to take a shit without breaking some sort of law. :D[/quote]

Depends on where you take it.

[sprite]

Every American breaks at least a dozen laws between rising from bed and sitting at the breakfast table. From what I understand, it is designed to be this way. It is all about control. And since this is happening at a quicker pace now and people STILL do not see it, I don’t believe it will be stopped. It is a lost cause.

[Disabled Veteran]

Any day above ground, is a good day, even in Costa Rica!

[smekuly]

I have 2 questions;

1. can anyone on this forum give a brief description of what is going to happen when the dollar is no longer used as oil world currency??

2. why is there a federal reserve and why are they not accountable for audits. I still do not understand why is it that we have a federal reserve that prints paper money and our government has to borrow from the federal reserve??? is this correct or am I missing something??

i thinks that 3 questions

sorry 😀

[sprite]

The answer to your 2nd question is that we have been deceived and enslaved off and on since ANdrew Jackson’s presidency.

The answer to your 1st question is undisputed by anyone; we will have hyperinflation and the dollar could end up as totally worthless. The dollars inyour possession will only be useful as very high quality toilet paper…and toilet paper will be in high demand at that time as anyone with a US dollar bank account will be $hitting him/herself uncontrollably.

[guru]

Back on Topic. . .

I think the original proposition in this discussion has been proved to be unsupported the way it was stated.

But the fact is we ALL “move on”. As a retirement destination the logical progression is retirement, a brief period of enjoying life, typical end of life issues (nursing home, hospitalization. . ) and then death. These are absolute truths. We do all move on.

Those who have moved to Costa Rica ARE movers and probably are more likely to move elsewhere when they get tired of Costa Rica or think they have found somewhere better. Hmmm Greece sounds good this week. . .

———————————-

Security:

I wrote in the thread on Stupidity when Traveling Abroad about some places being better than others in every country. I have lived in two places in the US where I had no locks on the doors (no doors on some out buildings) and never felt like I needed them. Both were short distances from crime ridden cities. I am sure there are many more similar places in rural areas of the U.S.

I do not think there are places like this in Costa Rica. Even in the small villages most of the homes have steel bars on the windows and those who can afford it have significant fences. The places that do not have security grates are usually places with full time security OR so poor they have nothing to steal. This is a fact of life in Costa Rica and is the only thing I might miss about moving from the U.S.

Poverty, is the crux of the security issue. In a country where many people have an annual income of less than the cost of a lap top computer and there is high unemployment coupled with underfunded police you are going to have crime. But as noted elsewhere this is often crime against property. Simple theft. And as noted, even things with low value will be stolen.

Theft of even the least attractive items, old tennis shoes, flip-flops, kitchen tools. . . is what is frustrating to many. When your TV or stereo is stolen it is a minor economic set back that does not ruin your life or keep you from getting on with your day. But when your muddy shoes disappear off the porch and you do not have a second pair, or you go to have breakfast and there are no bowls to serve it in. . . THESE are the kind of things that can make people crazy and want to live elsewhere. These things happen only where there is extreme poverty.

But poverty is one of the unspoken things that make Costa Rica attractive to outsiders. You can hire a full time maid or house keeper for the cost difference between your utility bill in the Northern US and that in Costa Rica. If there was no poverty you could not hire people for so little.

Why is food cheaper? The low wages of the farmers and farm workers which are substantially controlled by price fixing by the big U.S. fruit importers. We go without fresh bananas or pineapple for a week in the U.S. and the economy of Costa Rica fails. . .

So if you want the benefits of that lower cost of living you will also need to put up with the conditions that keep those costs down – poverty, the crime that comes with it, and less effective government.

[Author]

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