BELIZE CHAMBER OF COMMERCE BUDGET ANALYSIS DEFECTIVE!

CHAMBER OF COMMERCE BUDGET ANALYSIS DEFECTIVE!

The Chamber of Commerce, television program called ‘BUSINESS PERSPECTIVES’
was a DUD. The program turned out to be a panel of people seeking their 15 minutes of fame before the video cameras discussing the proposed UDP budget for 2010.
They preened and talked, ruffled their feathers, gave out with profound criticisms and armchair hindsight quarterbacking. They crowed and cackled. The only notable exception was a quiet lady, wearing eye glasses, who tried to offer constructive solutions. Each time she spoke she was cut off by the others. Worst was a tall lanky fellow with a microphone, whose profound utterances, were those of an academic government bureaucrat. One would have thought he was a soft soap salesman for the government party in power? Senator Hulse had some useful criticisms and explanations to offer, but even he lacked any solutions.
The discussion simply covered things we the public already knew. They didn’t break new ground.
Everybody knows the Prime Minister is a black colonial Englishman. He cannot avoid his training and background. His budget solutions based on his background were as good as he could make it. Understanding that in his political universe, the party must come first, the national good ( through self reliance are secondary ), elections are paramount considerations, I thought his budget was a good one. Not the right solution to the problems of Belize, but certainly the right solutions for his political party who want to stay in power. He took no chances, did not make any waves, and offered no solutions to the problems caused by BIG GOVERNMENT.
From the Chamber of Commerce I expected better. Unfortunately, there was only one member of the panel that even saw things the way I see them. She was not allowed to speak much and was cut off each time, she tried to discuss SOLUTIONS, by the others seeking to dominate their limited amount of publicity air time.
If the Chamber is to be respected, I think they need to concentrate on the points of how the BUDGET does not fit the circumstances of Belize. The 107% Debt to GDP ratio. Considering that the next 40 years are all going to be the same with escalating debt problems and insufficient money from revenues, each and every year, the next panel should be from people with solutions. Not from stating the obvious, as in armchair criticism. From the Chamber of Commerce, we expect innovation and ideas, suggestions to change the status quo, in which the country finds itself, perpetuated by both political parties. We need new paradigms, new methods of governing, new structures for policing and running a government within our limited financial means. We need to figure out how we can govern and manage our economy and nation within the strictures of political party debt load, they keep burdening us with. Which total revenues seem to hover around $600 million a year. The amount left over to govern and run the country, after paying debt, is getting smaller and smaller every year under these two politicial parties. If the CHAMBER do not tackle the solutions, and offer ideas, then of what use are they?