Vice President Biden asks for "Patience and Forbearance"

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U.S. Vice President, Joe Biden, recently visited Costa Rica to hold a meeting with Costa Rican President, Oscar Arias.

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During this meeting they discussed the struggling economy that Costa Rica is dealing with right now and along with that they discussed the U.S. economy. Biden asked for "patience and forbearance from Arias. Biden said that "it cannot work for Latin America unless our economy begins to grow." He was talking about funding. However, Biden increased funding for the nation by $45 million.

Did you say bailout?

Is planting trees really going to help boost the economy? Twenty-three year old Edwin Sequeira, president of the youth reforestation cooperative thinks so.

The Costa Rican government has recently issued a Labor Ministry program. This program is designed to aid the young entrepreneurs. According to the Tico Times, there are 1.5 million Costa Ricans between the ages of 18-35. Out of these 1.5 million people, 360,000 are not enrolled in college nor do they have a job. The government has a plan to decrease the unemployment rate by providing $100 million to these young Costa Ricans, however, there is a catch.

This is not a bailout! This money will not be sent to the Costa Ricans directly, they must work for it. This money is planned to help 150 of these Costa Ricans in starting their own businesses. The government believes this will boost the economy.

Sequeira will be setting up a tour office in Bijagua de Upaia and will be heading tours of the area. This job will bring youths together to help preserve the environment. He plans of planting 2,500 trees in the area.

“We're also going to incorporate the environmental aid factor into our tours,” said Sequeira. “We'll allow tourists to plant a tree themselves, as well as providing information about climate change in Costa Rica." (Robertson, Tico Times).

This got me thinking, how are these young people going to be able to run a business with only a high school diploma? The National Cooperative Council has already agreed to help the youth with their endeavours. They plan on assisting them with financial problems along with paperwork and any other knowledge they will need to begin their business.

President Oscar Arias believes that this will really work. “The crisis has affected everyone worldwide, countries big and small, rich and poor,” said Arias. “But it will be the countries who protect and support the ambitions of its citizens who will be the first to leave this crisis behind.”

Alberto Franco

“Rather than fixating on a word to define the economy, we should focus on working to restore growth and improving quality of life for everyone who lives here,”Alberto Franco, an economist from the consulting firm Ecoanálisis said.

This is the most insightful thing that I have heard anyone say about the economic crisis we are in right now. Everyone keeps fixating on whether or not to call it a recession. Here in the U.S. we have come to terms with the fact that we are in a recession however, the Ticos are not using that term yet, but are debating on it. I agree with Franco and instead of focusing on the terminology, we should focus on what to do to improve the job market and most importantly stimulate the economy with bringing in more tourism. Tourism is at the top for foreign exchange in Costa Rica. Right now Costa Rica needs to work on some kind of way to bring in tourists. It'll be hard to do because the U.S. isn't spending any money on vacations right now but they need an incentive.

The economy

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Costa Rica's economy has a huge dependence on tourism. In the region of Central America, Costa Rica is the most visited nation. Costa Rica had 1.9 million visitors in 2007 which brought in $1.9 billion in foreign exchange for them that year. This is more money than the export of coffee and bananas combined. Coffee and bananas are the other prime exports produced by Costa Rica.