Mixed Impressions

The house where the Angostura Congress took place. Today, Angostura is Ciudad Bolivar.

An approximate map of the Gran Colombia. Probably, a larger area includes Peru and Bolivia.

1. A recent issue of the History magazine refers to the violence in Colombia, which according to that article it has taken 70,000 lives this year. The great impact of violence in Colombia is quite historic, and it certainly affects the daily lives of those who share not only mostly the rural but also somewhat the suburban, and urban settings. Unfortunately, when the article refers historically to the Gran Colombia, it only includes Colombia, Venezuela, and Ecuador while it ignores Peru and Bolivia. Indeed, it neglects to recall that the Gran Colombia had a Constitution, and that Bolivar liberated all five nations, and that Bolivia was called “la niña mimada del Libertador” (The Liberator’s pampered babygirl). The Angostura (Ciudad Bolívar) Congress was the site where the new republic was erected. The territory also involved historically Panamá, and parts of Brazil, Costa Rica, and México. While nobody ignores San Martin’s influence in Peru’s liberation process, Bolívar was the Liberator of these South American nations and the leader who proposed a regional economic group, which has recently encountered some further interest based on renewed regional and global forces. Bolívar socio-economic and political ideas have no match to today’s world, but his clear point of view is that unity will drive the regional progress, development, and overall projection onto the global economy. This could be a principle for the American interest in a continental open market as to how to approach the joint economies of these countries in an effort to minimize or eliminate any existing constraints.

2. An election year has always proven to be a driver of recession or at least one that historically coincides with several recent recessions. The exiting government is usually to be blamed for based on the general public opinion. However, recession times are not times to fingerpoint others but rather a good time for positive and creative thinking in current matters of national and global interest. The increasing unemployment rate is critical and is the outcome of unmatched efforts to deal with more global issues in a more dynamic fashion. As it appears, increasing oil prices are a major source of economic unbalance, and it is obvious that staggering market indexes reflect the difficulty in formally modeling a pattern to approach this commodity, and to deal with the weak dollar in comparison to the stronger Euro, and derive advantage in economic sector such as tourism industry and business. For instance, Disney had reported a great year so far, and so have the oil companies, but the economy should also drive such gains not only into profitability, but also to report that an American Corporation’s EBITDA should be more consistent with the creation of new employment, and not just strictly consider the creation of new employment of net earnings. The government could start new legislation that entices companies whose earnings consistently exceed expectations to create further employment in particular is both weak sectors and economic working markets that are greatly affected by the global economic forces such as information technology, and that those new jobs have a real domestic adjustment rather than a global influence. I believe that resilient undesirable unemployment diminish the perception of development of any country. This is probably different from countries like Germany and France where unemployment for some individuals is part of a culture protesting some employment settings and opportunities. The controversial first contract policy in France is an example of the opposite, i.e., the government forcing the youth to acquire a harder working approach, in the mix of shorter-hour week strategy to diversify the workforce.

3. The US presidential candidates comments on issues such offshore drilling as supported by McCain, and recommendations by Obama for Americans to learn Spanish are quite appropriate, but they have both received mixed opinions. The former comment needs to be carefully executed in congruency with the implementation of new technologies that together reduce the US dependency on oil exporting countries. Meanwhile, the latter comment by Obama is quite appropriate as well. Not only should English-speaking Americans cultivate the Spanish language, but also the vast majority of Spanish-speaking Americans should start learning to speak and write Spanish properly. While studies suggest that the Latin American nation uses effectively a very small percent of her high intellectual capacity, not speaking the mother language properly makes it so more difficult, and several studies conclude so. Soon, I will discuss this issue with an economic perspective in a future article. A few months ago, I had referred to in a literary article that there is a need for a unique American institution that protects specifically the Spanish language, and controls the mix of the two languages for good, without diminishing the importance of natural street slang as a natural language process.