From "Under" To "Above"

Let Me revisit a theme...

The average business set-up time in Puerto Rico is over 290 days. The average set-up time in a local flea market is 70 minutes. I know because I've done both.

We have agencies on this island, whose PRIDCO I won't mention, that make a fetish, if not a sacrosanct cargo cult out of being as ineffective and inefficient as possible. To the nameless PRIDCO, the attitude is "Why do in ten weeks what can take forever?" And yes, "forever," with them, is in play at all times.

Or how about the other nameless Labor Department that takes anywhere from 75 to over 180 days to approve worker training funds already specifically earmarked for that purpose. Fill out the forms, go through the idiotic hoops and then wait. And wait. And wait. For what is sold to you as an "automatic" process.

Ass-o-matic is what they mean.

Even a simple home-based business can take well over 250 days with pages and pages of forms and zero collaboration between agencies. For example, the local Treasury Department will ask you to submit proof that you don't owe them money...by going to a separate office and filling out the forms there. Why? Because it preserves the jobs of several dozen cud-chewing cretins whose political affiliations are mirrored exactly by a flea on a dog's ass.

Now take the local flea market. Sure, its scale is much smaller than government. But it has a notable core difference, a fundamentally, exponentially different goal from that of the government: It truly wants new businesses.

Let Me explain Myself to the coprophagic Fools: You--as government--say you want new businesses, but you work against them at every level. From legislation to implementation to taxation, you block, impede, marginalize, diminish, undercut, sabotage and poison the creation of businesses here. Why? Because they reduce your power unless you can straight-jacket them. Because you are cowards. Because you are vermin.

Now maybe the flea market people are deranged serial killers, but their business base has grown from 17 in late 2008 to 79 as of March 2010. That's an impressive growth rate. And they've done it by providing a range of support services aimed at getting the business started the same day. Simple. Effective. Efficient. With more to come.

Obviously, there is more to come. As what We laughingly call "government" here drags its slimy ass on business creation issues, the underground economy will continue to grow. Quickly. For make no mistake, the underground economy exists and grows because the "real" economy sucks like a Dyson Ball.

With tax revenues dropping and the economy souring, the usual government response is to make it harder for businesses to operate, either through taxation, fees, licensing or sheer theft. It is only a matter of time--well before the next election--before the "underground" economy will surpass the "real" one in terms of money flow. It will, without a doubt. When that day comes, either the way the Fools wreck business creation changes or We will wreck what the Fools have aborted in lieu of a system.

The Jenius Has Spoken.