President Flores has served only about 40 % of his four-year term and already presidential wannabes have begun slinging mud and posturing for the upcoming elections scheduled for November 2001. Fantasy Politics was originally created as a medium to watch and analyze the Honduran political process, but we have refrained from commenting on the political situation ever since Hurricane Mitch struck. We believe that the country must focus its attention on reconstruction rather than politics and have therefore avoided our traditional controversial commentary.

We will continue this policy since we feel it is in the best interest of the country but will state emphatically that we still stick by our original forecast published in March, 1998. That prediction is that the National party will win the next presidential elections with Ricardo Maduro. Most importantly, readers should be aware that we are not supporters of any particular political party or agenda and are simply expressing our opinion.

One of our readers wrote an interesting letter concerning the controversy surrounding Ricardo Maduro's citizenship. Although Maduro was not born in Honduras but rather in Panama, his mother is a Honduran citizen and therefore he has the constitutional right to become president. There are two ways to determine the citizenship of an individual, one is through blood, i.e. through the parents as in the case of Maduro; and the other is through physical presence, i.e. where one was physically born. We do not doubt Maduro's competence and loyalty to Honduras one iota, and liken his citizenship to the traditional Jewish lineage where one is considered to be a member of Judaism through one's mother; after all, one is always certain who is the mother, the father is another matter.

It is worth mentioning that some members of the Liberal party have been trying to block Maduro's candidature and are blatantly trying to amend the constitution. We also remember that the same Liberal party "stretched" the constitution to allow Azcona Hoyo to win the presidency even though his nationality was also questioned by many individuals, and now they want to shrink it since their continuance in power is seriously threatened by Maduro.

The government recently has increased all the taxes that it could (the daily newspaper El Tiempo counted 47 taxes that were increased) in an effort to reduce the public sector's deficit. A drastic reduction in public sector spending would also make the country eligible for additional funding from international organizations such as the Interational Monetary Fund <IMF>. After Mitch, many local communities are broke and yet need to pay for diverse reconstruction efforts. A good example is the "Green Gold" town of La Lima which is renown for its banana plantations.

One of the latest ways that the government has contrived to raise additional money is to change the license plates of all vehicles in the country. Each one must pay Lps. 200= for the new plates. We here at Fantasy Politics suggest that the government take this measure one step further and offer "vanity" plates for a premium price. This would become a selective measure to increase the government's coffers since it would affect only those who are willing to purchase them.

One challenge would be to determine who would be allowed to purchase popular plates such as "OLIMPIA" (the name of the most popular local soccer team). It could be settled by an auction open to all and to let the highest bid win. In order to determine which plates would need to be auctioned, we suggest a moratorium before the plate is released so that anyone interested could bid on the plate. In other words, the procedure would be to apply for the plate, then the government would release a notice that such and such a plate will be sold at a previously set price unless someone else requests that same plate within a certain time period.

Of course, as in other areas of the world, license plates with offensive wording should be prohibited and also the number of letters that could be used in the plate would be restricted. Nonetheless, we consider this measure to be a relatively easy way for the government to raise additional funds and sincerely hope that President Flores seriously considers our recommendation.

These labor laws are a result of many years of umpteen strikes by workers and they scare off many potential investors. The government has recognized the strangle hold that these laws have on entrepreneurs and have implemented parallel rules that govern the successful maquila operations. These operations are geared to attract investors who import raw materials that are assembled by local labor, then export the final products. Maquila operations are not subject to local labor laws, but rather are governed by less harsh laws that are more in tune with the modern global community.

Paradoxically, there are no laws regarding discrimination in hiring personnel, which is blatantly apparent in the classified section of local newspapers. Candidates are rejected up front for age and sex reasons. Most ads indicate right off the cut off age that will be considered as well as the sex. This ultimately leads to the ongoing replacement of older candidates with extensive experience by younger ones who are paid less money.

We believe this practice yields to additional hidden costs in the long run. Rather than pay someone with valuable pertinent experience a little extra, many companies prefer to hire younger candidates with less experience. In the short term, the company saves money in its payroll. But what happens when that same younger employee due to their inexperience makes a crass mistake that costs the company a lot of money. Or simply put, the same younger employee is most probably less efficient and it takes them longer to complete their tasks.

We understand that older employees may not be as active as their younger peers and that it is harder to teach an old dog new tricks. Nonetheless, age and experience cultivates wisdom. After all, old foxes can still catch young bunnies since they already know all the tricks of the trade.

Many of the labor practice problems can be traced back to colonial times. Caudillismo is a term used to describe the Spanish practice in which the employer takes care of the employee in every conceivable way. The caudillo or big boss runs the operation in a way in which employees are considered to be family members and are extremely loyal to the boss who in turn provides welfare beyond simple pay for services. It stems from the turbulent past when Honduras was controlled by diverse regional factions rather than through a strong central government.

Severance pay rules are an example of the way local laws cause friction. Severance pay does not need to be paid if an employee quits their job. This has led to all kinds of problems. Good employees who have faithfully served a company may become troublesome employees in order to force the company to pay severance. On the other hand, employers may pressure employees to quit to avoid having to pay it.

It is also apparent whenever a new boss is hired. Oftentimes the new boss will use whatever means available to replace old employees and hire new ones. It can easily turn a peaceful, congenial workplace into a vicious battleground. These new bosses may want to replace the older employees on a whim just to hire people who are loyal to the new caudillo. There have been cases of employees who have been replaced after having been labeled as incompetent but no performance measures were ever employed. In other words, they leave complaining that everyone now says they are doing a bad job, but nobody had ever told them it previously, nor can the boss explain exactly what was being done wrong.

Another problem that affects many Honduran companies regards their perspective concerning training and continuing education. Many still consider these kinds of programs as an unnecessary expense, rather than an investment in the future. We do agree with the practices of the company paying for useful, related education and to bind the investment to specific criteria. Examples of these criteria include an expected performance level and a preset contract of a maximum two years to protect the investment by ensuring that the employee does not leave right after receiving the education.

Furthermore, Honduras is such a poor country that the social security system is broke and provides little or no coverage to its citizens. This ultimately produces even more poverty since many citizens produce more children than they can possibly afford in an attempt to protect their own future. The idea is that once they are retired, more children mean that they are more likely to be taken care of. In other words, the expense of caring for old parents is borne by their children, who oftentimes split the cost. An old local saying indicates that it is better to have many children since maybe one of them will become useful.

Another factor that effectively shrinks the size of the middle class and contributes to the ongoing brain drain associated with the massive northern migration of workers to the US regards the actual pay that workers receive. Devaluation has resulted in a freezing of salaries. The ongoing decrease in the value of the local Lempira currency over the past years means that most pay increases do not even keep up with inflation. In my particular case, after six straight years in a multinational corporation and four different positions, I was earning much more local currency. However, when converted to dollars, it turns out that I was just treading water and had not moved forward at all. In other words, even though I had been provided many more responsibilities and had moved up the ladder, the true value of the money that I earned remained unchanged.

Finally, the global information world of the 21^st century has implemented new standards upon Honduran labor. Illiteracy will no longer be measured simply by reading at a sixth grade level. In Honduras, one will soon be considered illiterate if they do not speak English or know how to use a computer. Even more disheartening for this particular author is that using a computer means simply knowing how to use Windows 95/98, which indicates Bill Gates' empire includes even Honduras and other remote areas of the world.