Hal Austin
Introduction:
The IMF’s light-touch analysis looks as if it was not intended to cause offence, rather than to provide a roadmap to help the nation escape its present economic problems. Reference to the erosion of the tax base is one example, a situation cause by micro-managing, a lack of a broader policy agenda and political interference. The routine waivers and exemptions, along with the underwriting of debt, are the outcome of policy failure, which the report should have made clear, and the corruption of ideas. Nothing better illustrates this than the apparent secret deal the government has made with the Butch Stewart-owned Sandals. It is an agreement that should be made public as soon as possible, if only to stop rumour and suspicion. However, it has pinpointed the urgent need for improvements in the management of public revenue: “In addition to revenue losses from tax expenditures, staff analysis found gaps in revenue yield caused by weaknesses in collection, including for example a low ratio of tax collected to tax payable at the Inland Revenue administration and weak control and audit functions. “In addition, both revenue administrations lack management reports that could be used to improve performance monitoring.” In other words, gross incompetence across the revenue management section of the civil service, which comes directly under the remit of the prime minister or the minister of finance. Further, to obfuscate and fool the public, the recent change in the Auditor General’s report, from one in which departments were named and shamed to one in which the juxtaposition of accrual accounting figures has introduced an element of opacity.
The IMF’s report’s call to strengthen public finance management should lead to widespread sacking of all those accountable. This reminds me that sometime ago I asked a senior politician if newly appointed ministers were given any training about financial and personnel management, given that many of them came from backgrounds of being lawyers in small practices, and her/his reply was no. So, people without any experience of managing people or money, on being elected can often find themselves being accountable for budgets of millions of dollar s and staff of hundreds.
The report goes on to recommend improvements in fiscal reporting, and continues: “As a starting point, the ministry of finance should begin producing regular quarterly budget execution reports containing outturns on revenues and expenditures…” The prime minister is minister for the civil service, the source of most of the nation’s low productivity.
UK Economy:
There seems to be a fantasy that with a growing UK economy tourists from the home counties and provinces in the UK will flock to Barbados to sun themselves on the beaches during the day, and get drunk in St Lawrence Gap at night. It is nonsense. Nothing better sums up the perilous state of the UK economy than the speech given by the Chancellor of the Exchequer, Britain’s finance minister, 48 hours ago while on his way to the G20 meeting in Australia. Despite a lot of background noise, the reality is that the British economy has grown by only 1.9 per cent in 2013, the highest growth since the 2007/8 global banking crisis. Even so, as the Chancellor has pointed out, the economy is not yet secure. Or to put it another way, if this is the economy that Barbadians are waiting on to drive their tourism sector, then quite clearly they have more confidence in the UK’s economic performance than people working at the coal face do. The Chancellor said the UK recovery was still “unbalanced” and the deficit reduction had to continue.
The real lessons are simpler: long-haul tourism is a luxury and most British workers have not had a pay increase above the rate of inflation for years, in other words they have had real wage cuts. In any case, most people have opted to pare down their household debt and re-build their savings to the tune of 20 per cent of their take home pay. If they do decide to go on holiday, they prefer to stay in Britain or go to southern Europe, Spain or Greece. The only people for whom a long-haul Caribbean visit is essential are people from a Caribbean background, the very people that tourism marketing is not aimed at. Just take a look at the Sandals promotions. These are the people, by the way, who spend large sums of money while visiting the Caribbean, as gifts to relatives and friends, buying property, paying property tax and other forms of business. In fact, Chancellor George Osborne had every right to be concerned: an economy over-dependent on financial services, one that productivity has fallen back to 2005 levels, and a need to rebalance to manufacturing is not in good shape. The trap that Barbadian policymakers are bogged down in and their inability to be creative shows, if nothing else, the absence of thorough research and analysis on which sound policy should be based. If nothing else, economic analysis is the search for causation, not just an attempt to add to the mountain of rhetoric.
Abenomics:
The rest of the developed world, although growing, is not yet there. Only last week the Bank of Japan responded to weak than expected GDP figures by expanding its two key drivers of economic growth, increasing the incentives for more bank lending and loosening monetary policy, which led to a one per cent fall in the yen against sterling and the US dollar. The expectation is that this should boost exports to those key markets. It is simply limping along. The US is a further example that the global economy is not yet on firm footing; proof of this was when the hedge fund manager George Soros last week hedged US1.3bn, 11.13 per cent of his fund that the S&P500 will go through a bearish phase, a crippling collapse.
