The Weekly Journal - Wednesday, November 2, 2022

The labor reform under queSTioning

Pointing to the increasing need for

some of Puerto Rico’s

this year’s

to the 2017 Labor Reform,

of private sector

are arguing this is

has not

Puerto Rico Chamber of Commerce, Juan Carlos Agosto, CEO of Store Management System, LLC, the company operating five Econo supermarkets in Puerto Rico, characterized as “a disease never seen before,” the fact that would be employees are not seeking employment, because they seek different employment conditions from those being offered.”

“Today’s employees seek contractual freedom, to work a few hours and be paid immediately. They like to have time for themselves, and unfortunately the Labor Reform is not the medicine to meet any of those needs. The benefits it offers are not of

presents

fresco... ninguno.

a week in review

From the Farm to your table

It didn’t come as a surprise that agriculture was one, if not the most affected sector of Puerto Rico’s economy after the passage of Hurricane Fiona. “Al Sol de Hoy,” a nonprofit organization created to support and promote the island’s food security, is now providing refrigerated storage for the seeds and crops of more than 25 farmers, and distributing biweekly Nutritional Boxes (“Cajitas Nutritivas”) to subscribers in the San Juan Metro Area, Dorado and Caguas. The boxes are filled with a selection of fruits and vegetables locally harvested and suggested recipes for the different staples included. Those interested in receiving the Nutritional Boxes can subscribed at https:// alsoldehoy.com/.

NissaN iNtroduces a New PathFiNder

Japanese auto maker announced the introduction of its new Nissan Pathfinder Rock Creek for 2023. The new SUV comes with 284 horsepower and 259 lbs./ft. of torque engine that makes it ideal for drivers who love the outdoors and need to move from jet skis, to boats and campers with its 6,000 lbs. towing capacity. The new Pathfinder Rock Creek comes equipped with exterior LED lighting, Intelligent Around View® (with an option for ‘off-road’ mode), orange interior stitching and folding captain’s chairs for greater ease of access to the second row seats. The 2023 Pathfinder is rated at up to 21 mpg in the city, 27 mpg in the highway and 23 mpg combined for four-wheel drive models.

marco’s Pizza oPeNs New restauraNt

Marco’s Pizza, announced the opening of its restaurant in Santa Isabel. With this new opening, there are now 55 Marco’s Pizza restaurants throughout Puerto Rico and 25 new jobs were created. Located on Carr. 153 km 7, the new Marco’s restaurant has capacity for 30 guests, and offers delivery service and carryout. Operator Fransglobal Inc. plans to open five new stores and create over 125 additional jobs next year. Marco’s Pizza menu features a variety of specialty pizzas, appetizers and desserts. In addition, it has offers that fit any budget and consumer tastes. Part of the success of this chain is mainly due to the way their pizzas are made, starting with using fresh dough and fresh ingredients, every day.

Multi-Platform

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

Pérez

Rolón, PHR arolon@elvocero.com

Muñiz Guzmán jmuniz@elvocero.com

L. Vázquez

González Cotto

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

Customer Service: 787-622-7480

In fact,

The Labor Reform is a tool to insert more people into the workforce, but the employee benefits established by the law, could be exceeded by employers to increase their competitiveness.

interest to today’s employees,” said Agosto.

For the businessman, the important thing to do is to find a way to attract that new prospective employee to this new labor reality, where remote work and technology have gained a lot of ground.

“Employers need to get very creative. My company needs 700 employees to operate. Right now, I have 120 vacancies that I have not been able to fill. E-commerce has been implemented in our stores, but the bureaucracy of having to register all those vehicles [to deliver purchases] with the Public Service Commission, and the employee rotation I must implement to provide them a break to comply with the law, make the process difficult. In an Uber service, that same employee can take as many trips as he wants,” he pointed out. “In the new economy everything is online. We have to fit into the new trend where the previous paradigm no longer fits. All parties have to sit down at a table to find a way to attract this productive sector,” Agosto argued.

The Econo executive understands the benefits granted by the Labor Reform have an effect in the short term, but it does not fulfill the task of

attracting and retaining new labor.

Puerto Rico’s Department of Labor and Human Resources (DTRH, for its Spanish acronym) has pointed out the Labor Reform is a tool to insert more people into the workforce, but the employee benefits established by the law could be exceeded by employers to increase their competitiveness in the market.

More people employed

In his remarks, Agosto did not consider DTRH statistics for August 2022. According to those statistics “the seasonally adjusted unemployment rate in August 2022 was estimated at 5.8%.” While this represented a decrease of just 0.1 percentage point, when compared to July 2022 (5.9%), when compared to August 2021 (8.2%), “the most recent unemployment rate reflected a reduction of 2.4 percentage points.”

On the other hand, “the seasonally adjusted estimate for the number of people employed in August 2022, was 1,113,000 workers.” While this figure presents a reduction of only 4,000 people when comparing to July 2022 (1,117,000), when compared to August 2021 (1,087,000) the number of employees showed an increase of 26,000 people.

The fact is that there are more people employed now in Puerto Rico than in the recent past.

In mid-October, Governor Pedro Pierluisi stated that more people had joined the workforce than in the last 15 years “reaching levels that had not been seen in 15 years.” Pierluisi also stated that 44% of the companies on the island revealed that they have plans to increase their workforce.

Today’s employees seek contractual freedom, to work a few hours and be paid immediately... and unfortunately the Labor Reform is not the medicine to meet any of those needs.

