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About Me
Blog Archive
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2014
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August
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- Volleyballer Realizes Dream
- Under 17’s Take A Bow
- MAD No Longer In Sports
- Karateka ‘Masters’ Honoured
- Commercial B-ball ‘Double’ Tonight
- Unemployment In Paradise
- St. Jude, We Cry For You - Pt1.
- MLK’s ‘Dream’ Unfulfilled
- King - Frederick: The Facts
- He Soared Exultingly .....But The Wings came off
- Disagreeing Without Being Disagreeable
- Another Failed Escapade
- A Threat To All
- Top Magazine Features Ladera Hotelier
- THE GREAT BOOK RUSH Schools Re-open On Monday
- Search On For Dead Police Officer’s Gun
- Piton Film Festival
- New Sandals Regional Director In St. Lucia
- Lions help Four Needy Students
- LIME’s EC $2.7b. Fight Back $35m. Investment For S...
- Lewis Heads Team To Look At Economic Citizenship
- La Rose Today
- ‘Distillers’ Spend $30,000 On Education
- Digicel Gives Away $
- CSEC Pass Rate Up However, Concerns Remain
- Consumers Complain About Higher Electricity Bills
- C.F.L. Praises Farmers
- 29 Students Get Summer Jobs with LUCELEC
- Suzie Agnes-Ida d’Auvergne SLMH, CMG
- Remote Participation
- Is Your Data Secure?
- A Baby...... Against All Odds
- The Political Stalemate
- Have Flambeaus Lit Frederick’s Fuse?
- ECONOMIC REVIVIAL - The Debate We Should Be having
- REDEMPTION!
- More Blackheart Warm-ups
- B-ball In South
- Confronting Ebola
- WASCO Asked To Clean Up Its Act
- United And Strong Has New Logo
- Taiwan $ For e-Gov’t System
- SSU ‘Cop’ Dies After Accident
- Number Of LUCELEC Scholars Swells To 25
- More Showers Forecast For Today
- LOCK OUT!
- 3 Get Digicel Cash
- South Coast League Tonight
- GOALS GALORE IN YOUTH LEAGUE
- Commercial B-Ball Tomorrow
- Blackheart Play Offs Tomorrow
- Remembering Chrystal
- Red Cross Launches Free Life-Saving Mobile App For...
- Keep It In Your Pants
- Is Ice Bucket Challenge A Waste Of Water?
- Commercial Court To Boost Competitiveness
- ‘YES’ TO FREE MOVEMENT
- SEDU Outreach In Dennery
- P.M. Sees Economic Rebound Says Priority To Protec...
- Gov’t Claims Victory vs. Grynberg
- Digicel Gives Away $500 A Day
- Track Your Money
- Adopting a baby?
- Valley Soccer Camp Huge Success
- Swimmers Win 19 Medals In Suriname
- St. Lucia Hosts U-12 Tennis
- ST. LUCIA U-17 WIN
- No More Drawing Boards
- Bocas Win Rigobert Netball In Micoud
- Blackheart Win For Mon Repos
- St. Lucia Loses Out
- Skirting The Issues Again
- MP Dug His Own Grave
- Mary Francis’ Truth
- Kamla Is Right Joint Regional Action Vital To Ensu...
- Is The IMF Satan?
- Can Lloyd Make A Difference?
- Restoring St. Lucia
- ‘Sultry Six’ For Miss Gros Islet
- South Running Out Of Burial Space
- OECS Nationals Can Stay Here Forever
- New Dance Music Single from Chrycee!
- LUCELEC Scholar Excels At SPISE
- Frederick: ‘I Was In For It’ Says Expulsion From U...
- C.S.A. MEETS G.N.T. TUES.
- Bankers Donate Dialysis Machine To St. St. Jude
- Axcel Appoints Country Manager
- Alleged Cop Killer’s Prison Lifestyle In Question
- ‘How About Some Techbooks?
- Your Guide To The Effective Use Of Computer Techno...
- What Every Parent Should Know About Their Child
- The Night When Radio In St.Lucia Changed Forever
- Storm Watch
- Youth Olympics Tough on St. Lucia
- Youth Football Goalfeast Continues
- South Basketball On
- Just Plain‘Suzie’
- WVENT-Talking The Talk
- Share Your LIME Mobile Credit - Send A Me 2U
- P.M. Lauds Judge Suzie
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August
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6 comments:
Very inspiring article indeed. Unfortunately there are too many of us who are living this reality. A harsh reality that in some cases is perpetuated or forced upon decent law abiding citizens by some criminals passing themselves off as lawyers.
