The Americas are collapsing particularly CARICOM and the Caribbean island governments.

Caribbean map



THE AMERICAS ARE COLLAPSING POLITICALLY, AND THE USA IS HELPLESS!

The closest turbulent historical parallel to what is happening in the American Continent, is the period in Europe and particularly Germany, between the two world wars.
The CARICOM countries are collapsing financially and politically. The governments of Caricom countries can no longer support themselves from revenues. Admittedly the real problem is one of cost, population and organization. A new paradigm of governing, using de-centralization is probably one answer to the local problems within Belize? We also need a lot of volunteer work in offering local government public services. The example I’m thinking of is; Massachusetts and Vermont in New England of the USA.
Into this turmoil has moved Emperor Chavez of Venezuela, backed by his productive oil wealth, with his ALBA TRADE BLOCK. Since there is no observable trade, for the ALBA GROUP, the European parallel between the World Wars with the Stalinist International Front and Communist party, country penetrations is similar; to the point it is almost copy cat politics of that period of European turmoil. The ALBA TRADE GROUP seems nothing more than an Empire building political action methodology, to bring countries of the Americas into the sphere of control of Emperor Chavez expansionist plans of Empire building for International politics. ALBA therefore despite the rhetoric is a FRONT ORGANIZATION an empty shell, despite the rhetoric coming out of Venezuela. We must deal with facts, not propaganda bombast.
Ideologically the difference between G7 countries and Emperor Chavez is quite different. The clearest example we have in the Caribbean is the prison island of Cuban slavery, where the individual owns nothing, is allowed no control of their individual lives, cannot accumulate wealth , or travel freely as tourists, and are possessions of a TYRANT and political system of slavery.
The methodology can be seen this past week in Honduras, where protesters for Honduras freedoms are peacefully demonstrating using signs, declaring for a country for Hondurans and not for Venezuela and ALBA, while competing counter demonstrations formented by agitators from Cuba, Nicaragua and Venezuela paymasters; causing counter demonstrations and using violence and breaking up stores and automobiles in the streets. As a tactic of the old discredited Communist International these divisive actions still work 70 years later on new generations, who do not study this part of European and Russian history. This is an old idealogical war being repeated.
Even so, with the failure of the USA and in particular the example of the huge state of CALIFORNIA in bankruptcy, unable to support their own government and bureaucratic services, the people in Central America and CARICOM island countries can only realize that there must be a paradigm shift in the way we govern our countries. Self suffiency is possible for all Central American countries. How to do it is the debate and function of government policy. In Caricom this is not so.
Confusing the issue is the struggle among the G 20 and the G7 group to control the world economy. The BILDEBERG GROUP annual meetings, the alternative web sites are saying; are forecasting a die off in world population by planned disease and starvation, reducing the human population by about 2 billion people. The wilder web sites say the Flu Pandemic is a laboratory designed genetic virus to do this. That the economic contraction and financial difficulties will be used to starve two billion people worldwide. Out of this will come the new World Order with the United Nations printing an international currency.
In the third world of Central America and the Caribbean, we do not know what to believe anymore, other than the USA and the Europeans do not care about third world countries, other than as markets for their value added products and our being a source of basic commodities and want to keep it that way. The rise of China and India and S.E. Asia aspirations for a higher standard of living is changing the world landscape. The demand for oil is rising and the number of countries building economies based on oil products is rising also.
In the Caribbean, and CARICOM; islands like Antigua and Barbados, are overcrowded and they are deporting fellow CARICOM county illegals they say on Caribbean Newsline. There is to be an urgent meeting shortly to deal with CARICOM about free labor and movement and decide this issue once and for all. So they say, but CARICOM is essentially falling apart as a one country idea. Behind the urgency is the need to pay for individual local sovereign governments, with educated salaried types and politicians holding their hands out and looking for get rich quick opportunities. They do not want a change in the status quo, securing them upper middle class incomes in their societies. Unfortunately, like a Hurricane, or Tsunami, the world is changing and the CARIBBEAN countries as non-productive island states, have nothing else to offer and the brain drain and migration of their growing excess populations must continue.
In Belize, we are building a new nation and currently blessed with land in excess of our population, making us relatively wealthy as a country. Our problem is primarily the cost and organization of government. Our 5000 new higher educated graduates this year in Belize are a source of wealth for our pioneering growth. Even so, we are going to lose a lot of them to migration off shore, those that are not entrepreneur orientated, or of tough pioneer stock, willing to deal with the challenges. Those that leave I can only share a long life of observation. Get a USA nurses degree. Employment for certified nurses has always been good for over a 100 years and the salaries are great and the mobility offered wonderful for around the world travel. There has always been a shortage of registered certified nurses, male or female.
The problems in Belize were created by Said Musa and Ralph Fonseca when he put our country into deep national debt, some 11 years ago. While some of this was corrected by the austerity 5 years of governing in their last five year term, the incoming UDP Barrow government compounded the economic situation with a $200 million dollar borrowing spree this past year and continue to do so with continued borrowing in lieu of innovative leadership capabilities. Attempting to maintain the status quo. This is impossible as any Hurricane will teach you. Essentially we are a wealthy country potentially for our population and land assets, but we need to get the new paradigm shift in governing, better organized and planned out. We cannot normally afford what we have, like California. No matter the resistance by entrenched bureaucrats and political parties, the immediate future needs us as a people, to restructure everything in how we govern. The economy will look after itself, if we can figure out how to deal with the size, operation of government services and cost of same. We need a new paradigm and the OLD GUARD realize this, but their comfort zone is locked up in this old model we use. We need to become lean and mean like the private sector does, when money runs out.
Economically the immediate future belongs to the development of export cottage size businesses. How to do this is the function of BELIZE CABINET policy. An example would be enhancing the importation of Holstein milk cows for increased production of milk, for which there is a shortage in our country and this in turn cramps the export potential for example, of cheese exportation entrepreneurship. A value added product industry we can use. There are many similar examples that require imaginative cabinet policy answers. Tax breaks maybe? Subsidies? Free land?
On the good side, the news is we have $180 million in foreign reserves, the highest in the last four years and this can if necessary, handle at least one hurricane strike, should we be so unlucky this season of 2009. If we have no hurricane it would be marvelous if we could double the foreign reserves in another year.

