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PostPosted: Sat Dec 06, 2008 3:19 pm 
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Costa Rica does not get their crude oil from Europe or Asia, they get it from Venezuela, which may not ge governed by OPEC.


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PostPosted: Sat Dec 06, 2008 3:42 pm 
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Frankws wrote:
Costa Rica does not get their crude oil from Europe or Asia, they get it from Venezuela, which may not ge governed by OPEC.


Venezuela is one of the 5 founding members of OPEC. Costa Rica also buys from PEMEX in Mexico which is not a member country of OPEC.

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PostPosted: Mon Dec 08, 2008 9:50 am 
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Today's www.amcostarica.com on page 2 this issue is talked about. the powers that be,are lowering the price/liter by a few cents. This will bring the price for regular DOWN to the equivalent of $3.86/gallon. Hmmm....the price in the US which overtaxes EVERYTHING is how much these days??? By the way,I don't drive here in CR,so my interest is solely educational.


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PostPosted: Mon Dec 08, 2008 4:59 pm 
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Location: NFM--Geezers, cowpokes and the working poor--yeeha!
Brother VegasBob--I don't agree that gasoline is overtaxed in the U. S.--if anything just the opposite. Taxes don't just raise money--they are also used as a means of social engineering. If the U.S. had all along taxed gasoline appropriately we'd have (1) more money available for infrastructure repair (have you seen the list of billions necessary needed to fix roads, bridges, dams?); (1A) less need of transpo infrastucture building and repair because less useage of both cars and long-distance trucks (a healthier railroad system so truck transpo would be primarily local); (2) equally good but more fuel-efficient vehicles (cars, trucks, boats); (3) because of item #2, no need to bail out the industry dinosaurs; (4) some oil left for the great grandchildren.
Remember, Gang, that gasoline is only a byproduct of cat-cracking oil--it's uses elsewhere (fuel oil, feedstock for plastics, etc) are much more important and unreplaceable.
We can't go back and change history but future history starts NOW. If the hard choices had been made in the past, would we be in our present fix? Impossible to say for certain but I'd guess--NO.

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PostPosted: Mon Dec 08, 2008 8:45 pm 
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EDUCATION

Some of the lesser educated and poorer families particularly those dominated by a very controlling father believe that spending scarce family funds on educating a female Ch*ld past the 8th grade is a waste of money. Grade nine and above are not free, albeit very inexpensive by our standards. Yet for a poor family the cost can be very high.

Another problem is the cultural acceptance in some communities that being under employed is not just acceptable it is a goal, being unemployed is better; that attending university is too high faluton and only for the higher ups.

TAX POLICY

JazzboCR recognizes something that we often ignore, tax policy is quite often not so much about raising money but about creating or changing social policies and social engineering.


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PostPosted: Thu Dec 11, 2008 2:02 pm 
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Okay. I went to Shell yesteday and asked. The guy at the pump said that super and regular are going down another 150 Cs on the 15th. This is roughly 490 Cs for a liter of super. By my calculation, this is roughly $3.37 per gallon.

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PostPosted: Thu Dec 11, 2008 2:22 pm 
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Gasoline taxes here are high-ish, but not all that outrageous, especially compared to Europe. If low gas taxes are a priority, there is always Venezuela or Saudi Arabia. If you can't afford the gas taxes here, you can do what I do, and not own a car. A radical solution for an American, I know, but it can be done.

As far as education goes, I was not brought up in Chicago, so perhaps my perspective is warped, but my public schools were just fine. Not modern, not country clubs, very working class, but I certainly learned enough to get into College. I don't say that private schools are bad here, I don't say that public schools are bad here. But when I went to school in first-world US of A, I didn't have to pay for my books and supplies. Here they have to pay for that and uniforms as well. Middle class Ticos don't have a problem with that, but many of the families I know at the poor end of the scale are choosing between buying books and uniforms and paying their water and electricity bill. It is rare to find a girl from a poor family that has more than a sixth grade education. They are well aware that they are not going to become doctors or lawyers, so why bother with the expense?

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PostPosted: Thu Dec 11, 2008 2:30 pm 
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Chi_trekker wrote:
Okay. I went to Shell yesteday and asked. The guy at the pump said that super and regular are going down another 150 Cs on the 15th. This is roughly 490 Cs for a liter of super. By my calculation, this is roughly $3.37 per gallon.