Juan Carlos Agosto, CEO of Store Management System

CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1

Former Secretary of Labor Ruy Delgado Zayas agrees that the 2017 Labor Reform did not fulfill its mission, arguing that data speak for itself.

Delgado Zayas recalled that, from 2017 to 2022 job increment was 25%, thus indicating that three quarters of current employees retained their previous benefits. The Labor Reform did not affect them at all. To this he added recent (2022) amendments do not affect the previous workers/ employees or those who became employed after 2017.

“Changes have not been big. It is very easy to see: we returned to what we had in 2017. It is not correct to say that the entire private sector is opposed to the Labor Reform, since before the recent amendments, many of them already offered higher benefits voluntarily,” Delgado Zayas said. “The problem is that they do not want to admit that Puerto Rico has changed. This is a very different Puerto Rico than before, where a fifth of the labor force is self-employed and if individuals who work alone as corporations are included, that percentage jumps to 20%,” he added.

According to statistics from consulting firm Economic Intelligence, self-employed individuals increased from 187,000 to 194,000, between August 2021 and August 2022. A similar increased had only been experienced in 2006.

Too soon to measure change

In fact,

According to statistics from consulting firm Economic Intelligence, selfemployed individuals increased from 187,000 to 194,000, between August 2021 and August 2022.

The former Secretary agreed that current employees are interested in other things, mainly greater flexibility and more time for his personal life.

“The Labor Reform does not even nick that reality… It’s all about justice. It is not real to think that it [the Labor Reform] has a negative effect on attracting companies to the island. Investors

are not concerned about how many vacation days or sick leave they have to pay, they are more interested in the infrastructure –electricity and water– and permits, among other things. That is the priority”, Delgado Zayas contended.

Regarding these allegations, Secretary of the DTRH Gabriel Maldonado González, reiterated that Law 41 of 2022, addresses the problems of employers face in the search for labor.

Maldonado González emphasized the Labor Reform provides minimum standards over which

employers can offer greater benefits to attract employees and increase their competitiveness.

He also explained it is impossible to talk about whether the amendments to the Labor Reform are effective or not, since there is no data to support any arguments in favor or against them, because not enough time has elapsed to evaluate the effect of the law.

Faced with the opposition of the private sector, which has already filed a lawsuit against the Reform, the Secretary was emphatic that “the law is in force until the court says otherwise,” he said.

Among the amended statutes are: the Labor Transformation and Flexibility Law, the Unjustified Dismissal Law, the Law against Unjustified Dismissal, the Vacation and Sick Leave Law, the Law to Establish the Work Hours in Puerto Rico, the Annual Bonus Law for Private Sector Employees, Rest Day Law and Special Leave for Catastrophic Illnesses, among other new issues introduced.

It’s not correct to say that the entire private sector is opposed to the Labor Reform, since before the recent amendments, many of them already offered higher benefits voluntarily.

Ruy Delgado Zayas, former Secretary of Labor

Icon Puerto Rico to stage entrepreneurs and investors meet

Event seeks to promote small and medium businesses

Seeking to connect prospective investors with local entrepreneurs looking to scale their respective businesses Puerto Rico, Icon Institute (PRII) will be hosting its Conference and Mentorship Day to promote investment in the local businesses.

“Puerto Rico is the ideal destination to conduct business due to its multiple advantages and competitive opportunities in areas such as tourism, human resources, culture, and lifestyle, among other. With this event, we are looking to facilitate the creation of small and medium businesses and encourage investment in the local market” said Karla Barrera, co-founder of PRII.

According to Richard Santana, also a cofounder of PRII, the institute is an umbrella organization focusing on identifying and highlighting businesses and expose them to prospective investors that could help them “reach the next level” in their development.

“What we are trying to do is identify those shining stars out there, filter them and connect them with possible investors that might help them take their companies to the next level,” said Santana, who added that while ICON’s approach to business development is mainly geared towards start-ups, this two-day event will have a component focused on “companies at a more mature level” or seeking to scale their operations.

Santana pointed out that traditional capital options are not necessarily available to everyone and “while there are organizations that will help with some capital,” they are focused mostly on early start-ups and “their help is capped at $50,000 or $100,000.”

“When you are in a mature stage of a business endeavor, then you are looking for real cash –$5 million, $10 million…– That is the part of the [business] ecosystem where what you sometimes need is someone to open the door for you,” Santana said about the role PRII in Conference and Mentorship Day.

Santana mentioned that real estate, healthcare, bio tech and energy are among the main interests of investors participating in ICON’s Conference. Nevertheless, he emphasized that investors “don’t just come looking for particular industries [to

invest in]… they look at structures, and that will be one of the topics to be discussed during the conference.”

“We are going to discuss Act 185 from 2014 (Private Capital Funds Act) and Puerto Rico Income Source. Those are vehicles for investment because they provide a higher ROI (Return On Investment) due to the way they are set up,” he explained.

Barrera said they will be featuring companies from all sectors –agricultural, technology, marketing, healthcare–.

“What we want to do with this event is to explore new ideas, bring everyone to the table and brainstorm, bring innovations,” she said.

As an example of an innovative business venture, both Santana and Barrera mentioned the field of psychedelics (the development of psychoactive substances for the treatment of mental disorders).

“This is an example of an industry that is still in its infancy. But, maybe five or ten years down the road it will be like the cannabis industry is right now,” Santana argued.

