Critics Ignore Some Inconvenient Points

Tue, Sep 27th 2011, 09:03 AM

The more dishonest critics of Prime Minister and Minister of Finance Hubert Ingraham's handling of the effects of the global economic crisis on The Bahamas typically stretch the truth if not outright shred it to pieces.
There are three main inconvenient points these critics fail to honestly assess: The nature and severity of the financial crisis and its impact on The Bahamas, the prime minister's deftness and dexterity in handling the crisis, and their own lack of a credible alternative in dealing with the same despite their flippant criticism.
In the telling of some, for nakedly partisan reasons, Hubert Ingraham is responsible for the terrible effects of the financial meltdown on The Bahamas.   Never mind that most of the region and the world have been similarly affected with some countries in an even worse position than The Bahamas.
That many developed and developing countries have also had the outlooks for their economies downgraded by international ratings agencies in the throes of the worst global economic crisis since the Great Depression is also conveniently ignored by those seeking to scapegoat Ingraham for a crisis principally caused by recklessness and greed, and lax regulation in various first world economies.
Speaking of recklessness, two weeks ago in a September 13 column titled "DNA & Its Leader Prove Amateurish & Reckless", which can be found on the websites of The Nassau Guardian and at www.bahamapundit.com, Front Porch described the incredibly juvenile recklessness of the Democratic National Alliance (DNA) in a press statement following Moody's downgrade of the outlook for The Bahamas economy to negative.
The DNA noted: "Moody's is totally justified in changing its economic outlook and indeed, the real question is why has it not already downgraded The Bahamas' credit rating as S&P did to BBB+ in 2008."

GLEEFUL
The earlier column observed: "Shockingly, the DNA and the man who wants badly to be prime minister appear gleeful about the downgrade.  Worse, they failed to defend The Bahamas.  Even worse, the fledglings seem disappointed that Moody's did not go further and downgrade the country's credit rating as well!  They could have celebrated this considerable accomplishment during these perilous economic times."
Given the response to that column by an ardent supporter of the DNA in this journal, as well as a statement by a well-known political activist who was invited to join the party, that meetings he attended with the DNA were like high school government meetings, Front Porch retracts its assessment of the DNA's leader and economic analysis as resembling that of a college sophomore.
Instead, it wishes to change that analysis to that of senior, i.e. downgrading the same as resembling that of a high school senior.  (More later on the DNA and its wild-eyed and poorly conceived economic analysis and loony theories.)
Meanwhile, not only is the prime minister a scapegoat for some seeking to boost their political fortunes, he also gets little credit for what many around the world and here at home consider the generally deft management of the economy during the kind of perilous times which separate the men from the boys and seasoned experts from those who do economics as a hobby.
Ingraham managed the crisis through sound fiscal and social policy considering the nature of the crisis and the financial restraints.  Moreover, his administration instituted the most comprehensive infrastructural program in Bahamian history starting or completing projects long overdue and pivotal to economic growth, like transportation networks such as roads, ports and airports.
The administration concluded an agreement on Baha Mar, introduced landmark unemployment and prescription drug benefits and national training programs, and launched a new e-government portal along with other public sector reforms.  All of this was done in record time and without laying off a single civil servant.

INTEGRATED
Despite Ingraham's considered and integrated use of the tools at his disposal and probably that of anyone who found themselves in the prime minister's chair at this juncture, some are still spouting economic fairy-tales about what they would have done that was dramatically different.
Economic crises yield to hard-headed realities and management not to stardust-like broad themes, clichés and armchair critic theories by wannabe political celebrities and their intellectual gurus.
The DNA press release on the Moody's downgrade two weeks ago and the subsequent fevered defense of it by a party supporter last week, showcased for Bahamians a stark study in contrast.
Is the writer of the release the same as the individual who defended it?  If it is, is this the main advisor on economics for the DNA, perhaps McCartney's possible minister of finance or economic advisor?  How odd that the economic policy of the DNA is being defended not by its leader, but by his apparent intellectual guru.
As the DNA was playing at economic analysis, the Bahamian prime minister was engaging in real world policy-making backed by expert analysis from some of the leading economic thinkers and practitioners in the world, not those professionally trained in one field dabbling in economics as a sideline.
Prime Minister Ingraham was on the world stage in Washington D.C. as Chairman of the 2011 Annual Board of Governors Meetings of the World Bank Group (WBG) and the International Monetary Fund (IMF).
Ingraham's experience and gravitas as a world leader was showcased in meetings he held with Christine Lagarde, the new managing director of the IMF and well-respected former finance minister of France, and World Bank President Robert Zoellick, a former U.S. trade representative and deputy secretary of state.
Prior to his address as chairman, the prime minister, one of the more seasoned leaders in the Americas and the Caribbean, was briefed by the secretaries of the Bank and the Fund.
During the meetings he also met with international financial heavyweights such as U.S. Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner and the new Chairman of the IMF's International Monetary and Financial Committee Tharman Shanmugaratnam, Singapore's minister of finance since 2007 and former managing director of the Monetary Authority of Singapore, the country's central bank.

