Get out of the box, people!! But Keep it Simple! ;)

Our first lecture today was definitely a delight.  His name was Manuel and he was a jokester.  He spoke to us about how this country, Costa Rica of course, has been growing and how opportunities are growing for young people. Costa Rica has the widest assortment of products exported in the world; Manual says they "export whatever we see."  In order to be successful, they had to learn how to compete with the world and how to start doing business with other countries.  They couldn't get it done with the attitude they had at the time, "whatever you  want."  To be successful, one can't think like that when doing business with the world.  You  have to be on your toes, not laid back.  Costa Ricans were trained to use what is here already and not import.  A lot of companies went bankrupt and governments started to push to sign free trade agreements in order to bring the company back up.  In 1968, the first free trade agreement signed in the world (CAFTA).  Manuel believes that Costa Rica has the most free trade agreements signed world wide making the economy here wide open to the world.  From 1978 to 1982, disaster struck when the government drove Costa Rica  into economic crisis.  The next government came in, a  transition government, and started to stabilize the economy bringing in foreign investment.  Costa Rica saw a breaking point was when Intel decided to come into the country.  Intel makes most of the worlds supply of computer chips.  After Intel, Procter and Gamble (GBO) came in.  P&G are now running about 60% of world wide operations from CR, including all accounting.  He explained that he made his children open a company of which he owned 1% to decrease the amount of arguments between his to oldest children, and he told them they couldn't have inventory or accounts receivable, for these are two ways to lose money in a company.  They opened an online company that shipped Costa Rican products to the world.  Their marketing strategies include Facebook, Google ads, yahoo ads, and a "do not complain with the customer" policy.   The message today is that opportunities are available all over the world, you just have to jump out of the box, and think easy and simple; simple things are where great things happen.  In a country with a lot of restrictions, a small country like Costa Rica has decided to open to the world.  Learn how to do business and perform world wide.  Even small companies are exporting products and bringing in money and business to Costa Rica as well (mini pineapples, dolls, rocking chairs).

Ms.  Lisa presented to us information on Costa Rican economic history.  Twenty-five percent of biodiversity is under some manner of protection.  By the time of the Spanish Conquest, Costa Rica was a commercial meeting place of larger tribes from North and South America.  It had never been under the political control of any of them, but the surplus of these societies converged.  There were at least 13 organized human groups in territory, with a  political and social organization.  They planted and gathered fruits and veggies along with fishing and hunting.  Political and religious positions as well as land rights were transferred from mother to children.

The Spaniards  took about 200 years to discover the country and establish themselves in Costa Rica. Different colonies were created to produce a variety of products.  Small farms were established.  It took a long time for Spaniards to come here and establish themselves.  Surplus of these small farms were used to trade with other small regions.

Costa Rica remained underdeveloped and self sustained for many years.

In 1780,  Spain developed a mechanism to promote stronger production of the colonies. It allowed for capital investment and working capital along with other things.

Independence of Costa Rica was declared in 1821 allowing for commerce with all nations. They started bringing entrepreneurs and capital to the country by way of coffee production, which was second next to tobacco.  Coffee producers needed better roads and a port to better trade with Europe, which helped the growth of the country.  They then started to produce and trade gold, and silver, along with other metals, as well as wood, bananas, and cocoa.

In 1880, Costa Rica started shipping to the US.  WWI put the national economy in trouble, since commercial ties with Germany were damaged.  Costa Rica recovered its income after the war but failed to diversify its exports or invest in productivity, leading to another defect in economy.  They always receive the shocks of international crisis.  After economic depression, Costa Rica grew back, but then came WWII.

 

Costa Rica is a democratic system, but an old president proposed another presidential candidate for the next term that would allow the previous president to work with him and stay in power, but the most popular candidate was the other candidate. There was cheating during the election, and the revolution started from this point on. The higher class represented the cheating side and joined the communist party. They became a band that wanted to stay in power.  So, Costa Rica has a socialist state that is democratic.

A revolution started in 1948.  The army existed at this point and people took over that army and existing government in only 3 months.  A new state was organized and took 18 months to design it.  It needed to answer to the social needs of the people.  The army was then abolished and new education, medicine, and insurance and other public services started for the people.  It sponsored by taxing exports, imports, and individual consumption.

Prices of coffee increased during 1950s, allowing Costa Rica to increase productivity and technology.  During WWII US built a road to protect the panama canal for trade reasons.  This is when the first economic model was developed.  In terms of production, a second model of which Costa Rica depends on the US market was also created (the common central American market).  They started trying to produce industrial goods and sell them to the rest of Central American, not just rely on imports from the US.  They came up with fertilizers, food products, and electrical appliances.  They were involved in internal struggles that inhibited the market, so Costa Rica would not be a good buyer for long.

