Ok so this is basically the last of a series of rants I have regarding our economy and the possibility of recovery. I've touched on the overall issue and I've touched on the issue of crime (however briefly). Now the next thing i'm going to touch on is the actual economy and the things that need to be done. Ok i'm gonna start by looking at the problem. Simply put we import too much. What? You're surprised? Of course the rebuttal that always comes out from all these people is that "but we aren't a 1st world country, we dont have the manufacturing prowess..." etc etc shut up, just shut up. This is the exact kind of thinking why we are in this position right now.

Yes Jamaica doesnt have oil, nor do we have metals to produce cars, or computers... So why are we importing anything else? Hm... makes a little sense doesnt it. How many Jamaican's realize that we import water.... yes the land of wood and water imports water... and from all places we import water from as far away as singapore (ps singapore has no rivers). We even import mangoes and coconuts... The same fruit that during mango season you find in such abundance its almost sickening. Yet we import... what the F*&(%?

The fact is, the key to becoming a productive and money making society is to produce. This "buy Jamaican build Jamaica" is an excellent program but at the same time it is only the beginning. We need to stop investing in other things and the only thing we should be importing are things which aid the manufacturing process. Do you realize that Trinidad the oil sheik of the Caribbean now has production facilities for alot of the packaged foods that we ourselves import (Sunshine snacks is the major brand). Ever thought about why this happens despite the fact that they have oil? Because they are planning ahead, oil will eventually become useless to us with alternative energy and its important to have a backup, in Trinidad's case its food and they are doing quite good job of it. As a matter of fact Trinidad now imports raw materials from Jamaica and sells it back to Jamaica as a packaged good for 3x! How smart do you guys feel? Jamaica has plenty of raw materials which we can use to fuel our own industries, but we just need to develop the industries, and its possible, dont believe me, check out the JMA website. Stop importing unnecessary crap!

Speaking of alternative energy. Yes we need to start investing in alternative energy too. Oil continues to rape the Jamaican economy when there are LONG TERM solutions to our energy problems. The only reason we have for oil is to fuel our vehicles nothing else. There are too many alternatives in and around Jamaica to depend on oil. We have the energy from waves in the ocean, solar energy (we have sun most of the year!), wind energy, geothermal energy etc and a large investment now will pay of 10 years in the future when the next oil crises hits us.

But where are we to get all the money from. Its simple, first of all when we stop importing we'll have more money to spend elsewhere, we wont need foreign exchange as much and therefore wont be wasting the local currency (remember a currency is only as important as its value, if we value it less, its value will fall). Also as we import less we'll have more money to shuffle around which could then be used to pay the rest of the nurses and teachers etc. The next thing is... Govt pay public sector workers retroactively in bonds. Because if you are going to loan somebody loan your own locals. Please note people that bonds are worth much more than regular money and can easily be sold to banks and other people who realize their value if you need the immediate cash (yes i even brought the pvt sector into this)

However some of the money has to come from taxation - Yes I touched on this. Just look at the facts, tax compliance is only at about 30% and the majority of this comes from the middle class (the people who bear the brunt of the tax burden). So how do we get the upper and lower classes to pay taxes... its really simple, the matalon report 10 years ago said the same thing: CUT ALL TAXES... and then implement a single tax. This tax will cover all goods except BASIC NECESSITIES. Therefore everybody has to pay taxes, nobody can be exempt from a tax that they have to pay to eat etc. Therefore tax compliance shall rise (it wont be perfect but it can rise). This extra income will then be reinvested in Jamaica and repay debts and the cycle continues.

Of course this will mean people will have to "ban dem belly" for the next 10 or so years but look at what will happen afterwards. We'll have independent industries, as a matter of fact outside people will start to depend on us, we'll produce enough for ourselves and probably have enough to even start exporting, our debts will be in control (though we wont be out of it I assure you) and oil will be a thing of the past for us. Sounds real simple huh?

*exhale* *grumble grumble*