As I said in an immediate comment after the PMs address to the nation last night, the fact that she had to publicly stall her address because she didnt have her eyes was more than symbolic - her address demonstrated a total lack of VISION! As for her statement that the UNC has cut out wanton expenditure is a joke! And nobody wanted to hear about what the UNC has done the last four years - that has nothing to do with what has to be done now. Nobody has confidence in the governments management of the eceonomy as evidenced by massive capital flight. The countrys economy is in crisis, not only because of the substantial decline in government revenue due to falling oil, gas and commodity (Methanol and ammonia) prices, but even more importantly because of the impact that the fall in prices has on our earnings of foreign exchange. There already is a big problem for individuals and businesses to get US dollars, and with falling earnings of foreign exchange it doesnt take a rocket scientist to know this will get worse. The country was not told last night about exactly how the government will deal with this problem nor were we given detailed information about how the $7.4 billion dollar shortfall in budgeted revenue will be offset by cuts in expenditure. Remember, the fall in oil prices didnt start yesterday - the government has had months to do the sums but they were sleeping on the job, playing Santa Claus. The PM said that no unfunded projects would be proceeded with yet she repeatedly stated that the Mayaro to San Fernando Highway is a priority. Remember that they now have to borrow $$ hundreds of millions to complete the Debe to Mon Desir and San Fernando to Point Fortin Highways. We were not told what the fall in our national income means in terms of sharing the burden of adjustment. The PM failed the test of courageous, honest leadership last night. We face a major crisis if leadership in Trinidad and Tobago. Time to challenge the status quo! The old cannot deal with the problems, time for the Second Republic! More of our analysis will be shared at an MSJ Media Conference this Sunday!
Posted on: Fri, 09 Jan 2015 23:09:26 +0000
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