The leader of the opposition, Mr Andrew Holness said he had promised Jamaicans bitter medicine, which would have made us better eventually, but Jamaicans responded with a resounding no and ran to the PNP.
He has described what the PNP has prescribed and has already administered as poisonous medicine, that will do nothing to get us better, but instead will make our health situation, that much worse, is he right?
I knew from the onset that the PNP was NEVER a viable alternative, given the disaster they left after their tenure at the crease and anyone who thought otherwise must have been smoking a crace pipe.
I was horrified this afternoon when a friend of mine called all hysterical screaming in my ears ” Jay these business people are wicked, can you imagine a just went in the supermarket and a dozen eggs that used to cost $240 is now priced at $350.00 !
I said ” I am not surprized, did you think that the price would have moved up just 16.5%, if you did then you missed out on the real impact of Dr Phillips poison pill. My dear , GCT on electricity has moved up 66.5%, licensing fees just went up 50%, feed prices have gone up, so the cumulative effect of all those, will cause the price to move well beyond the 16.5%, you thought you were going to pay”
The next thing I heard was ” So Jay, what poor people going to do given the fact the prices won’t simply go up by 16.5%” , I said ” well lets all use people power”.
I was speaking with another friend today who said ” Jay you have been on the PNP case since they came to power, be honest with me now, level with me, do you believe it would have been any better had it been the JLP” ?
I responded “ Is that a trick question or what, are you serious? Do you want the truth or do you simply what the answer you truly would like to hear. The fact is I really don’t know the answer to your question and all I am prepared to say at this time, is, this is not what the majority of Jamaicans had expected, when they voted on Dec 29, 2012. Do you think Jamaicans would have voted for the PNP if they thought the party would kick dirt in their faces, this quickly, I don’t think so.”
“What that tells me therefore is that this administartion is deceptive, mendacious and as such cannot be trusted. They made many promises and not only have they failed to keep them, they have actually made things harder for ordinary Jamaicans by opting to not only to keep the burden, but made it that much heavier.”
He said ” Man I tell you something, the JLP would have not been able to do any better, but I really never expected this from the PNP .
I said “ Well, what did you expect, tell me”. He said ” I got to run, next time we link I will let you know.”
There goes a bitter comrade, who despite his disappoint is still willing to make excuses for the party that is no doubt causing suffering and pain . Nothing is wrong in making a bad choice, what is bad is failing to recognize and accept that you have done so and then take steps to ensure you never make the same mistake again.
I may sound very bitter, but I am simply stating the facts as I see them. I really don’t think we expected that it would be all niceness, but honestly, why should we have to pay a $23.4B bill ( and counting )for our mistake( ops choice) on Dec 29, 2011.
Government’s are elected to make things better for the people of the country, not by giving hand outs, but by creating an environment that fosters economic activity that leads to job creation, growth, and ultimately wealth for those who choose to make best use of the opportunities.
What this administration has just sought to do is akin to a ponzi scheme, they have placed next to nothing into the economy and expect to get a $23.4B payout.
We all know what happens when the money comes out of a ponzi scheme is greater than what is going in, we all saw what happen to all those in Jamaica. The unfortuinate thing is when this ponzi government (scheme) collapses, the entire country will be affected, regardless of how you voted.
I certainly hope that good sense will prevail and a new budget will be crafted and presented to the country over the next 6 months. A budget that creates hope for the people, a budget that has the light at the end of the tunnel and that light is not a freight train coming to us at 100mph.
Courtesy of the Jamaica Gleaner.
I don’t get it… how can you tax vegetables? Fish? Eggs? Then complain about the health of the population. Shouldn’t we encourage “poor” people to eat healthy? The other puzzling thing to me is, the unfairness of the tax. The supermarket man who already pays taxes (in many forms) gets business boxed out of his mouth with the tax on vegetables as the government drives people to the underground economy where no taxes are collected. Doesn’t seem right to me!
