It used to be said that “money doesn’t grow on trees”. Meaning that money doesn’t sprout and grow just like that – you gotta earn it!! You gotta WORK for it. And that, of course, is what we’ve been doing for centuries. We even worked as slaves when we didn’t even get any money!! We were supposed to be thankful that we were given the opportunity to become “civilised”. And we were whipped mercilessly if we dared to complain!! And now THEY complain we’re not civilised when we express our frustrations a tad violently nowadays!! It’s civilised, innit??
But did we ever get the money promised for working – even after slavery was “abolished”?? Well, not if you go by the evidence all around us! We’re still lumped among the poorest in the hemisphere – so what to do?? Well, from what your Eyewitness has been reading recently, while money still doesn’t grow on trees – unless it’s ganja, but that’s illegal!! – it’s perfectly legal to create some once you got a computer!! Seems that some very smart folks realised that money can be ANYTHING – the trick is to get other folks to accept it to give you stuff you want.
It used to be that cowrie shells and beads were used as money, no? At some point or other gold, became acceptable – and still remains so!! Did you ever really think about that? That you could just go out with a pick and shovel and dig up gold and buy whatever you want? It’s just pieces of metal you unearthed – but you can get real stuff like food and cars, etc!! Countries also created money from metals and then moved on to pieces of paper printed with arbitrary amounts of “dollars”, pounds, dinars, reals, yuan, rupees, roubles, etc, etc. Their citizens HAD to accept them!! And once they could get other countries and folks to accept those pieces of paper as money because of their armies – presto they were rich!!
So, recently, a few wise guys decided that why not create something in hyperspace that you can’t touch – cryptocurrency – through a computer technology called “blockchain”. This can be done by having computer geeks hack away at their computers for hours and hours in a process called “mining” – get it?? Like mining gold!! The creators justified their “invention” by virtuously claiming they were taking the power to create money from the powerful countries – and putting it in the hands of everybody!! Folks started accepting the concept and a whole new payment system came into play.
But for all the idealism, it’s all falling apart, because four college kids with big connections were human – they got greedy!!
They scammed some US$8 billion before anyone got wise!!
…joke
Only in Guyana! A month ago, a Panamanian oil carrier violated all protocols, disobeyed instructions from the on-shore authority and – in the face of a screaming Guard on the DHB – veered off course to slam the Bridge in two!! Mass pandemonium ensued as drivers of the 9000 vehicles that cross daily had to make alternative arrangements. Through the valiant efforts of the conscripted private sector, the bridge was repaired in record time –at a cost of a BILLION DOLLARS!!
All your Eyewitness could conclude was “mischief thou art afoot”!! When it looks like a duck, quacks like a duck and walks like a duck, you know it’s a prime candidate for the duck curry competition!! But nobody was held responsible for the sabotage! While the vessel was held at Grove and the Ministry talked tough about getting its $1 billion back. Now lo and behold, persons on the same DHB opened the bridge for the vessel to slip out of the country – with no fine collected.
Heads better roll!!
…precautions
With markets so tight, some are questioning whether we should’ve hired a sales agent for our portion of oil – even with BP taking no commission. Could you imagine the questions about “transparency” if the Government sold directly??!!
