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<SPAN class=Subheadline></SPAN></TD></TR><TR><TD>Henley Morgan
Thursday, November 16, 2006
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</TD></TR><TR><TD><SPAN class=Description>Henley Morgan</SPAN></TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE><P class=StoryText align=justify>There is a misconception that Jamaica's problems are economic at the root. Flowing from this is a preoccupation with what economists call economic indicators.<P class=StoryText align=justify>These include measures such as gross domestic product, national debt, foreign direct investment, net international reserves, money in circulation, exports, imports, tourist arrivals, electricity consumption, construction activity and the like. Economists rely on these indicators to assess the present and to predict the future growth of the economy.
While these indicators tell us about the quantity of life, they tell us little about the quality of life, and absolutely nothing about the moral health of the nation.<P class=StoryText align=justify>There is another set of indicators - I call these the moral indicators - to which our planners need to give greater focus. These include rate of homicide, domestic violence, joblessness, children born to single parents, divorce rate, spousal abuse, child abuse, carnal abuse, buggery, teenage suicide, juvenile delinquency, teen sex, abortion, drug use, pornography, illiterates leaving the public school system and a whole slew of measures under the general heading of social injustice. Had the same emphasis been given the moral indicators as the economic indicators, we would have long ago come to the realisation that Jamaica is in the throes of social decomposition.<P class=StoryText align=justify>I have a theory that our failure to slow the moral, social and cultural slide of the country undermines and renders futile our efforts at achieving economic prosperity. Two recently released indexes seem to support this position.<P class=StoryText align=justify>The corruption index ranks Jamaica 62 among 144 countries. On the human development index, Jamaica ranked an embarrassing 104 out of 177 countries. In both instances only one Caribbean country, Haiti, achieved a lower ranking than Jamaica.<P class=StoryText align=justify>More important than that, the countries in the lowest quartile of the rankings are also the ones with the lowest GDP growth figures. What other conclusion can one come to than that indifference to moral and social decay leads inevitably to economic stagnation? Jamaica needs a moral, spiritual, social and cultural renaissance more than it needs an economic one. In fact, the former is a prerequisite for the latter.<P class=StoryText align=justify>This thinking is not original. There is a parallel in recent American religious and political history. In the mid-1970s Jerry Falwell of the religious right galvanised popular discontent with America's declining values into a movement he called the moral majority. Big-name Christian conservatives in politics were co-opted by the movement and the rest is history. Moving from voicing conservative positions on a range of issues such as abortion, gay rights, creationism and prayer in public schools, the movement graduated to using its 40 million evangelical membership base to ensure that politicians of a similar suasion got elected to office.
President George W Bush is the best known beneficiary of the movement's legitimate and admittedly sometimes misplaced passion for seeing America return to a path of moral rectitude in public governance.<P class=StoryText align=justify>What's the point? Economics is important to the life of the nation but a balanced budget will not by itself stop the killing, reduce teenage pregnancy, end child abuse, cause children to s
<SPAN class=Subheadline></SPAN></TD></TR><TR><TD>Henley Morgan
Thursday, November 16, 2006
</TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE>
<TABLE cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=5 width=88 align=left border=0><TBODY><TR><TD>
</TD></TR><TR><TD><SPAN class=Description>Henley Morgan</SPAN></TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE><P class=StoryText align=justify>There is a misconception that Jamaica's problems are economic at the root. Flowing from this is a preoccupation with what economists call economic indicators.<P class=StoryText align=justify>These include measures such as gross domestic product, national debt, foreign direct investment, net international reserves, money in circulation, exports, imports, tourist arrivals, electricity consumption, construction activity and the like. Economists rely on these indicators to assess the present and to predict the future growth of the economy. While these indicators tell us about the quantity of life, they tell us little about the quality of life, and absolutely nothing about the moral health of the nation.<P class=StoryText align=justify>There is another set of indicators - I call these the moral indicators - to which our planners need to give greater focus. These include rate of homicide, domestic violence, joblessness, children born to single parents, divorce rate, spousal abuse, child abuse, carnal abuse, buggery, teenage suicide, juvenile delinquency, teen sex, abortion, drug use, pornography, illiterates leaving the public school system and a whole slew of measures under the general heading of social injustice. Had the same emphasis been given the moral indicators as the economic indicators, we would have long ago come to the realisation that Jamaica is in the throes of social decomposition.<P class=StoryText align=justify>I have a theory that our failure to slow the moral, social and cultural slide of the country undermines and renders futile our efforts at achieving economic prosperity. Two recently released indexes seem to support this position.<P class=StoryText align=justify>The corruption index ranks Jamaica 62 among 144 countries. On the human development index, Jamaica ranked an embarrassing 104 out of 177 countries. In both instances only one Caribbean country, Haiti, achieved a lower ranking than Jamaica.<P class=StoryText align=justify>More important than that, the countries in the lowest quartile of the rankings are also the ones with the lowest GDP growth figures. What other conclusion can one come to than that indifference to moral and social decay leads inevitably to economic stagnation? Jamaica needs a moral, spiritual, social and cultural renaissance more than it needs an economic one. In fact, the former is a prerequisite for the latter.<P class=StoryText align=justify>This thinking is not original. There is a parallel in recent American religious and political history. In the mid-1970s Jerry Falwell of the religious right galvanised popular discontent with America's declining values into a movement he called the moral majority. Big-name Christian conservatives in politics were co-opted by the movement and the rest is history. Moving from voicing conservative positions on a range of issues such as abortion, gay rights, creationism and prayer in public schools, the movement graduated to using its 40 million evangelical membership base to ensure that politicians of a similar suasion got elected to office.
President George W Bush is the best known beneficiary of the movement's legitimate and admittedly sometimes misplaced passion for seeing America return to a path of moral rectitude in public governance.<P class=StoryText align=justify>What's the point? Economics is important to the life of the nation but a balanced budget will not by itself stop the killing, reduce teenage pregnancy, end child abuse, cause children to s
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