LATIN AMERICAN SUMMIT IN MIAMI

               Published by El Nuevo Herald on March 02, 2016

Recently and for the first time in Miami, the XIII Latin American Summit was held in the area. Attended by important personalities, the summit  (an event of a private nature), meet 500 people from all over Latin America where they had the opportunity to witness for three days to extraordinary political exhibitors. 

The Miami Summit was initiated by political personalities like Luigi Boria and Sandra Ruiz, mayor and deputy mayor of Doral respectively; Jose "Pepe" Diaz and Daniella Levine Cava, Miami Dade commissioners; Raul Martinez and Maurice Ferre, former mayor of Hialeah and Miami respectively.

Among the numerous and formidable representation of political strategists Fernand Amandi from Miami,  Yago de Marta from Spain and the acclaimed winner of 29 presidential campaigns,  JJ Rendón from Venezuela stood out.

Among the large attendance of foreign politicians were Federico Gutiérrez, mayor of Medellin, Colombia; Dalo Bucaram, a candidate for the presidency of Ecuador, and Vicente Fox, former president of Mexico.

The main feature of all exhibitors was to highlight the importance of Hispanic and Spanish language in the United States and the world, as well as the weight of the Latino vote in the great American nation.

The candidate for the presidency of Ecuador, Abdala Bucaram (Dalo), deepened the importance of the last name in political activities and referred to the family Kennedy, Bush and Fujimori. He coined the phrase "If your name is noisy, do it louder." He recommended "differentiated but not distanced"

At this point we said to him that although Jeb Bush loves his family but differed from his brother President George W. Bush, yet he chose to retire with dignity from the race. Dalo Bucaram said then that Jeb did not handle in its favor the great weight of his last name.

To Former President of Mexico Vicente Fox, we asked a public interest question for the US and countries members of the newly formed Transpacific Partnership (TPP), to whom Mexico also belongs.

We asked: In the light of recent Transpacific Agreement, Mexico needs to reformulate many of its trade agreements previously agreed in the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA). How do you see this process? The President's reply was: "One thing has nothing to do with the other, it is something positive for the US but does not commit to NAFTA."

Last year we had the opportunity to participate in a conference call with David Simas, Economic White House Counsel. Indeed, the focal point of this conference was the urgent need to redesign the NAFTA agreements in order to reconcile them with the covenants of TPP, of which Mexico is a signatory. As we see, it is opposing positions.

Former President Fox was the most effusive of foreign politicians. He berated Donald Trump stressing that such an illustrious chair, where have sat figures like George Washington and Abraham Lincoln, now it was too big for him.

He also expressed agreement with the US relations - Cuba and said that these relations should never be truncated, such as Mexico and Canada, who always maintained diplomatic exchanges with Cuba.

Notably, President Fox, apparently never was interested about the hardships and persecution endured by the Cuban people through many years of harsh dictatorship. The vast majority of democratically elected nations by then, cut ties with the communist regime of Cuba in protest at human rights violations on the island and the absence of all kinds of freedoms.

Today, after three generations that have survived the regime under conditions of hardship, strategies for democratic change in Cuba have changed, without this meaning that crimes against humanity are forgotten. Countries with which the US has restored trade relations have seen a marked improvement in its gross domestic product (GDP). Cuba is no an exception.

A private trade incipient growing on the island will eventually flood the business registers, causing the massive circulation of the dollar and encouraging the export of Cuban goods and services.

Everything will be under the commercial genius who have always shown the Cubans, and that made the island the most developed country in Latin America and the largest and most efficient US trading Latin partner, before 1960.

Benjamin F. DeYurre

Economist and journalist.

THE EFFECT TRUMP IN FLORIDA

Published by El Nuevo Herald on February 15, 2016

The "wise" Donald Trump suggestions are already having its effect in Florida; It was recently approved by the state legislature a law that relentlessly pursue illegal immigrants.

The HB675 law, approved by state representatives by an overwhelming majority of 80 to 36, requires that local governments, through the police officers detain immigrants suspected of being undocumented.

It also requires that school districts take appropriate action. This is, teachers should expose children who do not submit the legal documents of stay in the US. And of course, children and their illegal parents would be subject to deportation.

The immediate consequences of these "noble and intelligent" measures would include:

▪ The crime rate will increase because many are afraid to report illegal criminal activities in progress, such as murder, rape, armed assaults and robberies.

▪ Trials in court will not have fair results as criminal sentences for serious crimes and others like fraud, embezzlement, money laundering, forgery, etc., will be much milder as many undocumented workers will refuse to serve as witnesses.