First of all writer, your original premise is wrong, wrong , wrong. The rest of your case is a veritable "house of cards"; it collapses!
You assume. You assume too much. You assume, firstly that there are experts. That went unchallenged in your mind. You never gave a single thought to ask this question: "Experts in what areas?"
Now, even if you said "experts in economics", then the follow-up question is: what are the ranges of their expertise? Why? There are economists and there are economists.
There are experts. And there are experts. George Santanyana once quipped this regarding experts: "One who knows more and more about less and less, until he knows everything about nothing." Unquote.
We need to know the forte of the individual experts before we can (as the creole says) "put our hands in the fire for them", so to speak.
To the initiated, when you observe the vacuity of some of the arguments made by the actors regarding the coming negotiations of the wage cuts, the necessary expertise is glaring absent especially regarding the GNT party.
The tenor or direction of thought has precious little to do with wage settlements in a bureaucracy, recorded inflation, cost of living, VAT adjustments, projected labour costs OVER the agreement period, and the staff complements in various departments that can be streamlined. We are not there yet. Novices, and bad-faith, win-lose political arguments dominate.
Next, and a critical factor is the recipient of all the expertise. Irrespective of the expertise available, once you put more than one economist together, there is hardly any chance that they will see eye to eye on any one issue. There are just too many schools of thought. Too many variables. No reliable data.
Pure academic economists, and especially those straight out of the classroom always give a high percentage of "pie in the sky", textbook, no-context solutions.
Even our own Sir Arthur Lewis and Nobel laureates like Dr. Paul Krugman and Dr. Joseph Stiglitz, all Nobel prize winners in Economics, very heavy-hitters and highly regarded, do come under serious fire for their recommendations.
If Saint Lucia is depending on just one or two economists, without the experience, or with foci other than on those required by the conditions facing the country at the time, the recommendations are going to be very inappropriate -- irrelevant even.
But most importantly, the recipients or end-users of their presumably sound advice and expertise must have the capacity to absorb and to weigh up, all the conflicting arguments and approaches that are going to be presented. As evidenced by recent history, the incumbents on the receiving end do not appear to be always so equipped or educated. The mistakes pile up.
Anecdotally, we have the story of an incumbent in the White House in the US, where most decisions involving complex arguments and decision making were based and predicated more on personal relationships, and who the president spoke with -- last.
Saint Lucia faces three distinct challenges:
1. Not enough diversification in economic viewpoints being aired and discussed or even entertained.
2. Suspect Ministers of Finance without the educational and economic substrate to assimilate the complexities of the assumptions behind expert recommendations. They do not know what to ask and when. There are just too many givens.
3. A very polarized and tribal political country where leaders are selected NOT ON ANY PERFORMANCE CRITERIA, but on mere parochialisms of family, family names, residence, and other useless emotional ties to candidates like their ethnic make-up. Throw in a university degree with a thesis like "The Mating Habits of the Maria Islands Zandolee" and that is "just what the doctor ordered".
Now, do you see why this country continues all adrift, and is being saddled with numerous square pegs in round holes with no relief in sight?
George,
You must have missed your calling as a writer - your article captured my attention, materializing the individual until he stood or sat at a table across from me at the Castries Central Library.
George this was brilliant, and just a fantastic piece of writing, I just enjoyed it so much. Perhaps it's because of my awareness of the social injustices that condemn too many of our people to poverty and the working class to a subsistence level of existence while the elitist legislate a pay cut. Perhaps it's the imperial bullying that murdered millions in Iraq and Afghanistan. Whatever it was, this piece had a sense of morality that magnified the products of a moral void that permeates the society, shinning a light upon those who can only fathom their own personal troubles.
1:02
WOW! WowzeH
A well supported TREATISE!
The teacups in the Hewanorra Tower are still rattling in their saucers from the sonic boom of your fly by.
I am still scratching my head and rereading your scintillating treatise.
Man oh man did my dendrites ever record a synaptic event as in lining up all 777 at a Sand's Casino Slot Machine.
You took my head to school.
George that was indeed a great article and enlightening making one acutely aware of this crucial problem in St.Lucia. You have highlighted that when a man does not have earning power it takes away so much from his spirit and leaves him vulnerable in trying to survive.
Diana
...here this guy wrote a heartfelt article from which someone can take solace: George didn't become a criminal, neither did he became an alcoholic; he persevered to better things! But it took one word (expert).... for this cock-sucker at 1:02PM to proceed to his usual drivel.
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