Garth Rattray AS I sat contemplating the approaching new year, it occurred to me that we had come a long way since the dark ages. I mused that the 21st century was already three years old. Science fiction, futuristic movies and books depicted this century as one filled with medical miracles, scientific marvels and a new age of expansive economic development catalysed by huh? My train of thought was rudely interrupted by the abrupt and total loss of light. Suddenly I felt as if I were catapulted back into the dark ages. The darkness clung to me like a wet blanket and smothered any positive outlook that I had for 2004.
I sat in the dark remembering that recently the Prime Minister praised the entrepreneurial efforts of those opening our many large retail stores but he went on to express his desire to see people investing in factories (and not only retail stores). But "Wishin' and hopin' " (Burt Bacharach/Hal David Dusty Springfield 1964) alone won't get us anywhere. We have to provide an environment conducive to production.
JOBS
Giant retail stores will certainly provide many jobs. They will also buy some local produce but most of their goods will be imported, they will utilise precious foreign exchange that they can't generate. Factories, on the other hand, would not only provide employment they will also (1) produce goods that will reduce our need to import certain items and (2) hopefully export goods to earn badly needed foreign exchange.
As the darkness set in, I began to wonder who would invest in a factory under our prevailing socio-economic conditions. People with a lot of money to invest would either put it into some high-interest bearing account, real estate or retail business. Attempting to produce in this hostile atmosphere of party politics, spiralling inflation, frequent crippling power outages (with absolutely no end in sight), 14-hour traffic jams, extortion and numerous other serious crimes is rather risky. Corruption, fraud and theft are poisoning our country. We are plagued by ever-increasing utility bills, governmental red tape and tax laws badly in need of revision.
There was a mad rush to open even more large retail stores before Christmas. Politicians and businessmen alike made grand speeches at their well-advertised openings. It is obvious that although the businessmen concerned are retailers, they have the wherewithal to invest in whatever they think is feasible. I doubt very much if anyone in government has made the effort to ascertain why these entrepreneurs invest in retail stores and not factories. Their answers would certainly be of great benefit in determining the course of action needed to make investing in factories more attractive. Such a survey would teach us a lot about our economy.
MISPLACED PATRIOTISM
Our politicians surely can't expect people to risk their hard-earned money in the name of misplaced patriotism. Our country has to make the environment safe and favourable for people who wish to invest in production. For example, any sensible businessman would be wary of investing in production with such an extremely unreliable municipal power supply. The recurrent shortfall results from years of mismanagement. The old Jamaica Public Service Company (JPSCo) equipment has long been in need of replacement.
When the company was sold to Mirant we were given the impression that the new owners would inject much-needed capital and make power outages a thing of the past. Now, from all indications, they too are financially challenged and so we are right back where we started. Additionally, the current power supply falls far short of projected demands because of prolific construction of and unregulated expansion within housing developments by persons who blatantly disregard existing covenants, building codes and regulations (all of which fall under the purview of the government).
Whenever inefficiencies and corruption are allowed free reign within a government system, they reverberate until they disrupt the proper functioning of our entire country. The resultant economic substrate becomes so insalubrious that only a minority of businesses proliferate to the exclusion of many others. Soon there'll be very little production and more sellers than buyers, then we'll all experience an economic dark age.
Dr Garth A. Rattray is a medical doctor with a family practice.
