Monkey See, Monkey Do....The Politics of Change.

Barbadians should brace themselves for more job losses for the remainder of this year, says Governor of the Central Bank Dr. Delisle Worrell.

He said at least 1 000 jobs were lost between June and September 2011, and indicated that this trend would continue until December.

“It would seem that the trend of job losses will not be turned around until the next coming winter season. Providing that the season lives up to expectations, we should see some turn around,” Worrell told a Press conference on Wednesday to discuss the Review Of The Barbados Economy For The First Nine Months Of 2011 issued Tuesday.

Who is responsible for this state of affairs?


Do we keep blaming the global economy?


Is it still the fault of the former Government?


Almost four years ago, we Barbadians answered to call for change and elected the present administration to run the fiscal affairs of his country. Well, we are definitely seeing change. Change from a stable economy whose policies were lauded internationally, to a economy on the brink of disaster. We are now experiencing an unemployment rate of over 12% and climbing, exasperated by an inflation rate of 7%. And we wonder why Government senators are being attacked in supermarket car parks?

Barbados Statistical Service

Continuous Household Labour Force Survey 

April to June 2011 (Provisional Estimate) 

• The Unemployment Rate for the 2nd quarter of 2011 stood at 12.1%.  
• The rate for males now stands at 11.3%, while that of females is 12.8%. 
• The actual number of Unemployed persons now total 17.6 thousand. 

Let me share with you a behavioural experiment that I heard about a few years ago.


Start with a cage containing five monkeys.
Inside the cage, hang a banana on a string and place a set of stairs under it. Before long, a monkey will go to the stairs and start to climb towards the banana. As soon as he touches the stairs, spray all of the other monkeys with cold water.
After a while, another monkey makes an attempt with the same result - all the other monkeys are sprayed with cold water. Pretty soon, when another monkey tries to climb the stairs, the other monkeys will try to prevent it.
Now, put away the cold water. Remove one monkey from the cage and replace it with a new one. The new monkey sees the banana and wants to climb the stairs. To his surprise and horror, all of the other monkeys attack him.
After another attempt and attack, he knows that if he tries to climb the stairs, he will be assaulted.
Next, remove another of the original five monkeys and replace it with a new one. The newcomer goes to the stairs and is attacked. The previous newcomer takes part in the punishment with enthusiasm! Likewise, replace a third original monkey with a new one, then a fourth, then the fifth. Every time the newest monkey takes to the stairs, he is attacked.
Most of the monkeys that are beating him have no idea why they were not permitted to climb the stairs or why they are participating in the beating of the newest monkey. After replacing all the original monkeys, none of the remaining monkeys have ever been sprayed with cold water. Nevertheless, no monkey ever again approaches the stairs to try for the banana. Why not? Because as far as they know that's the way it's always been done around here.


And that, my fellow Barbadians, is how our Government policies are made. 


We have not seen one original thought being offered by our present Government to address any of the issues confronting us. Back in 2008 we elected a cadre of young bright men and women as our leaders with the expectation that they would continue the good work of the previous Government and correct what they had been doing wrong. A few have shown the desire to make a difference, (climb the stairs) but they have all been, "attacked".   I have no idea who was holding the original "cold water spray" but I think it is time our leaders start to realize that they cannot continue doing the same thing over and over and expect different results. The time has come for drastic change to our fiscal policies or we the electorate will be forced to make the change.


Quote of the Day

"Our predecessors understood that government could not, and should not, solve every problem. They understood that there are instances when the gains in security from government action are not worth the added constraints on our freedom. But they also understood that the danger of too much government is matched by the perils of too little; that without the leavening hand of wise policy, markets can crash, monopolies can stifle competition, the vulnerable can be exploited. And they knew that when any government measure, no matter how carefully crafted or beneficial, is subject to scorn; when facts and reason are thrown overboard and only timidity passes for wisdom, and we can no longer even engage in a civil conversation with each other over the things that truly matter -- that at that point we don't merely lose our capacity to solve big challenges. We lose something essential about ourselves."

BARACK OBAMA, speech to joint session of Congress, sep. 9, 2009