You raise some interesting points, one in particular i wanna question.

you said, "The Caribbean governments need to perform like the managers
that they are supposed to be: Haven't they ever
heard that entrepreneurs need to be risk takers???"

an "entrepreneurial government" and a "risk taking government" both seem
like oxymorons to me. governments (or i should say people working for
government) and entrepreneurs have different incentive systems facing
them. politicians succeed by increasing either the size of their pockets
or the length of their tenure (neither imply being risky and neither
motive suggests that they should be entrepreneurial, at least in the way
you and i would use the term). similarly, public servants despite the
name are rewarded with more power, prestige and money for increasing the
size of their budgets and their bureaucracies. again the payoff is not
in finding and funding successful enterprises but something entirely
different.

only real entrepreneurs (private business men and women) are actually
rewarded (with higher profits and greater sales) for doing what the
society wants.

isn't it somewhat colonial to believe that its up to government to
direct the economy in ways that we would want it to? why do we believe
that it would want to? and even if it did want to, could it?   

kihika

************************************************************************
Virgil Henry Storr
Department of Economics
George Mason University
Fairfax, VA 22030-4444
Email: [log in to unmask]

"Have you ever wondered to yourself why it is that all people like me
seem to have learned from you is how to imprison and murder each other,
how to govern badly, and how to take wealth of our country and place it
in Swiss bank accounts? Have you ever wondered why it is that all we
seemed to have learned from you is how to corrupt our societies and how
to be tyrants? You will have to accept that this is mostly your fault."
(Jamaica Kincaid, A Small Place)

************************************************************************


  


-----Original Message-----
From: Suzette Zayden [mailto:[log in to unmask]]
Sent: Thursday, June 01, 2000 3:12 PM
To: [log in to unmask]
Cc: Virgil Storr
Subject: Re: the state of the caribbean


"in a speech delivered to the Third Caribbean Media Conference in
Georgetown, Guyana on May 5th, 2000, Prime Minister Owen Arthur argued
that:

"For much of the Caribbean Community is confronted with quite
considerable
uncertainty, and a tendency towards disorder in just about every sphere
of
political, social and economic life."

I AGREE THAT THINGS ARE DIRE ... IN NO WAY SHOULD HE BE DISMISSED AS A
CYNIC
...  I ACTUALLY THINK HE SHOULD BE APPLAUDED FOR ACKNOWLEDGING THIS
"FACT"
ESPECIALLY SINCE HE IS THE HEAD OF GOVERNMENT OF BARBADOS AND HAS A
CHANCE
TO ACTUALLY DO SOMETHING ABOUT IT.

QUESTION IS WILL HE????

AS FAR AS I AM CONCERNED, THE PROBLEM OF THE CARIBBEAN COMMUNITY LIES
DIRECTLY ON THE HEADS OF GOVERNMENTS BECAUSE THEY ARE THE ONES WHO CAN
ACTUALLY SIT DOWN TOGETHER AND INFLUENCE THEIR CABINETS INTO PASSING
POLICIES THAT CAN DETERMINE THE DIRECTION IN WHICH THEIR COUNTRY WILL
GO.

UNFORTUNATELY ALL WE HEAR IN THE CARIBBEAN IS A LOT OF TALK AND VERY
LITTLE
ACTION MADE TO IMPROVE THE SITUATION.

Let me introduce myself:
My name is Suzette Zayden and I am a Belizean TV and film producer
currently
pursuing a Masters Degree in Screenwriting at the University of Bergen
in
Norway.

For my thesis, I am discussing questions of national identities and
filmic
represenations of the English Caribbean with a focus on four English
speaking Caribbean countries: Jamaica, Trinidad and Tobago, Barbados and
Belize. I have been trying to come up with an explanation as to why
there is
no strong film industry in the English speaking Caribbean whether in
individual countries or regionally.... Why haven't the governments of
these
tiny countries (18 English speaking countries account for little more
than 6
million people) for all their preoccupations about globalization done
anything to use the medium of film (acknowledged as the best means of
propaganda) to strengthen the image of Caribbean people everywhere...
and
encourage the making of local films with more complex representations
that
that currently seen portrayed by Hollywood... and even if that was not
their
goal... how come they haven't seen the potential in this industry as an
alternative foreign exchange earner replacing for example the need to be
dependent on the EU for sugar quotas.

YEP THINGS ARE DIRE.... Caribbean governments are practicing
neo-liberalists. Everything is being privatised .. the explanation given
is
to help pay off/keep low foreign debt... but as the IMF points out this
is
short term. At some point all the industries will be completely
privatised... what then??