Keen observers of the equities markets will rightly believe that Soros has seen something in the US stock market that most of us have not seen, or that the global economy is not yet over the 2007/8 crisis. In a recent note on its 2014 outlook to investors, Blackrock, the fund manager, has warned clients that they should be prepared to pull out of global stock markets at short notice. Global growth is driven by momentum, not earnings, and broadly warned that markets are riskier than they at first appear.
Latam Economies:
For reasons to do with our colonial history and language, our closes neighbours, Latin America, with a population nearly the size of that of the European Union of 500m, is largely ignored by our policymakers. But it is not a market that we can continue to ignore. On February 10, Chile, Colombia, Mexico and Peru, apart from Mexico the second eleven of Latin America, signed a Pacific Alliance agreement to remove the vast majority of their import tariffs and pave the way for greater trade among the various nations. Given that the signatories account for a total population of 210m, a GDP of US$2Trn and a GDP of US$10000 and account for 40 per cent of all Latin American and Caribbean trade, it is clear this is a bloc we cannot ignore. Yet, in our mad scramble to restructure our economy, apart from a few speeches about attracting Brazilian tourists, Latin America is largely ignored. To go one step further, given the rhetoric about heritage tourism, Cuba and Panama in particular should have a great attraction for tourism promotion given the number of people ion those countries of Barbadian heritage.
Sovereign Wealth Fund:
There is a lack of policies to stimulate consumer demand in Barbados, the main reason why the economy is anchored in its current flat-lining position, because of fear or ignorance on the part of politicians and policymakers. This much is evidenced from the discussions IMF officials had with local politicians, civil servants and academics. It is clear, however, that officials and advisers are not thinking outside the proverbial box, if not they would have looked at the creation of a Sovereign Wealth Fund as the nation’s key investment vehicle. With a simple remit: growth of two percentage points above the base rate, government could ring fence the health part of the national insurance scheme, bulk sell all annuity liabilities for those aged over 75, then rollover the rest of the fund in to the newly created SWF. Apart from replacing the existing national insurance scheme with a compulsory long-term saving scheme, with a graduated worker/employer saving starting from about seven per cent of disposable income to a joint 20 per cent within five years. The SWF should be given a global remit with asset allocation brief given to it annually by a professionally competent board. A typical remit would be: 45 per cent equities, 35 per cent fixed income (gilts and corporate bonds), five per cent cash, ten per cent high returns and five per cent property. Stock picking will be left to the professionals.
Conclusions and Recommendations:
The biggest priority for this government is the growing rate of long-term unemployment. It is particularly so given that the bulk of the unemployable are young school leavers, those aged 16 to 25 year olds; this is the ticking time bomb that may go off at any time. Nothing about this government (nor to be fair the Opposition), its rhetoric, policy-making, absolutely nothing suggests that getting young people in to jobs is a priority. Of course, this is not a consideration for the IMF, all the Bretton Woods organisation is concerned with is drafting a map for the government out of its fiscal mire, its unprecedented current account deficit and the mountainous debt to GDP ratio. In fact, the IMF recommendations suggest that the lack of a clear and comprehensive medium-term fiscal framework has contributed to the excessive deficits and public sector borrowing, and the gradual expansion of the state in to productive sectors.
In short, the so-called medium-term strategy document produced by party members and sympathetic advisers is not worth the paper it is written on. Regular readers of this forum would have heard similar remarks months ago. The report also comments on the chaotic and often conflicting relations between the Barbados Statistical Service and the central bank. Most objective people now dismiss central bank figures as bogus, but that it continues is a scandal. One great omission on the part of the IMF is the urgent need to digitise government administration, education and tourism; government should also invest in digitising the private sector, especially where it interconnects with government. All these reforms will lead to productivity improvements and, therefore, to economic growth – and they can be achieved at no real cost to taxpayers by making those who will benefit most pay for the improvements.
There are other areas of government crying out for change. Government can reform the national insurance scheme by bulk-selling its existing annuities, its liabilities for annuitants over the age of 75, and form in its place a long-term compulsory savings scheme with three key pre-retirement entry points: to fund higher education, marriage and home ownership. Here we have the hugely successful Singapore model as an example which, since independence in 1965, had led to a 90 per cent home ownership.
