Hard Times Still Ahead For Jamaica

This press release, dated September 6th, was written by Michale Sheckleford from the Council on Hemispheric Affairs, and was posted on the New Zealand-based website Scoop.

Like so many other nations, Jamaica suffers from high inflation (12.9% as of 2005), a terrible trade balance, massive unemployment and a huge amount of foreign debt. As Mr. Sheckleford notes in his press release, Jamaica is predominately a service-based economy, accounting for 60% of it's yearly income.

From the Distributist perspective, this is a disaster. A nation cannot maintain itself on a mostly service industry basis. America, both by government and corporate design as well as the bad habits of her consumers, is heading down the same path. A nation can only remain stable and prosperous if it's economy is not dependent on one major industry. Ideally, it should be one-third agricultural, one-third industrial, one third high-tech and service sector.

Further, thanks to borrowing from overseas, the servicing of the national debt only eats away further at the health of the country. It is feared among the international banking community, one of the powerhouses advocating a World State run by the likes of them, that Jamaica would follow Argentina and renounce her debts altogether. Thanks to globalist machinations, and the on-purpose interconnecting of national economies toward a World State, any massive defaulting on foreign loans by a nation would affect other nations for the worse.

Sheckleford advocates an increase of educational efforts to help begin turning the tide for the majority of Jamaicans. But from a Distributist perspective, this doesn't go far enough.

As an island economy, Jamaica must import much of what it needs to keep it's economy going, especially oil and gas. Part of resolving her energy crisis should be to begin building small-scale alternative energy projects, in order to de-centralize the electric grid. Implement more small-scale intensive agriculture projects, so as to increase food self-sufficiency. If they have the resources to do so, begin small-scale light industrial factories to meet the needs of the nation.

These are only a few suggestions on how to aim Jamaica in a Distributist direction. But they are necessary steps in order to break the shackles this island nation finds itself in. In order to reduce the temptations to gang violence, terrorism and Marxist villiany, Jamaica should look to the insights of Belloc, Chesterton and their legitimate successors. And then act on what they learn.

Pray for Jamaica.