Barrera said that, while some of the topics to

be discussed in the conference would be “more traditional” they also want to include “something innovative, something to put our audience to think about future possibilities, and this is, potentially, a big industry.”

For the Mentorship Day, which will be free of charge, attendees will be put in contact with speakers engaging on different business topics. As part of the Mentorship Day, PRII will create profiles of the different companies attending the event that are trying to scale their business or rise capital.

“Our plan is to present these profiles to attendees to the next day conference,” Barrera said.

The PRII Conference and Mentorship Day will be next November 8 and 9.

Juan A. Hernández, The Weekly Journal

What we want to do with this event is to explore new ideas, bring everyone to the table and brainstorm, bring innovations.

Karla Barrera, cofounder ICON

Traditional capital options are not necessarily available to everyone.

In fact,

Blockchain technology could be the future of all technology

Use of blockchain could develop products to solve pressing issues

Zoe Landi Fontana, The Weekly Journal

The dreaded ‘brain drain’ that has been affecting the island, and accelerated by Hurricane Maria, has seen the population decrease drastically, with over 70% of its college graduates leaving the island. Is there an antidote for this?

Shirley McPhaul-Castro believes that there is. McPhaul-Castro is the Director of CryptoCurious, an educational initiative from the Puerto Rico Blockchain Trade Association (PRBTA) that aims to bring Web 3 technology to the island in an accessible way.

November 11 marks the start of the Web 3 Hackathon 2.0, held by the PRBTA and Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) Blockchain Initiative, where participants will design and develop products to solve pressing issues — all using blockchain technology. Puerto Rico’s crypto and blockchain community has been steadily growing and is seen by many as the island’s golden ticket to improving its global position in tech and bringing high-paying jobs.

“Since Hurricane Maria, more than 90% of my friends have left. The island has become a lonely place,” said McPhaul-Castro in an interview with THE WEEKLY JOURNAL. “We can seize this opportunity to create high-paying jobs so our artists and engineers

can stay and so that the diaspora will come back. No one leaves home because they want to, [you] migrate because you don’t have a choice. As Puerto Ricans, we want to change that, get our hands dirty, and get the work going. Hopefully more people will join us.”

Last August, the PRBTA and IEEE held the first Web 3 Hackathon, which hosted over 30 participants in 13 teams. This November, they are partnering with The Opportunity Project (TOP). TOP is an initiative led by the US Census Bureau, bringing together technologists, government agencies, and communities to rapidly prototype digital products using federal open data.

The PRBTA and IEEE chose three problem statements for participants to focus on: ‘Building Community and Individual Climate Resilience’, ‘Helping Communities Access Infrastructure Grant Funding’, and ‘Enhancing Children’s Resilience to Adversity in Puerto Rico’. As part of the partnership with TOP, experts from relevant federal agencies will advise participants in the development of their prototypes.

“By using data-driven solutions directly from the federal government, we would be able to create solutions that are more valuable, focused, and applicable to us here. With these challenges there is ample opportunity to apply the data sets. The way they are applied is up to the creativity of each team,” commented McPhaul-Castro.

The Hackathon invites professionals of all backgrounds, not just those in tech sectors. They want to see educators, artists, marketing experts, and others in addition to developers. It’s a reminder that blockchain technology and Web 3 offer opportunities far beyond investing in cryptocurrency.

“Crypto and NFTs are only 10% of use cases that blockchain can solve. Over the past months

we have seen multiple corporations bringing blockchain technology to their organizations,” clarified Christian Meléndez, Blockchain Initiative Coordinator for IEEE.

Blockchain technology can be used to solve wideranging issues. For example, NFTs can be used to track manufacturing projects, trailers and vehicles, and even call records. “In the future, NFTs will be used for everything. Call records, SSN, all of the stuff will be attached to an NFT or a technology in the blockchain,” said Melendez.

Winners of the Web 3 Hackathon 2.0 will be featured during Blockchain Week, which will take place from December 5th to10th. They will get the opportunity to present in front of potential investors and other industry experts, giving the projects the visibility they need to continue innovating.

“At the end of the day, what we want is to give Puerto Ricans the possibility to create blockchain solutions to positively influence the island. I really do think that this technology is a way for us to empower ourselves on the island because it is open source, just getting started. It’s a tremendous opportunity for knowledge transfer to happen on the island. I have high hopes that creating these spaces and these events tailored for Puerto Ricans to collaborate,” highlighted McPhaul-Castro.

By using data-driven solutions directly from the federal government, we would be able to create solutions that are more valuable, focused, and applicable to us here.

Shirley McPhaul-Castro, Director of CryptoCurious

For example, NFTs can be used to track manufacturing projects, trailers and vehicles, and even call records.

In fact,

Could a rose by any other name, still be a rose?

Naming brands gets more difficult as domain names dwindle

Madison Choudhry, Special to The Weekly Journal

With the inception of all businesses there lies one simple question; what will be the name? It may seem innocuous to some, but business owners are finding it more difficult than ever to put a name to their businesses. And the simple answer as to why? Domain names.

“It’s really hard to find domain names. Every fourletter word, as well as five-letter word, is basically taken,” Jonah Berger, University of Pennsylvania Wharton professor and bestselling author of “Contagious: Why Things Catch On,”said. “So, brands are trying to figure out ways to both differentiate themselves, but also get access to domain names and trademarks and other sorts of things.”

According to Dr. Abhishek Pathak, who researches how sound symbolism impacts consumer perception, a tough situation is made worse by companies that buy up domain names with the sole purpose to charge businesses exorbitant prices if they choose to continue with their desired name.