A further example of government incompetence in education policy was the mad rush to introduce fee-paying for undergraduate studies. Had the policy been thought through, it would have given the insurance sector time to introduce higher education savings vehicles in order to minimise hardship on poorer students, it would also have given the university much-needed time to also put in place an endowment scheme that, in time, would itself offer scholarships and fellowships to aspiring students and for post-graduate work. The badly-thought out idea is still needs serious reform, preferably the introduction of a funding system based on the highly successful Yale Endowment.
Another example of poor management is the lack of the introduction of a proper performance measurement system not only in education, but right across the public sector, along with improvement metrics. With a secondary educational system in which 70 per cent of pupils fail to get five CXC grade between A and C, yet the system continues year after year with this systemic failure being bedded in to the entire educational system is nothing short of criminal. Barbados seems to take pride in its class-based educational system with certain well-known schools out-performing the other local schools year after year since the war. Pupils from these schools often go on to get Barbados Scholarships and the opportunity to study at leading foreign universities to return home in top positions. It is a type of inequality which is not encouraged by the state, but actively culturally encouraged, with parents subscribing to it by queuing up to get their children in these schools. It is a system in which parents, teachers and politicians have no great desire to change, while the teachers’ union representatives behave to my mind like organised gangsters. The recent events at Alexandra School come to mind.
The bottom line is, no matter what the politics, this incompetence is reflected in the nation’s skills base and ultimately, productivity and therefore GDP growth. Of course, Barbados is caught between the fierce historic grip of economic growth versus political maturity, which is outside the IMF remit. But in a political culture in which the tribalism of party loyalty comes before the interest of the nation, the rest of society will remain, at least for this generation, anchored in the irrationalism of a deep pit of own ignorance. So, debating a new political economy without accepting the wider reality that as people we are not just economic beings, will get us nowhere. There is also an ethical side, which is that the many local businesses that government owes money to have not even been mentioned in the report – Barrack, COW Williams, and many others. Again, to the IMF technocrats, these were just details, issues of no substance, yet the central bank could have been told the ethically and economically right thing to do was to give both Barrack and COW Williams access to a central bank drawdown, or just print the money and pay them off.
Prime minister Stuart’s fantasy about China and Chinese tourists is a one-way bet; for Barbadians to get in to China they have to go through a long visa application process and even then there is no guarantee they will get one. Further, like Japan, despite its terrifying ticking demographic time bomb, due in the main to its fractured one-child policy, China still turns its back on any idea of immigration as one way out of the problem. China has enough internal problems of its own: one of the largest, if not the largest Muslim population in the world to the extent that certain parts of Beijing are designated Muslim areas; and, further, with 400m of its population not even speaking Mandarin, China certainly has problems. The numbers are piling up: in 1980, China was the 13th largest economy in the world. It is now, in 2013, the second largest and is set to be the largest by 2015, according to some projections. Consumption represents 40 per cent of its GDP, compared with 70 per cent for the US and 55 per cent for India. China’s share of the global economy grew from about four per cent in 1980 to 18 per cent in 2013 and is expected to reach 20 per cent by 2015. The global economy is still in the midst of an historic readjustment process and although there are green shoots of growth there is still huge output gaps and demand shortage.
Once again, I hate to be the bringer of bad news, but if we do not shape up as a nation it may spell the end of the lifestyle we have grown to know and love.
@Walter Blackman,
Many thanks for your positive reply. Some chap called “Alvin Cummins” called me an idiot on this post for daring to think aloud. You have put into words what I was unable to articulate.
Developing a train/tram (let us say tram) system would ensure that our reliance on the motor vehicle would subside. Look at the impact that it would have on our balance of trade figures. You know that it would make economic sense. Barbados does not manufacture cars nor does it play a role in the supply side of the production of car components. I’ve yet to mention the cost of putting fuel into a car!
A feasibility study would be a start and would show to the rest of the Caribbean that Barbados is capable of forward planning, vision, boldness, and driven to put in place an infrastructure that would benefit all.
I have enclosed some colonial video clips below:
http://www.britishpathe.com/video/bridgetown-barbados-lady-coal-shovelers-in-british
http://www.britishpathe.com/video/princess-in-barbados
http://www.souljazzrecords.co.uk/news/soul_jazz_records_new_film_premiere_screening
Tourism related: The antithesis of a Sandals vacation –
This Jamaican is promoting a concept called community tourism. Check out the website below:
http://www.theguardian.com/travel/2014/feb/21/jamaica-farm-dining-treasure-beach
I am off to bed!