AFTER 18 MONTHS OF GOVERNING, THE UDP IS FAILING BELIZE?

The failing leadership of Dean Barrow, Prime Minister of Belize, after his first 18 months in office of a five year term.



BELIZE UDP GOVERNMENT- 18 MONTH REVIEW

So where do we the public see things from the outside looking into government performance under the UDP? In a general sense this is A FAILED UDP GOVERNMENT, after 18 months. Leadership is sadly lacking. Barrow the Prime Minister and party leader is saddled with a bunch of elected representatives that would not even get hired as drain cleaners in San Ignacio. They lack experience, business sense and some sort of cosmopolitan travel experience. For all that, ex-PUP leader Said Musa was mostly regarded as a crook and swindling double crosser, at least he LED the country as best he could on an active weekly basis. Not like this party leader of the UDP. PUP Musa at least did not hide the bad news, or hide statistics. He was not afraid when things were going wrong and explained as best he could and came up with PUP team new ideas.
Dean Barrow is our new leader of course and he still has 44% on his report card, a failing grade. Mostly to do with his using the government machinery to blow smoke and mirrors and deceive the public on the prosecutions against his enemies in the Opposition party. Both Fonseca and Musa, arch alleged criminals of the previous PUP Musa administration have been prosecuted. It doesn’t look like the prosecutions are going anywhere? Musa is not expected to go to jail and neither is Fonseca. Without jail terms, the prosecutions look more like political vendettas and smoke and mirrors, to make believe Barrow is doing something for the gullible public consumption and party propaganda. This plays better down in the port town, where they like courthouse soap opera, but the townies don’t decide elections anymore. In the districts we are not so easily fooled. On the prosecutions of Musa and Fonseca, Prime Minister Dean Barrow and now considered publicly, a ‘failed lawyer’, gets a report card of F – ( minus ). What it looks like and the newspapers are reporting this, that while we the gullible public taxpayers are being snowed with a con job of court cases down in the port city, by Dean Barrow and his UDP party government, against Musa and Fonseca, he himself and his extended family, most particularly Louis Young his ex-wife the newspapers claim, are into self enrichment schemes at government expense. The country of Belize is loaded with capable lawyers, but only his ex-wife and fellow townies are getting all the government court cases it seems like, according to weekend newspaper reporters. The numbers are probably not accurate but legal fees for the Barrow and Young entourage are being quoted as around $12 million over the past year, for us public taxpayers to pay in increased taxes. For a report card on self enrichment schemes to do with legal shenanigans I would give Dean Barrow, our lawyer/Prime Minister a report card score of A +++.
All I know is what I read in the many weekend newspapers.
There is the very mysterious and suspicious cases of self-admitted embezzlements and fraud by Nadia Garcia and Glen Godfrey of the last PUP administration. Supposedly over $120 million that disappeared offshore in one scam, or another. Many minor types of frauds also using the DFC were committed of which there have been no court cases. The most serious and most blatant were done by Nadia Garcia who admitted in Senate Hearings that were televised, she signed illegal fraudulent documents, and Glen Godfrey who has been cashing out his assets in Belize and gone into exile abroad someplace with his alleged millions. The most alarming thing about Nadia Garcia and Glen Godfrey, and what looks like open and shut criminal cases, have not been prosecuted by this UDP government under our LAWYER PRIME MINISTER, Dean Barrow at all. In this case then, the accusations on television by ex-Prime Minister Musa claiming political persecution seem factual. At least in this one case he is being prosecuted on?
What we get as a picture of 1 ½ years of UDP government under Dean Barrow the leader, is a perception that he himself is almost as crooked in dealing with us voters and taxpayers as Musa was, and that when Musa claims these court cases are smoke and mirrors, to blind us public voters of what is really going on, one has to believe the words of the alligator, when he tells us what is happening on the river bottom in the mud. As an honest leader, Dean Barrow as Prime Minister gets a failing grade of 44% out of a 100 so far.
There are the case of increased national debt by this UDP government, led by Dean Barrow the Prime Minister. The ratings are mixed on this, but while debt wise, we consider the additional borrowing to be stupid and worth a failing grade, on the other hand going into three years of 2008, 2009 and 2010 where the predictions were for a declining GDP and reducing government revenues, due mostly to outside world circumstances; the fact that he ( Barrow ) is seemingly spreading out the disbursements and activities to do with spending the borrowed money over 2008, 2009 and 2010, would give him a passing grade. I would do the same myself knowing what we can expect from outside world economic shrinkage. I would give him a passing mark on this, probably worth about 75% right now, but higher marks if he succeeds in stretching the $200 + odd million borrowed money into 2011, when a recovery of sorts in tax revenues is expected to start rising again. For a report card I would say a balance of 50-50. Mainly because the game has still to be played out.
