Governor reveals that "Puerto Ricans" have mystical powers

The Governor, while discussing his grievences with the federal government and his possible indictment indicated that he has the support of "powerful mayors" (meaning mayors who can bench press at least their own body weight)and will continue on regardless of the outcome. However, what was most amazing was his revelation that Puerto Ricans have mystical powers, which include seeing into the future and knowing when some injustice has been committed.

Now seeing into the future, that's special, but being able to determine when there has been an injustice, well, that is right up there with X-Ray vision. I mean, gosh, I have three graduate degrees and I don't even know what an injustice is, much less how to identify it. So I ran out immediately and asked my Puerto Rican friends to help me understand this concept and explain to me exactly is an "injustice". Here were some of the examples they gave me to help me understand (I am still struggling to comprehend this concept, as I possess no mystical powers):

An injustice is when people are appointed to positions not based on their skill, experience, and credentials but rather, who they know, and how willing they are to turn a blind eye;
An injustice is not supporting the right of every Puerto Rican child to have a good education;
An injustice is not being able to live in low income housing without worrying about whether or not your kids will be killed in a crossfire;
An injustice is a local judiciary that hands down arbitrary and capricious decisions and regularly fails to uphold the "rule of law";
An injustice is when elected officials use their legislative power to buy votes;
An injustice is taxing the hell out of local citizens and businesses and then giving a week off to government workers;
An injustice is providing perks and escorts to elected officials and appointees while the rest of us get to sit in the daily "tapon";
An injustice is when the police are allowed to ignore the very rules they promised to enforce;
An injustice is to not enforce the parking laws and force the elderly, children, and those with handicaps to dodge traffic because the sidewalks are occupied by automobiles, including those used by public officials and the police;
An injustice is to take money in exchange for political and financial favors.

Now my friends have told me that this is a short list, and that the number of injustices that exist here in Puerto Rico are, in fact, far too numberous to outline in such a short time. I think I am begining to understand with their help, but what leaves me confused is this - the Governor says that all Puerto Ricans have this mystical power to recognized something that apparently other cultures cannot, and clearly, my friends have demonstrated to me that such a power exists and that they in fact possess it. Yet why is it that this power to recognize injustice is only possessed by regular people and not the people they elect to be their representatives? I can only guess that the price for being elected is that you lose your mystical powers. Now that is truly a great price to pay to serve the people.

This Thanksgiving we should all give thanks for their sacrifice.

Woowho!!! We're #36, we're #36! - Puerto Rico debuts in Global Competiveness Report

For the first time ever, the World Economic Forum (WEF) has included Puerto Rico in their Global Competiveness Report. Even getting listed, I'm sure, is an honor and mainly a tribute to many hard working people locally that lobbied the WEF to get Puerto Rico included. To come out in 36th position, and 2nd overall in the Latin America region is an honor indeed. I'm ecstatic that we faired so well. But, being the cycnic that I am, I'm left with an unusual taste in my mouth. Sort of like the cheap syrup I recently bought for the MC Don Dees household which promises buttery maple syrup taste, but manages to leave a medicine after taste. Funny how something that seems so sweet (#36) can end up tasting like medicine.

Is this a victory?

The first thing that unsettles me is how the media are making this look like a victory. Victory as in a win, that is unless you count our number 1 ranking for the best place (in terms of cost) to fire someone. I'm not saying this is a loss either. I'd say it should feel something like a tie and who celebrates a tie? It is without a doubt, an outstanding achievement, but where do we go from here? The uncomfortable thing about measuring something is that it permits everyone to start tracking progress. What will happen in next year's report? How will it compare with this year's ranking? Will we ask to be removed from the report if our ranking starts to slip?

But let's turn this around and ask another question. According to El Nuevo Dia, this is proof of the strengths of Puerto Rico as a destination for investment. Let's say for a second that you had $5 million to invest in the stock market. At your disposable you have a generalized ranking of 131 stocks. Where would you put your money? Would you put it in the top ten rated stocks or would you dive down to number 36? Let's say you are interested in investing in Latin America, who would you choose #1 or #2? Of course, you'd pick #2 over the remaining 10 entries below it, but I wonder how Latin America stacks up with other regions? For me, this report does not give a clear sign of why Puerto Rico is a good place to invest.

How about this question. If Puerto Rico is such a good place to invest, why don't more local companies invest here? We rank 34th in R&D by companies.

Says who?

The report evaluates each country on a range of factors organized into general categories (called pillars). There are approximately 104 factors, 25 of which are based on hard data. The remaining 75% is based on interviews of executives. Let's not forget that surveys can be wildly misrepresentative, but generally useful. It all depends on who you ask. According to James Surowiecki, author of the book "The Wisdom of Crowds: Why the Many Are Smarter Than the Few and How Collective Wisdom Shapes Business, Economies, Societies and Nations", the first thing required in obtaining a wise viewpoint on something is diversity of opinion. Do you think that gainfully employed, well compensated, executives is a sufficiently diverse crowd from which to gauge the healthiness of an economy?

Surprises and What Else is New?