@ David, the moderator,
I have posted a message sometime ago and it is still awaiting moderation. Puzzled?
@Walter Blackman,
Many thanks for your positive reply. Some chap called “Alvin Cummins” called me an idiot on this post for daring to think aloud. You have put into words what I was unable to articulate.
Developing a train/tram (let us say tram) system would ensure that our reliance on the motor vehicle would subside. Look at the impact that it would have on our balance of trade figures. You know that it would make economic sense. Barbados does not manufacture cars nor does it play a role in the supply side of the production of car components. I’ve yet to mention the cost of putting fuel into a car!
A feasibility study would be a start and would show to the rest of the Caribbean that Barbados is capable of forward planning, vision, boldness, and driven to put in place an infrastructure that would benefit all.
I have enclosed some colonial video clips below:
http://www.britishpathe.com/video/bridgetown-barbados-lady-coal-shovelers-in-british
http://www.britishpathe.com/video/princess-in-barbados
http://www.souljazzrecords.co.uk/news/soul_jazz_records_new_film_premiere_screening
Tourism related: The antithesis of a Sandals vacation –
This Jamaican is promoting a concept called community tourism. Check out the website below:
http://www.theguardian.com/travel/2014/feb/21/jamaica-farm-dining-treasure-beach
I am off to bed!
looks like DR fred made the BLP camp nervous,,,,,,,,DR fred article brought Hals submission to a”Dead stop” now that his what i mean by influence,,,, dr fred ignites and also injects,…..definitely a force to be reckoned with,,,,,look forward to hear more of DR fred,,,,,,,,,killing two birds or maybe three when DE plan is presented to a weary public,,,,,,i did hear rumors of a twenty five percent vat hike as part of this UAE plan…..
@Exclaimer
Getting people out of cars and onto public transportation is a world wide problem. In Barbados it is a bigger challenge because import tax on cars is a major revenue stream for Government.. Another solution is to force car pooling by allowing odd number plated cars and even number plated cars on the road on alternative days. Fuel imports would be cut dramatically and cars would last longer allowing the Government to deal with a gradual reduction in revenue from longer lasting cars. Then there is the added advantage of getting half the cars off of the road for rush hour. The cost of doing this is “zero”. It would have a very favourable impact on FX reserves, pollution and increase productivity from less commute time. Almost a no brainer but then again that is why it likely wont happen,
@ Miller
I am used to seeing my ideas being hijacked, but that is the purpose of the forum, an open market of ideas.
I have been proposing a monorail for years. To control traffic we need a policy of one car to a household, introduce a congestion charge between about 7am to 10am; also make deliveries take place after 6pm and before 6am. Introduce car clubs for people travelling to work, also increase taxation.
We also need to control the exploitative motor insurance companies and make them pay every time a police office is called out to a traffic accident, or a victim is taken to hospital.
http://www.britishpathe.com/search/query/colonialism/search-field/record_keywords/page/1
David wrote “You need to factor the possibility that we are experiencing flight of capital reminiscent of 91”
The rich will tek duh money an run, leffin de peoples who help dem mek de money to suck salt.
Have you seen the governor of the central bank is now saying that VAT should be abolished.
Has he told this to the government? If so, what has Sinckler told him?
I have two concerns: the first is that the person with the most to lose reputationally in this chaotic mess is Dr DeLisle Worrell, since Sincker has no reputation as an economist to worry about. And, second, has he got a professional reputation he does not deserve?
@Hal
Why is the Governor making these statements in public? Isn’t there an Economic Council? What does the public utterences do fo public confidence?
@ Hal
Everyone who understands anything….including local practicing engineers, have been calling for the introduction of a monorail/tram system now for years…
..it just makes too much sense, ….and have not yet presented the needed opportunities for politicians to steal some money from the project….the kind of contractors who build such systems would not be interested in bribing 2X4 banana republic politicians…
When last we could easily have started such a project, it was much easier to sit down with Bizzy and come up with 3S….. Before that, there were too many easy opportunities for graft available in building the ABC and 2A highways….