The most glaring failure are the prosecutions of Musa and Fonseca. This because without a jail term for either individual, then the whole government expense and exercise looks like just poppy show to distract the public voters and taxpayers from the economic situation. The worst part is that the so called $10 or $20 million Bz or USA, the court cases are about, are to do with Belize Bank, and the bank has already announced that the debt clock is running and the interest is mounting and if not this UDP government, or then the NEXT government will have to pay the bank a second time. Because of interest charges, this is expected to double, or triple the amount we THE TAXPAYERS are going to be dunned for, to cover the private games that the current Prime Minister is playing with his court cases and self enrichment schemes allegedly for his extended family. This makes Barrow’s decisions look ineffectual and stupid and EXPENSIVE for us voter/taxpayers. Great for getting personally rich, but lousy from our public viewpoint.
On the UDP good side, the Agriculture Department is doing well. Foreign GRANTS are doing well, whoever the writers are? Most of the government bureaucracy seems in chaos and dysfunctional. This probably is to be expected with reducing government revenues for the next couple of years, adding in the government job switches for party hacks and relatives. The only department I have had anything to do with, that seems to work, is the traffic licensing department.
Generally speaking government operations are about even on the score card expectations, because of the world economic downtown and the ripple effects. The UDP government would look a lot better if they explained things and the realities of money and capabilities. They have however seemingly put a freeze on statistical reporting? The real BAD spots are the mis-information we are being fed on Barrow’s personal vendettas to do with legal cases. He sure looks like a dumb lawyer? You wouldn’t want to hire him to represent you for sure. As a politician he is in his prime, on top of his game. As a lawyer he looks very poor. As an actual business leader for developing Belize he seemingly lacks ideas. Doesn’t seem to have a clue?
Do the PUP stand a chance to come back next term? Probably not, but you never know? Briceno the new PUP party leader has public suspicions against him, about taking oil lease bribes when he was in office and we will not know how that turns out until the campaigning for next term gets closer. Unless Briceno is squeaky clean in the bribe department, I don’t think he will stand a chance and nor in extension his PUP. A third party would stand a good chance under the leadership of that Belmopan crowd, but the independents can’t seem to organize themselves on a national scale. I think if there was a viable third party, us majority swing voters would throw the bums out of office of both existing national political parties.
UDP Edmund Castro came into publicity again. Seems he has rebuilt the $4 ½ million dollar taxpayer cost causeway in his constituency again, but with private sector funds at a cost of $1 ½ million or so. What we taxpayer/voters want to know is, where did the money come from? Does the income tax department know? How does he legally block the drainage of a wetlands? While you wouldn’t want Edmund Castro to build you anything, because he doesn’t plan properly the foundation work, you have to admire his desire to do well by his constituency come hell or high water. The PUP are claiming that the new causeway will wash away, as it was built with mud from the lagoon and has no culverts. Should be an interesting thing to watch this rainy season? The UDP supposedly built Hillview suburb out here where I live. We don’t have street culverts here either. Well we do in one or two places, but we probably need six or so more for rainy season.
UDP Rene Montero my area representative continues to do his best in the agriculture portfolio. I’m pleased with his performance there.
UDP Melvin Hulse has yet to prove himself out in Western Belize with his Transportation portfolio. We only got on his case a month or so ago, about the failure to provide public bus transportation to the border immigration post from Benque Town is detrimental to tourism development. Usually it takes politicians three years to do what a private sector person can do in three days. So he has time yet to perform in his portfolio. The thing is, in the tourist business, we note that things are picking up for the Summer High Season and the tourist season here is already starting. It is URGENT we get public bus transportation to the Western Border somehow for our tourism industry. From now ( mid June ) to the end of August is our summer HIGH SEASON. We hope UDP Melvin Hulse can do something more quickly than normal. We will judge him by performance, which will reflect on his UDP. If the lack of bus service continues through our mini summer tourist HIGH SEASON, then come the DEAD FALL months, we shall come down with unrelenting bad publicity for the UDP prior to the Winter High Tourist Season, starting December. This will be in the international and local media. We need prompt results to build this country, leadership examples, not a lot of talking and excuses. Watching and waiting for the next ten weeks of our summer tourist high season, to see what the UDP do, or do not do.