State capture with 'state-ism'

THE EDITOR: After the Rowley Government surrendered offshore energy resources to multinationals and shut down the refinery, talk of diversification in the economy continued as routine. Of course, that discussion became and remains very stulted.

The economic underpinnings for diversification, being removed, there now is no underlying structure of an independent economic engine with that power. What exists in terms of commercial and business capacities is amorphous. The national economic spheres have become an extension of the Government's interest in energy which in turn is subject to state capture among foreigners.

Had TT guarded its economic strengths we would have had a rich ground for diversification and discussion of real issues meant to be in our reach – like competitive pricing (in the rental markets and consumer products and durables, etc).

In that scenario the engagement of novel things like new transport options would have been very dynamic. The dimension of private enterprise would have grown appreciably and the Government would have been seeing to its proper task of facilitation.

Instead, the Government suffers everyone with its "state-ist" vision and "state-ist" creep, even as it is in the grip, itself, of the capture. It can't really produce an "economic policy" and so fills the time with making everything become more "modern by tech;" with imperative rules even in banking "contracts;" and with state "overseering" like the Revenue Authority.

What the PM had to say on Labour Day sounded very much like despotic "counselling of citizens" to be better snitches and more self-interested in order not to be "future-handicapped."

E GALY

via e-mail