The blogmaster with the benefit of technology listened to a few of the political meetings from the different political parties and with 7 days left to V-Day- he has a confession to make. Given the current crisis state of the socioeconomic landscape of Barbados, if ever there was a time for sensible Barbadians to make voices heard, the time is now. Kudos to the loyalists who have been willing to brave the threat of coronavirus infection to listen to the voluminous platitudes barked at them from the different political platforms.
The Barbados economy has been operating at junk level in recent years and although some will present the chicken and egg argument, society or economy – Barbados has reached a critical juncture in its post independence journey where radical decisions should be made to ensure a wholesome society can be sustained.
Dear Dr. Estwick
We have all the time in the world. Technology permits you to post the full details to YouTube or similar. We look forward to reviewing the details. By the way – “What the Government should have done is to ask the NIS to float a medium-term Treasury note or a long-term Treasury debenture for the exact sum of money owed by the Government, and the money should have been therefore obtained from the Central Bank of Barbados.”
Please explain in detail. Sure sounds like a massive money printing operation to me, I hope I am mistaken.
NorthernObserver
The issue of the NIS Scheme (fund) has been fleetingly mentioned by the prime minister and the urgent need to recapitalize the fund to ensure it remains a lifeline for senior citizens. The fund has been raided by successive governments through the years as the cash cow of first resort. The fund was encouraged to sell shares in strategic assets for 30 pieces of silver. Its investment committees have had no qualms sopping up government paper touting higher yields as a defense to investment strategy and ignoring the risk factor indicator. In 2018 the government administered a bald fade on bond holders et al and over night over ONE BILLION rh dollars dissipated.
Unlike the politicians and political talking heads the blogmaster will not bother to be prolix and vacuous on an important matter. A sensible driver of a vehicle will not with eyes wide open and in possession of faculties steer the vehicle over a cliff. The Barbados Economy is precariously perched on the edge of an economic cliff. What more will it take for the majority of educated Barbadians to be sensitized to the current state of play? Instead we are concerned about our inability to support conspicuous consumption at the level of household. What is wholesale, what is retail? What is global, what is local? What is macro, what is micro? In an ‘ecosystem’ all entities are by design interconnected and must optimally perform for the good of the whole.
Barbados cannot succeed if citizens do not constructively engage in the civil society construct. Barbadians have surrendered civic responsibility to an elite few. We continue to pay the price for our cowardice by not exercising our rights as citizens. It is the only way a democracy will be able to breath without a respirator.
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