The Weekly Journal - Wednesday, June 1, 2022

Wednesday, June 1-7, 2022 - // no. 162

Puerto Rico and the Caribbean

www.theweeklyjournal.com

Online shopping

Is PR ready for renewable energy? P7

increasing pressure on brick and mortar stores Growth of online shopping, not a consequence of the pandemic

Big cities are losing population P8 Stagflation revisited? P9

The Summer Move is back to Plaza P15

A

Juan A. Hernández and Enrique Muchacho, The Weekly Journal

fter walking for a while through the hallways of any shopping mall in Puerto Rico, any consumer may be overwhelmed by the elaborate store windows, the special sales advertising and the constant offering of free samples of every imaginable product –from candies to beauty creams and beyond. But maybe what is most overwhelming is the fact that there are significantly fewer customers walking through the aisles

of any mall nowadays. Equally, overwhelming could be the number of closed locales which used to house successful retailers until the pandemic hit.

However, contrary to what could be the general perception, the increasing preference for online shopping is not a consequence of the COVID-19 pandemic.

According to Erving M. Flores, Senior Vice President for Retail and Consumer Goods of Salesforce, the growth of online shopping was something that has been anticipated for the last five years.

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The Weekly Journal > Wednesday, June 1, 2022 >

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Auspiciador Flamboyán

La Junta de Síndicos y el Comité Organizador tienen el honor de invitarles a celebrar la

GRAN GALA

Auspiciador Heliconia

MUSEO DE ARTE DE PUERTO RICO sábado, 18 de junio de 2022 8:00 p.m.

Sheraton Puerto Rico Hotel & Casino

Auspiciador Amapola

Información de auspicios y boletos 787. 977.4449 / 787.376.4317

mperez@mapr.org

Auspiciador Helecho

­

­

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/ Wednesday, June 1, 2022

a week in review TOYOTA BEGINS A NEW DIGITAL ERA Toyota Puerto Rico is entering the digital world with two new tools that reconstruct 16 of their vehicle models online: the Showroom and the Playground. The Showroom contains a three-dimensional view of the car models that allows people to view them anywhere outside the dealership. The Playground allows children to personalize with drawings and colors a car model, and make a small replica with just a drawing.

“Technology is the new reality. We are connected, more than ever. In the case of Toyota, in the same way, that is why today we are launching and presenting two new technologies,” said Nancy Navales, vice president of Toyota Puerto Rico.

GRAB AND GO

THE RED ROOSTER GAMING ISLAND EVENT The Pedrín Zorrilla Coliseum will be the battleground for Red Rooster’s Gaming Island eSport event organized by Puerto Rico’s Red Rooster Team.

The event will allow video game fans to enjoy four coasts with different experiences. It is also designed to offer summer camps a different and unique experience. “In this event, we intend to continue educating people about eSports, including the economic potential it represents for Puerto Rico,” said Red Rooster Team captain, Ricardo “Mono” Román.

Powered BY El Vocero de Puerto Rico, 1064 Ave Ponce de León 2nd floor San Juan, PR Postal Address: PO Box 15074, San Juan, PR 00902

Liberty Mobile signed an alliance with Farmacias Plaza to sell its first prepaid “phone-in-abox” product at selected locations throughout the metro area. The “grab-and-go” type kit includes all the necessary components to immediately activate the units.

Consumers only need to follow the instructions included in the package to activate the phone.

The “phone in a box” is available at selected Farmacias Plaza locations in San Juan, Guaynabo, Bayamon, and Toa Alta. More stores will hold it in a later date. “This prepaid product offers customers unlimited plans that fit their budgets and all the essentials they need to connect to Puerto Rico’s most reliable mobile network,” said Waldo Hooker, Vice President of Products and Customer Experience at Liberty.

President Salvador Hasbún shasbun@elvocero.com

VP of Accounting Félix A. Rosa frosa@elvocero.com

Human Resources Director Arlene Rolón, PHR arolon@elvocero.com

Vp of Marketing and Business Operations Michelle Pérez Miperez@elvocero.com

VP of Production Eligio Dekony edekony@elvocero.com

VP of Editorial Content Juan Miguel Muñiz Guzmán jmuniz@elvocero.com

Multi-Platform Graphic and Technology Director Héctor L. Vázquez hvazquez@elvocero.com

Phone: 787-622-2300, 787-721-2300

Multi-Plataform Digital Director María Arce marce@elvocero.com

Customer Service: 787-622-7480

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CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1

High-end retailers are bent on providing customers with “immersive, unique and engaging in-person retail experiences that elevate the The conditions for the change were already shopping experience to new heights,” Flores says. established: technological advancements, cashless Such a level of personalization is a combination transactions and more discerning customers, of the online and the physical experience of among others. shopping that includes flexible pick-up and return “This conditions and the changes in behavior options, and dedicated fitting rooms. For this, that follow them are mediated by generational technological advances like AR (augmented reality) considerations. For younger generations, being and their integration into retail “are pushing the ‘connected’ is an everyday thing, whereas older opportunities of the store generations have a different beyond the physical presence.” approach to the online Flores mentioned market experience,” said Flores. studies that report consumers’ More specifically, the senior intention to continue using executive was referring to his models such as BOPIS (Buy own generation (Generation X), The metaverse Online, Pick-up in Store) Millennials and Generation Z. can be simply delivery after the pandemic.