The situation leaves business owners, especially small business owners, who lack the start-up capital to pay these onerous amounts, to come up with creative solutions. These entrepreneurs, in turn, opt to alter a well-known word and avoid any trademark or domain name issues.

Brands have chosen strategies like spelling words incorrectly (Anthropologie), using fewer vowels (MoDRN) or cutting out vowels entirely (RTFKT).

“Anytime there’s a new way of doing things, there’s often other companies and organizations that jump on the bandwagon,” explained Berger.

The Science Behind It

Brand names — whether they include misspellings, or they’re uppercase, lowercase or without vowels — communicate to buyers about the audience they’re reaching.

Emmett Shine, co-founder of brand agency Gin Lane, explained that “once you get into any world,

there are hidden languages, which are meant to appeal to a specific audience and not necessarily to another,”

“I think a lot of the dropping of letters is just another way to signal that you’re a part of a specific community,” Shine stated.

Research from Dr. Abhishek Pathak has also shown the lack of vowels has an impact on how a brand is perceived.

In a 2022 paper Pathak co-authored, he had consumers evaluate brands of food he had made up that included vowels and ones that did not.

The conclusion was, those without vowels were considered more “rugged” by consumers, which could be positive depending on the direction the company wanted to be seen as, but they were also read as less competent, less sophisticated and less sincere.

In fact,

Brand names — whether they include misspellings, or they’re uppercase, lowercase or without vowels — communicate to buyers about the audience they’re reaching.

In fact, much of Pathak’s research has tied certain attributes of a word, such as the sound, or length of the word, with different consumer associations. When it comes to length, for example, people tend to associate longer names with more luxury brands and shorter names with more basic brands.

In addition, when it comes to vowelless phrases, the age of social media and texting has normalized the shortening of everyday words into acronyms or smaller phrases. “Pls,” for example, has become commonplace for “please,” or “sry” for “sorry.”

Retailers adopting vowelless names, therefore, could be targeting younger audiences that are more familiar with shortened lingo, Pathak explained.

To put it simply, naming a brand is complex. The practical considerations of domain availability are just the surface of a very layered issue.

It’s up to brands to wade through the hidden languages, the special meanings, the unconscious associations, that pervade the world of words, and to choose which factors hold the most weight.

“I think at the end of the day, there’s a lot of OK brands with great names and a lot of great brands with OK names,” Shine continued, “I don’t think Tumblr became Tumblr because they dropped the ‘e.’ I think it was for the service at the time and what it was offering,” Pathak said. “Similarly, I don’t think Spotify became the dominant global streaming platform for music by just adding ‘-ify’ to it.”

It’s really hard to find domain names. Every four-letter word, as well as five-letter word, is basically taken.

Jonah Berger, author of “Contagious: “Why Things Catch On”

Auto prices finally begin to creep down from inflated highs

More vehicles are gradually becoming available at dealerships

Not that anyone should expect prices to fall anywhere near where they were before the pandemic recession struck in early 2020. The swift recovery from the recession left automakers short of parts and vehicles to meet demand. Price skyrocketed, and they’ve scarcely budged since.

chain, sales of used vehicles and profit-per-vehicle both dropped last quarter. CEO Mike Manley noted that while the supply of vehicles remains low, used-auto prices are declining.

DETROIT — All summer long, Aleen Hudson kept looking for a new minivan or SUV for her growing passenger shuttle service.

She had a good credit rating and enough cash for a down payment. Yet dealerships in the Detroit area didn’t have any suitable vehicles. Or they’d demand she pay $3,000 to $6,000 above the sticker price. Months of frustration left her despondent.

“I was depressed,” Hudson said. “I was angry, too.”

A breakthrough arrived in late September, when a dealer called about a 2022 Chrysler Pacifica. At $41,000, it was hardly a bargain. And it wasn’t quite what Hudson wanted. Yet the dealer was asking only slightly above sticker price, and Hudson felt in no position to walk away. She’s back in business with her own van.

It could have been worse. Hudson made her purchase just as the prices of both new and used vehicles have been inching down from their eye-watering record highs and more vehicles are gradually becoming available at dealerships. Hudson’s van likely would have cost even more a few months ago.

Prices on new and used vehicles remain 30% to 50% above where they were when the pandemic erupted. The average used auto cost nearly $31,000 last month. The average new? $47,000. With higher prices and loan rates combining to push average monthly payments on a new vehicle above $700, millions of buyers have been priced out of the new-vehicle market and are now confined to used vehicles.

The high prices are yielding substantial profits for most automakers despite sluggish sales. Last week, for example, General Motors reported that its thirdquarter net profit jumped more than 36%, thanks in part to sales of pricey pickup trucks and large SUVs.

Still, as Hudson discovered, many vehicles are becoming slightly more affordable. Signs first emerged weeks ago in the 40-million-sales-a-year used market. As demand waned and inventories rose, prices eased from their springtime heights.

CarMax said it sold nearly 15,000 fewer vehicles last quarter than it had a year earlier. The CEO of the used-vehicle company, based in Richmond, Virginia, pointed to inflation, higher borrowing rates and diminished consumer confidence.

A “buyer’s strike” is how Adam Jonas, an auto analyst at Morgan Stanley, characterized the sales drops — a dynamic that typically foretells lower prices. And indeed, the average used vehicle price in September was down 1% from its May peak, according to Edmunds.com.

