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Peg, that substantial tax credit in my county in New york, USA, comes out to a whopping $2000.00 tax surcharge, yes, surcharge. It seems they worked out a nice deal with the power company years ago. And it is still true because my neighbor called the town hall recently and inquired. So much for wanting to save the environment, or help the homeowner/citizen.
First off, the way I see it, this problem did not start two weeks ago. It was years in the making. Overbuilding on the Pacific coast has contributed greatly to this. Contrary to what some say, developers are not improving the infrastructure of Costa Rica. Jaco has many projects under construction but he roads are going to hell. The paved road outside of town has been turned into a dirt road and the developers don’t even have to improve access to the buildings they are constructing. What a shame! In the US builders have to provide roads to their new developments and repair what they have damaged. Electricity and water better be there too.
The government and the Ticos have to realize they are living with limited resources and they might be squandering their birthright for what seems to be a quick buck. But many of them are not even benefiting from the construction that is underway, they are only side players in all this. In years to come the increased flow of money from European and North American retirees may be able to raise their standard of living, but It has to happen before the potable water runs out and the power has to remain on 24/7. You can’t have the growth without the infrastructure in place, or the timetable set in stone for its upgrade. If these conditions are not met, who will want to live by the Pacific or anywhere else for that matter. The tourism industry is already assuming cancellations will happen if this issue is not taken care of immediately.
The solutions are not simple and I am sure I don’t have the answers. The suggestions however could be to have the North American power grid integrated with Central and possibly South America. If you are running out, or short of water for hydro electricity generating, then you have no choice but to go with oil or gas fired, or dare I say it, coal fired generating stations at least as a backup or as semi-permanent sources of power. Yes, most of the fuel will have to be imported and the cost of electricity will go up. Wind, solar and other very green technologies have not advanced yet to fulfill the demands of an entire country. When those can come online, you can shut down the dirty fuel systems. In years to come the Hydro generators will also improve and the upgrades to the existing systems will make it more efficient.
Water is another matter, and you just can’t generate water unless you want to desalinate the sea, which requires more energy. Conservation and water treatment is what may help in the short term. Long term answers are not that simple. The world’s water table has been getting lower for many years. China’s has been getting lower by many feet per year. I’m sure this is a problem all nations will have to face. No easy answers here either.
The present situations call for immediate solutions to keep businesses open, the water flowing, and the growth of Costa Rica secure. Whether it is tourism or the computer chip industry, Costa Rica has a big problem that all the bureaucratic handwringing will not solve. Action is what is needed and the voice of the people should be heard.
These are national questions which will have to be answered in days and weeks, not years.Ah, but there is oil in Nicaragua. And a US company is developing it. This was in the news about a month ago.
This railroading thing seems suspicious to me. I think we will have to wait for all the information to come out. Good luck on that point though.No hay agua! Indeed. What about showers, toilet flushings and the like. Not just infinity pools being low ruining the dreamy image. Manuel Antonio has this problem as well. And in the middle of the rainy season. Our hotel would run out every day, just as you would come off the beach for a shower. For us it was not too much of an inconvenience, but I would not want to own a home and have to suffer those conditions
Terry, Ok, I always thought of myself as a conservative. My score comes in as centrist, with a leaning towards the right.
I think just participating in this forum has somehow changed my system of judgement and values. At this rate, in a couple of years I may turn into a socialist, might even want to settle in Cuba…Hey wait a minute! Are you guys using mind control on me?Maravilla, I’m just dying for you to take the quiz. Please.
Just to lighten this up a bit. Here’s a link to a little political quiz to see if you are liberal, centrist, libertarian or conservative. http://www.theadvocates.org/quiz.html
It’s pretty much fun, and may surprise you on your rating.
I’ll tell you mine if you tell me yours. LOL
Enjoy!
At first I thought that link would bring me to a totally left wing antigun site. Not that bad on their gun stance, and they do bring interesting arguments to the table. Some very scary hypothesis about what could have made the shooter the way he was. And I’m not talking about the Prozac.
One question. If pharmaceuticals are causing this rash of mass murdering of innocent people in the US, what drives the suicide bomber in the Middle East? Is it drugs, or an entire world gone out of control.
Lets not be too naive. Have you ever noticed the armoria on Avenida Dos in San Jose. Or the one in Ciudad Alajuela. There are gun shops in Costa Rica, and many of its citizens own firearms for protection. The benefits of a still yet free society. When guns are outlawed, then only outlaws will have guns.
