Christmas Gifts that Keep on Giving

This year as we celebrate Christmas, it would be refreshing if we could focus on the Christmas message of peace, tolerance and love that the Christ child brought to us more than two thousand years ago. It is a time to think of those less fortunate than ourselves and make a commitment to help them not just at this season of cheer but throughout the coming year.

I believe that we should focus on the gifts that keep on giving such as a commitment to help the aged and infirm one day each week or to engage in voluntary community service. The gift of learning for people of all ages is a particularly valuable gift that lasts forever. To my mind, it is also a time to teach the younger generation more about the joy of giving than receiving. It seems that this is a lesson that is learnt all too late in life, and sadly, one that far too many never learn at all.

There is nothing like the magic of Christmas and the wonderment and joy that it brings to so many children around the globe. Despite the extreme commercialization of the season children often teach us that it is the simplest of gifts that mean the most because of the spirit in which it is given and the special love that bonds those that give and receive.

Most importantly it is a time for family and friends to come together, sharing friendship, good cheer and fond memories of Christmases past. In so doing we might well benefit from extending the spirit of Christmas and the good fellowship of man well beyond the Christmas season by strengthening community self reliance and releasing many from the culture of mendicancy.

The gifts that keep on giving are the most valuable of all. Knowledge, self respect, community involvement and a sense of achievement are worth more than material things and far more enduring.

I wish my readers a very Merry and Blessed Christmas and thank all those who serve and protect the community that we are so privileged to live in. I also extend a special thanks to all those service organizations who generously give to the needy and ill, not only at this time, but all the year round.

Finally as we sit down to our Christmas luncheons or dinners I raise a toast to the absent ones, Merry Christmas to all and be of good cheer.

phillip.goddard@braggadax.com

Turmoil on the Ship of State

Sailing a boat requires the constant attention of the helmsman. Once the course is set, variables such as wind velocity and direction, wave condition, currents, precipitation and fog require constant adjustments to rudder and sail. Some of these adjustments will be minor, and, for an accomplished and well seasoned sailor, made with an almost unconscious effort. Major changes in weather conditions will require more radical adjustments and call upon the coordinated efforts of the crew directed by the sailing master to meet the challenges of the elements.

In planning a successful voyage there are certain prerequisites that are essential and that many take for granted. These include a destination and an alternate should the primary destination become inaccessible for any reason. In addition, the crew should be well trained and briefed on their roles during the voyage and how they would respond to any emergencies. During the cruise clear lines of communication and frequent, timely, and accurate situation reports are essential for the captain to weather the vicissitudes of a hostile environment and bring the vessel home to a safe harbor.

Information on current conditions is a key component to command decisions as well as the efficiency of the crew. For example, should a fire break out the fire drill must be flawlessly implemented with alacrity and without confusion. With the approach of a squall line sails must be reefed and the hatches battened down till the storm passes.

This all sounds quite logical and very simple but as always it is the devil in the details that seems to confound us. Slow or inaccurate communication of vital information impairs the quality of decision making and makes the tasks of the crew impossible. Conflicting commands adds to confusion and with a steadily deteriorating situation the crew become restive and ultimately in a worst case scenario the authority of the captain is challenged and mutiny breaks out.

Thus it is with the Ship of State where evidence based analysis and prudent leadership would have buttressed us against the storm, and with skill, allowed us to tack into the wind making slow but steady progress against the odds. By telling the public the truth from the very outset and outlining a national strategy to deal with the economic problems facing us Barbadians would have rallied to the cause.

Instead we have ignored the repeated onslaughts of a perfect economic global storm that show little signs of abatement. It has been business as usual with periodic expenditures of appeasement aimed at one sector or another of the community that might pay a political dividend but add to the ever widening fiscal deficit. We continue to party, dance and shop our way to oblivion. Statistics are ignored or manipulated. We know neither where we go nor which shore might we be cast upon next. We now live with the fervent hope that it is not a reef that will strand us far from shore.

Finally, there is news that the crew is unsettled and agitating for a new captain while the fiscal deficit continues to widen and the sources of funding dry up. Maybe it’s time to ask the passengers what they think.

phillip.goddard@braggadax.com

Niall Ferguson’s Six Killer Apps

Niall Ferguson recently gave a lecture to the Technology Entertainment Design conference that briefly addressed the global economic history of the past 500 years. In it he described what economists refer to as the Great Divergence where, during a period of rapid growth in global wealth, the per capita GDP of the western world increased dramatically while the rest of the world saw a more modest increase or stagnation.

He went on to define what he termed were the six killer apps that he thought were responsible for the great global imbalance in wealth and how that imbalance was being corrected in the 21^st Century. Whatever one might think of Professor Ferguson’s theories, his lecture, available on the internet in both video and text, is certainly worth listening to. It should be required viewing by all Parliamentarians, business and union leaders and the incoming classes of UWI. Even the professors might learn something.

In it he defines the six most important things that shaped the economic growth of countries. There are Competition; Scientific research; Property Rights; Modern Medicine; The Consumer Society and finally a The Work Ethic.

Interestingly, he dismisses geography as a factor in the creation and accumulation of wealth citing the examples of Korea and Germany where two competing ideologies produced startlingly different results. Communism on the one hand, in East Germany and North Korea, produced grinding poverty while West Germany and South Korea developed robust economies. The difference was in the ideas and institutions that ordered the way of life and the economic activities of these four countries.

While Ferguson’s ideas might be controversial in some aspects, there is a need for us to analyze this lecture in the context of Barbados and the wider Caribbean region. Indeed we have done so from time to time, though in a rather piece meal and unstructured way. For example the periodic discussions about our work ethic and its role in national productivity indicates that at some level there needs to be an improvement but little real effort is applied to develop a solution.

It is time that we saw these issues in a holistic context, each reinforcing the other, strengthening the social fabric, buttressing property rights and the rights of the individual. We need to encourage innovative use of technological tools and enhance the competitive environment.

We well understand the value of modern medicine and the development of a healthy society as well as the value of education. Successive governments of both political parties have invested heavily in both areas. However, what is lacking in many of our educational institutions is the development of a positive work ethic and a greater degree of self discipline.

By discussing the pros and cons of Ferguson’s arguments we may better understand the key factors that will strengthen our own competitive edge while reinforcing our society. At the same time we can take the opportunity to cut loose much of the ideological baggage that has weighed us down, drained our will to work and made us part of a cult of victimization.

phillip.goddard@braggadax.com