Stringent economic measures needed

Steve Lyston, Contributor

The focus once again is on the economy. Different people are giving different views and are saying things that are not totally so.

In the midst of it all, the regular working-class individual doesn't even understand the economic terms being thrown. It doesn't take a survey to realize that John Q. Public doesn't understand terms such as GDP, NIR, JDIP, fiscal equity, non-performing loans, economic growth, three per cent decline and such wonderful-sounding terminologies.

What we must communicate to the people is that for the past 22 years we have been borrowing more than we have been collecting. We have been borrowing loans to repay loans. We import more than we export.

Let the people know that instead of coming up with solutions we divest. Our dollars are leaving the shores of Jamaica and the number of Jamaican-owned businesses in Jamaica has been declining significantly. We have been borrowing in order to pay salaries, and there is no sustained development being carried out in order to maintain jobs for the people of the nation.

One set of persons pay the majority of the taxes in the country, while the other category gets continued bailouts! Yet persons fight for power and brag about how well they are able to manage the economy or how much better they can do it.

Temporary fix

The fact of the matter is that the country is broke; and even when the nation borrows loans to sustain daily operational activities, it is a temporary fix. When we borrow from lending agencies, they are going to put things in place that are going to make repayment difficult. Make no mistake, they are entitled to put measures of their choosing in place for their own protection.

But these measures often work contrary to our capacity to meet these requirements, and against family life and the building up of the nation.

Both parties, the private sector, the diaspora, non-governmental organisations (NGOs), unions and civic organisations must work together to fix it; and it cannot be fixed without God's guidance and direction.

For prosperity to return, we must learn words such as hope, faith, honour, favour, trust, obedience, forgiveness and truth. We will need to put out hypocrisy, deception and power struggles at the taxpayers' expense.

What Do We Do Now

There has to be stringent Economic Measures and cost-cutting, starting from the political circles.

Businesses, unions, Government and Opposition must keep price increases down for the next 15 months for the survival of the nation. They can either do that or cut jobs. It is better to have a job with the same wages than to cut jobs.

Divest assets that are bleeding the country to private local investors - such as the Jamaica Urban Transit Company. Government can focus more on running the ferry and train systems.

Make investment opportunities more attractive to investors, giving them added incentives for keeping the foreign exchange rates down and the profits within the country.

The nation needs to regain its airline and retrieve its licence.

There needs to be proper logistics management to put different government offices in the same building. For example, the NHT, NIS and Tax Offices can be hosted in one building and rent other unused or underutilised buildings to other business interests.

We need to look into paying an upkeep or maintenance to those government officials who already own their homes rather than putting them in state-owned homes when they already have a home.

All government-owned buildings must use solar energy in order to cut costs, as a pilot project, in an effort to cut energy consumption costs.

There needs to be a partnership between civic organisations, NGOs, and local doctors with the assistance of waivers and duty-free benefits extended by the Government to set up properly equipped clinics and refurbish existing clinics.

The University of the West Indies, Mona campus, the University of Technology and G. C. Foster College can now capitalise on introducing new and relevant subjects and disciplines, and also need to become more creative in their marketing efforts to bring in new students from even the first-world countries.

If we don't act quickly, our political circle will become chaotic.

Steve Lyston is a biblical economics consultant and author of several books, including 'End Time Finance' and 'The New Millionaire'.