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.

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.

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@@.

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.