Looking through the "National competitiveness balance sheet" for Puerto Rico there are a few surprises and some "No Shit, Sherlock" (NSS) entries. Here were the most interesting:

• NSS Entry # 1: In the first pillar, Institutions, Puerto Rico ranks 130th for "Burden of government regulation" and 105th for "Wastefulness of government spending". We need leadership that has the balls and mental fortitude to stand-up to organized labor and public appeal to clean out the government (and I'm not talking about the politicians). I agree 100% with our good friend "Gil the Jenius" and his recent call to reduce the government in his post "Government Solutions - Part 1".
• NSS Entry #2: Staying in the same pillar, Puerto Rico ranks 67th in "Favoritism in decisions of government officials" and 64th in "Transparency of government policymaking". We are desperate for some strong leadership to reverse these two trends. Unfortunately, none of the four leading candidates for Governor fits that description.
• NSS Entry #3: In the 3rd pillar, Macroeconomic stability, Puerto Rico ranks 124th (almost last) in "National savings rate". This is one of the few rankings based on hard data. I can only imagine that the poorest of the poor African nations save less than we do. But of course, the per capita GDP of the last place country on the list is only $1,600 per year. What does this say about our individual abilities to prosper in the future?
  
• NSS Entry #4: In the 5th pillar, Higher education and training, Puerto Rico ranks 90th in the "Quality of math and science education", 60th in overall "Quality of the educational system", 57th in "Internet access in schools", and 39th in "Quality of management schools". The crisis here, is that if we don't improve in these areas our prognosis for sustaining our position or climbing in the ranking of world economies is very low.
• NSS Entry #5: In the 6th pillar, Goods market efficiency, Puerto Rico ranks 94th in the "Extent and effect of taxation". Are you getting that bitter mediciney taste in your mouth yet? Let's just summarize: Our primary economic disadvantages by saying, for the most part our Government is the number one obstacle from having a more competitive economy.
• Last NSS Entry, #6: In the 11th pillar, Business sophistication, Puerto Rico ranks 9th, in the "Extent of marketing". Holy over-stating the obvious Batman. Next thing you're going to try and tell me is that Puerto Rico is surrounded by water. On one hand I agree with this completely. I believe that the ability of marketers to motivate local consumers is very sophisticated. My worry is that this marketing goes on much more than we want to believe, like the media latching onto the report of Puerto Rico doing well in their debut in the global competitiveness study and trying to sell it as Puerto Rico having one of the best economies. Just how do you define best? On the other hand, as I've been ranting about lately. Puerto Rico ranks far behind in their acceptance of online marketing.

And quickly here are a few items I found that were surprising (remember a high ranking is good and a low ranking is bad):

• 7th in "Time required to start a business", really, really?
• 92nd in "HIV prevalence" This seems wrong. By placing us near Africa in terms of the impact of HIV, you'd think we would hear more about this problem.
  
• 1st in "Malaria incidence", we have the lowest occurrence of Malaria? Who would of figured?
  
• 94th in "Female participation in labor force". Being a dude, this is one I wouldn't have picked up on. Would any of our female readers care to comment?
• 14th in "Broadband Internet subscribers". While this is based on hard data, it seems very wrong.

I'm going to continue digging into this report and share with you what makes sense. Of course, you'll be the first to hear if I think someone is spinning this into something it isn't. Which is why I had to write about the report in the first place. Now, just like my kids, I'm going to go get some water or juice to get rid of the bad taste I have in my mouth. Yeeecchhh!

Segundo Encuentro Comericial

On November 6th and 7th the Administracion de Servicios Generales (ASG) and a large group of sponsors will host the second Encuentro Comericial de Licitadores y Compradores de Puerto Rico. The conference, which has as a theme "Abriendo Las Puertas a tu Negocio", provides an opportunity to present products and services to the Principle Market in Puerto Rico: The Government (their emphasis), estimated to be $4,000 million.

As mentioned, this event is an initiative of the General Services Administration (ASG are its initials in Spanish), which is responsible for promoting the economic growth of the island by involving more businesses in the government of Puerto Rico. The event offers businesses the opportunity to meet the people in charge of the purchasing decisions of the government agencies, as well as complete the rapid registration (Cet-Pymes) for the permits necessary to join the Registro Único de Licitadores (RUL) administered by the ASG. In addition, participants will have an opportunity to learn about the programs and incentives, created by various government agencies, for the benefit of small and medium sized businesses, such as:

• La Llave para tu Negocio
• Ley de Reservas en las Compras de Gobierno
• Agro Empresas
• CET PYMes
• Programa AVANCE del Banco de Desarrollo

To guarantee the maximum exposure the conference organizers have established two ways to participate. You can become a sponsor of the event or you can become an exhibitor. Sponsorship runs from silver, for $4,500, to diamond, which is $30,000. Sponsorship includes, at least one 8'x10' exhibitor space. Further details are available at the conference web site. Exhibiting at the conference runs from $700 to $1,700. Besides the exhibition booth, the package includes guaranteed appointments with government purchasing agents. Again, more details are available on the web site.