At AutoNation, the nation’s largest dealership

“Our analysis shows that we are coming off the high values that we saw before,” Manley told analysts Thursday.

Ivan Drury, director of insights at Edmunds cautioned that it will take years for used prices to fall close to their pre-pandemic levels. Since 2020, automakers haven’t been leasing as many cars, thereby choking off one key source of late-model used vehicles.

Similarly, rental companies haven’t been able to buy many new vehicles. So eventually, they are selling fewer autos into the used market. That’s crimped another source of vehicles. And because used cars aren’t sitting long on dealer lots, demand remains strong enough to prop up prices.

When auto prices first soared two years ago, lower-income buyers were elbowed out of the new-vehicle market. Eventually, many of them couldn’t afford even used autos. People with subprime credit scores (620 or below) bought only 5% of new vehicles last month, down from nearly 9% before the pandemic. That indicated that many lower-income households could no longer afford vehicles, said J.D. Power Vice President Tyson Jominy.

Higher borrowing rates have compounded the problem. In January 2020, shortly before the pandemic hit, used-vehicle buyers paid an average of 8.4% annual interest, according to Edmunds. Monthly payments averaged $412. By last month, the average rate had reached 9.2%. And because prices had risen for over two years, the average payment had jumped to $567.

Tom Krisher – The Associated Press

The swift recovery from the recession left automakers short of parts and vehicles to meet demand. Price skyrocketed, and they’ve scarcely budged since.

In fact,

Eduardo Hilera, M.P.S. Homeland Security advisor

Eduardo Hilera, M.P.S. Emergency Management and Homeland Security Expert

ublic safety is almost unequivocally synonymous with government and electoral stability. The stability of a government is directly tied to economic stability. When any or all of these are threatened, there’s a problem.

TPhe Atlantic hurricane season— the one that impacts Puerto Rico—runs from June 1 to November 30. The peak, however, occurs from midSeptember to mid-October, which has already started, folks.

The hurricanes permanently recorded in our memories all made landfall in September. Hugo on September 19, 1988; Hortensia on September 10, 1996; Georges on September 21, 1998; and Maria on September 20, 2017. There is a clear trend here. Abraham Lincoln said: “If I only had one hour to chop down a tree, I would spend 45 minutes sharpening my axe.”

What we all recognize as our public safety apparatus, nationally, at the state level, and locally is severely fragmented.

We rely on our government to provide citizens, organizations, and businesses with a structure of leadership and resources that ensure the resilience that allows our communities to thrive. Anything short of this by our government entities is dangerous.

Applying Honest Abe’s wise logic to hurricane season, we should do everything possible to get ready before a disaster.

All it takes to get ready is a little creativity, logic and a few bucks. Being prepared makes our communities more resilient.

Before going any further into this topic, it’s important to remember that our service members, in the military, law enforcement, or emergency management uniforms, are not to blame for this. The blame for a fragmented system falls on policymakers—full stop. You can’t ask a champion F1 Race car driver to race a wrecked car; if you do, you can’t blame them for not making it very far.

The most basic emergency management concept is planning. Emergency managers agree that the first 72 hours after a disaster are crucial— it takes that long for help from first responders to reach those in need. In the spirit of planning, below is a checklist of the steps we can all take to be prepared for those first 72 hours. It doesn’t involve sophisticated equipment, just a few things we can do by ourselves.

Nationally, throughout the United States, and locally in Puerto Rico, there are daily examples of instances in which a more cohesive federal policy would allow for better public service. In the past decade, we have seen a pandemic, an attack on our nation’s Capital –which was nothing short of an attempted toppling of our national government– frequent school shootings, the murder of citizens by police officers –who were at best ill-trained and at worst unfit for duty– and an opioid crisis that kills more Americans yearly than some wars.

The latest incident, is the house break-in and attempted murder of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s husband. Nancy Pelosi is second in line for the U.S. Presidency.

Inspect Your Home—Look around your home at doors, windows, potentially hazardous objects, and anything easily repairable. Address whatever you find and can fix immediately. Look for loose doors, exposed windows, and non-tempered glass windows or panels. Fix or secure everything you can.

Prepare Your Car—If you own a car, keep the tank full. Set a reminder on your phone. In an emergency, a full tank of gas will get you wherever you need to go. In addition, identify a safe spot where you can park your car.

How does this relate to business and economics? Simple. The news has traveled the world and analyzed considering what it represents in terms of the stability of the United States government. The United States has a midterm election next week. Every single seat in the U.S. House of Representatives, and approximately one-third of those in the U.S. Senate is up for grabs. What’s going to happen?

Public Safety = Strong Democracy

The Storms of September

be doing very well economically.

The hurricanes permanently recorded in our memories all made landfall in September. Hugo on September 19, 1988; Hortensia on September 10, 1996; Georges on September 21, 1998; and Maria on September 20, 2017.

We may be able to predict the results of next week’s election, but what could happen after next week remains to be seen. The outcome of the mid-term election will shed light on where the country, all fifty states, territories, and other jurisdictions are headed.

First Aid Kit but may not keep them all in the same place. Look through your home and store them all together. The Red Cross and others provide recommendations of specific items to have, such as bandages, topical antibiotics and ice packs.

The new Congress, to be sworn-in in January 2023, will have before it legislative issues that would impact public health and drug abuse funding, firearms legislation, legislation that regulates and funds programs such as Fusion Centers that collect and distribute intelligence between law enforcement entities, grants for local law enforcement training and other programs and policies.