“These people live constantly defined as a digital online, so transitioning to online environment that shopping is very easy. And, Changing Roles can either be virtual if that weren’t enough, along In charge of the customer’s or augmented. came the pandemic. Stores immersive and personalized are closed, people don’t want experience will be the sales to be in contact with other rep, or store associate, who persons… one thing led to would act more as an influencer another. Convenience and fear than a mere sales clerk; the accelerated the trend,” Flores argues. most significant change will be in the way he/she Nevertheless, Flores does admit that online perceives himself/herself and his relation with his/ shopping is something that is more common for her employer. high-end products than for everyday products.

Of course, the associate must consider himself/

In fact,

For younger generations, being ‘connected’ is an everyday thing, whereas older generations have a different approach to the online experience.

Erving M. Flores Senior Vice President for Retail and Consumer Goods, Salesforce

herself relevant for the company’s success, but the way he/she goes about it will be very different in a virtual environment. The concept of being at work -when physically present at the store- would change to “being available and connected 24/7” for his/her fans, not necessarily the costumers.

This development would require not only a shift in mindset, but changes in laws and regulations, and commercial and labor organization.

The Store In The Metaverse

In a retail metaverse, users/customers could walk the aisles of a virtual store/mall looking at different merchandise, interacting with other

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It’s more than just a place for you to go and hang out.

It’s a place for you to gather information and be engaged with the Guayama community on a one-on-one basis.

César Vázquez Business Partner, Céntrico

customers and even trying clothing and/or makeup.

Current immersive experience still has a long way to go before a “seamless integration” can take place. Advances and initiatives are already taking place, but these initial developments could be considered something different.

“The Matrix” is closer than we thought.

In Puerto Rico, Céntrico Plaza in Guayama is currently working on a plan that includes the metaverse, to give individuals a complete digital immersion. The project, known as ‘Decéntrico’, is still being developed, and while it originally started as an online shopping mall, the project has evolved into being a source for The conditions for information about activities A Mall In The Metaverse the change were happening in the mall and in The World Wide Web has already established: the Guayama region. seen several advancements technological “It will be like a concierge throughout the years, from the advancements, place.

A place that you can go development of the internet cashless transactions and get information on what to FaceTime and Zoom calls. and more discerning kind of activities are happening But now, a new technology is customers, among in the Guayama region, from starting to make waves that will others. tourism, to gastronomic ideas, change the world as we know it: to hotels.

It will be a place the metaverse. where you can go and get all The metaverse can be simply the information on museums, defined as a digital environment or on theater plays, or anything that can either be virtual related to that.

It’s more than just a place for you or augmented. Films such as “The Matrix” and to go and hang out.

It’s a place for you to gather “Ready Player One” gave people a view of what the information and be engaged with the Guayama metaverse can be: a world made by someone else community on a one-on-one basis,” said César where people can experience things as they would Vázquez, a partner of ‘Céntrico.’ in the real world. While the technology may still be When it comes to buying things in the fluid, several advancements have been made in metaverse, customers will be given the option the past few years in a way that now, the world of

In fact,

to shop through a permanent collection of nonfungible tokens, or NFTs, made by Puerto Rican artists that will contain the store’s merchandise, which will be shown not only in the metaverse stores, but the physical stores as well.

“We’re going to have screens displaying the permanent collection of NFTs that we have, not only from local artists, but international artists as well,” Vázquez said.

‘Céntrico’ is also currently working with local artists to create digital versions of the physical merchandise from local fashion designers. These clothes can be tried on a person’s avatar, as well as designs that can be bought as NFTs. Apart from that, ‘Céntrico’s’ main take of the project is that it will decentralize the shopping experience.

“Right now, Web 2.0 as we know it, is a pretty silo kind of experience. You go to this website, and you buy their merchandise, and they send it to you via mail. It’s a very simple process everyone knows.

What we are trying to do here is appraise digital sellers. We’re going to have a commercial space in these places and that we’re going to back it up with a physical presence as well, if they want to.

You can sell your digital goods, but if they are not digital, but have an equivalent, digitally, then we can have both options, and that’s what we’re trying to promote,” Vázquez informed.

Unlike ordinary shopping malls, ‘Céntrico’ allows people to sell their goods in this metaverse space.

“We’re trying to look for ways for us to engage with people, be them sellers or creators. They can come in and out, and they can sell through our space,” Vázquez said.

“Because it will be a gathering space for tourism, public information and VIP activities that are going to be both physical as well as digital, we will create a sense of community,” Vazquez explained.

Apart from shopping, gathering information, and selling things, metaverse spaces can also be used for a wide variety of things including gaming and designing a workplace. The metaverse has also been used as a tool for many things, such as holding meetings for work or hang out with friends. As technology advances, the metaverse will be used for other things that have not yet been thought of, and there may also be new ways to experience it.

“We’re trying to build a place where people can feel at home,” Vazquez said.

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Insufficient EV recharging infrastructure in Puerto Rico

There are about 100 stations for almost 2,500 electric cars but more are needed Efraín Moltabán Ríos, The Weekly Journal

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uerto Rico may not have enough charging stations for electric vehicles (EVs) outside the San Juan metro area, if automotive industry projections for 2030 come true.

The industry estimates 50% of all cars in circulation on the island will be electric that year.

After a test drive of an electric vehicle over a weekend, The Weekly Journal corroborated the lack of public charging stations –a sufficient number or in operation– in municipalities bordering the metropolitan area, with San Juan being the jurisdiction with the most stations. Another situation that came up was the need for extended There are over 100 charging stations on the charging periods to achieve an acceptable charge island, while, as of December 2021, more than with the 120-volt home adapter. In this experience, 1,800 electric vehicles had arrived at the local ten hours of charging at home only reached 9% of market.