One would think that these Governments would be jumping at a chance for
new
and alternative industries but no such luck. Anything that signifies
governments putting cash forward can be eliminated... projects etc. that
don't provide immediate return (like financial services and IBC's, ship
registries and cruise ship passenger taxes) are completely ignored. It's
as
if they never heard that you have to spend money to make money... always
always looking for handouts for sympathetic governments... that is the
Caribbean ... following the principle of chaos to a tee..
Within its disorder, repetitive patterns emerge - Colonialism again...
begging for it....

When an alternative product,  like film (my industry of choice) is
suggested... it continues to be ignored because the governments don't
know
whether it is cultural (i.e. money down the drain) or industry (hmmm
possible moneymaker).. Instead of trying to find out, they opt for
conservative
routes and very few try to something new and different .... except maybe
a
new agricultural crop... how creative...

Aid funding is a thing of the past... The Caribbean governments need to
perform like the managers that they are supposed to be: Haven't they
ever
heard that entrepreneurs need to be risk takers??? The Caribbean needs
to
develop its primary resource, its people in other sectors other than
tourism.... not to speak badly about tourism which is admittedly a high
foreign exchange earner, but  to put it vulgarly... it has been called a
conversion of our Caribbean citizens into glorified servants while
risking
serious ecological damage to the environment at the same time,
especially
when the tourists arrive enmasse.

Most of the Prime Ministers in the Caribbean have all expressed strong
desires to make Caricom really work for them... and unite the region.
And
they should... As I said before, 18 English speaking countries make up
little more than 6 million people.... we need to unite... as it is that
is a
tiny domestic market for any product... and another of my pet peeve....
Caricom nationals should ALLEGEDLY be able to travel and work within
member
countries of Caricom (exchange of labour) without immigration hassles
etc.
etc...  While agreeements are made at head of government levels, no-one
ever
bothers to inform the people who should be enforcing these new
agreements,
i.e. the immigration officers who you actually encounter at the airport

I REPEAT THAT THE PROBLEM IS GOVERNMENTS AND AN INABILITY TO GET THEIR
RESPECTIVE CIVIL/PUBLIC DEPARTMENTS TO GET THEIR ACT TOGETHER.....
COMMUNICATION SHOULD NOT BE THAT DIFFICULT... THE COUNTRIES ARE SMALL
...
EVERYONE KNOWS ONE ANOTHER (theoretically) .... of course there is
always
some petty minded middle person who tries to pull their weight around
and
destroys whatever clear line of communication may have been put in
place.

Just a few examples:
Last summer, T&T immigration had me practically in tears for not knowing
the
name of the street where I was going to stay to do my research... and
refused to allow me access to a phone to find out... I had to ask if
they
preferred I had made up a street name like everyone else does ... still
no
phone... stupid me for not planning my vacation two years in advance.

For being a Caricom national, that meant absolutely nothing more than to
be
treated worse than a regular visitor... I've had better treatment
passing
through the US and Europe than in most Caribbean countries.... the
pettiness
involved is ridiculous... threats to deport people back from whence they
came for nitpicking details like a street name or a hotel name... (Jesus
christ, how will they know if I moved from the hotel or changed my mind
and
stayed at another address ... how riduiculous can they get to use that
as an
excuse to tie (figuratively) someone up in an airport or threaten
deportation... What is most unfortunate is that Trinidad is not the
exception, it happens everywhere and I've even seen foreigners in tears
in
my own country of  Belize as well for equallyt stupid demands of petty
immigration officers trying to throw their weight around..... FOR A
REGION
DEPENDENT ON TOURISM, THE CARIBBEAN NEEDS TO GET ITS ACT TOGETHER, AND
PUBLIC SERVICE OFFICERS NEED TO WORK WITH THEIR COLLEAGUES IN OTHER
DEPARTMENTS NOT AGAINST THEM... To what use does a government spend all
that
money through the Min. of Tourism on advertising the country as a
destination if bad treatment at the airport turns them off...

Again in Barbados, I had a merry chase around government departments in
search of information about film,policies, ideas, thoughts whatever...
up
and down, all around, back and forth  between the Min. of Finance and
Culture I went (along with a few more) ... only to find each with their
own
plans and none interested in what the other had come up with and none
really
willing to share with the other department or with me....  go
Caribbean!!!
That's politics in the caribbean.. Just depends on who you know!!! Keep
all
the information, top secret as usual.. great start to unity and
sharing etc etc..

It's dire in the caribbean... and the Governments are to blame...
Each country needs to get their act together first before thinking
regionally... All this grand talk about unity when if you ask a
Caribbean
person to describe what it is like, most cannot tell you what their
countries national identites are, except maybe the Jamaicans...

PERHAPS THE CARIBBEAN SHOULD PRIVATIZE THEIR GOVERNMENTS AS WELL.

Anyway, I'll stop my tirade on the state of the Caribbean here. As you
will
note this is a highly emotional and personal commentary and I may have
said
one or two things in error... by all means, if anyone feels the need to
correct me, do so... it helps to get the story straight...




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