If you’re a director of a public bank in Costa Rica, you will make between $16,000 to $30,000 a month. That’s American dollars, not colones.
The new president of Costa Rica, Carlos Alvarado, signed an order to reduce the salaries of the bank’s general managers. Then, the directors of Banco Popular (a public bank) ignored the order, hired a sub-general manager, and set his salary at over $22,000 a month. That must have angered the president as he responded by suspending three directors of Banco Popular. Good for him.
There’s a new cartoon for this week’s issue of The Star. Go check it out.
Watch me draw.
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This cartoon was drawn for and published in The Costa Rica Star, May 25, 2018. I should have posted it last week, but I was lazy.
You know there’s bureaucracy in the United States, but we’re not the only one. There are a lot of hoops you would need to jump through for a construction project in Latin America. A recent study found that the average is fifteen in countries that are part of the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD). For Costa Rica, it’s seventeen. The study finds that it takes 135 days, not to complete your project, but to acquire all the permits. I would be bald by day 20.
I believe we should have regulations for safety and the environment so stuff doesn’t just blow up like in Texas, but there is a point where it’s too many.
Thank you for your support. Reader contributions really do help and are appreciated in a time of dwindling revenue for political cartoonists. You will also be supporting free speech and the First Amendment, and independent journalism while those in power are doing all they can to suppress it. You can also support by purchasing a signed print for $40.00. Just look at the right of this page and click the PayPal button, or you can email and make other arrangements. Thank you!
A recent study compared the cost of living in Costa Rica with the cost of living in the United States, and to the surprise of no one, Costa Rica is cheaper. But, the survey was misleading with just how much cheaper it is to live in Costa Rica.
For many of the comparisons, the location in the United States used was New York City. Of course, Costa Rica is going to be cheaper than New York City. Fredericksburg, Virginia is cheaper than New York City and I can’t find anyone living here who believes it’s cheap to live in Fredericksburg (it’s not). But, if you move to Costa Rica from someplace in middle America thinking it’s going to be super-duper cheaper in Costa Rica, you’re in for a lot of surprises.
Yes, your rent will be a lot lower, but there will be a lot of things you can’t afford, like that big flat-screen television or even a decent automobile.
Some people ask me, “why don’t you move to Costa Rica?” They point out the fact that I can work anywhere. There’s sun, beaches, women in bikinis, and it’s cheaper. Yeah, but I don’t want to. I figure it’s best to cover the United States from within the United States. I feel like I’m defending the country. Quite frankly, if I go to another nation to fight for the U.S., it would make me a bit of a hypocrite. On top of all that, it’s a change in culture I don’t think I want. I don’t like really big bugs. I looked into it, and Costa Rican food doesn’t entice me (it’s nothing like Mexican food). I had Costa Rican coffee recently, and I didn’t like it. Yes, the coffee is that important to me.
Funny thing, after Trump won, I was presented with offers by friends to move to France and Canada. I’m sure they were at least half-joking, and I know I couldn’t afford either. But still, the fight is here.
I’m sure Costa Rica is a great place and I look forward to visiting someday. But, I’m a Yankee and this Yankee is staying home.
Watch me draw.
Thank you for your support. Reader contributions, small and large, really do help and are appreciated in a time of dwindling revenue for political cartoonists. You will also be supporting free speech and the First Amendment, and independent journalism while those in power are doing all they can to suppress it. You can also support by purchasing a signed print for $40.00. Just look at the right of this page and click the PayPal button, or you can email and make other arrangements. Thank you!
This cartoon was published in The Costa Rica Star on May 11, 2018. That’s almost two weeks ago and I’m very late with sharing it here. Oops. I figured I better get it up because the new cartoon for this week is about to drop at their site.
The new president of Costa Rica is implementing a plan to ditch all fossil fuels in the nation within the coming years. Costa Rica is already ahead of basically every other nation in the world in this regard, but it’s still a tall order.
I really enjoyed this one because I got to draw a dinosaur. Rar.
Watch me draw.
Thank you for your support. Reader contributions, small and large, really do help and are appreciated in a time of dwindling revenue for political cartoonists. You will also be supporting free speech and the First Amendment, and independent journalism while those in power are doing all they can to suppress it. You can also support by purchasing a signed print for $40.00. Just look at the right of this page and click the PayPal button, or you can email and make other arrangements. Thank you!
While having a female vice president is a work of fiction and a hit TV show in the United States, it’s reality in Costa Rica (and many other nations). Epsy Campbell is the first woman of African descent elected to the vice presidency, not just in Costa Rica, but in all of Latin America. I’m sure she has a few challenges ahead of her that her predecessors never had to deal with.
From a cartoonist’s viewpoint, I really like the new administration in Costa Rica. Campbell has awesome hair to draw and President Carlos Alvarado has prominent features, including a widow’s peak. Yay!!!
I’m playing catch-up with Costa Rica cartoons, so expect another to be posted today.
Here’s the video.
Please consider making a donation to keep the cartoons, columns, and videos coming. Reader contributions, small and large, really do help and are appreciated in a time of dwindling revenue for political cartoonists. You will also be supporting free speech and liberty while those in power are doing all they can to suppress it. You can also support by purchasing a signed print for $40.00. Just look at the right of this page and click the PayPal button, or you can email and make other arrangements. Thank you!
I need to apologize because I totally forgot to blog this cartoon. I was looking at the past few weeks of cartoons I’ve drawn for The Costa Rica Star, because I need to draw another one today, and noticed this wasn’t posted here.
This was published April 6 after the presidential election. Fabricio Alvarado was a candidate staunchly against gay rights. The nation rejected his message of hate and instead went for the candidate promising equality for everybody. I did like this cartoon. And I must say I’m going to miss drawing Fabricio.
I need to post two more cartoons I’ve drawn for The Star over the next couple days. Stay tooned.
Here’s the video. Thanks, Ariel for reminding me I did one.
Please consider making a donation to keep the cartoons, columns, and videos coming. Reader contributions, small and large, really do help and are appreciated in a time of dwindling revenue for political cartoonists. You will also be supporting free speech and liberty while those in power are doing all they can to suppress it. You can also support by purchasing a signed print for $40.00. Just look at the right of this page and click the PayPal button, or you can email and make other arrangements. Thank you!
There was a story about the nation getting its first professional classical ballet company. I tied that into incoming president Carlos Alvarado’s huge challenges, the biggest one being the nation’s debt. I had a lot of fun drawing this one.
Here’s the video.
Please consider making a donation to keep the cartoons, columns, and videos coming. Reader contributions, small and large, really do help and are appreciated in a time of dwindling revenue for political cartoonists. You will also be supporting free speech and liberty while those in power are doing all they can to suppress it. You can also support by purchasing a signed print for $40.00. Just look at the right of this page and click the PayPal button, or you can email and make other arrangements. Thank you!
