Norris R. McDonald | People are hungry, angry, and tired of IMF disaster capitalism!

A RECENT Gleaner report revealed that over 55 per cent of Jamaicans experience moderate to severe hunger. That’s more than half the population. So, what does it mean to poor people that “the dollar is strong”, when their stomachs are empty, and their children cry themselves to sleep at night?

Let’s be honest – economic metrics mean nothing if they don’t translate into better living conditions for ordinary Jamaicans. The so-called strength of the Jamaican dollar cannot be celebrated when it comes at the expense of widespread poverty, increasing hunger and social decay.

POOR PEOPLE ARE HUNGRY

Even the Government, in its Trade Portal, admitted that Jamaica’s “low food production and high dependency on food imports” have created an intolerably high and rising Food Import Bill.

My friends, the Jamaican Government acknowledged that this dependency poses a serious food security risk – particularly dangerous in an era of climate change and increasing global instability. The very Government that touts economic progress has admitted in quieter corners, that Jamaica is in serious trouble!

The Jamaican dollar might be strong on paper, but people are starving. And the electricity bill still reads like a ransom note – threatening families who are already juggling whether to buy food, pay school fees, or keep the lights on.

The lack of affordable, regular meals has become not just a symptom of poverty, but a defining characteristic of Jamaican life for too many. According to the 2024 Global Hunger Index, approximately 17 per cent of Jamaican children are either malnourished, stunted, suffering from physical decline (wasting), or tragically die before their fifth birthday. These aren’t just numbers – this is wasted years, lost lives, the underdevelopment of human capital: a gross national failure.

LACK OF INVESTMENT IN OUR CHILDREN

Having an educated and healthy population is one of the most important foundations for building sustainable, long-term economic growth. How then, can we build a future if the people who must build it are starving? What good is fiscal discipline if it’s bought with malnourished children and underfunded schools? Clearly, this isn’t just a food issue – it’s a clear lack of a sound human investment and national development strategy.

The steady decline in funding for pre-primary, primary, and secondary education over the last six years is unacceptable. Children are the cornerstone of our future, and yet we continue to chip away at their foundation.

People are tired. Tired of the Government’s endless IMF talking points. Tired of politicians bragging about “strong dollar” and debt-to-GDP ratios while school roofs leak and textbooks are outdated. Tired of watching their Housing Trust contributions siphoned off to pay foreign creditors – just so the Government can boast, once again, that “the dollar is strong”.

But a strong dollar means nothing if our children’s futures are being mortgaged for IMF targets and public relations wins. Let’s not forget: a nation’s true strength isn’t in foreign reserves or bond ratings – it’s in the health, education, and opportunity it provides for its citizens.

VENEZUELA BETRAYAL A STRATEGIC COWARDICE

The Government continues to tout foreign exchange stability as if it was ‘a pot of gold at end of the rainbow’.

Taken by itself, outside of a sound national development strategy, all this is meaningless. Real strength comes from energy and food security, industrial diversification, innovation, and investing in our people.

And yet, while bringing down the IMF debt is important, debt servicing and GDP posturing is being done at a cost of wasted human lives!

Which brings us to the PetroCaribe betrayal and Jamaica’s lack of an energy strategy that can boost the country’s long term economic security.

Let’s be clear: the fall of PetroCaribe has seriously harmed Jamaica’s and CARICOM’s long-term energy security. This was not just a policy decision, it was a political betrayal with long-term consequences for regional unity and energy security.

Jamaica now finds itself exposed like a stone crab at low tide. A seriously weakened US dollar, and further crash of disaster capitalism could spell doom for tourism earnings, remittance inflows, and foreign exchange stability.

Meanwhile, China, Japan, Russia and several industrialised nations are distancing themselves from America dollar dependency by reducing their holdings of US Treasury bills. Indeed. the world is changing, black Jamaican poor people and the middle class remains stuck in a sinking ship.

Meanwhile, Jamaica’s foreign reserves – over US$4 billion – sit comfortably in US banks, buffering American inflation while Jamaicans must choose between buying groceries or keeping the lights on.

Imagine that – even as our own children go to bed hungry at night – Jamaica, a small island struggling with poverty, helping to prop up the American dollar and economic structure of the most powerful nation on Earth. How does that make sense? Who is that helping?

A NEW DIRECTION IS NEEDED

But what happens if the increasingly erratic and irrational God King Trump suddenly decides that Chinese money, which has been keeping the country afloat, is no longer welcome? Or if US sanctions extend to our lifelines?

My dear friends, what we face is not just an economic crisis, it’s a crisis of leadership and imagination. Jamaica is adrift in a turbulent global sea, with IMF policies as our tattered sails.

The poor people and the middle class are hungry and angry. The economy is fragile. And the captain keeps nervously looking toward Washington, hoping for a signal of approval.

It is fortuitous that the country is facing a general election. What we need is not more of the same IMF-compliant policies.

Jamaica needs visionary leaders – Odyssean helmsmen with the courage and wisdom to navigate new global currents. Jamaica needs political figures who see beyond electoral cycles and dare to challenge the status quo.

We need a new breed of leaders who understand that real sovereignty begins when the mass of black Jamaican poor people and the middle class own the land, have adequate affordable housing, job, food, energy, and good quality education.

The global tides are shifting. The old economic gods are crumbling. And the serpentine monsters are circling. Jamaica must boldly set a bold new course – one rooted in dignity, independence which fully utilise the creative genius of all patriotic Jamaicans.

That is just the ‘bitta truth’.

Norris McDonald is an author, economic journalist, political analyst, and respiratory therapist. Send feedback to columns@gleanerjm.com and miaminorris@yahoo.com.