There is a clear trend here.

Emergency Phone Numbers— Modern times have made us drift away from it, but use pen and paper and write down your most important contacts. If your phone dies, this could come in very handy. This list will also serve as a reminder of the folks you should keep in touch with during the emergency.

The integrative nature of all these policies and the guardrails that they establish will make the difference between effective or fractured policies.

family hydrated for 72 hours. In addition, keep containers full of tap water for basic household needs.

Food—Cook what you can and use perishables first. Make sure to keep non-perishable food as well.

Electronics Charging Routine—Make a list of all your electronics and keep them charged. Keep back-up and disposable batteries handy as well. However, the single most important electronic device is the flashlight. Keep it handy.

Tool Kit—Just like your first aid kit, make sure your tools are organized and accessible. An all-in-one tool kit, like many retailers carry, is a good idea to keep handy.

Stay Tuned—Identify and follow your preferred news sources. Make sure they’re reliable and frequently updated. In addition, pick up a basic battery-powered radio.

right in the middle of San Juan. In San Francisco, the invasion of the Speaker’s home, speaks volumes. Effective policies that foster effective communication between public safety entities could probably avoid both incidents.

Medication—If you or your family take medications, make sure you have a full week’s supply.

Voters on both sides of the aisle want simple government services. Most citizens, including myself, look at simple things like cleanliness, public safety, social services for those in need, and infrastructure. Places that have these tend to

Cash at Hand—Electronic payment platforms, ATMS and banks can go out of service. Keep enough money on hand to pay for basics following the disaster.

Currently, throughout the country, we see daily examples of failed policies. In Puerto Rico, we see violent crime occurring against women, homicides in broad daylight, and videos posted online where fights break out in places like “La Placita”,

Stay Calm—You have done the important work of getting ready. Now, the most important part is to remain calm, during and after the storm.

If both are avoided, businesses, small and large, local, national, and international, see stable cities and states in a country with integrated policies throughout. And that is good for business—full stop.

Damage from Hurricane Maria in Sept. 2017

In fact,

We may be able to predict the results of next week’s election, but what could happen after next week remains to be seen.

Eduardo Hilera, Homeland Security advisor

La verdad celos y el control son a tambiénmrato es que los

La verdad te necesita para cambiar realidades. La verdad no tiene precio.

In fact,

John Steinbeck talks to media in the office of his publisher in New York on Oct. 25, 1962. >AP Photo/An thony Camerano, File

Rare John Steinbeck column probes strength of US democracy

He denounced McCarthyism as an attempt to substitute government

Hillel Italie – The Associated Press

NEW YORK — Decades ago, as communists and suspected communists were being blacklisted and debates spread over the future of American democracy, John Steinbeck — a resident of Paris at the time — often found himself asked about the headlines from his native country.

The question he kept hearing: “What about McCarthyism?”

The future Nobel Laureate wrote that the practice embodied by U.S. Sen. Joseph McCarthy of Wisconsin was “simply a new name for something that has existed from the moment when popular government emerged.”

“It is the attempt to substitute government by men for government by law,” Steinbeck continued in a 1954 column for Le Figaro that had rarely been seen until it was reprinted this week in the literary quarterly The Strand Magazine. “We have always had this latent thing. All democracies have it. It cannot be wiped out because, by destroying it, democracy would destroy itself.”

Steinbeck was closely associated with his native California, the setting for all or most of “The Grapes of Wrath,” “Of Mice and Men” and other fiction. But he lived briefly in Paris in the mid-1950s and wrote a series of short pieces for Le Figaro that were

translated into French.

Most of his observations were humorous reflections on his adopted city, but at times he couldn’t help commenting on larger matters.

“Anyone even remotely familiar with Steinbeck’s works knows that he never shied away from taking on controversial topics,” Andrew F. Gulli, managing editor of The Strand, writes in a brief introduction. The Strand has unearthed obscure works by Steinbeck, Ernest Hemingway, F. Scott Fitzgerald and many others. Gulli calls Steinbeck’s column in the French publication a timely work for current concerns about democracy.

the persecution of writers in the Soviet Union.

“He stated in the 1960s that the role of an artist was to critique his country,” says Susan Shillinglaw, who directs the Center for Steinbeck Studies at San Jose State University.

Steinbeck believed that the United States was a force for good and fortunate in its ability to correct itself. He advocated a version of tough love hard to defend now, likening democracy to a child who “must be hurt constantly” to endure and regarding McCarthyism as a passing threat that would strengthen the country in the long run.

“In resisting, we keep our democracy hard and tough and alive, its machinery intact. An organism untested soon goes flabby and weak,” he wrote.

McCarthyism was peaking around the time of Steinbeck’s column and McCarthy himself would be censured by his Senate peers within months and dead by 1957. Political historian Julian Zelizer says that Steinbeck was not alone in recognizing the dangers of anti-communist hysteria, while maintaining an “unyielding optimism” that “the constitutional separation of powers and pluralism would keep these forces on the margins.”

“The Grapes of Wrath” was a defining work of the Great Depression. Steinbeck held to an idealistic liberalism that was formed in part in the 1930s by Franklin Roosevelt and the New Deal, deepened by the Allied victory over Nazi Germany in World War II and eventually tested by the Vietnam War. He despised both McCarthyism and communism, opposing what he called “any interference with the creative mind” — whether censorship in the U.S. or

Lucan Way, whose books include “Pluralism by Default: Weak Autocrats and the Rise of Competitive Politics,” tells The Associated Press that “in principle the clear and unambiguous defeat of anti-democratic actors” such as McCarthy might have a positive effect.