David | February 23, 2014 at 8:07 AM
Why is the Governor making these statements in public? Isn’t there an Economic Council? What does the public utterences do fo public confidence?
””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””” it would have been nice if the Nation news had stated it sources specifically so that the public could read verbatim what the Governor said,, everybody knows how the nation have a twisted and slanted view infused with their /perception views opiions and circumstances then feeds them to an unsuspecting gullible public like that of feeding hogs from a filthy tray. ‘|
@ David
It is part of the complexity of policymaking in Barbados. Quite clearly they do not listen to him in which case he should resign, or he does not mention these ideas in formal meetings, in which case he should be asked to resign.
More than that, he has not put an economic case for the abolition of VAT. The reality is that the tax is the easiest to collect: it is paid at the point of business, collected by the business and should, I say should, be handed over to government.
But we haNot the dynamic governor of the central bank has brought the head of a think-tank to Barbados to give us lessons in how to run our economy, while those highly paid people at Cave Hill are like monkeys – deaf, dumb and blind – to a nation in economic trouble.
You just could not make it up. David, offer the governor the opportunity to write for BU putting his anti-VAT case.
@ Hal Austin | February 23, 2014 at 7:59 AM |
But we have been telling you for many months now the man is an intellectual fraud. The joker has destroyed the integrity of the country’s economic data gathering and reporting systems.
The Bank’s monetary policy implementation and management reputation is at an all time low. We don’t think the IMF will put up with that situation for too long.
@ miller
What about our academics, including ‘professor’ Frank Alleyne. Has he read an economics book since the 1960s?
Even better question, why is Worrell making these statements to Bahamian as opposed to Bajan journalists, I like the comment from the Bajan Credit Suisse money manager stationed in Switzerland echoed consistently over the last decade by the electorate who i believe I once said has a much more higher level of intelligence than their leaders in Barbados..
AC….please give C. Fred’s butt a rest, he must be exhausted, there are now new fires to put out, can’t you see??
Well Well | February 23, 2014 at 12:24 PM
AC….please give C. Fred’s butt a rest, he must be exhausted, there are now new fires to put out, can’t you see?? |
””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””’
welll boooo… have fun,putting them out,,,, don’t get exhausted,,,,,,ac resting…….
Back to Governor Worrell’s comment: as a high ranking member of the inner sanctum and a member of the Economic Council one would imagine this would have spurred the implementation of the. BRA at a much faster pace,
the govenor also stated that vat was successful in generating revenue for the govt,,, but it had complications which were costing govt,,,in the area of collecting arrears, falsifications; govt inabilty to verify claims for vat refunds in addition to having to pay out for those refunds,,,,,,, now maybe the full story and context if properly applied people can analyzes and understand the governor position,,but trying to spin and twist is another one of the blp rag ma tail gimmicks,,,btw vat was a brain child by the great economist OSA Not the dlp and any mess that falls off leads right back to the author and chief OSA AND HIS BAND OF MISFITS
@ac
About who conceived VAT for Barbados again you are incorrect. The point being made the Governor’s comment is why not build consensus within the Economic Council and if they disagree allow the public to know and stop these silly games.
whatever the gov ideology ,the blp yardfowls has pounced on it as a political gain and finger pointing….. i am saying that whatever the comment it is indictment of failure on a policy implemented by the osa and blp which now seems to have more negatives than positives ..so baulking and hand clapping does no good for the blp either,
@ac
No that is not what you wrote and it is there for all to read. The lack of confidence and confusion which is at play n Barbados is being manifested in a flight of forex whether we want to admit it or not. The Governor cannot be part of the solution and like Estwick being critical albeit covertly in his case. The MoF and government are on record speaking to the way they intend to address the issue by launching the BRA. Does he agree or not? How long was the VAT leaking revenue? Caswell has been on BU speaking to Courts owing the government 25 million for years now and he was scoffed at. The chickens are coming home to roost.
Come for your scratch grain!
If the tax is there and firms refuse to hand it over to government, then they should be declared insolvent and the directors held responsible for the debt, even if that means amending the Companies Act.
How about making it a criminal offence to collect VAT and not pass it on to the government? Company directors should face jail for not paying VAT.
@Hal
Caswell has been on about the Courts default for months and nothing. The VAT Unit has been cyber-attacked and its domain compromised and nothing. Would it not make sense to allocate 2 or 3 million dollars to make VAT Office more efficient long before BRA comes on stream given the revenue it (VAT Office) has been leaking? Spend 2 or 3 million to collect 100 million. A no-brainer!
