by Rick Lowe
This political stuff really does get tiring. An emergency happens and politicians believe they are the saviour of all humanity.
Remember when there was supposedly a lime shortage? Well our Government ordered 1,000 lime trees at a cost of $1 million and we’ve heard no more since the trees where planted.
And now the PM is going to jump into the economic problems in Grand Bahama, but with a twist. This time they’re going to “create” construction jobs and the private sector is “going to put up the money for the construction on terms with the government.” This according to the PM “enables the government to continue its work without adding to the debt burden.”
Yup, you read that correctly. The private sector is going to give the government financial terms but it won’t be debt.
The reality is the PM should have been concerned about the economic slowdown in the entire country for several years before Hurricane Matthew descended. If he had concentrated on reigning in government spending, waste and corruption and reduced bureaucratic constraints and impediments to investing and business development the government might have headroom for an emergency like a hurricane.
Did I say this political stuff gets tiring?
If the government is at a loss for policies that might help the economy grow there are many positive references out there. Problem is they might have to hold themselves to the same standard they pass laws to hold mere citizens and taxpayers accountable.
It's been proven over and over that won’t do, so I’m afraid we’ll continue to get more of this policy making on the fly that will ultimately make things worse.
As Max Borders recently wrote about politics on his Facebook page:
“You see, it makes people desperate to believe lies. It makes people spiteful towards their neighbors. It gives us the illusion that we’re better, smarter, more upright people than we really are. And it gives people the idea that it’s okay to first outsource their idea of charity and the right and the good — and then worse — have people in Washington shove it down the throats of the rest of us.”
We only need replace Washington with Nassau and it fits perfectly.
Did I say this political stuff gets tiring?
