Costa Rica News – Next week’s US Election could be a nail-biter. Now that Hurricane Sandy has arrived and devastated the Eastern seaboard you have to wonder what will be the next twist in what has been a bizarre presidential campaign during which Romney has caught Obama from a position that seemed impossible to breach after several faux pas.
It is hard knowing who is best for Costa Rica. Who is Costa Rica? Are we talking about native Ticos or are we talking about US expats who rely upon economic growth to afford life in Costa Rica either through savings in the US or pensions.
If the latter, then all money is on Romney. Romney looks like the guy who will turn the US Economy from what looks like a terminal decline under Obama. When the US Economy is doing well so the expats in Costa Rica are doing well in terms of exchange rates and dollars flowing into their businesses and resorts in Costa Rica.
If the former, then also the best bet is Romney. Romney has a foreign policy strategy that is more brazen than that of Obama who in the space of four years has shrunk the US image and influence abroad. For Costa Rican Homeland Security and its position as a US ally in the region Romney looks like the main man.
Furthermore, Costa Rican dentists and doctors will be desperate for a Romney win. The more State assistance Obama gives US Citizens in terms of healthcare dollars, the less medical vacations will happen and the less revenues the Costa Rican health professionals will make.
The Chinese will look at Central America as a less easy target if there is a trade war with the US, which Romney may well initiate. Costa Rican exporters will be looking to compete on a level playing field with the Chinese – this isn’t going to happen unless Romney takes on the Chinese as Clinton took on the Japanese all those years ago.
So, really, whichever way you look at it, Obama is bad news for Costa Ricans. He’s been a President who took out Osama Bin Laden and looked on while the British and the French sorted out Libya. He’s been a President who oversaw US decline around the world and didn’t have any answers to stem the tide. Worse, he’s had no answers for the quagmire the US Economy has found itself in.
Romney is no Saint but I assure you he is the best man for Costa Rica.
5 comments
The above post has many of the usual “talking points” put out by the Romney campaign. The *truth* is that Obama has secured and inhanced political relationships in Europe and business relationships with China. Both of these strengths will create an environment that is world wide in which the world economy will improve in a second Obama administration. With the world economy on the rise, so will Costa Rica’s economy benefit from more investment dollars available to enter Costa Rica and more tourism possible because peoples of the European area, the Chinese, and the U.S.A. will see interest rates rise on their retirement nest eggs and other investments. *IF* the world economy does become better the few extra colones that result from dental tourism will be a small drop in the bucket of the total tourism that is driven more by a desire to visit the country and the people of Costa Rica. Romney is just a larger version of the younger George Bush and both he and his father worsened the U.S. economy so that the entire world, including Costa Rica, was affected. Romney will just return to the practices of the Bush era…you can count on that for sure.
May have to disagree about the Medical Vacation point as you can ask one of the Canadians living in Costa Rica about their own across-the-border tourism jaunts into the US to escape the long lines inherent in their system- especially for elective procedures. It may well be ‘cheaper’ as well as more timely (and healthy) to pay the yearly tax penalty and hop on a plane as one of the coming unintended consequences.
@Joe: Obama is still popular abroad and they will be shocked when he is turned out of office just as they were shocked when W was reelected. None of my Tico friends saw that coming. What is shocking to me is the growing number of newspaper editorial endorsements popping up for Romney that supported Obama last time around. Many of these endorsements seem to be qualified as being economic in nature and ‘after a good argument’ among the editorial board members. Obama’s ‘more of the same’ economic plan isn’t selling for a second term as it doesn’t seem to have worked all that well during his first.
Hmmm…Pete……more campaign talking points that fail to mention the complete factual context. When President Obama was elected the Speaker of the House of Representatives stated the primary goal of the Republican Party was to ensure that Mr. Obama would be a one term president and not to solve the problems of the U.S.A. And, any objective fair thinking person will have to admit that the Republican majority in the House has done its best to undermine any attempt by the House Democrats and by the President to better the U.S.A. economy. I have found it very interesting to observe the news about the campaign 2012 in the U.S.A. One thing that is most interesting is that the polls show the two presidential candidates as being so close, with Mr. Obama leading by only a few points in most of the important states. And these polling results seem to fly in the face of Mr. Romney’s retail sales type of campaign statements. Like the one he made when he was debating the other Republican candidates during their primary campaign when he stated that he would cut funding to the emergency relief agency that is called F.E.M.A. He even went further to agree that using private employers instead of having a F.E.M.A. agency would be better. Now, just as the hurricain is hitting the east coast of the U.S. Mr. Romney’s campaign issues statements that imply that Mr. Romney supports F.E.M.A. and that he would not cut funding to that agency. Yet, when Mr. Romney was questioned by reporters just yesterday about the difference in his positions from 2011 to 2012 he just put a plastic like smile on his face and refused to say anything. There is no way to tell how much damage a Mitt Romney presidency would do to the U.S. because there is no way to tell what his real thinking is when he continues to say whatever he thinks U.S. citizens will like when his statements even conflict with themselves. The man is pathetic in his reach for a job he is apparently ill-equiped to perform.
