Delroy ChuckAT A time when Dr. Omar Davies and his sidekicks are touting economic revival, murders and other violence threaten to derail the economy. Most persons do not see the connection between the state of the economy and the rising criminality, yet crime, especially criminal violence, is merely a symptom of a society in distress. How do we explain the record number of 150 murders in June? We can only hope and pray the figure will be significantly less in July and the slaughter of our citizens in the first half of the year can abate in the second half?
The Jamaican economy is neither creating wealth nor expanding. It fails to provide the jobs and opportunities to ease the tension and frustration of a growing population. In spite of the public relations gimmicks, there is no discernible growth and development to satisfy the hopes and aspirations of our people, especially the young. The present economic policies are simply transferring wealth from the poor to the rich, diminishing the social services available to the weak and vulnerable, creating greater hardships in poverty-stricken communities and depriving the vast majority of Jamaicans of a better quality of life. In an economy in which the rich gets richer, not from production and investment, but from the yield of high interest rates, government paper, stocks and bonds, it is the poor who pay the price of enriching the rich.
BUDGET UNVEILED
When Dr. Davies unveiled a budget of $328 billion of which $228 billion pays for amortisation and interest, it becomes clear that the budget was crafted to satisfy the needs of the already rich.
Who benefits from the 200 million euro loan at the inordinately high 11 per cent interest rate? How many poor people benefit from the $98 billion or more that will be paid in interests this fiscal year? In truth, the whole economy is being administered as if it were one huge lottery in which persons with money win every week, every month, while those without are losers and suck salt daily.
SOUND POLICIES
I am not against people making money but they should be persuaded to do so through sound economic policies that demand innovative ventures, encourage productive investment and inspire economic development. The present economic policies of depending on loans, grants and remittances are largely responsible for the social decay, economic hardships and personal frustration being experienced across the nation. These are the same economic policies that create the stress and frustration that breed the criminal violence.
What, I ask, is more responsible for the stress and tension in our society than the growing economic disparity between the rich and poor?. While a few live well and can manipulate the stock market, demand higher interest rates and benefit from exchange rate depreciation, the vast majority of our people depend on fixed incomes, handouts and the charity of others. It is in this climate of economic disparity and growing hopelessness among the vast majority of people, especially those in the inner-cities, that the stage is created for social indiscipline, corruption and criminality.
When the horde of unemployed, uneducated, young men sit on the corners and see how their peers from the upper echelon enjoy the wealth and benefits available, they must wonder how do they compete or find the opportunity to share in the available largesse. When one listens to their concerns, the compelling argument is that the rest of society doesn't care and that unless one is well-connected there is no hope. From this horde of young men, there are many who are prepared to take their chances, cross the line into criminal activity and ultimately responsible for much of the criminal violence. The reasons for young men, especially in the age cohort 15 to 25, drifting into criminal violence is not easily explained, but lack of opportunity, economic deprivation, hopelessness and frustration are common features of violent young men.
GROWING DISPARITY
Interestingly, across the world, whether in the townships of South Africa, the favelas of Brazil, or the inner-cities of North America, violence is associated with the growing disparity in wealth between communities and between the rich and poor. Let the message go out loud and clear therefore that the rich and wealthy must understand that they must be their brother's keeper and remember what John F. Kennedy said at his inaugural address: "If a free society cannot help the many who are poor, it cannot save the few who are rich." To those commentators who do not believe it is the economy that matters, let them explain what social, educational or other factor, but a thriving economy, explains the low crime rate in the culturally and ethnically mixed societies of Switzerland, Singapore or the Cayman Islands?
For those of us who hope to live and die here, it is time to start a crusade for economic policies that encourage production and investment that can create jobs and opportunities. It is only when our economy starts to create wealth and put our young people to work can we ever hope to curb the escalating problem of criminal violence.
Delroy Chuck is an attorney-at-law and Opposition Member of Parliament. He can be contacted by e-mail at delchuck@hotmail.com.