Currently, that figure is estimated to be the recharge of the car battery. approximately 2,500 EVs, according to information EV industry leaders, specializing in the selling provided by Jesús Veguilla, owner of Car Power of chargers for this type of vehicle, agreed on the Solution. need for more charging centers throughout the “80% of all recharges are not done on the island. road, they are done at home. What we are “I think there should be stations in all parts of promoting the most is preparing homes, condos Puerto Rico, not only in the metropolitan area. and multifamily units, which There must be stations in the is where we understand north, south, east, center and infrastructure is needed the west of the island because it is most to get EVs,” said Veguilla. the only way an EV owner, or Likewise, he argued that someone wanting to buy one, “right now, there is a lot of would feel more comfortable… infrastructure, obviously, more 80% of all recharges especially dealers who want is needed, but the number are not done on the to sell more electric cars”, of electric cars coming to road, but at home. said Antonio Soler, director of Puerto Rico is not enough for operations for Velocicharge. companies to invest in charging Soler pointed out that not stations.” Nevertheless, for having sufficient charging 2023 all [dealerships] are facilities around the island, expected to have electric vehicles. But the fact is particularly in tourist areas, does not motivate that only 1% of all new cars sold in Puerto Rico are Puerto Ricans to make the transition to electric EVs. cars, nor does it encourage other brands to reach Publicly, car manufacturers such as Tesla, the island.

Ford, BMW and Mercedes-Benz, among others, “I know many people who have not made the have reported that, between 40% to 50% of their leap from fuel cars to electric cars because there production will be electric by 2030. According to are not enough chargers around the island for Veguilla, the cost of each charging station could them to be able to charge up, and I think this is vary from residential ($500 to $1,000), to public necessary,” he said.

In fact,

I know many people who have not made the leap from fuel cars to electric cars because there are not enough chargers around the island for them to be able to charge up.

Antonio Soler Director of operations, Velocicharge

($3,000 to $5,000), and fast-charging public spaces ($40,000 to $100,000), not counting the cost of the technical installation, which could be between $1,000 and $5,000.

“Prices may be between $3,000 and $9,000, and we are talking that the more stations the more expensive,” he added.

To strengthen its goal as a benchmark in electrification, the Swedish automaker Volvo has on its agenda the installation of 100 charging stations in Puerto Rico, in strategic high circulation and constant flow areas. Likewise, the Genesis brand also has on its agenda investing in the electrical infrastructure, to increase confidence among its customers.

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Countless challenges could prevent PR from achieving renewable energy goal Availability of a trained workforce is one of them Efraín Montalbán Ríos, The Weekly Journal

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nly three years away from the goal of reaching 40% renewable energy generation, only 4.5% of the energy produced in Puerto Rico is from renewable sources.

The Interstate Renewable Energy Council (IREC) revealed the challenges facing the industry and how they prevent the island from achieving its goal.

Among the main challenges listed by the IREC are the approval, accessibility and availability of trained labor, and a weakened energy infrastructure, among others.

According to Carlos Velázquez López, Programs Director of IREC, the principal problem lies in the slow approval process by LUMA Energy of renewable energy projects.

“We believe that the right way for the country to achieve the 40% goal is with a distributed system installed on the roofs of private residences and small businesses in different sectors and vulnerable communities. These are the projects whose approval could be delayed the most by LUMA and the Electric Power Authority (PREPA).

It is important that permits be expedited so that these projects can be built,” Velázquez López said.

Even though there has been some progress in the number of backlog project approved –from about 8,000 applications to about 2,000– he understands much work still needs to be done to streamline the processes.

Velázquez López emphasized the importance

of creating an energy system accessible to all population sectors, considering that the level of poverty on the island stands at 39.8%, according to the Puerto Rico Community Survey from the U.S. Census Bureau.

“It is very important to give it a hyper-focused attention to develop financing models, to make these systems accessible to all communities and to all socioeconomic levels of the population” he insisted.

According to Velázquez López, at the beginning of the 2010 decade, the price, which rounded close to $9 per installed watt, tripled the current cost, and the traditional solar panel was only 250 watts, with a 16% efficiency. Currently, the efficiency per solar panel has increased by 25%, and up to 400 watts.

“There has been a significant improvement, while there has been a decrease in prices of, easily 70% of the costs, in just eight to ten years,” he said.

Velázquez López added that cost reduction is no longer in solar panels, but in batteries as well. It is expected that in a few years, the price of batteries will drop by 50%.

Lack Of Manpower

Another big challenge, according to Velázquez López, is acquiring the necessary and trained workforce to meet the goals established by the government of Puerto Rico. In its research, IREC estimated it is necessary to increase the renewable energy workforce up to 15,000 workers, from its current 2,500 employees, of which 2% are women.

“We need a well-organized strategy to identify training resources to include Puerto Rico’s diverse population… and more participation from women in the photovoltaic industry,” he added.

LUMA Reacts

So far, LUMA has connected over 22,000

customers to the new distributed clean energy generation network. That is over 120 MVs in just 11 months.

“In just 11 months, LUMA has resolved almost all of PREPA’s backlog of thousands of customers, who had been waiting for years for their solar connection,” the company said in written statements.

Also, given the vulnerability of the country’s electrical system, LUMA assured that it will be implementing a phase 1 plan for electric vehicles in private homes to support their integration into Puerto Rico’s power grid.

“As the operator of Puerto Rico’s transmission and distribution system, LUMA’s role is to ensure that renewable energy infrastructure can be interconnected to the grid as efficiently and effectively as possible. Our third quarterly report demonstrates the significant progress we’ve made in advancing this goal,” LUMA said.