@ David
The urgent need for technology right across government is one that this government, and previous ones, have neglected. However, the collection of VAT is not one of the technology being compromised, it is one of competence.
Yet most of these civil servants have been promoted, certainly kept their jobs.
Some years ago I was in St Kitts and the young man who gave me a lift to the airport, the nephew of my host, was going there to collect airport tax. In terms of security, very risky, but very effectual.
The truth is that we are not administratively as competent as we imagine.
“Developing a train/tram (let us say tram) system would ensure that our reliance on the motor vehicle would subside.”
You sure?
http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/search/search_results.aspx?Page=1&QueryText=barbados&SelectedDatabases=BOOKSHOP%7cRESEARCHGUIDES%7cWEBSITE
The above link makes for essential reading. If we as a people are to move forward we have to look into our dark past. The above link, like a torch, shines a light on our past and demonstrates clearly why we have to save guard our present. We have to ensure that we hand over the baton (a healthy Barbados) to the next Afro-Bajan generation, whose ancestors built this country through the sweat from their brows and the blood from their veins.
@ SITH, You argued that public transport was perhaps not a major priority to the Barbados’ government due to its reliance or dependence on import tax as a major revenue stream. I believe that the government could be persuaded to look seriously into developing a mono-rail/tram system? Barbados is small, roughly the size of London, it is relatively flat when compared to her neighbours, and there are many countries in the world that have the savoir-faire to carry out such a project. Tendering bids would therefore be very competitive.
Collecting revenue stream is fine however as citizens we have to ask our government if it is spending this revenue stream wisely. Alas, I believe you already know the answer.
@ Exclaimer
I believe that the government could be persuaded to look seriously into developing a mono-rail/tram system? Barbados is small, roughly the size of London, it is relatively flat when compared to her neighbours, and there are many countries in the world that have the savoir-faire to carry out such a project. Tendering bids would therefore be very competitive.
Roughly the size, but neither the population nor settlement patterns!!!
Artaxerxes,
First, let us say it is very sad that you continue to use a pseudonym on this blog network;
Second, let us tell you that it is Karl Mark and Friedrich Engels that wrote the Communist Manifesto. But why you invoke reference to the Communist Manifesto, we really do not know, since to refer to it based on a bias against our writing style is totally irrelevant;
Third, let us tell you that nobody no entity pays for any good or service with money. Hence, it is very wrong and incorrect for you to insinuate that with TAXATION being in existence there are really these payments for social services, transport, health care services, education, street lightning, police services, road repairs, etc, when it is really money and its uses that almost every person, every business or state entity has and CREATES uses of for whatever purposes of representing remunerations and/or their costs and in whatever contexts.
Too it is an entire false assumption that government actually provides such, when it is in truth and fact individuals, businesses (groups of individuals) machines, facilities, equipment and other relevant things that altogether help to provide these various things – NOT the government!!
Fourth, let us define what money is – perhaps for the benefit of your understanding – money is a non-tradeable, non-consumable, measurable, recyclable, usable, socio-psychologically reactable to, physical commodity – and the only one of its kind in the world too – that carries denominations for purposes of its users creating its own uses (at the same time) out of their own income, payments and transfers, etc.
