The great debate in Jamaica is a never ending debate, the debate as to which Political Party is best suited to lead Jamaica and this debate is as old as Jamaica itself. Jamaica is no stranger to being ruled by different factions over the many hundreds of years. First the Taíno Indians, also known as the Arawaks ruled Jamaica but suffered continued attacks from the warlike Carib Indians who wanted them for dinner. Then the Spanish conquered the island claiming that they discovered it and proceeded to exterminate every last Indian on the island. It was the Spanish who first introduce Africans to Jamaica in order to replace the Indians they systematically wiped out.
Then one sunny Jamaican morning in 1655 on the 10th of May another band of European scavengers turned up on our shores, it was two Spanish settlers who first spotted the huge fleet just as it rounded Point Morant... this was the English Armada which resulted in the invasion and the start of the war between the Spanish and the English. In the end Jamaica was conquer by our colonial masters the English and the Spanish was sent packing. Throughout the entire Caribbean the Dutch, French, Spanish, Portuguese and English was engaged in one war after another trying to decide who "discovered" what and controlled what. Almost everywhere the Spanish and Portuguese went they discovered gold which made the English green with envy, they wanted some gold of their own, so they set out to "discover" distant lands but they were never that lucky, they found no gold.
It was then that they decided to take gold from the Spanish and Portuguese, it they could not find a land mass with easy gold for the pickings then they would take the Spanish Gold. It was easy work, sit back relax and let them do all the hard work of invading, murdering the natives and extracting the gold then attack their slow over burden ships as they made their way back to Europe and take their gold, easy money and how the Empire got started.
In one incident after much murdering, enslaving, raping and pillaging by the Spanish in South America they woke up to find English Armada sitting just off the coast, guns pointing towards shore and without even firing a single shot the Spanish decided to just give up and give in, they gave the English all their Gold because the alternative was not worth it. Which is exactly how the British took Manhattan, the Dutch woke up to find the British Fleet heading into New York and not having any stomach for a fight they surrendered their possessions and head home. The Dutch were Traders not fighters and in the end traded their lives for Manhattan, New Amsterdam then became New York.
**Armada is the Spanish and Portuguese word for naval fleet but the word Armada is way cooler than the word fleet... Other names I love are Bismarck battleships and HMS Dreadnought... wicked names...
Fast forward to present times and we are still being invaded and conquered by different factions both local and international but instead of guns, spears and battle armor they wear slick expensive suits, armed with Ivy League education, mastered the gift of the gab and backed by Multinational Corporations who are the modern day version of the Dutch West India Company and British East India Company. Historically these companies used local leaders as their front men after trying and failed at direct rule because It seems the locals prefer to be oppressed indirectly by people who look and sound like them, so the English was content with ruling from the behind, pulling the strings and reaping the rewards, a tradition that continued to this very day via the World Bank, IMF and United Nation to name a few.
Our independence and freedom exist within the framework created by these bodies. So who control these world governing bodies? That is a question everyone is trying to find an answer to. Some say the United States of America controls the world governing bodies but who control the United States Government, in fact who control all Governments? If one followed the money trail one would find that it leads back to the Multinational Corporations who bought the entire world, lock stock and barrel, they are the Ferengis of our time, greedy, untrustworthy little trolls.
There is no longer a dividing line between our Governments and the Multinational Corporations, the Government of a country works directly for and in the Multinational Corporations who controls what you eat, think, love and hate, they decide when war starts and when war ends.
Perspective: JLP = PNP = Jamaican People or JLP vs. PNP vs. Jamaican People vs. Jamaican People
It is really irrelevant which Political Party makes up the Government of Jamaica because the medicine is and will always be the same, …it will be Bitter and Toxic!! Simply because of the actions or lack of actions of the Jamaican people... because of our greed, selfishness, lack of insight, indiscipline, lack of innovation and imagination we have allowed the infection that plague our country to run wild and spread deep for many decades and now the patient must undergo invasive surgery to remove this cancer.
The fact of the matter is the IMF is not going to change its terms base on which Political Party makes up the Government of Jamaica who I must say, is just along for the ride on this IMF roller coaster. The IMF solution and the IMF terms are set in Rock Stone as no one is willing to lend us money to prop up the Jamaican dollar so we can import more feel good garbage and if they do lend us money for that purpose then the rate and the terms will be harsher… The IMF terms are the same terms presented to the JLP after their IMF agreement and they failed to implement them simply because election was upon them and they did not have the balls to do what was right. Back then the IMF gave Jamaica US $400 Million in direct loans and another US $400+ Million from various other financial institutions as a result of the agreement and even before the first IMF test and we had a jolly good time with that money. We imported like there was no tomorrow as the influx of US $800+ Million was like a shot of heroin into Jamaica’s import Junkie life blood, this resulted in artificially reducing the exchange rate and allowed us to splurge while we sing praises to the Government of the day, not realizing or not caring that it was the wrong thing to do.
I have noticed that the Jamaica Labour Party is NOT campaigning on the high exchange rate or on any of the requirements dictated to us by the IMF because they cannot promise a different path. Both the JLP and the PNP cannot say they will artificially reduce the exchange rate, higher more people in the public sector or pay out more in benefits to social programs, they simply cannot go against the current IMF mandate and they do not have an alternate path and have long since ran out of any ideas. They are all just blowing smoke and whistling Dixie, jumping around like circus clowns, posturing for their idiot voters.
The PNP had promised a different path before the 2011 election only to realize that the path is not open for negotiation with the world financing bodies, who has clearly had enough of our promises and failed implementations not to mention they have their hands full with more important countries and economies and realized long ago that if you throw money at Jamaica, Jamaica will squander it, keep a big merriment party and live for today, we are a money sucking black hole.
The JLP cannot bring anything radically different to the table, just like the PNP could not bring anything radically different to the table after 2011. Whatever growth program both the JLP and PNP are planning, if any, must be done within the guidelines of the limited IMF agreement and terms which is standing firm. This is why I do not care which Political Party/faction makes up the Government, they are in fact, just hamsters on a wheel and despite all their promises and rage they are still just a rat in a cage.
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| The Real World Boss!! |