Efforts With Co-ops

In turn, IREC has also joined forces with some co-ops in Puerto Rico to develop financial products that can make renewable energy more accessible to Puerto Ricans.

“We’ve brought to co-ops the message that this represents an investment opportunity of $30 to $50 billion over the next 30 years. We are now seeing more and more co-ops financing solar projects for their customers’ homes,” Velázquez López said.

According to the Public Corporation for the Supervision and Insurance of Cooperatives (Cossec for its Spanish acronym), in 2019 over $8.3 million were invested in the so-called Green Loans for renewable energy. In 2020 more than $20.27 million were invested, for a 144.20% increase.

Last year closed with more than $35.65 million, or 75.84% more than the previous year.

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In fact, Reasons for population changes vary from city to city, driven by housing costs, jobs, births and deaths.

U.S. Census: Big city losses early in COVID pandemic

Eight of the 10 largest cities in the U.S. lost population

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Mike Schneider – The Associated Press

o Im always thought she would live in New York forever.

She knew every corner of Manhattan and had worked hard to build a community of friends. Living in a small apartment, she found her attitude shifting early in the coronavirus pandemic.

After her brother accepted a job in Seattle in the summer of 2020, she decided to move there too.

“It was fine until it wasn’t,” Im, 36, said of her time in New York. “The pandemic really changed my mindset about how I wanted to live or how I needed to live.”

Eight of the 10 largest cities in the U.S. lost population during the first year of the pandemic, with New York, Los Angeles and Chicago leading the way. Between July 2020 and July 2021, New York lost more than 305,000 people, while Chicago and Los Angeles contracted by 45,000 residents and 40,000 people, respectively.

San Francisco suffered the largest rate of decline, losing almost 55,000 residents, or 6.3% of its 2020 population, the highest percentage of any U.S. city.

The population estimates released last Thursday by the U.S. Census Bureau capture a time early in the pandemic and don’t reflect changes since last summer. Whether the virus has permanently altered the urban landscape of America remains an open question.

Brookings Institution demographer William Frey said he believes the population declines in most of the largest U.S. cities from 2020 to 2021 have been

In July 2021, people were still guarded about COVID, and a lot of that has gone away.

People are a lot more free.

They are out and about, going to restaurants.

Daniel Akerman N.Y. real estate agent

“short-lived and pandemic-related.”

Among the 10 largest U.S. cities, only San Antonio and Phoenix gained new residents, but they added only about 13,000 people each, or less than 1% of their populations, according to the bureau’s 2021 vintage population estimates.

In March, the Census Bureau released estimates for metro areas and counties showing changes from mid-2020 to mid-2021. The estimates released Thursday offer a more granular perspective. For instance, the March data showed metro Dallas had the largest population gain of any metro area in the U.S., adding more than 97,000 residents, but Thursday’s estimates show the city of Dallas lost almost 15,000 residents.

The growth occurred in Dallas suburbs like Frisco, McKinney and Plano.

Reasons for population changes vary from city to city, driven by housing costs, jobs, births and deaths. The pandemic and the lockdown that followed in spring 2020 made living in a crowded city less appealing for a time, and those who could leave -workers who could do their jobs remotely, for example- sometimes did.

Daniel Akerman, a New York real estate agent,

said the Census Bureau data, which don’t go past July 2021, fail to capture how people have returned to the city in the past year. He said real estate transactions have skyrocketed, and available rental apartments have dropped.

“People have definitely returned to the city.

There are a lot more people on the streets,” Akerman said. “In July 2021, people were still guarded about COVID, and a lot of that has gone away. People are a lot more free. They are out and about, going to restaurants.”

When it came to growth rates, as opposed to raw numbers, the fastest-growing cities with populations of at least 50,000 residents were in the suburbs of booming Sunbelt metro areas. They included Georgetown and Leander outside Austin; the town of Queen Creek and the cities of Buckeye, Casa Grande and Maricopa, outside Phoenix; the city of New Braunfels, outside San Antonio; and Fort Myers, Florida. They had growth rates of between 6.1% and 10.5%.

As metro Austin has grown by leaps and bounds, so has Georgetown, located more than 25 miles (40 kilometers) north of the Texas capital, said Keith Hutchinson, the city’s communications manager. The city grew by 10.5%, the most in the nation last year, and now has 75,000 residents.

“It’s not really a surprise,” Hutchinson said.

“People are moving here for jobs.”

The estimates also showed population declines of 3% to 3.5% in New Jersey cities outside New York, such as Union City, Hoboken and Bayonne.

Similar declines occurred outside San Francisco in Daly City, Redwood City and San Mateo, as well as Cupertino in Silicon Valley.

Lake Charles, Louisiana, which was devastated

by Hurricane Laura in 2020, lost almost 5% of its residents, the second-highest rate in the U.S. behind San Francisco.

“I’m not going back. It has been great,” Mazur said. “Philly, New York, Chicago — tons of people from there are moving down here.”

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Worry about stagflation begins to grow It is a blast from the past that many economists fear

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Paul Wiseman – The Associated Press

ASHINGTON (AP) — Stagflation. It was the dreaded “S word” of the 1970s.

For Americans of a certain age, it conjures memories of painfully long lines at gas stations, shuttered factories and President Gerald Ford’s much-ridiculed “Whip Inflation Now” buttons.

Stagflation is the bitterest of economic pills: fear, reflected in shrunken stock prices, is that the High inflation mixes with a weak job market to Fed will end up botching it and will clobber the cause a toxic brew that punishes consumers and economy without delivering a knockout blow to befuddles economists. inflation.