▪ The agricultural business will decline and shortages in some vegetables will be evident.

Many illegal survive in the US planting and harvesting vegetables and fruits, such as tomatoes, onions and oranges. It is estimated that workers in these matters are 80% immigrants.

Given that the law must be fulfilled, these agricultural fields will be subject to state supervision, which will make immigrants be absent due to frequent raids.

With the decline of agricultural supply, product shortages will cause price increases. The export of some items disappear and thus affect the growth we had in 2015 when the export of goods and services increased by 35%.

▪ The sale of books and school supplies will decrease. The profitability of school transport will decrease for having fewer children-customers.

▪ The cost of Police will increase and thereby will increase taxes to taxpayers. To carry out massive raids, more agents and more technically advanced procedures are necessary.

As we see, the "bright" Donald Trump divisive ideas begin to spread. The anti - immigrant pionner law passed in Arizona and known as the HB1070, which was endorsed by Sheriff Joe Arpaio in 2010, was partially dissolved by the Supreme Court due to violations of the Constitution.

Logically , the sheriff Arpaio recently publicly expressed support for the candidacy of Donald Trump.

Both want to deeply divide the great American nation, mainly by legal status and race.

In Florida, the urgent intervention of the state Senate may actually have a vital importance, before the end of this legislative session, in order to repeal this absurd law HB675.

In addition to be human, this would be a smart move because this catastrophic law may suffer the same fate as the Arizona HB1070: partially or completely dissolved by the Supreme Court. Why we have to absorb the cost that means this painful litigation?

Benjamin F. DeYurre

Economist and journalist.

CUBAN REFUGEES AND THE CHESSBOARD

Published by El Nuevo Herald on January 18, 2016

Humanitarian crises in Latin America have been a lot and for various reasons; however, only one has been originated in 57 years of a harsh dictatorship.

We refer to the Cuban immigration crisis that keeps some 8,000 citizens of that country in Costa Rica, 10,000 in Ecuador, 1,000 in Panama, 700 in Colombia and an unknown number in Mexico (estimated at 1,000), formed by a group of people that have not yet achieved their entry into the United States.

Indeed, the suffering of these migrants has been enormous.

They began with the purchase of air ticket Cuba-Ecuador at about $ 440, but not before having sold their few belongings in Cuba and have borrowed money from family and friends, inside and outside the country. Also, they have renounced to their jobs and schools. Everything was in order to make some temporary accommodation in Quito and having some food to start their long and arduous land and sea crossing to Tapachula-Mexico, from where they could legally enter US territory.

The journey through Colombia was particularly dangerous, dodging wild animals and poisonous snakes, highwaymen and con artists by trade, who were charged twice by crossing them in rivers.

Most who managed to arrive in Costa Rica were trapped there by the refusal of Nicaragua to continue its path. Thanks to the noble management of Costa Rica, an airlift was achieved to El Salvador, which costs $ 555 for each Cuban, exorbitant figure for them in view of the above expenses.

El Salvador and Guatemala provide military security to Cubans during passage through its territory, but not Mexico, who also gives them only 20 days leave to abandon their land. Meanwhile, they are subject to attacks by criminal gangs and drug traffickers, and many of them have not yet managed to enter US territory, being in legal limbo and therefore subject to deportation by the Mexican government.

Throughout this long and dangerous journey was chosen by these thousands of Cubans who chose to risk that way before facing the uncertainty of the Caribbean Sea, which we know serves as a grave to thousands of Cuban rafters who perished trying to reach land of freedom, invoking an interpretation of the law known as "dry feet, wet feet".

It's very curious the fact that Ecuador has allowed free arrival of Cubans without visas before December 1, 2015. It seems that it was a preconceived stampede.

What purpose will seek the Castro regime with this manipulation?

Obviously, it seems that the regime wants to force a settlement to the Cuban Adjustment Act of 1966, which granted immigration benefits and financial support for Cubans who arrive on US territory.

And why the Castro regime wants to eliminate the Cuban Adjustment Act?

In light of the renewed US-Cuba relations, massive cash remittances by Cuban US to their relatives on the island it would be hindered if thousands of citizens continue their exodus.That is, the reconstruction of the impoverished and poor Cuban economy requires not only money capital, but also requires human capital able to pay taxes.

The issuance of sovereign bonds, the return of a commercial register and the reprinting of land registers, together with the mass circulation of the dollar on the island and the increasing involvement of banks, could lead to a kind of economic model Chinese Cuban style .

