Patriotism and Government Service

National Patriotic Month

November is a month when Panamanians celebrate their country . . . with two Independance Day celebrations (Spain and Columbia) that stretch out an entire month. There are endless band practices tying up traffic, and parades and banners and parties.

Two stories that Don Winner ran on Panama-Guide.com caught my attention . . . both about Panama’s new President Ricardo Martinelli, independently very wealthy and the owner of many of the supermarkets (Super 99) in Panama.

Martinelli Approves The Largest Budget In The History of Panama

Telemetro – The approved budget was for more than $10.5 billion dollars. Panama’s President Ricardo Martinelli approved the largest budget in the history of the country for $10.574 billion dollars, nearly half of which is destined for social investment, said the government of Panama. “Panama is facing major problems that can not be solved with delay or simple words or quick fixes, and if we are able to lead a world crisis and continue to grow our economy as we have done in the past three months at 2.5%, we will also be able to overcome our problems with an unprecedented budget” Martinelli said. Of the approved amount, 36.6% (about $3.8 billion dollars) will be for investment and 63.4% ($6.7 billion dollars) for ongoing operations. “We will give special treatment to the social sectors” to which 49% of the budget is directed, more than $5.2 billion dollars, with the goal of reducing poverty and extreme poverty in the country, said Martinelli. The budget includes $1.3 billion to service debt, $516 million in amortization and $834.5 million in interest. This budget beats the record set in 2009 by the administration of Martin Torrijos which was more than $9.7 billion dollars, which was the time was a 17% increase over the $8.3 billion dollar budget of 2008.

Editor’s [Don Winner's] Comment: This budget represents spending equal to only $3,204.24 for every Panamanian citizen ($10.574 billion divided by 3.3 million people.) The Panamanian economy continues to grow and expand, as does the population of the country. Thankfully, now that Panama has full control and dominion over the Panama Canal, the macro strategic economic condition of the country continues to improve, despite the horrendously corrupt governments of Mireya Moscoso and Martin Torrijos. Not much happened economically speaking from 2000 to 2004, a period known locally as “the crisis.” The real boom started in 2005 and continues to this day, despite the global economic downturns of the past year. Short term bumps and jitters aside, over the very long term the outlook for Panama and it’s citizens is more than just bright, it’s simply glowing with a radiance unknown in any other country in Latin America. Blessed with the Panama Canal (thanks, Uncle Sam) and a relatively small geography and population, Panama should be able to continue to improve baseline standards of living and boost all measures of economic standards across the board. Added the one-two punch of the administration of Ricardo Martinelli – that is attacking corruption with one hand while increasing social spending with the other – Panama should continue to make consistent and steady progress over the next five years. The only possible wildcard would be something completely unforeseen and unpredictable – such as the remote and unlikely possibility of a major natural disaster such as a devastating earthquake in Panama City – but barring that the future looks very bright indeed.

Martinelli ran on an Obama-like platform of “Change” . . . and he is making changes and waves, even going after officials in the former administration with charges of corruption and theft. His famous inagural speech line was, “In this administration it is OK to put your foot in your mouth, but not your hand in the till.”

Ricardo Martinelli Takes Only $1 Dollar in Salary as President

TVN Noticias – Panama’s President Ricardo Martinelli gets paid for being the CEO of the National Government – he received exactly $1 dollar. In one of his first acts after assuming the office of President of the Republic on 1 July 2009, Martinelli donated to private foundations and charities his entire monthly paycheck of $7,000 dollars to which he is entitled ($4,000 in salary and $3,000 in expenses.) On Friday, 14 July 2009, the President submitted to the Comptroller General of the Republic a report detailing the 13 institutions that are all receiving continuing and monthly donations stemming from his salary;

Fundación Súper 99 B/.600.00
Fundación Ricardo Martinelli B/.600.00
Fundación Ofrece un Hogar B/.500.00
Hogares Crea B/.500.00
Hogar San José de Malambo B/.500.00
Nutre Hogar B/.500.00
Hogar Bolívar B/.500.00
Fanlyc B/.300.00
Fundación Rotaria B/.300.00
Fundacancer B/.300.00
Probidsida B/.300.00
Casa Esperanza B/.300.00
Damas Guadalupanas B/.221.00

The total monthly donation is for $5,421 with the remainder corresponding to the taxes and deductions as required by law. (Every month Ricardo Martinelli receives a $1 dollar paycheck from the government.)

If it had been me . . . and I owned Super 99 . . . I probably would have only accepted 99 cents a month, but . . . hey . . . keeping it $1 has “no strings”.   Accepting the man at face value, and assuming he isn’t shipping containers of the people’s money to other off shore tax havens, that is change, very presidential, and very patriotic. If there are no under-the-table, behind-the-scenes, family-member-deals going on, then it is truly government service.