PNP: No New Taxes For WEALTHY

 http://jamaica-gleaner.com/article/lead-stories/20200828/pnp-no-new-taxes-wealthy

The ghost of Dr. Davis rises in the form of this man with dreadlocks. Dem really, really tek wi fi eediat! We truly have a political establishment made up of grinning conmen - some even with dreadlocks. Don't let the dreadlocks fool you. Rasta would seh Fire pon dem! All these goodies, free light, water, houses, etc. etc. have to be paid for somehow. The PNP say no new taxes, they will 'run a deficit to a greater degree'. That sounds pretty close to Dr. Davis' 'run wid it' policy of the past. All that complicated economic language means is that we are going to resume living on the national credit card like we did in the past. This can work for them in the short run and that is all the PNP cares about, winning power now and letting us pay for it. Our current economic situation is like a guy who loses his job who continues to pay his expenses on his credit card and giving large sums of money to the members of his family - us. However, this kind of spending (deficit spending) is living on a loan. Loans have to be repaid. The money has to come from somewhere. I call upon the PNP to show me the money. I want our economists to step up to the plate and trash this bogus plan. The pain in the past was caused by our huge debt load caused by our 'run wid it' spending of the past. We have been there before. The PNP wants us to go back to that. For a while the goodies flowed - but most of it went to their relatives, friends and cronies in the private sector. We had precious little to show for it after the bonanza was over. More of the pillars of our economy, JPS, our highways were sold to foreigners. We chopped up the furniture to keep the fire going. Then the chickens came home to roost and we were in economic agony for a long time. If there are no new taxes then the remaining options are printing money or borrowing. Printing money will devalue the dollar further and cause massive inflation. Prices will skyrocket. The PNP says they will not borrow from the IMF. That is because it is unlikely that the IMF would sanction their spending spree. IMF funds come with a lower interest rate than the international market but there are strings attached - a program. The IMF would restrict them to being prudent but they don't want that. The PNP wants to 'run wid it'. Borrowing on the international market has a higher interest rate but fewer strings attached.

Since our political leaders will not tell you what you need to hear, I will tell you. The economic tsunami that I have been warning you about on this forum for a few months is coming. Economic hurt and pain is inevitable - whoever wins the election. Every economic strategy has upsides and downsides. Every strategy has costs and benefits. Every strategy has winners and losers. What governments need to do is weigh the cost vs the benefits. The tribalists, as usual, are lying to you. If the government runs a massive deficit to bring you these freebies, the dollar would collapse and inflation will skyrocket. There would be no money for the health system, schools, etc. Infrastructure would deteriorate as there would be no money to maintain them. You choose. The government has done the right thing by cushioning and delaying the economic shock by using the foreign exchange reserves and the contingency fund but that is running out. They did the right thing for the wrong reasons - to win an election. That is not sustainable. That is why we are having the snap election now. The JLP is almost just as bad as they have come with a watered down goodie basket. What our political leaders need to tell us is how then intend to navigate through the coming economic tsunami instead of trying to con us with these promises of freebies. Our politicians are so wedded to clientelism that they know no other way to get our support. Jamaicans are so wedded to the political tradition of clientelism too, so much so that Jamaicans know of no other way to support a political party. We just want to hear good news - all the time. We don't want our politicians to be honest with us. The politicians know that so they play this con game with us. Whoever wins will have the mandate to govern for four years and they will have to make the tough decisions. When the goodies fail to arrive, everyone will be mad and become even more cynical of the political process. It does not have to be this way. We need to grow up politically and move away from this paternalistic, clientelism - a kind of government where we expect government to do everything for us. Governments must give us houses, free light, free water, security and so on. What we must begin to realize is that it is our money they will be spending. It is our money they will be giving away. Sorry to rain on the political parade. Sorry to burst your bubble of denial but somebody has to do it. If you think you are broke now, just wait awhile. You ain't seen nutten yet!

Raymond D. Grant