For decades, most economists didn’t think such This month, former Fed Chair Ben Bernanke a nasty concoction was even possible. They’d long told The New York Times that “inflation’s still too assumed that inflation would run high only when high but coming down. So, there should be a the economy was strong and unemployment low. period in the next year or two where growth is But an unhappy confluence of events has low, unemployment is at least up a little bit and economists reaching back to the days of disco inflation is still high.” and the bleak high-inflation, high-unemployment And then Bernanke summed up his thoughts: economy of nearly a half century ago. Few think “You could call that stagflation.” stagflation is in sight. But as a longer-term threat, it can no longer be dismissed.

What Is Stagflation?

Last week, Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen There’s no formal definition or specific statistical invoked the word in remarks to reporters: “The threshold. economic outlook globally,” Yellen said, “is Mark Zandi, chief economist at Moody’s challenging and uncertain, and higher food and Analytics, has his own rough guide: Stagflation energy prices are having stagflationary effects, arrives in the United States, he says, when the namely depressing output and spending and unemployment rate reaches at least 5% and raising inflation all around the world.” consumer prices have surged 5% or more from a Last Thursday, the government estimated year earlier. The U.S. unemployment rate is now that the economy shrank at a 1.5% annual rate just 3.6%. from January through March. But the drop was In the European Union, where joblessness due mostly to two factors that don’t reflect the typically runs higher, Zandi’s threshold is different: economy’s underlying strength: A rising trade gap caused by Americans’ appetite for foreign products 9% unemployment and 4% year-over-year inflation, in his view, would combine to cause stagflation. and a slowdown in the restocking of businesses Until about 50 years ago, inventories after a big holiday economists viewed stagflation as season buildup. a near-impossibility. They hewed For now, economists broadly to something called the Phillips agree that the U.S. economy Curve, named for its creator, has enough oomph to avoid economist A.W.H. “Bill’’ Phillips a recession. But the problems Stagflation (1914-1975) of New Zealand. This are piling up. Supply chain occurs when high theory held that inflation and bottlenecks and disruptions from inflation and unemployment move in opposite Russia’s war against Ukraine have slow economic directions. sent consumer prices surging at growth happen It sounds like common sense: their fastest pace in decades. simultaneously.

When the economy is weak and The Federal Reserve and other lots of people are out of work, central banks, blindsided by businesses find it hard to raise raging inflation, are scrambling to prices. So, inflation should stay catch up by aggressively raising interest rates. They hope to cool growth enough to low. Likewise, when the economy is hot enough for businesses to pass along big price hikes to their tame inflation without causing a recession. customers, unemployment should stay fairly low.

It’s a notoriously difficult task. The widespread

In fact,

The economic outlook, globally, is challenging and uncertain, and higher food and energy prices are having stagflationary effects.

Janet Yellen U.S. Treasury Secretary

Somehow, reality hasn’t proved so straightforward. What can throw things off is a supply shock — say, a surge in the cost of raw materials that ignites inflation and leaves consumers with less money to spend to fuel the economy.

Which is exactly what happened in the 1970s.

Saudi Arabia and other oil-producing countries imposed an oil embargo on the United States and other countries that supported Israel in the 1973 Yom Kippur War. Oil prices jumped and stayed high. The cost of living grew more unaffordable for many. The economy reeled.

Enter stagflation. Each year from 1974 through 1982, inflation and unemployment in the United States both topped 5%. The combination of the two figures, which came to be called the “misery index,” peaked at a most miserable 20.6 in 1980.

Has Stagflation Arrived?

No. For now, the stagflation glass is only half-full.

There’s “flation’’ for sure: Consumer prices shot up 8.3% in April from a year earlier, just below a 41-year high set the previous month.

Consumer prices are surging largely because the economy rebounded with unexpected vigor from the brief but devastating pandemic recession. Factories, ports and freight yards have been overwhelmed trying to keep up with an unexpected jump in customer orders. The result has been delays, shortages and higher prices.

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Gianrené Padilla

Viva Puerto Rico Short-Term Rental Alliance

Short-Term Rentals: Facts vs Feelings

S

ome people make decisions and judgments on feelings, while others base their views on facts supported by objective data and information.

In the business world, facts are much more important than feelings when deciding.

Data and information are needed to better understand situations and reach reasonable conclusions in all fields. The visitor accommodation segment of the tourism industry is no exception. As in many industries, new consumers are driving trends that are reshaping the market. New market players are filling these contemporary needs, impacting traditional players, who for their part fight against these market changes instead of evolving with them.

A clear example, which has gained strength in recent years, is the rise of accommodations that enter the short-term rental market and how the traditional segment of hotels and inns fight against it because they feel threatened. Although there are important issues to attend regarding the regulation and supervision of short-term rentals, the fear of this segment is based more on feelings than on facts. Here are seven misconceptions about short-term rentals according to Airdna (www. airdna.co), one of the largest data aggregators in the short-term rental segment: 1. Short-term rentals are in direct competition with hotels: Incorrect: 35% of STRs are in non-traditional tourist areas.

2. Travelers are willing to pay the same price for a hotel as a shortterm rental: Wrong: Short-term rental guests spend an average of 65% more per night than hotel guests.

3. Travelers stay in hotels the same as they stay in short-term rentals: Wrong: Short-term rental guests tend to stay 72% longer than the average hotel guest, maximizing their economic impact.

