NewsWhore
09-13-2011, 05:20 PM
In 1996 the government budget was RD$27 billion, and the exchange rate was RD$14 to US$1. Fifteen years later, the government budget is RD$390 billion and the exchange rate is RD$38 to US$1. El Caribe editor Esteban Delgado comments that the government budget has increased 1,200 in those 15 years, sufficient for there to have been improvements in the country's living conditions. He acknowledges that there is an adequate road system, more hospitals, more schools, but unfortunately there is more government, the country is much deeper in debt and we have many more millionaires among government officials who cannot clearly explain the origins of their fortunes, more collapsed government departments, higher levels of poverty, social inequality and lack of citizen safety. "So much accumulated wealth and so much in taxes collected by the government have not been enough to improve living conditions for the majority of Dominicans, who in general, are perceived to be poorer than 15 years ago even when the Dominican economy has grown in an extraordinary manner, even taking into account accumulated currency devaluation and inflation," he writes. "What has happened, then? Why are we worse off? We have to find the way to improve."
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