A GUY'S VIEW: Other national pandemics to deal with
THE COVID-19 pandemic has rightly occupied our attention over the last year, but now that there seems to be some easing of those restrictions, eyes are being opened to several of the other problems we face in this country.
We have been duly warned that we should brace ourselves for another sharp increase in the price of consumer goods. One single mother to whom I was speaking exclaimed, “Murder”, at that news.
Most conversations about that subject reveal some different expressions of surprise at the gall of those who say that there has been no real movement in prices in recent times. Every Barbadian who shops is too well aware of the tremendous increase in supermarket and other retail prices over the period of the COVID-19 restrictions. It seems like the lockdown was a signal to extract every last cent from the captives.
The murderous prices are coupled with the literal murders that are emerging again since there has been some freedom of movement. The Royal Barbados Police Force may soon boast of the decrease in the crime rates over the last year, but their boasting should start before the country is fully open again. Any reduced crime numbers will be purely due to the inability of people to leave their homes and not the result of any novel initiative. The real challenge is ahead.
There is usually a correlation between unemployment and crime. The police have no control over employment and they cannot provide an alternative solution to the person who cannot feed his children by honest means. Consequently, regardless of the measures they come up with, acquisitive crime will be a problem.
One was thinking that by now the marijuana business would no longer be criminal, but it seems that that will continue for a while yet. Unfortunately for the black boys who are in the business, the legitimate trade does not include them and those who will control the business going forward will not tolerate them cutting into their profits. The result is that they will have to struggle a bit longer until some appeasement, other than another promise, can be found for them. Who knows, maybe another promise may comfort them again. LOL.
It is interesting that during the pandemic restrictions, there seemed to have been no shortage of drugs on the island. Is our supply so robust that even a lockdown for a year cannot dampen the supply? What does that say about illegal drugs as an industry in Barbados? What does it say about the intelligence of the authorities with respect to that trade? I am reluctant to ask the other questions that cross my mind.
So with no limit on the supply of drugs; no limit on access to firearms; no access to productive employment; rejection of controlling religious dogma: whither Barbados?
On top of all of the foregoing is the pandemic of begging that has exploded in this country. One can hardly walk ten feet in any area where some business activity is taking place without encountering persons begging,
either for money or something to eat. These are mainly men. I do not know what the women who are unemployed with children to feed do to support themselves. Maybe the men are begging to support these women and their children.
Whatever angle one uses to look at the picture, it looks bleak. The important question is, what does the future hold? We, of course, will be subjected to the pie in the sky folly that will come out of the propaganda machinery, but that will only appease the simple-minded and gullible. They spin facts so fast that it makes the head dizzy. The concern here is the real future of our country.
There is no sustainable source of foreign exchange other than tourism, and we have seen how fickle that is. The La Soufrière volcano is unlikely to erupt again in the near future, we hope, so cleaning up ash is not likely to be a recurring source of employment. Finding jobs for BLP supporters in the public service will further increase the burden on the dwindling public purse, as the exchange of Bees for Dees has almost reached its limit as there are only a few Dees left in the service.
We continue to borrow, but no one tells us how we will repay. Without a discernible source of revenue, there is only one means of repayment: further oppressive taxation of the poor people of Barbados. The emphasis here should be on poor, because only the poor here are subjected to stifling taxation. Others are given tax breaks and withhold taxes collected for the state and are allowed to keep it.
Lord, lend a hand.