YouTube, Culture, & Puerto Rican Politics

Good morning children. Today's lesson is about pop culture. Can you say that, repeat after me. Pop, as in pop goes the weasel (which is actually quite appropriate for today's topic if you are an avid reader of Jil the Genus). Culture, as in the arts, beliefs, customs, institutions, and all other products of human work and thought created by a people or group of people at a particular time.

I want to talk, specifically about a little toy that is very popular on the Internet called YouTube. Which is a new version of an old little box we all stare at and are infected by culture. But this new version isn't controlled by the bosses who are currently shaping our culture, it's controlled by Google, who sets some limits on what kind of culture we can receive through YouTube. Which leaves the rest of the task of defining culture up to us, the people. In a small way it is new mirror we hold up to ourselves to reflect our culture. Although I'd have to say it is one of those funny carnival mirrors that makes you look all distorted, because if YouTube is an accurate reflection of our culture, even praying to God isn't going to help us.

And as culture tends to evolve with our adaption of new tools, a new use of YouTube has emerged during the current political election process. First it was recently used to collect and refine questions for political candidates during a recent debate. Which lead to YouTube becoming an important media channel for candidates where they must participate, manage, and converse with the people of the Unites States. If you visit any of the current presidential hopefuls, you'll find videos and YouTube thoroughly integrated.

If you'll ask any of my friends, all three of them, they'll tell you that I have some basic assumptions about life and culture in Puerto Rico. One of my most useful and popular assumptions is that technology adoption in Puerto Rico lags the United States by anywhere from 3 to 7 years. However, one industry nearly eliminates that lag, the political industry. In fact, I think the local political system's adaption of tricks reamins close to the leading edge. As a sample consider the debacle the United States suffered through in 2000 when Al Gore was defeated by the Supreme Court of the United States in his run to become president. Well it was no coincidence that as soon as 2004 the courts had to decide that Anibal Acevedo Vila was elected governor.

So now, as YouTube becomes an important tool in the current presidential election process, so it is with our 2008 gubernatorial election process. Searching through YouTube, there are already videos available for the top three gubernatorial candidates. Here is a quick sampling of a few of the representative videos (btw, I couldn't actually stomach putting the videos inline, so you'll have to follow the links...):

Luis Fortuño
Pedro Rossello
Anibal Acevedo Vilá

I'd have to say things get even stranger when we stop to take a look at the web sites for the 2008 gubernatorial candidates. Of the candidates, only Luis Fortuño has his campaign web site operational at the time of this post. On his web site, Fortuño has a page dedicated to videos where he embeds relevant videos from YouTube. The other two candidates have not launched official campaign websites, but they have setup, get ready for it..., MySpace pages (here for Rossello and here for Acevedo Vila). They obviously pimp out their spaces with YouTube videos as well as a bunch of other mind-numbing crap.

As far as I can tell, none of the videos in YouTube has too many views, all of them are around 1,000 views. Which is really no surprise. First, with nearly 100% saturation in all news media channels of local politics, who in their right mind would actually choose to listen to more from these blow hards? But probably more insightful, while the candidates themselves might be at the leading edge, it doesn't mean their supporters are. A mistake we are all too familiar with here at DóndeEs.com.

The Price of Government

I'm definitely down with the general philosophy that talk is cheap, and its many colored varieties such as the all-time favorite money talks and bullshit walks. So I prefer taking action versus voicing opinions. It is my time proven theory that action defines our true character. It is so seductively simple to flap our gums and say things, but it is quite a different story to actually will ourselves into action and do something. So while it may be brash to generalize and say that we are all a bunch of sorry ass liars, but to know what truly lies in the heart and mind of a person, then look at what they do. WARNING: However, under no circumstance should you try to connect what they are saying with what they are doing, or even worse, try to figure out why they are saying one thing but doing another. It is simply beyond the normal powers of humans to make these connections.

So in this line of thought, the upcoming "The Price of Government" workshop implores everyone to "Join, Attend, and Be Part of the Solution". In his return to Puerto Rico, David Osborne, (no not Super David Osborne) author of the bestselling book "Reinventing Government" panel of well-known speakers to comment on how to apply Osborne's recommendations to , will lead a distinguished Puerto Rico. While I'm sure that some of the distinguished individuals invited will have something more compelling to do (see first paragraph) and send a lackey to represent their respective offices, the preliminary guest list includes:

• Lcdo. Jorge Silva Puras, Secretary of the Government
• Sr. William Riefkohl, Executive Vice President, Industrial Association
• Dra. Palmira Rios, Director, Graduate School of Administration, UPR
• Héctor Bernier, CPA, President, College of Certified Public Accountants.

Just one more word of caution. While paying to attend this event does show some initiative, it can also be seductively easy to believe that this counts as action. It does not. I've attended and organized my share of events, workshops, or whatever that aimed to accomplish _____(fill in the blank with your favorite rant), and seem to disappear in a wisp of good intentions and promises. Remember, attending a workshop to talk or hear someone talk is just that, talk.

The workshop will be Friday, February 23rd in the Hotel Caribe Hilton from 8:30 a.m. until 12:00 p.m. Tickets are $199 per person and $249 per person at the event. For reservations visit The Cavatina Center home page or call (787) 622-7100.