Friday, May 15th, 2009
Costa Rica’s leading investor, Intel Corp., has been slapped with a $1.45 billion fine after the European Commission accused the semiconductor giant of engaging in illegal anti-competitive practices.
Though the controversy is being played out on European battlefields, some people are concerned about its effects on this small Central American country.
Roughly 36.7 percent of Costa Rica’s exports come from Intel’s 126-acre campus in Heredia, according to a 2006 report by the Multilateral Investment Guarantee Agency. After Intel established operations here in the late 1990s, Costa Rica saw 60 percent growth in gross domestic product (GDP). This growth was almost entirely tied to Intel, which employs approximately 3,000 Costa Ricans.
If this does not play out in Intel’s favor, I do think it might affect production here in Costa Rica, said Luis Mesalles, an economist at the Central American Academy. There is a possibility that it will impact our economy.
Intel was accused of bribing computer manufacturers with rebates if they bought all or almost all of their computer chips from Intel. This violates the European Commission Treaty antitrust rules.
The EC is also levying the fine because Intel allegedly paid computer manufactures not to launch products containing chips made by competitors.
Intel has harmed millions of European consumers by deliberately acting to keep competitors out of the market for computer chips for many years, alleged European Competition Commissioner Neelie Kroes, in a statement. Such a serious and sustained violation of the EU’s anti-trust rules cannot be tolerated.
Intel’s president and CEO, Paul Otellini, objected to the fine on the grounds that such practices are necessary in an industry dominated by only two companies.
We do not believe our practices violated European law, Otellini said in a statement.
The natural result of a competitive market with only two major suppliers is that when one company wins sales, the other does not.
Otellini, who claimed his company’s actions are not harming consumers, said his company plans to appeal the decision.
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Friday, May 15th, 2009
The Costa Rica based boxing/MMA promotion ‘FiteNite’ will present an evening of MMA and boxing called ‘HIGH IMPACT’ this Saturday night. We’ll supplement their already top notch broadcast team with LIVE round by round coverage here at THE SAVAGE SCIENCE.
You can catch all of the action LIVE via streaming video starting at 9 PM Eastern/6 PM Pacific Saturday, May 16th.
We’ve been following this promotion since before there was a SAVAGE SCIENCE, and their events are consistently entertaining in the ring and very professionally run outside. The quality of the local fighters from Costa Rica continues to improve by leaps and bounds every time out, and the promotion supplements the local talent with professionals from the US and elsewhere. Notables such as Jason Guida and reigning Sengoku middleweight champion Jorge Santiago have fought on their cards. Their events never fail to surpass our expectations–this is a promotion on the cusp of becoming the STRIKEFORCE of Central America.
This weekend’s card features kickboxing legend Rick Roufus in a MMA match against Panama’s Tomas Gomez plus a full slate of MMA and boxing competition.
All in all, its a great evening of fighting absolutely free. That’s a deal you can’t beat. So check it out, and if you like what you see drop the FiteNite people an email and let ‘em know! Also, tell ‘em you heard about their event here at THE SAVAGE SCIENCE
click here for more fight night info
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Friday, May 15th, 2009
Costa Rican president, Oscar Arias, and the president of the Banco Central, Francisco de Paula Gutiérrez, recognized yesterday that the country is in a recession.
Both, separately, confirmed the recession after two consecutive trimesters of negative economic growth. Gutiérrez added that the Gross National Production may even be lower than then 2.2% forecast by the central bank at the beginning of the year.
“If there are drecreases in two consecutive trimesters, then, we are in a recession, but we should be surprised. I always maintained that growth in 2009 could be possible be 0 or even be negative”, said Arias.
The president explained that the contraction in the economy has been in employment and could soon affect family income an poverty.
A number of Costa Rican economists agree with the statments of Arias and Gutiérrez, adding the importance of defining the state of the economy for the country to face the reality and take measures against the situation.
Costa Rica’s last recession was between 2000 and 2001. However, economists believe that this recession may be the worst faced by the country since 1982.
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