Even better the price will drop at 12:01 AM Saturday morning rather then on the 15th. :D :D :D

Inside Costa Rica Wednesday December 10, 2009

Gasoline Prices To Keep Falling. Finally!

With the drop in the price of crude oil on international markets, the price of gasoline at the pumps in Costa Rica are finally beginning to fall, the biggest drop to be this Saturday.

According to the Autoridad Reguladora de los Servicios Públicos (Aresep) - regulator of public prices and services - the price of gasoline will keep dropping.

The price of a barrel of crude on international markets went from us$144 in July to yesterday's close of us$43. However, a gallon of gasoline in Costa Rica still costs more than us$5, while in the US, for instance, the price is under us$2 a gallon.

On Friday, the latest approved price drop will be published in La Gaceta and takes effect at the stroke of midnight Saturday, when a litre of super gasoline goes down in price ¢152 colones, regular ¢150 and diesel ¢87. The price of natural gas and aviation fuel will also drop.

Currently a litre of super gasoline sells fro ¢640 colones, on Saturday it will be ¢488. A litre of regular gasoline will drop from today's price of ¢624 a litre to ¢474 and diesel from ¢609 to ¢522.

Using today's exchange rate of ¢550 colones to a US dollar, the price of a litre of super is us$1.16 (us$4.49 a gallon), regular us$1.13 (us$4.37) and diesel us$1.10 (us$4.25).

On Saturday the prices for a litre of super will be us$0.88 (us$3.40), regular us$0.86 (us$3.34) and diesel us$0.95 (us$3.6 8).

However, there is good news, prices will continue to drop even further if the price of crude remains the same. The Aresep has changed its formula for calculating gasoline prices from 30 days to 15 days.

The change means that Recope - the state refinery - could ask for a further reduction on Friday that could mean a further reduction of ¢50 per litre that would take effect in the new year.

Inside Costa Rica Thursday December 11, 2008

Correction: Gasoline Prices To Keep Falling. Finally!

On Wednesday we reported that the price of gasoline drops considerably at the stroke of midnight Saturday. For clarity, the lower prices take effect at 12:01 am Saturday.

A reader pointed up that our stroke of midnight statement would mean the prices drop on Sunday.

We apologize for any misunderstanding. The price of gasoline definitely drops ¢152 colones for a litre of super, ¢150 for regular and ¢87 for diesel.

The approved price reduction is to be published in the government official publication, La Gaceta, Friday, December 12 and takes effect the at 12:01am Saturday, December 13.

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PostPosted: Thu Dec 11, 2008 4:13 pm 
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Ok, i'm ADD and not the most focused in the world... where did education come from and how does it fit in to the topic? Not being a smart ass, just don't want to go back and back read....


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PostPosted: Thu Dec 11, 2008 8:42 pm 
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Thirdworld, there actually is a connection to the price of petrol and education as discussed herein.

Bilko was trying to demonstrate why Costa Rica seemingly has such bad governance.

- Specifically, is it the bad governance which keeps Costa Rican fuel at almost double US prices considering the drastic fall in the price of crude over the past few months?

- If it isn’t, where does the money go?

Bilko attributed the ability to manipulate government driven fuel prices -- and by inference any other number of governmental policies which have a direct impact on the populace - to ignorance and a generally low educational level. When things get too complicated or too conflicted to understand, people tend to shut down and avoid. To me, that is what pura vida means, I do give a shit anymore. This is too hard to understand or someone is hiding stuff from me and I don’t have the power to dig it out. One more Imperial por favor.

To illustrate, Bilko wrote that the “vaunted high literacy rate, the education level in Costa Rica is abysmal.” He followed it up with an important insight into that ignorance (read that as being unaware or lacking knowledge not as an insult). “I asked a girl once if she had ever been out of Costa Rica. She said yes, Guanacaste. Don Oscar and his gang of thieves depend on ignorance to rule and steal.”

Bilko is really bright. He has it. Ignorance of those who govern us -- their beliefs, values, attitudes and actions – allows them to do what ever they want with impunity -- in plain sight. The foundation of ignorance is in poor schooling in the fundamentals of reading and thought including history, logic and rhetoric.

Of course, Costa Rica does not have a monopoly on ignorance particularly of why one develops a rationale for selecting (voting for) an elected leader. One of the most brilliant men I know voted for McCain because they were both in the Navy. Perhaps there was more to his decision making process than a simple tie to Uncle Sam’s Canoe Club, but that tie is what he articulated which to me means that it was a pivotal decision point. Nearly a half century ago, my grandmother proudly announced she voted for JFK because he had a cute boyish smile.

