The new 'Concorde'

By Garth Rattray

Most people remember the Concorde as the most powerful passenger jet ever produced. Its maiden commercial flight was in January 1976 and its final flight was in October 2003 - following a fiery crash. It could cruise at 2,160kph (1,350mph). In other words, it was extremely fast.

But the word 'Concorde' had another meaning in Jamaica. Sometime ago, perhaps in the mid-1990s, the word was used colloquially as a euphemism describing our $1,000 bill. It accurately depicted just how quickly and easily it was spent.

At that time, the $1,000 bill was a very large monetary note, but, as soon as you tendered one to pay for almost anything, it seemed to fly off at supersonic speed, leaving you with little or no change.

With the steep inflation rate and the continuing depreciation of the Jamaican dollar, our $5,000 bill has taken on the characteristics of the 'Concorde'. If you tender one at the supermarket (for instance), it had better be done only if you are picking up a few items. Inevitably, these items can hold in two or perhaps three 'scandal' bags. It is unlikely that you will need to secure the services of a packer to carry $5,000 worth of groceries out for you.

I agree with the recent statement made by Dr Omar Davies, the former minister of finance, where he conceded that, over the past 20 years, all our previous ministers of finance have failed to "pull in significant tax revenue from high-profile tax dodgers". He commented that the "international experts" have noted discrepancies between the assets of the upper echelon of society and what is collected from them in tax revenue. He reportedly went on to blame tribalism (politics).

But it goes deeper than that. It did not take "international experts" to discover that there are quite a few among us who are so rich, so powerful, so political, so well connected, have so many secrets, are so deep into certain organisations and groups that they are absolutely untouchable.

And then there are the folks from the lower classes - from the grass roots, the 'masses' who form the bulk of the crowds we see on television at political rallies - those, too, are untouchable.

As usual, it's the people of the middle class - the true 'working class' that are maligned and unreasonably burdened with carrying the weight of the entire country on their weary backs.

Forgetting the real picture

More important, all our finance ministers have failed miserably when it comes to securing real revenue (sustained foreign revenue and not just loans) for our country. Perhaps they were so caught up in local politics and local economics that they failed to see the real (big) international picture.

When the worldwide depression was looming large over our heads, the finance minister of the day not only boldly announced that Jamaica would not be impacted by it, he went on to predict that we would benefit!

The economy is going to get much worse until we stop using our scarce foreign exchange to import very high-end motor vehicles, tons of foreign foods (that we also produce), unnecessary items for retailers to make a killing off us, and innumerable simple items for buying and selling (when we can also make them here).

We must make Jamaica investor-friendly and aggressively seek out electronic, textile, pharmaceutical and simple-assembly jobs to markedly increase our badly needed foreign revenue.

To be perfectly frank, I am pessimistic about our economic recovery because Jamaica is deeply mired in politics and 'fren-and-fren' business. It will take real courage to save us. It will take politicians who are willing to put country before politics.

Garth Rattray is a medical doctor with a family practice. Email feedback to columns@gleanerjm.com and garthrattray@gmail.com.