Trinidad & Jamaica - The Harsh Facts!

[Assasin]

let us see what Bruce and Samuda a go do bout it. Them made it know that they are going to deal with Trinidad, Barbados, and others and it will be discussed at the coming meetings so let us see.

[Willi]

Good post.

Jamaica fool fool.

[Willi]

Jam should pull out of Caricom free (expensive) TRADE UNILATERAQLLY.

[Willi]

tHIS AH HAPPEN LONG BEFORE bRUCE bADDAZ.

Bruce needs to end it now though.

[Don1]

Heh, heh...

More of the slip shows with every post...

Jamaican Entrepenuers suddenly got dumb and foolishly greedy in the early
90's.. they were wise and frugal prior and and since.. which explains OLINT, Cashplus etc, etc...

LOL !!

Wrong.. they didn't suddenly get dumb... they were always dumb.

Liberalization merely gave them an opportunity to run wid it.

[Don1]

Separate and apart from poor policies from the GOJ... Jamaican entrepreneurs were downright dumb and foolishly greedy in the early 1990s:

1. Overleveraging.. using high priced debt to finance dubious acquisitions... also using long term debt (real estate) to finance short term investments.... Dumb!

2. Incestutous connected party transctions.. combining banking operations with trading or industrial concerns... then lending other people's money to entities under the same umbrella.... Dumb!

3. Poor risk underwriting... lending based on personal relationships.... also getting into businesses they had no core competence in... Dumb!

4. Excessive currency speculation... betting against the Jamaican dollar in arbitrage situations. Destructive!


A really explosive cocktail of circumstances.
The 1990s meltdown was a disaster waiting to happen.... poor governance and a dumb private sector.

Correction.... #1 should read "using short term debt to finance long term speculative real estate investments".

[Baddaz]

tHIS AH HAPPEN LONG BEFORE bRUCE bADDAZ.

Bruce needs to end it now though.

willi, of course i know this has been happening long before bruce... i thought that it was implicit in the statement...

my bad for not being clearer... i definitely could have added wht you posted 'Bruce needs to end it now though'...

all i can say its a damn shame that bruce golding is allowing all this raping of jamaica by these smaller nations to continue...

[Jawge]

Yuh so smart that you cyaan even
see the big opportunity for JA. Let T&T run with the manufacturing jobs.

You know what's holding back Ja right now? Colonialism, platantion mentality and other baggages. If Ja retool it's education system, reform it's slavery laws by passing a civil rights bill (oh yes JA needs this badly).
Ja's economy would take off as rocket would at the space center. At present Ja is content to indulge in petty squabbles and simplistic distractions; hence the nation suffers.

Notice the changes that the USA went through (from 60s to present) if the US hadn't passed the civil rights amendment ; third world.
everyone is jumping up and down about Brasil's economy but they have an achille's heel. Figure that one out.

[Karl]

Good topic, Historian.

All the main points already covered. As to Don 1's point our private sector leaders being 'nuh good'...been saying that for years. Head in the air...greed...short term interests/instant gratification mores...crab in the barrel attitudes all act as impediment to 'fast forward' growth and expansion and the taking of full advantage of opportunities.

I care not a fig what the Trinis do with their good fortune of sitting on top of that huge natural gas reserve....and how they leverage that good fortune...save and except how we allow ourselves to be in the position of 'feeding tree'. Certainly we cannot blame the Trinis for seeing opportunities and availing selves of same.

[Naminirt]

People Jamaica could do like they did back in the federation days pull out

[Peter R]

Historian,

The sad thing about T&T is that they should be WAAYYY ahead of where they are now given their God-given resources and population size... when the oil and gas run out, and I hope to God for those living here that I'm wrong, there will be no legacy left for the T&T people; only a handful of high-rises that wil become white elephants if they already aren't and some dilapidated stadia.

They learned ABSOLUTELY NOTHING from Norway who, notwithstanding their headstart and more bountiful resources, wrote the book on how to use the windfall from oil & gas and the dyam fool fool politicians bicker and squabble and want to pontificate like big fish in a small pond...racing round Port of Spain with security detail etc etc. All they had to do was read it (the Norwegian model) and apply the pertinent and relevant parts, instead these goofs just spend the Trini people's patrimony like...what did Manley say... the oil money run through "like a dose of salts"; he was referring to the 70s oil boom that T&T benefitted from and then had nothing to show for it...history is repeating itself.

[OJ]

nice article boss.

[Don1]

JEXIT/JAMEXIT mi seh!!

JEXIT...


Doreen is right on the money. Caricom is NOT serving Jamaica's interest...even though that's through our own division, tribal in-fighting, economic mis-management & lack of investment in human resources.

Jamaica should suspend its involvement...and negotiate better terms for energy and market access with Trinidad..and if not satisfied...withdraw completely and join other regional groupings..

The Caricom ting is a waste of time and resources...PJ ah eediat...strait

[Don1]

JEXIT...

Pressure the Trinis: Start negotiating US Free Trade pact
...like S Korea, Colombia, Panama et al


Propose talks on a Free Trade treaty with the US to possibly replace Caribbean common market place.... this will:

Force Trinidad to offer better terms of trade including national treatment for energy... or lose the US$550M+ positive annual trade balance

The US will also be eager to blunt growing Chinese influence in Jamaica and the Caribbean and may be willing to grant concessions for special access to US markets and/or trade development programs.. wussa like how US manufacturers ah suffa an unemployment chronic

Time to play off Babylon an Chineyman...and get real benefits in the process.. using the roti eaters as a pawn in the game

Chess Master tings

[Sir X]

One problem...

Doreen is right on the money. Caricom is NOT serving Jamaica's interest...even though that's through our own division, tribal in-fighting, economic mis-management & lack of investment in human resources.

Are we going to renegotiate the above? Surely it can't be that.....lol