GRANT
While in Washington, Ingraham held a bilateral meeting with Inter-American Development Bank President Luis Alberto Moreno and signed a $200,000 grant for emergency assistance to help mitigate the impact of hurricane Irene for those most affected by the hurricane, specifically residents of Eleuthera, Cat Island, Long Island, Rum Cay, Acklins, Crooked Island and Mayaguana.
Accompanying the prime minister to the US capital were various Bahamian officials with considerable experience in finance and economics and policy planning and governance.
The delegation included State Minister of Finance Zhivargo Laing, Central Bank Governor Wendy Craig, Fiscal Advisor in the Ministry of Finance Robert Henry, Senior Advisor to the Executive Director of the IMF John Rolle, Financial Secretary Ehurd Cunningham, and Simon Wilson of the Ministry of Finance, among others.
One can imagine the high level of discussions between the prime minister and international, Caribbean and Bahamian officials as he finalized the Chairman's remarks.  It was reported that in his meetings with Mme. Lagarde that the two discussed "the state of affairs in the world's major economies, including Europe and the US", and "also talked about the outlook for improvement in the world's economic fortunes."
When Hubert Ingraham took the world stage as Chairman to address the WBG and IMF Board of Governors he knew what he was talking about.  With three terms as prime minister, many years as finance minister and having faced down various economic crises with intelligence and grit, the world bodies knew they were listening to a seasoned leader, not an amateurish, sophomoric and reckless neophyte.
In his Chairman's address the prime minister showcased The Bahamas and the Caribbean detailing the challenges faced by the region as well as necessary responses.
"Like much of the Caribbean, the Bahamas is a small open economy that is highly tourist dependent.  In common with the region, we are among the most susceptible to economic shocks, the effects of climate change and natural disasters. Our economic fortunes are tied very closely to that of the U.S. With a jobless low-growth recovery anticipated for the next few years, the region will need to redouble efforts to contain debt burden while making prudent public sector investments.
"To attract scarce global foreign direct investment, we will also need to further enhance the business environment, increase our productivity and aggressively exploit more diversified trading opportunities."
The prime minister also spoke to the continuing challenges for the global economy and the legacy of the downturn on even more advanced economies than The Bahamas.
In a single address he again put a lie to those still schilling the purposeful deceit that the effects of the economic crisis on The Bahamas were mostly of the Ingraham administration's making.  Perhaps the leader of the DNA and his crack economic team would like to take some notes; they just might learn some real world economics helping to inform their amateurish statements.
This brings us back to the DNA.  Leader McCartney likes to invite Bahamians to imagine.  But imagine as they like, few can imagine him filling Mr. Ingraham's shoes at home, much less the world stage.  It is certainly unimaginable if he heeds advice by those drafting policy statements and releases which contain some of the following idiocies.
Though the key economic sections of tourism and international financial services represent investment of billions of dollars, the DNA calls the economy false because Bahamians have limited ownership of these sectors.  The DNA also refers to a lack of production capacity in the Bahamian economy where the per capita GDP is among the highest in the region.
The DNA also makes the same old tired pseudo-populist and pseudo-intellectual complaints about diversification failing to understand the nature of tourism and the actual diversification within tourism and across other sectors, more of which later on the Front Porch.

frontporchguardian@gmail.com
www.bahamapundit.com

Click here to read more at The Nassau Guardian

 Sponsored Ads