The end of communism would be very close then. Something that has not yet happened in China. However, the Asian idiosyncrasy is different from the Spanish. There tend to revere their rulers as gods.

From 1960 to 1962, 14,000 Cuban children emigrated to the US under the project known as Peter Pan. In 49 years, more than a million Cubans have benefited from the Cuban Adjustment Act of 1966.

However, many politicians in the US that, somehow, they or their parents have benefited from these laws, are now against giving shelter to 20,000 Cubans who are in transit. In other words, "I am Cuban, I benefited, but I do not want others to be benefited also." What kind of moral is this ?

And what is more important: the current Cuban migrants are not guilty. They are just chips on a chessboard.

Benjamin F. DeYurre

Economist and journalist.

CLOSING 2015: NO CASH IN MIAMI

                    Published by El Nuevo Herald on December 29, 2015

Domestic US economy has performed well in 2015; however, locally, they have received some disturbing factors, including the lack of cash.

Indeed, in the last five months it comes to appreciate a considerable increase in the use of so-called "plastic money". In most businesses where we conducted an informal survey, not methodological, only 15% of customers paid in cash.

Particularly in the area of ​​Greater Miami, three factors have influenced this behavior:

▪ More than 7,000 regular taxi drivers who previously paid their services in cash, now have virtually become unemployed by competition from UBER, which does business in credit card.

The market for customers who take taxis is the same, only have moved to UBER. Consequently this clientele now has a larger universe to choose their services as more than 50,000 people are available as taxi drivers.

Of course, it is not the same a market for 7,000 suppliers, than for 50,000. More people can work and provide a cheaper service, but its gain is minuscule now. Since UBER customers use credit and previous 7,000 taxi drivers no longer receive the same cash than before, consumption with cash has decreased, that is, is now lower volume of cash circulating daily in the business of Great Miami.

▪ The furor to lottery play has increased, mainly among people over 54 years old. Games known as "Scratch Off" have become very popular, especially those whose value exceeds $ 20 per unit.

It turns out that the emergence of numerous winners of millionaires in that price level awards, has significantly increased the hope of the population in a sudden fortune. However, what has happened in reality is a decrease of cash held by the public.

The rise of casinos is another factor restricting cash in circulation. Generally, retirees and those receiving federal aid, are mostly regulars casino gambling.

Of course, this is a  restrictive factor to business prosperity since those who lose their retirement in the game does not have access to credit and therefore stop consuming in commercial establishments.

For that reason, it is common in the Great Miami a kind of economic boom in subsequent days of collecting monthly federal check aid.  And as a contrast, we look at the rest of the month, a very slow economic activity.

Lack of cash is generally costly to employers because it forces them to pay higher financing costs; that is, each time they have to pay more to banks for processing  credit cards.

In turn, the unbridled use of cards  creates a false sense of well-being in the consumer, it reduces their income level, limiting their ability to commit new debt and endangering his or her economic future.

And what is more serious; the exaggerated use of cards generally leads to increases in individual credit limit bank. The roof of this debt will it grow until it becomes unsustainable and consequently, sooner or later results in loss for the already battered banks, who simply with its poor loan portfolio do not generate enough to undertake the expense involved by thousands of branches and employees.

2015 has been a prodigal year in good economic news. We started the year with a record high of 18,000 points in the Dow Jones index, we increased to more than 2,100 points, the S & P 500 index, we  reduced the fiscal deficit to 2.8% and unemployment to 5.1% only. This has allowed corporate profits to have increased by 175% and exports of goods and services by 33%.

In turn, all this economic activity has generated the resources to compensate retired 49 million of retired, 21 million of veterans  and 11 million of disabled.

All these figures are promising, but still, we have to be aware of the excessive use of plastic money, that if it were to become a national epidemic, it could finish in another sort of housing bubble, as the previous crisis in 2008.

What would help? Maybe, just doing only one weekly draw in the lottery and controlling the proliferation of casinos. Let's do it.

Benjamin F. DeYurre

Economist and journalist.

PARTISAN DIVISIONS: HOW THEY AFFECT THE ELECTORATE

           Published by El Nuevo Herald on December 06, 2015

"Careful who you step to climb because maybe you find it going down."  This is a popular saying and based on that axiom which says "the world takes many turns." 

And it applies to various fields; less intense in the student area, medium scale in the labor force and stronger in political parties.

Indeed, in political activism we see how the power struggle is of great proportions. Particularly in the United States this issue has reached a considerable height.

