Jamaica: Some issues regarding the holy grail of GDP growth

[Don1]

Get this out of the way...GDP growth is vital & necessary for the country to move forward... unfortunately it is not SUFFICIENT and NOWHERE NEAR BEING SO...Why:

1. The economy is structurally dysfunctional in a neo-plantation style. A small group of politically-connected elites sitting on top and creaming off the benefits. The capital owning class has little innovation...preferring just to gather margins. The politico-business elite ensures that education is severely rationed.. keeping much of the population ignorant with low economic output

2. The 'open economy" Jamaica has produces very little value-added from the huge level of imported goods & services... so most of the surplus goes right back overseas.... including surpluses re-exported by locally based elites.

3. What little surplus that stays in Jamaica is whittled away by elites in fancy lifestyles (living way above their counterparts in Trinidad & Barbados for example) and by most of the rest of people in non-productive enterprise and survival activities in the underground economy... maybe 40% of the entire economic output is unrecorded

4. Govt is even worse...controlled as it is by the corrupt JLPNP tribes.. Govt has about 50% of the economy...and mismanages it in favour of their tribe...not the national interest. Case in point the FINSAC debacle , Run Wid It 1 under Omar...now the impending Run Wid it 2 under Shaw with the Chinese road money

5. Whoever does get educated...is being educated not for the 21st century...but more like for the mid 20th. The technical education which is what's needed...is a sick joke.
So clearly we are going nowhere here...fast.

6. The disrespect for the poor & disadvantaged by the politico-business elite and the JLPNP tribalism results in the worse social relations in the Caribbean...outside of Haiti. This results in excessive crime, extreme DISORDER (even by Govt agents like the police) and GREAT social tensions...further blunting development prospects...a HUGE drag....this is our biggest problem.



So people.... bray for and pray for this mystical "GDP Growth" all you want...unless the society itself is reformed, not enuff value will trickle down to the bottom to make a difference.

So after any long awaited growth...nuff nuff people will be saying, as they did in 1972... Betta Mus Come


Selah

[Assasin]

While GDP growth means the investor class will benefit it doesn't mean the nation on a whole will not benefit in the longer term. Over short term growth is uneven but over longer term it spread to the whole ecomomy.

The small man benefit from low interest rate as does the bigman. The investor will borrow more to build his hotel or his business and this people benefit. Everytime Butch or Issa build a new hotel or Captain build a new bakery it means more of the working class get a job to feed their family.
It also means that teachers and police can pay less in real term for the house they build as the interest rate is a lot less.

Let us look at the freezones in Jamaica, which nuff people say it wasn't worth but guess what? It provided jobs for a sector of women from low income neigbourhood who would others be unemployed, but instead they could have provided for their families and take their families out of hopelessness. Only a pity we didn't teach ourselves to move up in ownership/management and start doing our thing as the Indian, Chinese and others did.

There is a set of workers that are otherwise unemployable such as the sugar workers and without investment in these areas, no matter how much high tech we have wihich only benefit the educated class these people presents a big problem for our society. Any productive government have to keep them working and call for heavy investment and GDP growth.

GDP growth unevenness is not unique to Jamaica. America is having 2% growth after inflation and still have high employment rate especially in the minority communities. Nobody has strong GDP growth like China yet many of the farmers and rural people do not benefit.

Government can make policies that will make it a little better for the massive but only a communist think GDP growth is going to be even and fool themselves and present policies as such that KILL GDP growth. There is a reason why many communist country don't have strong growth.

While I see you laughing at 1% growth this is where it starts, hopefully we will be able to achieve 5% growth annually as our economy improves. This also mean the govermment collect more taxes and hopefully can better help some of the social cause.

Can you show me where in the world there is even growth that better all the population?

[Don1]

My point is that any GDP growth in Jamaica under the present dysfunctional structure will be of limited utility...you have done nothing to disturb that thesis.

Jamaica needs political & economic & social reform far more than it needs GDP growth under the present rotten system.... in fact such reforms if well done will organically produce the required growth...and real development.

Absent real reforms we will remain in deep shiit.... yuh cudda deal...ah suh di ting set


...but nutten nuh tap unnu fi pray fi groat

[Assasin]

Yes there is no arguing Jamaica needs more than just GDP growth to cure our rotten system. How does GDP growth stop us from fixing the system? repeat to yourself "GDP GROWTH IS GOOD for any country even our rotten Jamaica"

[Don1]

I don't like to repeat shallow talk... it's not good for the brain

I see you're quite good at that though..practice makes perfect..so keep it up!