Tag Archives: “Costa Rica”

Immigration, Map Project, Politics

Politics the Ugly Truth

Oscar Arias

On Monday October 31 Dr Oscar Arias visited the School of Trans Border Studies at ASU and I had the honor of giving him a tour of the Changing Boundaries Map Exhibit.  Arias won the Nobel Peace Prize for his work to end the fighting in Central America in the 1980’s while he was President of Costa Rica the first time.  Before the tour he gave a short talk about his attempt to get the Central American Free Trade Agreement (CAFTA) passed by the US Senate.  During the talk he told a story about US politics that I am paraphrasing here:

” In the 1980’s Senators Ted Kennedy and George Mitchell and other Democrats supported my Central American Peace Plan but then in 2006 the same Democrats opposed CAFTA (the Central American Free Trade Agreement).

I was puzzled by this until I figured out that they weren’t trying to do the right thing.  They supported my peace plan because President Reagan a Republican opposed it and years later they opposed the trade agreement because President Bush another Republican supported it.  It was all about politics not about what was best for the US or for the world.”

A depressing story from someone who has seen politics from the inside.

You can read what he said about immigration here.

Dr Arias used his Nobel award money to start a peace foundation.

Simon Says

Diseconomies of Scale

We know about economies of scale from Adam Smith and the famous pin factory.  As you make more of something the per unit cost goes down.

But when an organization get past the optimum size dis-economies of scale start to set in.  Airlines are an obvious example.  American, Delta and United are more expensive and give worse service than Southwest.  Here is a link to an article about Dis-economies of Scale.  In case you want to see if I’m making this up.

Government is another area were we might be seeing dis-economies of scale.  I was reminded of this when I wrote a recent piece about Costa Rican Entrepreneurs.

The US used to be subdivided into 50 states that had a lot of autonomy.  Now more and more of what goes on is dictated by Washington.  It is big and cumbersome.  And even if it has the best of intentions it is too large to be nimble.  Countries like Costa Rica and Singapore are smaller and faster with less bureaucracy.  They may have a competitive advantage in the world for the next few generations.

Ideas, Politics

Costa Rican Entrepreneurs

1 Comment

In the 1990’s I heard an economist say that “in the future countries will compete based on how well they treat people, ideas and capital.” He made the point that the USA was one of the worlds leaders in all three areas but that we had to be careful that we didn’t get complacent.  During our trip to Costa Rica in January Nurit and I saw three examples of entrepreneurial activity that should make thinking Americans concerned.

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Lands in Love is a new eco-tourism lodge started by some immigrants from Israel.  I told their story back in January.  They chose Costa Rica because it had easier immigration laws than the USA and was the easiest place that they found in the world to start a resort.

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I Love Sushi was founded by Marc Hauser, an American, who emigrated to Costa Rica 15 years ago because it fit his life style.  He was able to become a serial entrepreneur in Jaco Beach, Costa Rica.  It could have been Hermosa Beach, CA.

Brian May is a young Mechanical Engineer married to a friend of ours, Tracey.  He and Tracey ended up in Costa Rica after doing a stint as Christian Missionaries in Nicaragua.  He reps machine tools for one company and does some programing for another company and there is no doubt that they will own a business some day.

In all three cases businesses are getting started in Costa Rica that could have been started in the US.  These three entrepreneurs chose Costa Rica because it is more conducive to small start-ups. This should be of concern to the people who make the rules in the USA.

Travel

Help!

Here is a picture of a utility worker diligently repairing some lines:

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No problem

Except:

Road Repairs without OSHA

He is on a ladder in the middle of a busy intersection.

Good thing there isn’t an OSHA in Costa Rica.

Politics, Simon Says

William Walker

This is a story that they don’t teach to school children in the USA.  But they do teach it in Costa Rica.  I think it explains a lot about the suspicion that people in Latin America have about the intentions of the United States.

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This map will be in a exhibit at USD on April 21, 2010

In the 1850’s Manifest Destiny and ending slavery were the big issues like Islamic Terrorism and National Health Care are today.  Territory was in flux.  Texas had successfully broken away from Mexico in the 1830’s and the Mexican War which ended in 1848 had increased the size of the United States by a third.  Into this mix a charismatic young man from Louisiana named William Walker set out to become a hero.  He ended up dead and in the process showed the USA to be an imperialist country.

In 1853 he put together an army and invaded Mexico.  He took La Paz and Ensenada and declared The Republic of Sonora.  Mexico fought back and he returned, defeated to the USA.  He was tried for violating the neutrality act and acquitted by a jury in San Francisco.  Next he colonized Nicaragua took over the army and declared himself the President.  He openly declared that he would control all of Central America.  He was defeated by the Costa Ricans in 1856 and rescued by the US Navy.  In 1860 he was back in Honduras trying again to take over a country.  He was captured tried and hung by the Hondurans.  You can read the whole story of  William Walker on Wikipedia but you get the drift.  There is also a book “With Walker in Nicaragua” available on Amazon of course.