The next wave of economic growth is coming. This wave is not going to happen because some smart set of politicians in The Bahamas, or USA, or elsewhere in the world is crafting ingenious policies to bring it about. This wave will take place because, all across the world, especially in quarters in the USA, inventors and innovators, armed with a great desire to improve the world and realize their own potential, are busy developing technologies that will blow our minds. Trust me, I am seeing it. The human brain is hard at work solving problems - at least those brains that are not so lazy that their best efforts consist mainly of complaining, criticizing and combating. No, these brains are the educated, critical thinking, strategic operators of our planet, and they are getting results. Their results will produce big financial gains for our planet.
Within the next 10 to 20 years, the global economy will experience new growth based on new innovations in energy, medicine, artificial intelligence, environmental science and software application, to name a few. Automation will explode, and the human race will be able to accomplish levels of productivity unseen in the world. Travel and entertainment will change, and information technology will make collaboration a way of life. In this new order, opportunity will be democratized and globalized, but only to the extent that education is similarly popularized.
The Bahamas can be a tangential beneficiary of this new wave of economic growth, relying on travellers or portfolio investors to grace her with their presence, or we can be direct recipients of these benefits. We must engage the world in a meaningful way. We must engage it with our own intellectual thinking and innovative contributions. We must partner with its players to make things happen, believing that we are as capable as they are. We must take courage enough to invite global competition to test our metal, either making or breaking us for the better. We must lead as though we are Fortune 500 companies in formation.
As I said earlier, the politicians will not lead this wave of economic growth, but the wise ones will not be foolish enough to hamper it. The wise ones will get out of the way and let it happen to the maximum. Good policies that promote and don't stifle innovation, collaboration and partnership is what they will produce. They will break doors down to give market access to good products and services, at home and abroad. They will recognize the wisdom of strategy, the genius of thinking and the brilliance of technological advancement. They will employ these and deploy these for the benefit of national growth and development.
Am I dreaming? Hell yes! And why not? All the reality around me is not as grand as I believe it can be. Why not dream? Things can be better, much better. This new economic wave is coming. That is no dream. Those who are ready will benefit from its fortunes, and those who don't will be around for the next 30 years simply complaining about all that happened around them and left them behind.
"Get busy living or get busy dying," said Andy to Red in the movie "Shawshank Redemption". That's for sure. You can do as you think best.
o Zhivargo Laing is a Bahamian economic consultant and former Cabinet minister who represented the Marco City constituency in the House of Assembly.
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