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In first 100 days, just 11.2% believe Solís government is doing good job on economy

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August 28th, 2014 (InsideCostaRica.com) The latest consumer confidence report by the School of Statistics at the University of Costa Rica shows that just 11.2% believe the new government of Luis Guillermo Solís is doing a good job in its handling of the economy, while 43.4% say the government is doing a poor job of handling the economy.

 

Meanwhile, consumer confidence has dropped six percentage points since Solís took office in May, falling from 49.7% to 43.7%.  That figure is lower than after former president Laura Chinchilla’s first 100 days in office, when consumer confidence stood at 50.3%.

 

“People are losing confidence in the economy of this country,” Johnny Madrigal, a UCR researcher, told El Financiero.

 

Additional findings of the survey, conducted between August 4th-14th, reveal that most people expect interest rates to rise in the future and fewer than half believe their family’s income will rise over the next 12 months.

 

Solís will deliver his “first 100 days” address today at 7 p.m.

 

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  • Ken Morris

    Yeah, but this has nothing to do with Solís, except in the nebulous sense that he hasn’t inspired optimism. Economic initiatives take a long time to get translated into policy, and longer still to impact the economy. The risk here is that public opinion turns against Solís before he has a chance to do anything, and then with public opinion against him he won’t be able to do anything.

    The critical challenge at the moment is to resist rendering generalized judgments about Solís and to focus instead on any specific missteps he may be making. There may be some of these. He hasn’t been clear about his position on taxing tourism industries retroactively, which I don’t believe anyone thinks is fair or prudent; he seems too concerned about regional economic inequality, which while a legitimate concern about distribution doesn’t address the core problem of production; and as far as I can tell he hasn’t articulated a coherent overall vision for economic progress, even though he’s gotten many of the details right.

    However, I think the critics should focus on specifics at this point. It’s just premature, counterproductive, and therefore irresponsible to announce an overall judgment at this point, even though Solís may want to use these premature judgments as a wake up call to articulate a more coherent vision than he has so far.

    Maybe he will tonight. Hope so.

    • Upset with goverment of CR

      Its time for full over throw of the rich PLN and PAC goverments elite that control Costa Rica. Lets remenber that New Prez was in the last PLN admin. The New Prez hates poor and middle class and also hates small business.

    • disgusted

      Ken you make a good point.. However, all he could say mostly is the corruption among government is overwhelming. 57 law makers and their staff, perks, SUV, dinners with wine endless gas cards. Then their pension for life and even after they die.. did I miss what the future plans are?? 57 lawmakers for a small country of 4.5 million! somethings wrong here as well. How about downsizing everything start there with cutting diputados and their staff. Other than collecting taxes?? How about putting some of these lawmakers, attorneys and all in prison and take away their pensions..Naw only dreaming.

      • Ken Morris

        You’re ahead of me, since I haven’t as yet read the transcript of the speech (if one is available) but he did seem to hammer home about the corruption without articulating much of a vision for the future. He’ll probably get a couple months’ boost in the polls for this, but I still say that unless he’s clear about where he wants to lead, ain’t nobody going to follow. Worse, many of those who must follow prefer the corruption. His only route to success is to maintain a high level of public support, since the political class is going to choose the old ways of corruption the minute public attention wanes.

        We disagree about 57 lawmakers being too many. If a legislature is going to be representative (the basic political definition of a republic) each legislator has to have a relatively small constituency. No one knows what size this should be, but if Costa Rica followed the guideline proposed by George Washington and written into the first US Constitution, Costa Rica would have at least twice as many legislators as it currently has. Many US states, most notably New Hampshire, still adhere to these republican guidelines, and have fairly large legislatures.

        The problems I see with CR’s legislators is that they aren’t representative of the people, or particularly competent. Whereas there is no surefire way to correct these problems, I think that electing them by party slate is a mistake. It would be better, I think, if legislators had to stand for direct election, since now very few Ticos even know who they are when voting.

        Although I tend to agree that the salaries for at least the legislators who now govern are too high, as a rule I favor high salaries for public officials as a way of combatting corruption. You don’t want them to be poor and tempted. However, the problem we now have is that they are both overpaid and corrupt, so the present system clearly isn’t working.

        • disgusted

          I am just saying 57 diputados with their staff and unlimited credit cards. How in the world can CR afford this.. You are so right the current system sure not working very well for those of us at the bottom.

        • expatin paradise

          Ken, you’re on the mark, as usual.

          I did read that Solis not only criticized the corruption but also said that the government had to become transparent and rid itself of fraud, waste, and abuse. Given that this country’s gets what appears to be less than 50% return on investment, plugging the leaks should be the number one priority. A close second should be to to collect on money due by going after tax cheats (another form of corruption), which the new president has also made a top priority.

          I give Solis a very favorable rating on intentions. As you point out, it is too early to judge results. In my opinion, it is journalistically irresponsible to report poll results at this point.

          So far, there has been only talk, about which the people are understandably skeptical. We are all accustomed to hearing lies from politicians, but I happen to believe that Solis is different. Whether he will be able to win this battle against a culture of corruption remains to be seen. The president will have a better chance for success if the people stand behind him when he meets opposition from the status quo. I expect that the PLN will try everything to discredit him and to obstruct his efforts in the same way that the GOP has opposed Obama’s efforts in the US.

  • disgusted

    President Solis said it clearly last nights speech.. The corruption in the government here is.
    “In the majority of public offices the chaos is unimaginable,”
    Solís said. “There has been corruption, corruption, and more
    corruption.”

    Well it is refreshing he would say that. However, everyone here in CR knows it that way. How many people been thrown into prison?? I cannot think of any. So what is one man, one President going to do about 60 years of graft, lies and stealing?? I think this is a awake up call to all corporations coming here about the systemic problems with doing business here. The greed among elected officials mind boggling. What is left for the hard working Tico here not much? They have stolen the future of many.

    I would also like something about these crooked lawyers. How they can slow the system down bleed money from the locals and gringos. How there is no tort laws in which a speedy trial and recovery. They have laws here that make this impossible for anyone to sue.

    Okay take a deep breath nothing going to change just another speech.. Pura vida my a@@.

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