Op-Ed: Against the Jones Act
June 28, 2013
A recent study by the firm Estudios Técnicos, paid by Jones Act shippers, purports to show the benefits for Puerto Rico of the Jones Act. The federal law requires all goods transported by water between U.S. ports be carried in U.S.-flag ships, built in the U.S. and crewed by U.S. citizens and permanent residents. The analysis, as described by a local business publication, makes for sad reading.
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Op-Ed: Customer service – growth tool in a tough economy
June 26, 2013
Ana Mari Toro moved to Atlanta a year ago along with her husband, Eduardo, an ob-gyn, and their three children. While on vacation in Puerto Rico recently, she had a bad customer service experience at the largest mall cinema complex. After waiting in line for nearly half hour for an order, neither the employee, nor the manager could fulfill her request: nachos with cheese on the side and popcorn.
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Op-Ed: Why technology, e-Learning are key for our economic recovery
June 20, 2013
Technology has key effects on business operations in Puerto Rico today more than ever, especially in the start-up business and entrepreneur’s arena. No matter the size of the enterprise, technology has both tangible and intangible benefits that will help produce the results that customers demand.
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Op-Ed: A shopper’s experience at IKEA Puerto Rico
June 18, 2013
After the long-awaited and much-touted arrival to the local market, IKEA, the Swedish/Dutch company founded by Ingvar Kamprad in 1943, opened its first store in Puerto Rico in Bayamon, last week. The concept unveiled is modeled after the one in the Canary Islands, Spain and the Dominican Republic, called an “IKEA Point” (Punto IKEA).
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Op-Ed: Reaching Puerto Ricans everywhere with a ‘parranda’
June 3, 2013
Parranda.org, a nonprofit created to help unite the “Greater Puerto Rico” — the 4.6 million in the states, an unknown number living in foreign countries, and the 3.7 million that remain in Puerto Rico — held a summit last week in which nearly 100 attendees from all walks of life produced a myriad of ideas to improve Puerto Rico, its economy and its collective life.
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Op-Ed: Farewell, dear mentor
May 30, 2013
I met Luis Rodríguez-Báez thanks to Carmen Otero. That meeting, sparked a spontaneous admiration in me that few people provoke.
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Op-Ed: Forbidden brand
May 8, 2013
The main problem with the “national brand” that we have tried to develop is that we ourselves have sabotaged it. Many initiatives have been rejected for the sake of the continued polarization of forces distilled in circles demanding foolish leadership roles.
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Op-Ed: ‘Hecho en Puerto Rico’
April 22, 2013
If Senate Bill 400, granting the Puerto Rico Products Association exclusive rights to manage the “Hecho en Puerto Rico” brand is approved, I would probably have to pay the Association some sort of fee for using said “brand” in my headline and surely ask their permission to use it.
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Op-Ed: Search for Puerto Rico’s ‘Best Employers’ continues
March 25, 2013
Local organizations still have a chance to participate in this year’s edition of “Puerto Rico’s Best Employers,” a distinction earned by those who excel in achieving and maintaining a balance between corporate goals and employee’s value.
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Op-Ed: What is an IRA?
March 19, 2013
The Individual Retirement Account, best known as an IRA, is one of the few options that the Puerto Rico Internal Revenue Code provides as a tax shelter mechanism for tax relief when filing the income tax return. In addition, the IRA promotes the creation of a private and individual fund for the account holder’s eventual retirement.
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Op-Ed: Service, please!
March 18, 2013
Ask anyone who has just returned from a trip how it went and, without fail, one of the first comments will be their impression of how they were treated in the country they visited.
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Op-Ed: Retirement plans and their taxation under the new Internal Revenue Code
March 14, 2013
Law 1 of January 31, 2011, also known as the Internal Revenue Code for a New Puerto Rico (herein the “New Code”), replaces the Internal Revenue Code of 1994, as amended. This New Code amends and adds new provisions to the previously known Section 1165, related to Puerto Rico Pensions Plans (now Section 1081.01). This article specifically refers to Chapter 8 — Trust and Successions, Subchapter A — Employees Trusts.
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Op-Ed: Proposed retirement measures a burden on the young
March 12, 2013
The proposed amendments to the main public sector retirement system are as decisive as the crisis requires. However, the distribution of the burden is inappropriate because they represent little sacrifice on the part of the pensioners and a lot of sacrifice on the part of Puerto Rico's younger population.
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Op-Ed: The new normal
March 11, 2013
Newspaper headlines and radio and TV news reports have become a definitive recipe for depression. As a matter of fact, I can’t watch the evening news unless I want to guarantee my usual insomnia. Furthermore, these articles and stories have made me realize that Puerto Rico has become “bizarre” country, an unforgiving “La-la land.”
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Op-Ed: What is the alternate basic tax and how can it affect you?
March 5, 2013
The tax season is again upon us, and with it, as taxpayers, we begin to wonder how much tax we are going to pay. Some of you might have done some preliminary calculations based on your expected income and based on the transactions that took place during the year.
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