[eropiereetuekm]

Because Pichardo believes in the DR while O/C doesn't. Being negative about the DR all the time gives people certain advantages among the DR1 crowd. Of course, many here have never asked themselves why Pichardo believes in the DR and O/C doesn't. All economic evidence is that the DR is progressing, most middle-age and older Dominicans are aware of this. Many may question where the DR is going, but almost no one denies that the DR has progressed.

This response goes out to all the readers here at DR1. This is not a personal response to Nails because I have no interest in anything personal with him. I am only responding to his post in reference to the readers here since lately he has seen it fit to take this to the personal level. This is something of which I will never reciprocate with him nor anyone else here. I have become impersonal unlike my early days here at DR1 which Nails suffers no time to post over and over again. I can only be flattered by such attention.

I am actually pro-DR. I and my family still have land in the DR. I personally still dabble in real estate within the DR and to a limited extent deal in agriculture hence my moniker onions and carrots, LOL. I am presenting the reality of the DR and am not whitewashing what is an inevitable collapse facing the DR and the world. The DR is not on a sustainable track. Blowing debt bubbles to fund present growth is a Ponzi scheme which will only end in catastrophe.

When I sell property or purchase property as I recently did in Constanza I do not imagine some fantasy of an island as if it were Europe. I tell the buyers the reality of what they are facing. Given that I temper it with the positives which I see developing within the DR as well. But I never imagine some silly fantastical imaginations as if reclassifying the DR poor as middle is going to do me some good. Buyers appreciate that candor. The facts are clear. The DR given its historical past will fall apart and hasn't already because of enormous external pressures holding it together. The same goes for the world.

Proof of my pro-DR stance is what I recently did. The property and land I recently purchased in the Constanza region was all done over the phone. I have not seen the property at all until recently. Payments were wired. So I doubt you'll find anyone more positive than myself. Would you do that? I don't recommend it. I know the sellers. My family knows their family. This is what distinguishes business in the DR when done the old fashioned way. Con artists and swindlers are a dime a dozen within the DR so why should I occult the truth?

I've done over the phone deals several times. I have supervised construction work the same way from abroad. From my phones here in Florida I have supervised construction work in the DR. Should you do this? I would never recommend that either. I deal with people who are already known through family contacts, are family and have done work for us in the past. I recently purchased "solares" which I never saw and by recent I mean about two years ago.

I built homes which up until the completed work stood never saw even one worker nor nail driven into the wood. I just saw it the other month. Everything done as accomplished. Cost overrun? Probably! Someone somewhere dipping their hand into the cookie jar? Absolutely! It happens but as long as one accounts for it and it remains within certain limits then it is acceptable. Yes, you will be robbed. And to appease Senor Pick, yes this happens in the US too. So what's the point? There is no point.

The same goes for agriculture. I know the middle men in the DR, not all of them obviously. I run the same business from here in nice little sunny Miami. I'll call them up in Constanza or Mao (Nails loves to degrade us campesinos as simpletons ) and initiate conversations on the general state of the agricultural economy within the DR. The conversation then turns to the regional impact (Constanza, Ocoa and Mao) of those same general conditions. We speak on specific farmers and their families and the chisme of the day, LOL. We speak on change over time relating to all of these factors.

We speak on machinery, manpower, wages, productivity, hotel purchases of agro-goods and what's selling and what's not, all inclusives and their non-payments, delays. We speak on deforestation in the Cordillera Central and its impact on farming. We speak on climatological changes, rising temperatures, the quantity of timber that is diminishing, water supplies, hydraulics, dams, aqueducts, industrial pumps, water diversion, encroachments, collapsing prices due to too many farming the same, tractors, chains, and hailstorms (yes there are hailstorms which destroy your crops especially onions).

We laugh on this typical Dominican behavior of paying when you feel like it that lately has affected the "Norteamericanos", LOL!!! Please my anglo-saxon friends do not become infected with this illness. Given that, there are many Dominicans in established agro-businesses who are unable to make payments on a timely basis. That's a serious problem within the DR corroborated by RUBIO HIGUEY within a sector that I do not operate in. There are so many lines of evidence pointing to financial ruin and collapse which are independent of one another that to deny it is sheer folly.

The conversation then turns to pricing which in my little Excel spreadsheet I track the change in agro-goods over time and analyze changes Y/O/Y, quarterly and such to determine trends etc. We speak on credit, Banco Agricola, govt policy, modes of transport, credit conditions, interest rates, terms, etc. We speak on delayed payments which is becoming a concern and how arrears are growing to levels never seen before especially by the foreign owned all-inclusives. We continue speaking on prices and numbers something which I love. At that point I seek divergences which I hope to exploit and produce a profit.

Given this, neither am I trying to sell myself to anyone here to use me for anything. I don't sell services of any type regarding the DR. I warn you though because I don't want you to fall in the hands of these swindlers promising "solares", property and titles which only exist in their wild imaginations. The DR is a 3rd world country with many built in inefficiencies which I hope will change but believe will only occur after an economic collapse hits it. THE END-LOL!!!