” I am not surprized, did you think that the price would have moved up just 16.5%, if you did then you missed out on the real impact of Dr Phillips poison pill. My dear , GCT on electricity has moved up 66.5%, licensing fees just went up 50%, feed prices have gone up, so the cumulative effect of all those, will cause the price to move well beyond the 16.5%, you thought you were going to pay”
Jay:
Given the time span between the announcement of the increase in GCT, the proposed date of the increase and the time when merchants supposedly increased the price of eggs, was only days, would you agree that it is highly improbable that any “new” eggs came in from the producers? In other words, weren’t all the eggs already in inventory and/or the shelf before the increase was announced? If indeed such increase did occur, was it a preemptive strike against the consumer when these merchants increased their prices without the corresponding increase from their distributors? What does that tell you Jay?
I don’t know this to be a fact, but isn’t the majority of chicken feed imported, with very little domestic inputs? That would suggest that the GCT impact on the feed prices would be minimal, if not nonexistent. Wouldn’t licensing fees be negligible when spread over millions of units of eggs? Also, what percentage of our eggs are domestically produced…I though we import a lot of our eggs?
I think a little exposure to Cost Accounting would do you well, since if one look carefully at the overall picture, their is no justification in the 46% increase in the price of eggs and the new price per dozen was artificially set by the collusion between the merchant class and the producers….no friends of the ruling administration. They did the same thing during the 1970s, when they en masse, hoarded basic food items, which led to artificially high prices and create the illusion that shortages were widespread, when in reality there were no shortage of these items. In addition to increasing their profits, their ulterior motive was to destabilized the country during the Michael Manley regime.
You know, I’m now gaining a certain level of appreciation for what Sam Sharpe was saying about “Intellectual Ghetto”. It is alive and well on your blog Jay.
Oooops! The comrades who lived on this blog site are very silent Jay. Embarrassment killing them. Cock mouth kill cock.
Incidentally, it was a Comrade Lami who introduced me to this bolg site when JLP was in power because according to him this is where you could get the suss, scoop and cuss out on them. Your blog use to be a staple on his programme. Have not heard him mentioned it since Dec 29.
Anyway, I must say he is truly a “poor people person”. I admired how he hit out hard against the budget. At least he is trying to be objective and honest.
Hope the handlers will tell Mama P not to say JLP wrecked the country in the 4 years because that would “shot” her credibility through the windows of Gordon House come Tuesday. Mama P’s highly anticipated speech will have the highest listernership for the year, I think.
Yes, its interesting when I was sticking it to the JLP they were all jumping with glee. Now that I have shifted to the now party in government persons are not so happy.
What they have failed to realize, by virtue of their though process is, I have chosen to expose the workings of the party in power, regardless of who that party is. So while I was vicious on the JLP and exposed them many said ” him a pnp”, now they same persons are saying ” him is a green man”.
I will continue to ” tun up d ting on the party in power until e buck”. I will be relentless in by critique of the party and I will expose them for misleading the people every-time the opportunity presents itself.
I will make no excuses or offer any apologies as the “truth” must be told even if its painful to listen to or read as in this case.
If we are to move forward as a people we must be willing to call a spade a spade and stop make excuses for FAILURE !
@ Test,
The sad reality is prices have gone up and the effect on the poor will be devastating, that is the cold hard fact.
So now I see the typical comrade stance, don’t blame the government , which facilitated this move, blame instead the wicked merchants who wants to ” tun up d ting on d poor and eat a food”.
Test I am not surprised by your thought process and lack of understanding how business works in Jamaica. Right or wrong, business in Jamaica has always sought to make a profit by a term a would use( go find your dictionary) arbitrage. Not in the true sense of asset pricing mechanism but the thought process is the same.
The merchant sells today’s (asset) his merchandise at a price greater than what its actually worth. He tends buys back (assets) merchandise in this case at a lower price and restocks and pockets the difference.
He makes a large profit from the difference in what the item was truly worth and what it was sold for at that time, given that the cost factors were not yet priced into the inventory that he had in his possession.
It been like that in Jamaica for decades and has nothing to do with the business class trying to make the government look bad, like what occurred in the 1970′s.
When a government does not understand how business works then this is what occurs. The merchants may have very well jumped the gun to eek out an advantage. This advantage will only last one business cycle for the affected products, because the next batch will actually be priced correctly thus removing the slight advantage they held up to a few days ago.
So TEST, the price you see today, will actually be the price consumers have to pay, given the new poisonous tax package that was announced by a deceptive and lying bunch!
I guess Jamaican are really getting the government they deserve ie bandoloo set of people deserve a bandoloo government, its a perfect match.