Joe,
Not sure what you’re on about with the talking points thing. I made a few observations: My Tico friends were totally taken by surprise when W was reelected and my Canadian friends cross the border to get medical care they find difficult to get at home. There have also been a number of high profile endorsement defections- most notably the Des Moines Register- which you may not like but they actually happened right there in the newspaper.
The campaign was not consulted.
I also speculated about future medical tourism simply extrapolating from my observations and freely admit I could be wrong, but I don’t think so, especially for elective procedures. I then observe that Obama’s economic plan doesn’t seem to be selling, which I take from virtually all of the current polls which show that Romney currently is ahead on that question and one that the above mentioned editorial endorsements have made note of.
You did not address any of those statements so I’ll have to assume you agree that I’m correct. FEMA doesn’t add any context that I’m aware of and the ‘news’ that Republicans oppose Democrats kind of washes out with the following update: Democrats oppose Republicans. Shocking, I know. “And any objective fair thinking person will have to admit” that when Speaker Pelosi accused Republicans of obstructing a Democrat agenda, her remarks might not have been objective and possibly not even fair- though I’m sure she was ‘thinking’ that the charge would redoubt to her party’s benefit. The 2010 loss of her position proved her thinking wrong and nobody expects her to get the job back this year.
My read on the ground is that the polls started to shift after the first debate and have not begun to swing back, though it seems the move right may be slowing. You can argue with the polls’ acuracy but not with the fact they say what they do.
My observations talking with people lead me to believe Romney will take it. Young people are less excited and still sore about the OWS thing – and really pissed that the administration has gone after legal pot dispenseries. Black folks are still there for Obama and proud of him getting the job in the first place but are less inclined to turn out as they don’t see what Obama has done for them. The black unemployment rate is horrible, has gotten worse and the outlook is grim. The Tea Party has a strong presence in GOTV which prior to the 2010 mid terms simply did not exist. They seem to be quite excited and are describing themselves as “broken glass voters” – that is – they will crawl over broken glass to get to the voting booths.
I have other observations but they don’t really matter here other than to note that they add to my speculation. The wild card is the hurricane and how that will effect people’s attitudes and willingness to go vote in the damaged areas.
Finally, I don’t have a dog in this race as I’ve decided for the first time to sit out an election. I’m not even registered. I decided to do this during the primaries mostly to help give me some distance so I could observe. I have successfully predicted the general election outcomes since the first Clinton win but was having trouble with this one. I still couldn’t get a handle on this one even until shortly before the first debate. The press reportage and the polls did not match up with my observations until then. On the right Benghazi has people fired up and the left is still mostly dissappointed wth Obama’s debate performances, see: Maher, Matthews, Maddow on the left and FOX News, et al. on the right. These two issues may very well effect turnout.
My crystal ball is still a bit foggy but it’s clearing up a bit. Unless something happens to push the polls back in Obama’s direction he’s way too close in the swing states and even a couple of blue ones. This could very well be a blowout in the electoral vote if not the popular one. I could be wrong. But I don’t think so. Remember, late swingers almost always break to the challenger, the question is will they turn up at all?
We posted a poll and article on this several weeks ago and the results were as expected, most Costa Ricans favor Romney. The gross domestic product (GDP) is one the primary indicators used to gauge the health of a country’s economy. On our article we show a Chart of how Costa Rica’s GDP favored with each US President dating back to Kennedy. The two worse US presidents were Carter and Obama, the best US presidents were Kennedy, with the best being Reagan to skyrocketed Costa Rica GDP
http://ticotimes.com/costa-rica/obama-romney-best-for-costa-rica