The 80s brought with it another economic crisis (due to elevated prices of oil) but it was also a consequence of the fact that value of exports were very low and Costa Rica had very large deficit.   Costa Rica was completely dependent on the US market at this time.  A new model for development was created. It looked for new products and new places to send these to.  Goods with greater added value were created and they started to export to Europe again on a larger scale, such as non-traditional agricultural goods, flowers, plants, exotic produce, along with coffee and bananas and the like, hoping to generate employment here. 

Summary: the economic policy of exporting higher value-added goods and services, they have been successful in promoting growth,  Costa Rica has associated its economy to the US economy tightly.  Exports have nearly tripled in real times and reals growth of 6.6% in the 90s

Today, Costa Rica is a popular destination for investors and tourism, and there are better paying jobs for young people.

Costa Rica has always had a dynamic growing economy, but the problem is that exports are really very small compared to incomes.

Todays strategy: higher value added products and services by investing in education and development;  making a brand of sustainability and international peace and democratic government

Main sectors: services and commercial services

 

This year it is estimated that Costa Rica will have a 4% growth in production.  Labor is very low right now.  They have a currency band system for their currency and a large public promotion of external investment, but today it is a challenge for the country. The bands were established about 6 years ago; they don't allow currency to go higher than 670 value per dollar or lower than 500. 

 

Economic crisis created monetary expansion in the US.  Funds tend to move higher where revenue is obtained.

There is a small financial sector in Costa Rica and it's mostly public, but it's very inefficient and not much they can do to lower the interest rates.  The American dollar is huge due to the high interest rates in the country of Costa Rica.

The country is a little unstable from the financial stand point.

Study on Happiness in Costa Rica

What is the key to happiness in a country that is relatively underdeveloped and income is relatively low.  Questions asked are: how happy are you, would you like tomorrow to be a day like today, are most other people happier than you, in relation to a perfect life, how would you rate your life?

Questions are more about how you regard your life in general.  They aren't asking about the reasons, they are just asking simple questions and comparing results. 

Ms. Lisa created a questionnaire with 33 questions.  3 variables.  Theory states that the best definition of happiness is from Seligman's work: " a result of three variables: a set of range of positive emotion that we inherit, or derive from our temper, the set of circumstances you face in life, and those factors under your voluntary control."

She built a set of questions for each of these three variables.  She used questions that had relevant indicators of happiness.  Results were that

1. Your set range of emotions if you worry or resent past events; your valuation of how happy you are in comparison to other people

2. Circumstances: Educational level: higher= can go farther and are happier; Family: very important in Costa Rica; most of the answers has to do with families; being satisfied with the state of the country; improving social status

3. Factors under your control having personal objectives, a positive attitude toward problems, and an interest to climb the social ladder

Our next speaker is Ms. Gale.  She works for a foundation that works with under privileged people in the country.  She spoke to us about poverty ratification, which is very close to her heart.  She came to Costa Rica with the peace core and has been a humanitarian since she was very young.  One of her motivational messages is that you should speak up  and stand up for what you believe in, but do it in a way that isn't adversarial or belligerent. 

In the beginning of her journey here, there was more poverty than there is now and people are getting a better quality of life.  She works with volunteers from 1 hour to one year to longer than that.  She says that people who were coming here to volunteer were distraught particularly about disasters such as 9/11.  Ms. Gayle is from the US but has not lived there for over 30 years, but says that she holds her home country dear to her heart.

Poverty: 

Water is for cleaning, washing, or flushing the toilet if you have a toilet.  You do not get to use it for drinking.   You are unable to shower before work.  Your linens are never cleaned, therefore, you get bed bugs.  It is not the fault of the person, it is failure of the society.  Society fails when they deny these individuals a job because of their lack of decent clothing due to the fact that they simply cannot afford them.  Necessities such as food and rent and such comes first.  Most of these people live with guilt and anger because they cannot support their self and their children. 

In poverty communities, it is common for men to give up because they are not the bread winner and can't support their families, so they run off to the woman next door or to another country, leaving behind their children and the children's mothers.  This is why mothers and their children are so close to one another.

Part 2:

People who come to the La Carpio come from another country and are not able to go back to their country to see their mothers or pets.  There is a misconception about this place that it is dangerous.  Even the people from the country of Costa Rica are afraid of this neighborhood. 

Those who come in to work with these people begin with the children because it is easy to get to children and easy to teach them.  A bond is created with the mother by creating a bond with the children.  They then find a group of women and invest in them by giving them self-esteem workshops, therapy, teaching them to be better mothers by showing them how to do intellectual things with their children, and so on.  If you make sure that a woman gets x amount of money every Friday, she will make a life for herself and her children. 