A recent Hollywood movie, Our Brand is Crisis, with which we contribute in its premiere in Miami, tells us about the harshness of political campaigns. Based on true events, the film was shot in Bolivia and tells us how a presidential candidate with 10% in the polls, hire a team of American campaign that leads to victory, after a fierce slaughter. The film shows how political campaigns are stark in the United States, where the only goal is to win at any cost.

It turns out that in the daily happenings of political activism, we can see some frankly incomprehensible attitudes: Suddenly, we see someone close to us stops taking our phone calls. For no apparent reason, someone avoids us or denies our greeting at a meeting. Inexplicably, somebody prohibit us to take the microphone at an event where we were supposed to talk.

Indeed, many fear that those who are  coming up, make them shade, surpassing and subtracting their  opportunities or prestige.

Sometimes, this is due to a purely political competition, how is happening now in a tight battle for the Republican presidential nomination.

Other times, it is due to requests from friends. This is "Stopped Him".

And sometimes it is because of old grudges.

Certainly, all of this leads to partisan divisions as they begin to form different groups within the party. It seems to be a skill the fact of creating a group of party supporters. In other words, the more domestic political support you have, the more you brake the competitors, even though they are better than you in many ways.

It happens that there are people who lose elections, not only for themselves, but make them lose their party also. These people are usually divisive and expressly hinder any other candidate from his own party. Simply, they not tolerate another victory in a similar position as it makes them look weak.

But amid his ambition, he hurt his party and the country since in many cases, the best candidate is not the one who finally comes to elections.

And even if he reaches elections, there we can see incredibly sectors within his own party, interested in his defeat.

In the workplace, many fear telling their real experience. It turns out that the interviewer is also fearful of hiring "knife to his throat." Similarly, it often happens that the boss has his own candidate, usually friends or recommended.

Of course, the aggrieved in this case is the hiring company, who stopping using the services of a qualified staff due to external or internal pressures that in nothing help the business.

The same is true in politics, but in this field there are many affected; voters, who are prevented from choosing the best candidate due to the fact there are varied and intertwined factors involved in their nomination, namely: money, individualism, manipulation, ambition and power.

How to choose the best candidates? There are two viable ways: 1) limiting spending on election campaigns; for example, depending on position, they could buy only TV spaces to $ 100,000. 2) Conceiving bipartisan vote in the primaries of both parties; for example, in the Democratic primary, vote both Republicans and Democrats, and vice versa.

With these measures, the beneficiary is the voter, who in this way is closer to a less prefabricated candidate.

BENJAMIN F. DeYURRE

Economist and journalist.

Follow on Twitter:  DeYURRE

UNITED STATES: THE MIRROR OF THE WORLD

                                         Published by El Nuevo Herald on Nov. 25, 2015





A popular saying goes: "When America is cold, the other countries have pneumonia." 

This applies not only in the most acute economic crisis that the world has known, as are those generated under the leadership of Presidents Herbert Hoover in 1929 and George W. Bush in 2008, it also applies to situations such as terrorism and immigration, where what happens in the US seems to be reflected as a mirror image to other countries.

Indeed, the crisis known as the crash of 1929 was in global scale. The lack of production, widespread shortages, the explosion of unemployment, mass bankruptcy of large factories and the disappearance of famous trademarks were the main features of the crisis.

USA being the main producer and exporter, expected that global trade would decline significantly, and thus economic activity in general.

So, an improvement of Economy, framed in theories of John Maynard Keynes English, were necessary to steer the market activity in the world again.

These theories simply justified the intervention in monetary and fiscal policy in the US, which came expressed in different measures taken by President Franklin Delano Roosevelt, known as the "New Deal" and among them were the creation of Social Security and the establishment of the minimum wage, that over the years have served as an example for many countries.

In situations of international terrorism, attacks in other parts of the world have increased, after the US has suffered a similar action. The slaughter of the Twin Towers in 2001, known as 9/11, seems to have generated a shock wave around the world.

After many aftershocks followed, for example, the night club in Bali, Indonesia, 2002, 202 people; Madrid train, 2004, 191 people; London Underground, 2005, 52 deaths; attacks in Mumbai-India, 2008, 164 dead, and a few days ago, the attacks in Paris, 129 dead.

9/11 genocide was painful to an entire nation, seems to have woken up in a macabre sadism in  terrorists to attack public places with large public attendance.

In turn, 9/11 caused a dramatic change in security measures around the world. New technologies made their appearance and inspection at ports and airports reached new levels.

Also, the immigration problem in the United States has had its foreign repercussions.

In recent years it has been emphasizing formalize a comprehensive immigration reform that would contemplate a solution, not only for those who have come to the US, but for those who have yet to do so.