The genie is already out of the bottle. The video games are out there and so are the firearms. Making them illegal now will make a whole new class of criminals out of previously law abiding citizens.
I agree, he was fully aware of the actions he was taking. The premeditation, along with the suicide, thereby not having to take the consequences for his actions, suggest a fully conscious evil deed.
Drugs may have numbed, but they did not conceal the sickness already in his head.I did read somewhere in the CR press about a year ago, that the most prescribed drug in Costa Rica was antidepressants. I believe this was among women. Also Costa Rican men use more Viagra than any other Latin American country. Interesting.
Maravilla, The dots have been connected. And we will lose more of our civil liberties. This will be another reason for a call for the disarming of US citizens. Restrictions on firearms are one thing, but all these things add up to a want of total disarmament. Fact is, all of the states and districts with the most restrictive firearms laws, have the highest gun violence and crime rates, like Washington DC. Washington DC, for example, was found to have been unconstitutional in its firearm ban recently. They now realize a legally armed citizenry might prevent crime as it does elsewhere. Where I live it has been shown most homes are not broken into. One reason, pointed out in the local newspaper a few years back, is one out of every four homes in our county has at least one gun. Criminals know this and don’t want to walk in on an armed homeowner. New York City on the other hand has very restrictive gun laws and most people on this website have called it very unsafe. If a criminal knows he has a chance of losing life or limb he moves on to an easier target. Kind of like houses with big dogs and bars vs. non-barred and dog free homes in Costa Rica.
Many people feel safer with guns and should have the right to own them as guaranteed by the constitution of the US. Providing they are not felons or mentally ill. People have a right to self preservation and defense of their families and property.
The drug connection has me a little concerned. Is the tail wagging the dog on this one? Are all serial killers and mass murders antidepressant users, or are all antidepressant users serial killers and mass murderers? I’m sure a case can be built for these drugs causing this type of violence. But just maybe, the reason these people were on these drugs in the first place is that they had these tendencies all along. It seems someone, a physician, a parent or the person themselves had to notice some behavioral problems to get them on these drugs. So, I’m not so sure if it is only the drugs causing these problems. Breakdown of the family unit, societal changes, stress induced by everything from consumerism to educational overachievement could have contributed. Now they are starting to blame video games for the shooters behavior.
Also I cannot believe this teacher of his who had to tutor him out of class because the other students were afraid of him. She had to have a code word with her assistant, to be used if she felt threatened by him to call the police. Then she reported this to the school and the authorities and they said he hasn’t broken any laws so we can’t do anything. She was not able to talk to his parents about it because that would be an invasion of his privacy. Well, he just invaded over thirty persons privacy with extreme prejudice.
What kind of politically correct, afraid of being sued at every turn, sheepish morons have we become in this country?
Maravilla I too would also like to know what drugs he was on and why he was prescribed them as well. But I think this guy was a time bomb way before the introduction of prescription medicine. And no one, not his parents, the faculty, the administration, or his doctors seems to have read the signals, or chose to ignore them for one reason or another.
This is a sad situation and commentary on our society today. We have recently begun to slide down the slippery slope as a nation, and I believe it us up to all of us to try to return some semblance of reason and normality to it.Sorry Peg, The assault weapons ban would have done little to prevent this massacre. Some victims did have time to react and run for cover, barricade room doors, and one professor, or I should say hero, held the door while students jumped out of the window. The problem was no one shooting back at this psycho.
Just as outlawing illicit drugs totally, has done nothing to curb drug use in this country. When a criminal wants anything, drugs or guns, he or she can get it. The real crime is the campus police not having the ability to carry firearms, as voted by the university last year. Maybe they would have stopped this madman. Possibly an armed professor could have done the same. The university administration also has to bear responsibility by their lack of action in warning and protecting the students by letting two hours go by from the first shooting.
We must realize we have to take responsibility for our own safety, and not rely on police or security agencies for our protection from the loonies. This is a different world than many of us are willing to admit. The fantasy of utopia is nowhere to be found. Government can do little, if anything, to protect us from this type of insanity.
Maravilla was also correct as heard on the news this morning about the use of prescription medications by the killer. We may have thought her remarks premature, but she was right.As far as I remember, The quads I have seen in Jaco are Honda models sold under a different name. They are essentially Honda with another manufacturers name on the motor and frame, Although I can’t recall the name. I also remember the prices being about $5000 to $5500 US for smaller cc models with auto transmission. Hope this helps.
