The Greek civilisation is one of the most ancient civilisations, yet disgruntled Athenians are rioting and burning Athens.
In comparison, our community is very young but here voters are also disgruntled. The most obvious causes of our troubles, much like those of the Greeks are mismanagement by government. The present, the PPM first, and the UDP now, have mismanaged Cayman.
However we do not riot nor burn; we rob and murder each other.
It is true that when the UDP look control of the economy in May of 2009, the country and the world was already in recession. But had the UDP sought revenue from high worth properties and individuals while reducing government spending, our recession could have been reversed.
Instead of so doing, the UDP increased the tax burden on the poor and middle class. The UDP also increased work permit fees on the financial and tourism industries to grow government and its debt and these actions caused high increases in our electricity and water charges to the point where a great number of us can no longer afford to buy food and other needed commodities.
This state of affairs caused a great number of businesses to close and thousands of guest workers to flee our country, leaving those of us with rental properties without tenants. Fearing a collapse in the economy and the bankruptcy of our government, local banks began withholding money from borrowers and therefore a much needed injection of capital into our economy. The UDP leadership then compounded the crisis by looking outside our economy for loans to finance government debts although it would have been more prudent to stimulate local banks by borrowing locally.
The UDP government also failed to introduce legislation that would have allowed all persons paying pensions, with a saving of a certain amount, to make withdrawals from their pension savings to purchase homes. Had the UDP allowed all pension contributors with a certain amount of savings to borrow, this would have stimulated the construction industry, provided jobs and avoided our total reliance on Dart Reality as the provider of local construction activity. But I suspect had this been thought through and implemented there would have been no good justifications for our addiction to Dart’s money.
The UDP government could also have attempted to manage the recession by making legislation that would have allowed for part of our pension portfolios to be invested in low risk long term economic ventures here in Cayman. The Courtyard Marriot, which was purchased by Dart Reality to be rebuilt as a five star hotel, could have been purchased by Caymanians to truly provide training and jobs for our people. I am not suggesting government management of any economic instrument. I am simply suggesting government was the one and only entity with the authority and ability to create a real stimulus to our economy.
The UDP’s reliance and obsession with Dart’s money might very well prove to be a worse economic gamble than using some of our private pension funds and increasing our local population as a result of working and middle class guest workers gaining the right to Caymanian status through home ownership. My guess is that it is more desirable to have many weak influences as a result of this policy than one big fish controlling the pond. An amount of the pension investments brought home could also have been loaned to our local banks thereby giving the banks improved confidence in the local economy and their borrowers.
It is fine for my friend the Premier to have said that he inherited an economy that was in ruins but he has now had a number of years to correct the situation and has failed to do so because he has taken advice from the wrong people and has functioned as the saviour of high worth individuals. For as much as the taxation of properties valued above say four hundred thousand dollars is viewed as un-Caymanian; a small island nation with our amount of government spending, cannot survive without a modern taxation system.
Duties on imported goods (i.e. gasoline) and fees on import labour is taxation but not progressive ways of promoting an economy. As small business persons we pay millions to the government for goods and labour before we have made one cent on our investments. While import duties to the high worth projects are given import duty concessions. Thus the financial service and tourist industries and other local businesses are stifled by an out-dated 17th Century mercantilist mentality and strategy, which had the objective of restricting rather than promoting economic choices.
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