But he does not think Steinbeck’s column can be applied to contemporary politics.

“What is going on now is not an example of this phenomenon (the fall of McCarthyism),” Way says. “Trumpism has not been clearly defeated but has instead helped to normalize anti-democratic behavior that was previously considered out of bounds.”

Steinbeck believed that the United States was a force for good and fortunate in its ability to correct itself.

In resisting, we keep our democracy hard and tough and alive, its machinery intact. An organism untested soon goes flabby and weak.

John Steinbeck, Literature Nobel Laurate

Sendak’s “Wild Things” exhibit at art museum in Columbus

The exhibit includes his work as a designer for opera, theater, film, and television

Andrew Welsh Huggins – The Associated Press

COLUMBUS, Ohio — Most people today know artist Maurice Sendak as the creator of children’s book classics such as “Where the Wild Things Are” and “In the Night Kitchen.” A new exhibition of his work looks at that reputation and a less well-known side of his immense output: his work as a designer for opera, theater, film, and television.

“We wanted people to understand that Maurice was actually a serious artist,” said Lynn Caponera, executive director of the Maurice Sendak Foundation in Ridgefield, Connecticut. Though most knew him as an illustrator and picture book artist, “they didn’t see beyond the fact that he did a lot more than that,” she said.

“Wild Things are Happening” opened this month at the Columbus Museum of Art and runs through March 5, 2023. It’s the first major retrospective of Sendak’s work since his 2012 death and the largest and most complete to date.

The exhibit takes its name from a 1990s advertising campaign Sendak did for Bell Atlantic that featured Wild Things characters promoting “a fast, dependable Internet service.”

The exhibit features more than 150 sketches, storyboards and paintings of work Sendak did for his own books, including “Higglety Pigglety Pop!,” which he based on the fatal sickness of his beloved Sealyham terrier Jennie. The show also displays some of Sendak’s most celebrated illustrations of other writers’ work, such as Else Holmelund Minarik’s “Little Bear” books.

work for operas included Krása’s “Brundibar,” Mozart’s “The Magic Flute” and “The Goose of Cairo,” and Prokofiev’s “The Love for Three Oranges.” A video on repeat at the exhibit features the design work Sendak did for a new production of Tchaikovsky’s Nutcracker commissioned in 1981 by the Pacific Northwest Ballet.

Sendak also designed sets and costumes and wrote the book and lyrics for the musical “Really Rosie” based on his book of the same name, with music by Carole King.

The exhibit includes rarely seen “Wild Things” sketches and completed paintings, and traces the book’s history from early 1953 drawings to its publication.

To commemorate Sendak’s affinity for Mickey Mouse — who first appeared in 1928, the year Sendak was born — the exhibit includes an illustration that TV Guide commissioned in 1978 for Mickey Mouse’s 50th birthday featuring Sendak, also 50, waving at a mirror as the cartoon character waves back.

In the late 1970s, Sendak embarked on a second career as a costume and stage designer. His design

And then there is “Where The Wild Things Are,” featuring the fantastical nighttime adventures of a boy named Max on an island of monsters. Since its publication in 1963, the book has sold more than 50 million copies and been translated into 40 languages.

The exhibit includes rarely seen “Wild Things” sketches and completed paintings, and traces the book’s history from early 1953 drawings to its publication. Also on display: costumes from Spike Jonze’s 2009 movie “Where the Wild Things Are” based on the book.

Adults troubled by the scary nature of Max’s fantasy “forget that my hero is having the time of his life and that he controls the situation with breezy aplomb,” Sendak said upon accepting the 1964 Caldecott Medal for the book.

Sendak was an admirer of many artists and illustrators, including William Blake, Walt Disney

and Beatrix Potter, a devotion that the exhibit tries to get across, said Jonathan Weinberg, an artist and curator of the Maurice Sendak Foundation, which is housed in the home where Sendak worked and lived from 1972 until his death. Most of that time he lived with his partner, psychiatrist Dr. Eugene Glynn.

“Maurice had this unbelievable range,” said Weinberg. “And if he couldn’t do something, if he didn’t have that style at that moment for what was needed, he would figure it out and learn.”

When it came to his work for children, Sendak never preached or tried to instill a stuffy moral, Caponera said. Instead, he understand that, as sometimes happens in real life, children are the brave ones, the ones who triumph and are in control.

“Maurice used to say that a good children’s book is sort of like creating an act of guerilla warfare,” Caponera said. “You put things in there that the kids see, and the kids get, and then the kids have to sort of explain to the parents, ‘Oh, no, this isn’t scary.’”

In fact,

We wanted people to understand that Maurice was actually a serious artist.

Lynn Caponera, executive director Maurice Sendak Foundation

Mexican artisans preserve Day of the Dead decorations

The centenary art defies increasingly popular massproduction techniques

XOCHIMILCO, Mexico —

Mexican artisans are struggling to preserve the traditional manufacture of paper cut-out decorations long used in altars for the Day of the Dead.

Defying increasingly popular mass-production techniques, second-generation paper cutter Yuridia Torres Alfaro, 49, still makes her own stencils at her family’s workshop in Xochimilco, on the rural southern edge of Mexico City.

As she has since she was a child, Torres Alfaro punched stunningly sharp chisels into thick piles of tissue paper at her business, ‘Papel Picado Xochimilco.’

