Jamaica seeks product assembly agreement with China

[Willi]

Cop out, with the saving in free eddikation, them can save fi pay the tax pan di computa.

[Jawge]

well any solution to reverse that folly. It's akin the agri age and taxes are being levied on farming tools. At the same time the govt. would be saying they want to be on top in farming.

[Islandman]

Jawge, computers are great and al lthat but our problem is MUCH more fundamental than that. You have to be able to read and write at a certain level before a computer is of any use to you.

Did you listen to the Bdos vs JA education audio that I posted? Here it is again and listen to what the jamaican teacher says about reading.

http://www.npr.org/templates/player/...27&m=124346693

[Jawge]

Well they have many reading and writing aids on the net. Based on what the teacher is saying; taxing computers only compounds Ja's problem.

GDP may be one issue but Ja's social and economic structre is basically the same. In the sense that money that comes in the island isn't spread among the populace. This inhibits the island from having a middle income group which in turn inhibits revenues via taxes. This elite that gets money that comes in the island then re routes it back out. You then have most of the populace who would be success stories (creative, good organizational business skills and more) in say north america is forced to be higglers or be part of the undergroud economy.

[Willi]

Going on di net not free!

[Islandman]

Its a chicken and egg situation: a big reason that the general population has not benefited as much from foriegn direct investment as it should, is that they do not have the skills to participate in a modern economy.

If a company was to build say, a microprocessing chip factory in JA, there would be little benefit to the lower income population because they have little to no skills that could be used there. So it would be like the Oil Companies are in Nigeria and other parts of Africa: the multinationals and a few corrupt politicians and thier cronies make all the money , while the community around the factory continues to live in poverty.

[Don1]

Well they have many reading and writing aids on the net.

wat a way yuh love intanet...yuh nuh believe inna teacha?

[Gamma]

dem pass on responsibility...to many top level executives have been having to kill themselves.

[Assasin]

I-man I think a 6 week training crash course and the youths will be fine. I am encourage to see how many of my fellow idlers who went to HEART turned out to be execs.

Bring on the job with some training and we will be fine. The Jamaican customer service reps them sound fine when mi talk to them. I miss DHL

[Jawge]

Point taken but that's just one aspect. Look at Ja's society: what's the difference between the higglers, those who have to "hustle" in the underground ecoonomy and say business owners in the service industry?
Look closely and you will see that our society hasn't changed for the past three hundred years. The local tax dollars would go to finance many projects and used to promote it abroad ( just as how the Britsih would finance the plantation owners; granted this was done for strategic reasons). Joshua did the right thing in the 70s but he made the mistake that Bruce is making as we speak and all is work was basically reversed.

We must seriously sit and understand the importance of human resources/capital. The British figured this out some 300 odd years ago. Who do you think created the merchant class/middle income group there? It's not rocket science but structured planning to achieve a long term objective.

[Islandman]

Yeah but that kind of job should not require 6 weeks training. Should be more like 6 hours.

[Don1]

Agree but Ja neeeds to reform the its education system. This may not happen as taxes were levied on computers. Computer is atool it has to be allowed to be in the hands of almost all jakans. A kid in JA with a computer and net access can ace any math test Ja has to offer and I'm dead serious on this. This is why you may see certain kids belonging to certain income groups acing tests. This is why I was upset about the taxes too. The other administration allowed one in person at the airport (without being taxed). The Bs argument about sound system is so ridiculous that i wouldn't even engage in that silliy talk.

what are you doing to reform Maldon?

[Assasin]

This would be execellent for Jamaica. While it is not rocket science but it would provide jobs for a lower and middle class that need it most. It gives them the chance to be productive. While the freezone was very low paying it provided the oppurtunity for many women to lift their family out of poverty. Once you have a vibrant middle class then the people in the upper class will rise providing them with goods and service. The income tax also provide the government with more revenue. As them say the hardest work is when you are not working.

I hope it is something workable.

[Jawge]

Why do you want to know?

[Don1]

Yeah but that kind of job should not require 6 weeks training. Should be more like 6 hours.

Yuh nuh!

I agree we need many jobs like those....but do people really think we should limit ourselves to that?

People need to wake up and smell the coffee ....see what's going on around them in the real world.

Today's customer rep & product support worker is the direct equivalent of yesterdays burger flipper

We need to expand the yutes way beyond that...to creating value.

We already have a foot in the remote customer service etc door....time to move up the value chain.