4. Short-term rentals have no budget impact for tourism organizations: Incorrect: Like hotels, short-term rentals now collect lodging taxes for DMOs and/or municipal governments in all 50 states and US territories 5. Short-term rentals follow the same demand/sale’s patterns as traditional accommodation: Wrong: Short-term rentals attract a more resilient traveler and therefore seasonality curves tend to smooth out.

6. All types of short-term rental properties are the same: Wrong: 60% of short-term rentals are two bedrooms or more. Larger units naturally have their own issues when it comes to rates, occupancy, seasonality, etc.

7. DMOs are not considering

short-term rentals in their marketing plans and strategies: Wrong: More and more DMOs are incorporating short-term rental data into their marketing plans. Just as hotels are a great lodging option wherever one travels, short-term accommodations provide the same value within the gaps hotels can’t fill. DMOs that understand this can better allocate funds to run effective marketing campaigns that increase demand because the supply will be there.

These are all facts and information that were researched by Airdna and can be validated by anyone.

Based on these (and other data), we can conclude that because hotels and short-term rentals offer a fundamentally different visitor experience, these segments are not in direct competition, and both are

Because hotels and short-term rentals offer a fundamentally different visitor experience, these segments are not in direct competition. important to having a destination offering varied and complete.

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se olvidan de nosotros.

La verdad te necesita para reivindicar.

La verdad no tiene precio.

< The Weekly Journal > Wednesday, June 1, 2022

La verdad

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/ Wednesday, June 1, 2022

In fact, Schulz personally created and drew 17,897 “Peanuts” strips, even after a tremor affected his hand.

Some fellow cartoonists disliked the way Schulz commercialized the “Peanuts” characters. >Gordon Donovan/iStock

Exhibits honor ‘Peanuts’ creator Schulz on 100th birthday

At the time of Schulz’s retirement in 1999, his creation ran in more than 2,600 newspapers

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Andrew Welsh-Huggins and Patrick Orsagos, The Associated Press

OLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) — In a series of “Peanuts” comic strips that ran in mid-April of 1956, Charlie Brown grasps the string of his kite, which was stuck in what came to be known in the long-running strip as the “kite-

eating tree.”

In one episode that week, a frustrated Charlie Brown declines an offer from nemesis Lucy for her to yell at the tree.

“If I had a kite caught up in a tree, I’d yell at it,” Lucy responds in the last panel.

The simplicity of that interaction illustrates how different “Peanuts” was from comics drawn before its 1950 debut, said Lucy Shelton Caswell, founding curator of the Billy Ireland Cartoon Library & Museum at Ohio State University in Columbus, the world’s largest such museum.

“The idea that you could take a week to talk about this, and it didn’t have to be a gag in the sense of somebody hitting somebody else over the head with a bottle or whatever,” Caswell said. “This was really revolutionary.”

New exhibits on display at the Billy Ireland museum and at the Charles M. Schulz Museum and Research Center in Santa Rosa, California, are celebrating the upcoming centenary of the birth of “Peanuts” cartoonist Schulz, born in Minnesota on Nov. 26, 1922.

Schulz carried the lifelong nickname of Sparky, conferred by a relative after a horse called Sparky

[Schulz] understood technically in drawing that he could strip away what was unnecessary and still pack an emotional punch with the simplestappearing lines.

Benjamin Clark Curator, Schulz Museum

in an early comic strip, Barney Google.

Schulz was never a fan of the name “Peanuts,” chosen by the syndicate because his original title, “Li’l Folks,” was too similar to another strip’s name.

But the Columbus exhibit makes clear through strips, memorabilia and commentary that Schulz’s creation was a juggernaut in its day.

At the time of Schulz’s retirement in 1999 following a cancer diagnosis, his creation ran in more than 2,600 newspapers, was translated into 21 languages in 75 countries and had an estimated daily readership of 355 million. Schulz personally created and drew 17,897 “Peanuts” strips, even after a tremor affected his hand.

The strip was also the subject of the frequently performed play, “You’re a Good Man, Charlie Brown,” as well as “Snoopy: The Musical,” dozens of TV specials and shows, and many book collections.

Bill Watterson, creator of “Calvin and Hobbes,” described in a 2007 Wall Street Journal review of a Schultz biography the difficulty of looking at “Peanuts” with fresh eyes because of how revolutionary it was at the time.

Benjamin Clark, curator of the Schulz museum, describes that innovation as Schulz’s use of a spare line that maintains its expressiveness.

Charles Schulz. >WikiMedia Commons

Schulz “understood technically in drawing that he could strip away what was unnecessary and still pack an emotional punch with the simplestappearing lines,” Clark said. “But that simplicity is deceptive. There’s so much in these.”

The exhibit in Columbus displays strips featuring 12 “devices” that Schulz thought set Peanuts apart, including episodes involving the kite-eating tree, Snoopy’s doghouse, Lucy in her psychiatry booth, Linus’ obsession with the Great Pumpkin, the Beethoven-playing Schroeder, and more.

“Celebrating Sparky” also focuses on Schulz’s promotion of women’s rights through strips about Title IX, the groundbreaking law requiring parity in women’s sports; and his introduction of a character of color, Franklin, spurred by a reader’s urging following the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr. In addition, the display includes memorabilia, from branded paper towels to Pez dispensers, part of the massive “Peanuts” licensing world.

Some fellow cartoonists disliked the way Schulz commercialized the strip.

He dismissed the criticism, arguing that comic strips had always been commercial, starting with their invention as a way to sell newspapers, Caswell said.

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Stars and royalty watch ABBA’s return in digital stage show The concert depicts the band members as they looked in their 1970s heyday

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Jill Lawless, The Associated Press

ONDON (AP) — “ABBA Voyage” is certainly a trip.

