…delusion or scam?
If you dig a hole and use the dirt to try to fill another much bigger hole, have you really achieved anything? While, as you know, your Eyewitness is a very practical guy and not given to philosophical navel gazing, this is the thought that flashed into his head when he read of Finance Minister Winston Jordan’s boast that “6000 jobs” will be created with the investment that’ll pour into our country next year through Go-Invest!!
Can you believe it? If this isn’t at best delusional or at worse, jerking off the electorate, what is? Here it is this Government hasn’t only refused to stimulate the economy in a meaningful way, but has made policy decisions that’ll throw thousands of persons from the sugar and rice industries into the streets and now talks about “creating” 6000 jobs? So what do those jobless persons do? Are they the ones that’ll be getting the “1327 jobs in Agriculture”? Are they going to be retrained in one year?
This is the same kind of theoretical BS that’s seen governments in two of the most developed countries in the world – the US and the UK – turned upside and their political leaders flushed down the sewer like used toilet paper. For years they’d convince their electorate that “outsourcing” was the logical extension of the “free trade” dogma that brought them unbelievable prosperity since the post-1780 industrial revolution.
They didn’t bother to mention that “free trade” only benefitted them during those long two hundred years, because they’d sucked raw materials from the colonies they’d conquered and done all the manufacturing “at home”. Now while “outsourcing” might be the logical conclusion of “free trade” it’s finally unmasked that the profits basically went to a tiny 1%…and the rest made do with what trickled down. Now the trickling down’s going into the pockets of peasants in China and the Far East!
So in Guyana, the PNC-led Coalition’s trying to convince us that increased taxation is good for us, since in any case we’ll be getting jobs. But have you noticed even THEY couldn’t bring themselves to say the jobs will be created by their taxation binge? They’re counting on “FOREIGN DIRECT INVESTMENT” (FDI). Since we NEVER got those numbers of jobs from comparable FDI during the PPP years (if we did, there’d be no 27% unemployment problem!) maybe Go-Invest needs a forensic audit?
Be as it may…it’ll be an interesting test of “ethnic loyalties” when 2020 rolls around, after the economy crashes and burns like in the first PNC Government’s rule.
Will they still get their constituency’s 42% vote like in 1992?
…”prudence”
Another unbelievable announcement by Finance Minister Jordan was that in his budget he was practicing “prudence in public financial management”. Prudence? Is he thinking about that girl named “Prudence” in his “Financial Management Unit”? If he is, then he’d better perish the thought right now. The child’s dating a big hulking bouncer from South…and he’s not going to allow any “popish” behaviour!!
But is it possible he’s not thinking about any sweet young t’ing like that fella over at the GRA? Naah! He couldn’t possibly speculate that what he’s done with the national income and expenditure statement we call a “Budget” displayed “prudence” – as in “showing care and thought”, could he?? Or did he show “care” to’ve “thought” of ways to pi55 of everyone in the country?
In the history of horrible budgets – and the one by Carl Greenidge in 1980 when he confessed the country was bankrupt, comes to mind – nothing has come even remotely close to Jordan’s.
Somebody better send a “sweet chariot” to send him home!
…on City tax arrears
The city’s owed $16 billion in rates and taxes from all the services they’ve provided to its fair citizenry. After their amnesty, they announced they “raked in” $42 million.
Shouldn’t that be “scraped up”??
