Given the comatose state the Barbados economy continues to be gripped, let us continue our steely focus on the economy although this task will be made difficult with the Crop Over season firing up.   It is important to add that a deteriorating economic landscape will continue to have a deleterious effect on the social well being of our nation. The perception index of the state of crime and poverty for example is on the rise. Despite our level of academic achievement as a country- of which we frequently boast- as a people we appear to lack the acumen to dispassionately discuss serious issues without invoking political rhetoric (bile) -a  contradiction.

Yesterday Minister of Finance Chris Sinckler was strident in his public admonition of Barbadians. He is of the view nobody has offered reasonable alternatives (BU hesitates to use the word solutions) and the government policy prescription is the more palatable of those available.

Here is a copy of the Deficit Committee of the Social Partnership that was presented to the Government six weeks before the Financial Statement Budgetary proposals now made public. BU will reserve comment on the document except to suggest to effectively remediate a problem (s) the underlying or causal factors must be addressed. To be fair to the Deficit Committee it would have been constrained by the brief it received.