Four decades after the Swedish pop supergroup last performed live, audiences can once again see ABBA onstage in an innovative digital concert where past and

future collide.

The show opens to the public in London on Friday, the day after a red-carpet premiere attended by superfans, celebrities and Sweden’s King Carl XVI Gustaf and Queen Silvia. The guests of honor were pop royalty — the four members of ABBA, appearing in public together for the first time in years.

They were in the audience, though. Onstage at the specially built 3,000-seat ABBA Arena next to Members of ABBA arrive for the ABBA Voyage concert at the ABBA Arena in London. > AP Photo/Alberto Pezzali east London’s Olympic Park were a 10-piece live backing band and a digital ABBA, created using though when the backing singers stepped forward motion capture and other technology by Industrial to belt out “Does Your Mother Know,” a surge of Light and Magic, the special effects firm founded live-music energy shot through the arena. by “Star Wars” director George Lucas.

The four band members — two married couples The voices and movements are the real Agnetha during ABBA’s heyday, though now long divorced Faltskog, Björn Ulvaeus, Benny Andersson and — got a rapturous ovation when they took a Anni-Frid Lyngstad — choreographed by Britain’s bow at the end of last Thursday’s show, 50 years Wayne McGregor — but the performers onstage after they formed ABBA, and 40 years after they are digital avatars, inevitably dubbed “ABBA-tars.” stopped performing live.

In unsettlingly realistic detail, they Watching one’s younger self depict the band members as they Björn Ulvaeus, ABBA perform must be a strange looked in their 1970s heyday — sensation, but the band beards on the men, flowing locks members, now in their 70s, said The Times of London reviewer Will Hodgkinson on the women, velour pantsuits The voices they were delighted by the show. judged the show “essentially an ABBA singalong all around. and movements are “I never knew I had such with added sound and light show,” though he The result is both highthe real members amazing moves,” Ulvaeus said. called the effect “captivating.” Writing in The tech and high camp, a glittery of ABBA, but the Lyngstad agreed: “I thought Guardian, Alexis Petridis called the concert “jawsupernova of stupefying performers onstage I was quite good, but I’m even dropping” and said “it’s so successful that it’s hard technology, 1970s nostalgia and are digital avatars. better.” not to imagine other artists following suit.” pop music genius.

Ulvaeus said the audience Gimmick or genius, “ABBA Voyage” is booking in For many in the audience, it reaction was the most gratifying London until May 2023, with a world tour planned was almost like being taken back part of the experience. after that. in time to watch ABBA perform “There’s an emotional The fans who attended Thursday’s show are just classics including “Mamma Mia,” connection between the avatars and the delighted ABBA is back.

“Knowing Me, Knowing You,” “SOS” and “Dancing audience,” he said. “That’s the fantastic thing.”

“I’m so excited,” said Kristina Hagman, a Swede Queen.” The peppy 90-minute set also includes Producers bill the show as “revolutionary.” Time who has been a fan since the 1970s. tracks from “Voyage,” the reunion album the band will tell. Like the first audiences to watch a talking “I was bullied so much because you were not released last year. motion picture a century ago, attendees may leave allowed to like ABBA at that time because it was It’s a fusion of tribute act and 3D concert movie wondering whether they are watching a gimmick so commercial,” she said. “But now we are taking that transcends that description. At times, it was or the future. revenge.” possible to forget this wasn’t a live performance,

There’s an emotional connection between the avatars and the audience.

That’s the fantastic thing.

In fact,

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‘Triangle of Sadness’ wins Palme d’Or at Cannes Film Fest Director Ostlund pulled off the rare feat of winning Cannes’ top award for backto-back films

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Jake Coyle, The Associated Press

ANNES, France (AP) — Swedish director Ruben Ostlund’s class warfare comedy “Triangle of Sadness” won the Palme d’Or at the 75th Cannes Film Festival last Saturday, giving Ostlund one of cinema’s most prestigious prizes for the second time.

Ostlund, whose art-world send-up “The Square” took the Palme in 2017, pulled off the rare feat of Korean family seeking a home for an abandoned winning Cannes’ top award for back-to-back films. baby.

“Triangle of Sadness,” featuring Woody Harrelson “I’d like to thank all those who appreciate as a Marxist yacht captain and a climactic scene Korean cinema,” said Song, who also starred in with rampant vomiting, pushes the satire even Bong Joon Ho’s Palme d’Or winning film “Parasite” further. in Cannes three years ago.

“We wanted after the screening (for people) to Best actress went to Zar Amir Ebrahimi for her go out together and have something to talk about,” performance as a journalist in Ali Abbasi’s “Holy said Ostlund. “All of us agree that the unique thing Spider,” a true-crime thriller about a serial killer with cinema is that we’re watching together. So, targeting sex workers in the Iranian religious city of we have to save something to talk about, but we Mashhad. Violent and graphic, “Holy Spider” wasn’t should also have fun and be entertained.” permitted to shoot in Iran and instead was made The awards were selected by a nine-member in Jordan. Accepting the award, Ebrahimi said the jury headed by French actor Vincent Lindon and film depicts “everything that’s impossible to show presented Saturday in a closing ceremony inside in Iran.”

Cannes’ Grand Lumière Theater.

The jury prize was split between the friendship The jury’s second prize, the tale “The Eight Mountains,” by Grand Prix, was shared between Charlotte Vandermeersch and the Belgian director Lukas Felix Van Groeningen, and Polish Dhont’s tender boyhood drama director Jerzy Skolimowski’s “EO,” “Close,” about two 13-year-old about a donkey’s journey across a boys whose bond is tragically pitiless modern Europe.

