by Rick Lowe
On Second Thought was a weekly column this blogger wrote for The Bahama Journal from July 7, 1998 through September 7, 1999. Some of them might be dated by now, but I republish them here for what they are worth.
On Second Thought! August 3, 1999.
The Market Versus Government
In his 1995 book titled Public Policy and the Quality of Life: Market Incentives Versus Government Planning Professor Randall Holcombe examines some of the issues between the two. “Holcombe makes clear the powerful consideration that militate against the success of political solutions to quality of life problems. Government employees do not face the exacting test of profit and loss; instead, success in government often consists in expanding the budget of ones agency. Further, once ensconced in a job, a bureaucrat is difficult to oust. He is free to go about his business in sovereign indifference to the consumer.”
Dissenting views
While catching up on some of the news while I was away on holiday a couple short articles that emphasise these points piqued my interest. Oddly enough both stories were from newspapers of Friday June 25, 1999 and both represented dissenting views of Government Senators. One was Senator Cash suggesting that our educational system was in desperate need of reform and the other was Senator Bethel suggesting that his constituency of Abaco “want more and deserve more” of the taxes they pay.
Abaconian’s would put their taxes to better use
Senator Bethel, while pushing for local Abaconian’s to control more of the tax dollars they send to Nassau is indirectly a call for more powerful local government, and I believe this will ultimately lead to the improvement of their islands entire economy. Wouldn’t it be wonderful to have Abaco competing with Nasssau for offshore banking, or going head to head with Grand Bahama for port or manufacturing entities. Local individuals would decide what incentives were best to attract business to their area…not a distant office in Nassau.
In addition, issues like their deplorable port that the entire island needs would have been taken care of by now because the residents understand its necessity and would prioritise their income and expenditures themselves. In other words, the people who pay the taxes should have some say in how its gets spent instead of money being wasted on what can be called political expedience instead of “quality of life” issues directly affecting Abaco.
There are none blinder
Senator Cash deserves plaudits for his comments about improving our educational system. Could this be the first step toward privatisation or vouchers? He was quoted as saying “A part of the problem is that too many of our people do not want to admit the extent of the problems.” Amen brother Cash! You are absolutely correct. But we should remind ourselves that the Ministry of Education is but a microcosm of our government’s bureaucracy. The same issues are duplicated in virtually every Ministry, Agency and Department.
Many managers in private firms can vouch for how difficult it is to change a business culture that might have been the correct method twenty years ago, but does not work within today’s parameters. Just imagine how one would face this in the bureaucratic environment of government.
The budget for the Ministry and Department of Education gets bigger each year, with less favourable results. If this is not indifference to the consumer, I don’t know what is.
Devolution of political power
The comments of both gentlemen were reflections of what professor Holcombe had to say and I think they should be applauded for their stand. It leaves one to wonder if the other fifty-four Senators and Parliamentarians live in the same country as the rest of us.
In a previous article I had stated that we would hear more voices suggesting the devolution of the powers of our Central Government to Local Government representatives. I am delighted to see that not only is a Government Senator from the Family Islands pleading the case for his constituents, but a Nassau based Government Senator is faulting his governments educational policies.
A new trend this may be, and if our Government leaders are mature enough to handle this internal, yet public scrutiny, our entire political system is headed for long awaited improvements. Maybe some of the sovereign indifference to the taxpayer will be washed away with one of our summer squalls.