Fifth, a certain future coalitional regime of Barbados, and of which the PDC shall be part, shall, et al, help bring about the following objectives, relative to the laying of the social political material financial foundations for a post-TAXATION society of Barbados:
1) Significant reductions in the size and scope of operations and responsibilities of those persons, businesses and other aspects falling within the province of government of Barbados;
2) Many areas previously falling under the rubric of government shall be transferred to the partnership ownership of those persons who would long have had the experience skills in running them as so-called government ministries, departments, statutory corporations, companies;
3) Any of those areas that remain part of government and that have not been made more commercial must be made that way, to whatever degrees – areas of the government that are primarily social welfare security infrastructural in nature – although having commercial dimensions – will be reformed to duly emphasize efficiency and efficacy of operations;
4) The seeking of public share capital subscriptions for any very viable government/private sector ventures;
5) The proper rightful use of accounting techniques to offset what remunerations are owed by the entity managing the government’s affairs to persons and other entities, against what the latter may owe to the same entity (no third party transactions will be involved in these techniques;
6) The outlawing of the issuing of so-called government paper (treasury bills, debentures, savings bonds, etc) by the political directorate of the state management entity, or by any other entity on the behalf of the same state management entity, for clear subscription to by members of the public, or for clear subscription to by any financial or other institutions or entities, for whatever purposes;
7) The emergence of well conceptualized properly coordinated and capably managed voluntary civic citizens corporate initiatives for the expressed purposes of taking over (adoption agreements) and providing for the development or the maintenance of certain aspects of the people’s properties and lands they have ownership of the rights over, for the primary purposes of the people in Barbados’s benefit and gain and not for any personal private benefit or gain on who so ever’s part;
8) The deriving of financial and other advantages to the new state management entity as a result of its significant political strategic asset controlling position in the material productive and distributive and financial affairs in this country and that would have been able to facilitate the getting of substantial remunerations through the growth in remunerations resulting from the Abolition of Taxation; and
9) The capitalizing on access by the political directorate of the state management entity running the affairs of government to the National Institutional Non-Repayable Productive Loans Scheme and the National Institutional Non-Repayable Non-Productive Loans Scheme, for purposes of making sure that the state management entity will get the desired actual amount of money on presentation of its annual fiscal budget, upon approval by the legislature of Barbados, to the said schemes, and that therefore out of the actual allocations got its giving of transfers to partners within the state management entity for business done for and in the public’s interest, and to any other businesses for business done for and in the public’s interest.
Sixth, so, instead of criminally evilly wickedly stealing and robbing (TAXING) on an ongoing basis countless portions of the remunerations of the relevant people, businesses and other entities in this country, and at the same time getting many electronic numbers transferred on credit to it by the relevant financial institutions – here or overseas, and getting many portions of the remunerations of the relevant entities, here or overseas, transferred on credit to it, and thus increasing the fictional and real debt of the government to these particular persons and entities, respectively, the new state management entity’s access to those schemes and the allocation of real actual money by them to it, shall not only substantially resolve those two massive problems with one gigantic and substantial solution, but also – through its own using of this gigantic and substantial solution – shall lead to greater long run necessary real expenditures, real savings and real investments by many persons, households and business enterprises in this country, and in a context where the real actual cost of use of money to the remunerations of those same persons, households and businesses shall be substantially lowered, and the money turn over rate shall quicken in the long term.
Seventh, All core financial institutions (National Currency Board, the Central Bank of Barbados, money banks, credit unions, finance houses, etc) shall be subsumed under these two Schemes and will at the same time still be centrally integrated into the operations of each other. These schemes shall have three main functions: saving, investing and recycling.
Owing to the huge, powerful and revolutionary incentives put in place by the certain future coalitional regime these Schemes shall be primarily refinanced by way of savings by individuals, businesses and others in the relevant financial institutions; by way of share equity investments by such individuals, businesses and others in the financial institutions coming under the schemes (too each financial institution shall and must have their own subsidiary partnerships that will be seriously involved in the provision of commodities and other services in this country; and the reinvestment by the relevant financial institutions of earned undivided capital.
One of those huge, powerful and revolutionary incentives that will be issued to every qualifying candidate – be it a person, a business or any other entity other than the new state management – will be the due rewards given to them by the Schemes once it can be sufficiently proved by the candidate to the Schemes that they would have contributed – by way of getting their respective total yearly remunerations – to national remunerations (nominal) for every year; thus such laying the basis for them to get from either of the Schemes – and depending on whether the money is to be used in productive or non-productive contexts – an amount of money for the corresponding year – minus what they will have saved in the relevant financial institutions and minus their own contributions to the remunerations of those helping run the schemes.
So there you go, Artaxerxes.
PDC
Inadvertence,
In the number 9 objective, there are some mistakes made in the three last line. It should have been “its giving of transfers to partners of the state management entity in the context of business done in the public’s interest and in the context of business done by other businesses in the public’s interest”.
Our sincerest apologies.
PDC
Yes, blame the electorate but wasn’t it the same ill – informed electorate that elected the BLP in recent years? Oh no it can’t be! But I guess some people have to look for a scapegoat to compensate for their inconceivable lost.
Here is another
Six years ago I wrote this. It was one of the many times I called for a Sovereign Wealth Fund, including explaining how we could go about it. Two years ago I re-published it.