Well…well…well, wouldn’t it be great if you could just throw back and yet get US$5000, or Gy$1.1 million bucks a year, at the present rate of conversion?? Well, if you vote for the WPA, and they win the next elections, you could see that happening!! Isn’t it great??
Clive Thomas appears to’ve made the suggestion in Buxton back when he was a member of the PNC coalition, but they didn’t pay him no mind. Same as when he was made a member of the Sugar CoI and they ignored his recommendations!!
But what do you say to a fella who’d suggested back in the 1970s that we cut all trade relations with capitalist countries or else we’d never develop!?! Burnham also ignored him – but then he had his own wacko ideas on the economy. Over in China, where they also were Marxist, like Thomas, they INCREASED trade with the capitalist countries, and today they’re about to overtake the US as the largest economy in the world!!
But his advice was taken by Chavez in Venezuela, and look where they are today!!
Now, every politician in a democracy ‘bigs-up’ spending for the people, so as to get their votes. Something for nothing attracts, no?? In fact, they have a name for one version of giving citizens money in their pockets for just being citizens. It’s called Universal Basic Income (UBI), and while there’s no country in the world that has instituted it, there’s some talk. Now, the idea of a UBI isn’t new, and in fact Plato mentioned one version in his Utopian Republic.
Right now, we do have something like it in “welfare” economies, where quite a few services are provided “free” by the Government to the needy. Like here in Guyana, where we have free medical care. So, is the WPA’s idea to give the million bucks only to those who need some help because of joblessness or such like?? No, they want EVERYONE to get it. Your Eyewitness really doesn’t have a problem with that. He doesn’t mind helping the needy; so, maybe we ought to create a basic needs category of citizens that need to be satisfied??
Now, even if oil steadies at US$100/barrel and we get to one million barrels/day, we’ll be earning some US$5.8 billion at the Exxon contract rate, but would be dishing out US$1 billion to the present 200,000 families – which are expected to increase!! Does that make sense? How about trying to imitate China, and create jobs while improving infrastructure and facilities and welfare services??
Your Eyewitness’s main concern is based on human psychology. He knows that even if it’s a made-up job, folks have self-respect when they earn their money.
…as minimum wage
Your Eyewitness notes there’s now a minimum wage of $60,000 monthly for private industries. This, of course, translates to $720,000 annually for working stiffs getting the minimum wage. And the first thing you’d notice is it’s less than the $1,100,000 Clive Thomas wants to give every Tom, Dick and Harrilall!! The question that’s been asked in cases like this, where the UBI would exceed the minimum wage, is: “Will those workers then show up for their minimum wage work?”
Some may say that those minimum wage workers would see their UBI as a boost or “top up” of their take home pay, and would keep on working. Finland tried a pilot programme with UBI replacing unemployment benefits, and it showed no appreciable change on employment rates one way or the other. This pretty much supports your Eyewitness’s position, and he feels that’s the way to go. At present, the Government has already rolled out several grant programmes to several categories of needy citizens.
This can be regularised.
…for war
Have you noticed how quickly money’s been sourced to fund the war against the Ruskies in the Ukraine war?? One wishes the war on climate change could follow suit!!
