Prime Minister Bruce Golding. – File Photos

The national debt is without doubt, an albatross around the neck, not only of Bruce Golding and his government, but also of every Jamaican citizen living and working in this country.

It is the legacy of a People's National Party (PNP) administration, who borrowed the money to keep people happy and ensure three unprecedented terms of office for themselves, without any noticeable improvement in the economy, or in the lives of the people they were supposed to represent - all of us. Now, story has come to bump, or the chickens have come home to roost, whichever metaphor you prefer.

One point three trillion Jamaican dollars boggles the imagination, but it is equivalent to about US$14.5 billion, or around US$5,000 for every man, woman, child, and babe in arms now living here. Without some miracle or inexplicable generosity on the part of the people to whom we owe money, this debt problem cannot be solved by a spurt in the economy in the middle of a worldwide financial crisis, and we are, therefore, looking at debt default squarely in the face.

As I see it, the only half-decent way out of this mess is by an honestly brokered debt-for-equity swap. This would require the Government to identify US$20 billion of the most negotiable assets it holds in trust for the people of Jamaica - land, buildings and enterprises - and obtain, as quickly as possible, fair forced-sale valuations for them all. These would be offered, dollar for dollar, and on a first-come, first-served basis, to those persons or organisations holding Jamaican dollar securities, in exchange for their investments.

non-interest-bearing bond

Trains belonging to the Jamaica Railway Corporation.

Those persons declining the offer would be given a non-interest-bearing bond in constant value currency, to be redeemed in equal instalments over a five- or 10-year period.

In this way, nobody holding a Jamaican-dollar investment would lose one cent of its true value, but the Jamaican taxpayer would be relieved of the burden of helping the rich - and not-so-rich - get richer.

People holding securities designated in foreign exchange would be entitled to accept local assets instead, but alternatively, the assets would be sold for Jamaican dollars to raise the funds needed to pay off the foreign-exchange debt.

The assets I have in mind include the large area behind King's House, the Jamaica Urban Transport Company, government-owned buildings, (former Oceana hotel now the Ministry of Health), the Jamaica Conference Centre, Gordon House, etc., the Jamaica Railway Corporation, Air Jamaica, sugar estates and other agricultural land, and beaches. And if these, and whatever else, do not add up to US$20 billion, then heaven help us all!

Having removed the albatross from around our collective necks, I believe that the Government should act to prevent a similar situation from ever arising in the future by enacting the following legislation to amend our Constitution:

Limit government borrowing to a fixed percentage (10 per cent? ) of the value of the economy.

Prohibit the use of such loans for anything but well-defined works for the benefit of everybody, without any political over- or undertones.

Restrict the growth of money supply to:

a) the net amount of profit earned on loan funds after payment of all overheads and operating expenses, or

b) a maximum percentage of the value of the economy, whichever is the lesser.

Set a limit on the interest rate allowed to be paid on loans in Jamaican dollars, (eight per cent?), above which it would be considered usurious, illegal and subject to penalty.

The first and second of these amendments would prevent irresponsible borrowing for political purposes. The third would control inflation, and the fourth would encourage people with money to invest in schemes where the profits were higher, (with some risk), rather than earn lower profit with no effort and minimal risk.

I am not an economist, but I believe these ideas could work.

stir up public opinion

Ministry of Health (former Oceana Hotel).

However, although I applaud your efforts to stir up public opinion to achieve change in the political system for the good of us all, I am not very sanguine about the possibility of success

Our politicians are too thick-skinned, and embedded in a political culture which works for their benefit, while the general public is too apathetic and lethargic to recognise how much better life would be for everybody if they insisted on honest and competent performance from the people they elect to serve them.

Feedback may be sent to columns@gleanerjm.com.