This year, separated after their intimacy “I would like to thank my the biggest is mocked by schoolmates; and donkeys,” said Skolimowski, Hollywood films French filmmaking legend Claire who proceeded to thank all six at Cannes — Denis’ “Stars at Noon,” a Denis donkeys used in the film by “Elvis,”“Top Gun: Johnson adaptation starring name.

Maverick,”“Three Margaret Qualley as a journalist The jury also awarded a special Thousand Years of in Nicaragua. award for the 75th Cannes to Longing” — played The directing prize went to Belgian directors Jean-Pierre outside Cannes’ South Korean filmmaker Park and Luc Dardenne, two-time competition lineup Chan-wook (”Oldboy,” “The Palme-winners and long a of 21 films.

Handmaiden”) for his twisty noir regular presence at the festival, “Decision to Leave,” a romance for their immigrant drama “Tori fused with a police procedural. and Lokita.” Swedish-Egyptian Korean star Song Kang Ho was filmmaker Tarik Saleh took best named best actor for his performance in Japanese screenplay at Cannes for “Boy From Heaven,” a director Hirokazu Kore-eda’s film “Broker,” about a thriller set in Cairo’s Al-Azhar Mosque.

In fact,

Writer/director Ruben Ostlund, winner of the Palme d’Or for ‘Triangle of Sadness’. > Photo by Vianney Le Caer/Invision/AP)

All of us agree that the unique thing with cinema is that we’re watching together.

Ruben Ostlund Film director

The award for best first film, the Camera d’Or, went to Riley Keough and Gina Gammell for “War Pony,” a drama about the Pine Ridge Reservation made in collaboration with Oglala Lakota and Sicangu Lakota citizens.

Last weekend’s closing ceremony brought to a close a Cannes that attempted to fully resuscitate the annual France extravaganza that was canceled in 2020 by the pandemic and saw modest crowds last year. This year’s festival also unspooled against the backdrop of the war in Ukraine, which sparked red-carpet protests and a dialogue about the purpose of cinema in wartime.

Last year, the French body horror thriller “Titane” took the top prize at Cannes, making director Julia Decournau only the second female filmmaker ever to win the Palme. In 2019, Bong Joon Ho’s “Parasite” triumphed in Cannes before doing the same at the Academy Awards.

This year, the biggest Hollywood films at Cannes — “Elvis,”“Top Gun: Maverick,”“Three Thousand Years of Longing” — played outside Cannes’ competition lineup of 21 films. But their presence helped restore some of Cannes’ glamour after the pandemic scaled down the festival for the last two years.

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Plaza brings back

“The Summer Move” A group of community entrepreneurs are showcasing their products and services

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Juan A. Hernández and Enrique Muchacho, The Weekly Journal

ollowing on its commitment to highlight the achievements and initiatives of individuals and organizations, Plaza Las Américas launched the 19th edition of its “Summer Move” (“La Movida del Verano”) event, after a two-year hiatus due to the pandemic.

“With this event, Plaza Las Américas seeks to showcase the organizations and people who improve the quality of life in Puerto Rico through their actions,” said event producer Myrna Escabí.

This year’s event is dedicated to former governor Sila María Calderón’s foundation and its operational arm, the ‘Centro para Puerto Rico,’ for its continuing efforts supporting and empowering microentrepreneurs throughout the island, so they can successfully become part of the economy.

A select group of these community entrepreneurs are exhibiting their products and services at the Cooperativa de Seguros Múltiples (CSM) pavilion at Plaza Las Américas’ main atrium. CSM is the main sponsor of the event.

Also, on the central atrium, there are the “flag bearers” of summer: a group of iconic vehicles that are inevitably associated with summer. These are a collection of Volkswagen Beetles from the 1960s, including the celebrity car of the hour, CSM’s Blue Beetle.

To highlight the importance of the automobile as a “fundamental member of the family,” in terms of how it makes life easier and more enjoyable for the family, particularly during the summer, “The Summer Move” event includes what organizers dubbed as the 2022 Limited Edition of Summer Vehicles.

This is a veritable collection of SUVs, family vehicles and sports cars, curated

The event showcases the organizations and people who improve the quality of life in Puerto Rico through their actions.

Myrna Escabí Producer

not only for their functionality but also for their safety features, and fuel efficiency, which make them “perfect” for the summer vacation.

Among the brands showcasing their summer models are Toyota, Lexus, Volvo, Lincoln and Volkswagen, along with a sample of Bella Riders World’s most eye-catching motorcycles, for the more adventurous summer revelers.

Representatives from each of these auto companies are on site to provide details about the new car models and what plans they have in store for the coming years.

Toyota Senior Manager of Vehicle Operations, Victor Aponte, mentioned two new digital platforms that Toyota is offering to its consumers. The first one is a virtual showroom platform, which offers the consumer an online 360 view of their 16 Toyota’s models, as well as information on each vehicle. The second app is “a playroom,” in which children (and adults) will be able to personalize the Toyota of their choice and create a virtual car.

Christian Alvarado, from Volvo, anticipated that the Swedish car automaker will be introducing this year a plug-in model, the Volvo C-40, which is 100% electric.

“Volvo has always been a brand well known for its safety, now we are including the topic of protecting the environment and that is why we are committed to electrification,” Alvarado said.

“We are focusing on the safety features of our models, so our emphasis is not on how fast you will be able to get from A to B, but how safe,” Alvarado said.

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