While others use longer-lasting plastic sheets, laser cutters or pre-made stencils, Torres Alfaro does each step by hand, as Mexican specialists have been doing for 200 years.

In 1988, her father, a retired schoolteacher, got a big order for sheets — which usually depict festive skeletons, skulls, grim reapers or Catrinas — to decorate city government offices.

“The business was born 34 years ago, we were very little then, and we started helping in getting the work done,” Torres Alfaro recalled.

Begun in the 1800s, experts say ‘papel picado’ using tissue paper is probably a continuation of a far older pre-Hispanic tradition of painting ceremonial figures on paper made of fig-bark sheets. Mexican artisans adopted imported tissue paper because it was cheap and thin enough so that, with sharp tools, extreme care and a lot of skill, dozens of sheets can be cut at the same time.

But the most important part is the stencil: its design designates the parts to be cut out, leaving an intricate, airy web of paper that is sometimes strung from buildings or across streets. More commonly, it is hung above Day of the Dead altars that Mexican families use to commemorate — and commune with — deceased relatives.

The holiday begins Oct. 31, remembering those who died in accidents; it continues Nov. 1 to mark those died in childhood, and then those who died as adults on Nov. 2.

Traditionally, the bright colors of the paper had different meanings: Orange signified mourning, blue was for those who drowned, yellow was for the elderly deceased and green for those who died young.

But many Mexicans — who also use the decorations at other times of year, stringing them at roof-height along streets — now prefer to buy plastic, which lasts longer in the sun and the rain.

Still other producers have tried to use massproduced stencils, which means that tens of thousands of sheets might bear exactly the same

design.

“Stencils began to appear for making papel picado, because it is a lot of work if you have to supply a lot of people,” said Torres Alfaro, who still hand-cuts her own stencils with original designs.

“We wanted to keep doing it the traditional way, because it allows us to make small, personalized lots, and keep creating a new design every day,” she says.

Another rival was the U.S. holiday Halloween, which roughly coincides with Day of the Dead, Because it is flashier and more marketable — costumes, movies, parties and candy — it has gained popularity in Mexico.

“For some time now, there has been a bit more Halloween,” said Torres Alfaro. “We do more traditional Mexican things. That is part of the work, to put Mexican things in papel picado. If we do Halloween things, it’s only on order” from customers.

Still others have tried to use 21st-century technology, employing computer-generated designs and laser cutters.

But Torres Alfaro says that concentrating so much on the cutting leaves out the most important part: the delicate webs of paper left behind.

“There are some laser machines that are gaining popularity, but we have checked them and the costs are the same, the machines still cut hole-byhole and they can’t cut that many sheets,” she said.

“The (ready-made) stencils and the laser machine have their downsides,” she said. “Papel picado is based on what can be cut, and what can’t, and that is the magic of papel picado.”

Fernanda Pesce – The Associated Press

The Lighthouse Gallery breaks the limits of physical art

Digital canvases make gallery walls infinite

Juan A. Hernández, The Weekly Journal

Can you imagine walking into a gallery today to enjoy an art exhibit from a renowned French artist? And then, walking into the same gallery tomorrow morning for an exhibit from an Ukrainian artist, and a Mexican artist in the afternoon?

For the gallery owner it would be nightmare in logistics alone. But not for Crystal Rose Pierce, owner of the Lighthouse Gallery, Puerto Rico and the world’s first NFTs (Non-Fungible Tokens) gallery.

“Digital artworks can be displayed in tens, or thousands in one evening. Because there are no limitations in terms of wall space, we are able to show many pieces on one wall in our digital canvases. So, we can show a different artist every day, or every hour and be very flexible with our exhibits,” Pierced said.

The gallery owner pointed out that, because digital artwork is stored in a ledger within a blockchain, there are a lot of advantages to this kind of art. Were as in the case of physical art there are all sorts of previsions to be taken to guarantee its ownership, authenticity and safety, among other conditions.

“For digital art, all these live in a blockchain, or a digital ledger, and that really transforms the way we move authentic pieces around and store them securely,” said Pierce.

But What Is NFT Art?

An NFT is a digital file that may contain a type of art form and information about it that would establish its provenance, ownership, price or cost. The NFT also includes a history of sales and buyers and, depending on the contract under which it is acquired, it could forward the author royalties for each future sale. Thus, the NFT could can make it easier to detect forgeries by establishing the origins of an art piece and potentially eliminate the market for forgeries.

“The NFT market is shortening the gap between the artist/creator and the buyer or collector and

making it possible for artists to get much more money out of their creations,” said Pierce. “The owner/collector [of an NFT] can get all sorts of rights but the main thing here is that he/she gets the right to resell it… and the artist will still get a royalty each time it gets sold.”

According to Pierce, artists in Puerto Rico are very innovative and many have already approached the gallery. “Either they are already making NFTs, or they are merging into it turning their physical into NFTs,” she assured.

Pierce said the Lighthouse Gallery is currently accepting transactions in crypto-currency, and while art pieces are listed in Ethereum, the gallery is “platform agnostic,” meaning payment is accepted in any form of crypto-currency, and credit cards.

The NFT market is shortening the gap between the artist/ creator and the buyer or collector and making it possible for artists to get much more money for their creations.

Crystal Rose Pierce, owner of Lighthouse Gallery

Gallery owner Crystal Rose Pierce in front of NFT by Sneaker Punks.