Once you have all of this, men have to change their behavior because the women will not put up with their BS anymore. 

Part 3: business

How to people in poverty communities run a business? 

Very simple.  They take what they have in front of them and do what they can with it.  For example, if you have a chair, you place it in a clinic and rent it for a dollar a day.  You make enough money to buy food and maybe enough for another chair.  Every starts out with little money and builds on it.  They never borrow money because they do not want to pay interest on anything.  They can do more with the money they would pay on interest. 

In this community, they now have people going to high school and a population of older women who are interacting with the guys.  People are learning more and becoming more educated.  They are starting to give titles to the land and the future is that they will have an apartment community in La Carpio.  It will also give these people the right to vote.   These people are Nicoragrans. 

La Carpio:  There are 34000 people and it was founded by Costa Ricans.  Nicoragrans found this place and the word was out and not it is mainly Nicoragrans.  People pass down the business they are in to their children.  They teach their children the art of their business from a very young age. 

It is expensive to run this.  They run it by accepting donations, by charging mothers a small fee for childcare, and they also have volunteers that go to the community and helps them out.  Volunteers, if they can, help the community by supporting the finances of La Carpio.

Lunch was delicious again today.  It was a fabulous three course meal that started with a delicious soup and bread.  We then had a buffet style second course with your choice of lettuce topped with tomatoes, cucumbers, heart of some type of vegetable, corn, carrots, and/or ranch or Italian dressing.  There was also rice with shrimp and other chopped veggies, pork chops, and a thick slice of tomato topped with spinach, onions, and cheese (talk about delicious!)  For dessert, it was some type of chocolate mousse with nuts on top that practically melted in my mouth.  My stomach is wondering what in the world is going on.  Three course meals just don’t happen back home, especially in my house!

Our fourth speaker is a doctor who has numerous novels and writings.  By profession, he is a chemist with multiple levels of education.  He is here today to talk about the culture of Costa Rica.  Doctor speaks both French and English, but says he is quite insecure about his English and probably feels the same way about his French because he learned it late in life.   Doctor was also the director of a university.

There is a big difference between a big nation and a small country such as Costa Rica.  The way people perceive their nationality is quite different from one nation to another.  Particular nations are difficult to establish.  Costa Rica has a particular characteristic of which they are fond of.  They do not have an army.  Costa Rica is the first country in the world the dissolve the army and has been without it for about a century.  Costa Rica has been named as being a happy place, “Pura Vida.”  Costa Rica is responsible for many of the changes throughout the country of Panama. 

The last speaker spoke to us about the African descendants here in Costa Rica.  He showed us an image.  One of which looked like a couple caressing each other, but if you look closely there are multiple dolphins.  We are programmed by society to see things according to what they want us to see and think the way they want us to think.  When children are asked what they see in the same photo, they see the dolphins, for they are not yet brainwashed by society. 

He then talked about the Myans and joked that no one really knew of them until December of last year.  He showed multiple pictures of famous icons throughout the world.  These four icons are part of the 4 groups that are a part of the Costa Rican society (Native, African, Chinese, and European decedents).  These are also the ethnic groups found here and the heritage of which they descend from.   Different ethnic groups have different icons, but can reflect society. 

The world today is a product of the different efforts around the world. 

The name of Costa Rica is because of the beaches in the Caribbean.  The beaches are yellow, which made people think the beaches were gold, hints the name.

There were slaves brought into Costa Rica from Panama to work in the homes. 

Coffee is a very important topic in Costa Rica.  It was brought in from Cuba, used as a garden plant, and eventually turned out to be a very important item. 

Re-Conceptualizing our perception of History:
The idea is that if we have a set of members in society to have always been taught to think that they are less, we must give items to them to feel as if they are equal to others.  The concept of moving from slavery to what we are today is the same issue and experience within the United States.

In 1889, the first shipment of bananas was shipped to New Orleans but it also represented a new president and new jobs. 

Language is a barrier of Afrodescendents. They transformed areas into roads and take care of nature making natural coal.  They had public areas for washing clothes, which had to be washed/bleached, starched, ironed, the whole nine yards, in 4 days so captains of boats would have a nice uniform to go back onto their boat.  There is a strong relationship between indigenous religion and natural medicine and Afrodescendants. 

When the railroads were contracted, there was no benefits for the workers by the government, so the company took care of these people.  The most precious religious figure is African American.  She appeared to a black community. 

Guanacastians are mainly from Angola.  They have a very strong mixture of African food.

"Work all day, work all night, and I drink my rum!"

In 1949, they were considered Costa Ricans. 

Afro-Descendent is a shortened term to refer to a person of African descent.  It refers to a person who is of African descent, but not African themselves.