The United Nations defines as migrants who for more than a year have lived outside their country of origin; Under this concept, in 2013, 232 million international migrants were recorded.

Of that number, nearly half have migrated only to ten countries, although the US is the favorite with 46 million registered.

US immigrants have doubled from 1990 to 2013. That meant other countries have followed US doubling its foreign population in the same period, including Germany, UK, Canada, Australia, Spain and the UAE.

The theme around immigration reform in the United States was reflected in the increase of migrants crossing the Mediterranean, which grew from 50,000 in 2011 to over 225,000 in 2014. Most of them are from African countries and their destination Home is Italy.

People displaced by the civil war in Syria are almost half the population and have taken refuge in neighboring countries such as Turkey, Lebanon, Iraq and Jordan, although Syria still remain 8 million people homeless.

Still, the most important immigrant corridor in the world remains the border between Mexico and Texas. Indeed, they are currently trying to reach this border over 1,000 Cubans who come from Ecuador in a long journey that has been truncated in Nicaragua, a country that has refused to continue their march that group.

A country has the choice to accept or not to give shelter to refugees, but should not deny a pass to cross its territory. That is inhuman.

As the world mourns for other nationalities, so they should do also for suffered Cubans, who have endured a dictatorship of 56 years, the longest in modern history.

As we see, we have the honor of living in the world's most important country, one that dictates the guidelines then imitated by other countries.

Help him with ideas like creating American civic universities in other countries, which not only offer classes in business and technology, but also give a sample of our way of life in America, our values ​​and our constitutional democracy.

This will also propagate all the positive aspects that the US has to offer and, therefore, would be imitated by those who have not yet done.

Undoubtedly, it is a smart investment.

BENJAMIN F. DeYURRE
Economist and journalist.

POLITICAL MYOPIA IN CONSUMER ABUSE

                                          Published by El Nuevo Herald on Nov 08, 2015

Cable TV company is continuously stalking customers to increase their prices. Customers should call every four months because they find that the price is increasing.

If you fall behind in payment, they charge $ 10 plus $ 6 for an automatic reconnection. Everything is complicated when phoning the company. Ask for the billing department, just do not answer the phone. If you you press the phone extension to change or remove the services, nobody takes the phone.

In other words, it is a real abuse to the consumer, who has to endure such abuse.

Of course, there is the option to choose automatic payments with your credit card or checkbook. But in truth, we have to be insane to provide this information to someone you can not be reached then.

Obviously, there are other providers, including satellite, which will offer promotional prices to 1st customers, but then fall into the same, that is, you do not have salvation.

Another important and very worrying aspect today is the subsidized health market, where many companies traded health insurance. In the last months, Insurance companies are putting many obstacles to the procedures prescribed by specialists.

At first, the request for authorization are finally "received" by insurance 20 days after being sent by the specialist doctor. In many cases denied authorization for the procedure because certain rules patterned themselves were not fulfilled.For example, for a MRI, they claim not to have received the X-rays previously made to the patient. Also, for certain MRI they require a monthly rate of previous physical exercise.

To minimize this negative effect, they offer an appeals process, whose rules you must submit.At the end of that process, if you are still alive, it may be that you see your authorization finally approved.

In other words, it seems that insurance companies are denying medical procedures to patients covered by health market known as Obamacare. It would take only a proper investigation, to discuss government funding they are getting those companies to provide these services.

Because if an insurance company is involved in the open market health, they must provide coverage to patients, given that they are being compensated for their services.

As in all beginnings, there are problems that must be dissipated. Among these problems is the presence of tricksters always seeking to make their fortunes at the expense of human sacrifice.

An internal and external audit of the attached health insurance market regulated by the ACA (Afordable Care Act) is imposed.

The most interesting of the abuses we suffer in the US is the indifference of most politicians; Unfortunately, it happens that many of these traditional and renowned corporations finance political campaigns. And many government ombudsmen, just seem to be myopic and fail to see the abuses committed daily against the majority of the population.

We know and understand how our system works, which we support because by stimulating the entrepreneurial human spirit, put the world in motion, creating jobs and generating welfare works.

But by believing in our system and respect it, that is why we need legislators who just really support the majority, not the minority.

Not only do we worry about our bank accounts grow, and to increase excessive and corporate income indefinitely to achieve higher stock dividends at the end of each fiscal year.

We must also worry because consumers should be received a service honest and rewarding, mainly because they are who maintaining businesses, buying their products and / or services.

So, in this way our Democracy is preserved.

BENJAMIN F. DeYURRE
Economist and journalist.