If you have even been involved in marketing an image (product or person including a political candidate) you know it is all about hitting a chord in someone. It isn’t logic, it isn’t necessarily rational thought, it is all about emotions and touching that emotional site which resonates and makes you feel good.

This is NOT intended to stimulate the discussion toward politics or political theory but simply to explain how we got to where we are.

Democracy takes effort. It dissipates in darkness and ignorance but flourishes in knowledge, understanding and the light of day.

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PostPosted: Thu Dec 11, 2008 9:50 pm 
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Are we here so different? How many people voted for Obama just because of race? Before anyone turns this into a racial post I want to tell you that being from the south it was hard to swallow at first. I have been for the most part ,quite proud of his choices and policy glimpses so far. Costa Ricans from my five or six years of observation are much more easily swayed by fringe elements than by grasp of the actual facts. I think that Costa Rica could use their own Obama figure, that being someone that has a true love for the people and a desire to right the wrongs, instead of self enrichment.


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PostPosted: Fri Dec 12, 2008 2:29 pm 
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Diego defended me wonderfully well, but I just want to add a tiny bit.

Gas prices are a result of tax policy. The rulers of this country (many of whom have sizable land holdings and income) prefer to generate revenue by taxing sales of consumer goods (VAT and gas taxes, for example) rather than pay reasonable taxes themselves on property or large incomes. Another way to keep THEIR taxes down is through hidden taxes such as requiring students to buy their own books and uniforms. This has the added positive effect (for the ruling elite) of keeping the poor undereducated. The undereducated are much easier to manipulate, though they don't have a monopoly on that. I hope I have demonstrated the connection between gas prices, tax policy and education. If not, I believe there is a topic elsewhere on what kind of pu*sy lips we all prefer.

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PostPosted: Fri Dec 12, 2008 3:36 pm 
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Bilko wrote:
Another way to keep THEIR taxes down is through hidden taxes such as requiring students to buy their own books and uniforms. This has the added positive effect (for the ruling elite) of keeping the poor undereducated. The undereducated are much easier to manipulate, though they don't have a monopoly on that.


Also, don't forget that those same oligarchs own the stores that provide the prescribed books and uniforms.

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PostPosted: Fri Dec 12, 2008 5:33 pm 
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MarkL54 You asked “Are we here so different?” -- meaning don’t we as Americans vote based on something other than rational thought. That was exactly my point. People typically make emotion-based political decisions; that is why Republican typically vote Republican, Democrats typically vote Democrat, and the margin for victory is the highly sought after so-called independents or decline to state voters.

They are the target of focus by campaign strategists because they can and do sway the election to one side or the other. But they are usually not as "independent" as they claim to be. The data stored on likely voters and then used in political campaigns is among the most sophisticated of all marketing programs. And the marketers, the campaign strategists, do not use logic to sway, they use emotion. What is a better car -- Toyota or Hyundai; Chevy or Ford; Nissan or Fiat? We have all been manipulated by relentless marketing. Politics is no different.

As to your point about “someone that has a true love for the people and a desire to right the wrongs, instead of self enrichment” that was Don Pepe Figueras (José Fiueres Ferrer) the president in 1948-1949 and 1953-1955. He was the farmer turned soldier who lead the revolution in April 1948, which ousted the Calderon Guardia communistic regime presided [over] at the time by Teodoro Picado." (see Christopher Weston Kinght (1993) Momentos de Lucha y de Gloria, San Jose, CR: Trejos Hnos., p.20) That is the way he governed and that is why he is so revered and admired throughout the nation.

His son, José Maria Figueres, who was president from 1994 to1998, is not so widely revered. He will not return to Costa Rica because there is an open case on him for allegations of fraud during the time he was president.

The next presidential campaign is right around the corner. If crime is not a big campaign issue, then the proof of total lethargy among the electorate is without question.


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PostPosted: Fri Dec 12, 2008 5:39 pm 
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Additional thoughts on price of petrol

Someone who knows a lot about CR business told me that keeping petrol prices artificially high could be due to the fact that several members of the political and business elite own the rights to sugar cane based ethanol. They want to drive its use by causing petroleum prices to remain high, then ethanol becomes a viable, cost effective alternative for Recope. If prices are low, it is not that viable.


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