Well, we're finally witnessing a change in tone from the Government on economic issues, after they've cried fearmongering at anyone who has raised concerns about the unrestrained growth in Government spending and debt since the PLP took the reigns in 1998.
Vexed as usual provides a sober take, but I would recommend everyone re-read Shadow Finance Minister Bob Richards' excellent and prescient analysis on the pending economic slowdown written a month ago.
The UBP have been warning for some time that Bermuda is going to be facing tough times and Government should prepare for it.
The response from David Burt at the PLP blog has been typically unhinged, head in the sand, sarcastic, shallow, substanceless partisan button pushing.
It's terribly indicative of the PLP's obsession with managing the next headline instead of sound public policy and their reliance of ridicule over reason.
Low and behold, a fearmongering opinion piece from one, Mr. Bob Richards appears in the pro-UBP daily....
Bob Richards, the UBP and the Royal Gazette have made careers out of smearing the PLP and our leaders. They've been fearmongering over our economy for a decade now and they've been proven wrong time and time again. The PLP government is ready to weather the international economic storm and you can bet on the fact that we'll prove them wrong once again.
No Beyonce. No Alicia Keys. No Bermuda Music Festival. That's the UBP's ridiculous plan to deal with an international economic downturn from which Bermuda's not immune. What's next UBP? A dance ban?
Bob Richards and Pat Gordon Pamplin have egg all over their faces. Just a day after they engaged in a fearmongering attack over Bermuda's economy (an attack predicted by Premier Brown), Finance Minister Paula Cox announced some wonderful economic news:
The UBP and their friends love to run around screaming that the 'sky is falling' and that we're headed for economic doom - but, after ten years, your PLP government has more than proven that we can effectively manage Bermuda's economy.20 Aug, 2008
Quick, someone get down to Horseshoe and pull Bob Richards' and Pat Gordon-Pamplin's heads out of the sand! Despite their dire predictions, Bermuda's IB sector continues to prosper even in a difficult international economic climate.
Get the picture? Stupid, substance-less political snarking, rather than a willingness to stop cherry picking minor events as major accomplishments and step back and take a realistic look at the developing macro economic picture.
While the PLP's spinner David Burt suggest that everyone should just put their faith in Dr. Brown and the steady hand of Paula Cox, the truth is that the economic snarking stopped at the end of August as XL's problems took centre stage, and you now have the Finance Minister finally admitting that Bermuda's economic numbers will have to be recast downwards.
Paula Cox's tenure as Finance Minister has been a terrible disappointment. It has not been a steady hand, it's been a heavy foot on the spending accelerator. As Bob Richards warned a month ago, and many times before, the PLP's spending has left them with very few levers to pull as Bermuda goes into a slowdown:
My good friend, economist Craig Simmons, recently stated on TV that government spending patterns SHOULD BE, “counter cyclical.” That is absolutely correct. This means that, when the economy is strong and government receipts are strong, government should restrict spending, otherwise it will overheat the economy causing inflation. During a recession, government should expand spending to take up the slack in the economy and provide jobs lost during the down turn. That’s how it should work.In today’s Bermuda, the reality is somewhat different. This Government, under this Finance Minister and this Premier, has done the opposite: It has spent like a drunken sailor while the economy has been very strong, helping it to overheat. If next year the economy cools to the extent that there is a recession, how is government going to help the economy by providing counter cyclical stimulus?
As the economy cools, Government receipts will decline but the current account expenditures will remain largely constant because much of it is in salaries of civil servants. The current account will sink into a deficit position. To finance this, the Minister could increase taxes or fire civil servants but this would be at precisely the wrong time for such a move and would exacerbate the slowdown and increase job losses. Alternatively, they would have to increase the national debt, but this would likely be more expensive because it would be added to the debt that is already outstanding from previous overspending.
It would be helpful if PLP Chairman David Burt can drop the idiotic spin and get a little more serious for a change.
A less tone deaf, less partisan, more respectful and honest approach to what is going to be a difficult time for Bermuda is in order.
David Burt and his party need to rise above the politics for once, particularly now that Bermuda is looking at job losses and the financing for the Sonesta redevelopment disappeared with the Lehman bankruptcy.
Time to drop the childish tone on the PLP website and show that the PLP can be serious managers and take on board what are legitimate concerns and warnings from others rather than predictably dismiss them as fearmongering, haters or media bias.
This isn't a high school election, although that's the impression the PLP website leaves one with.
This is about the real lives of real Bermudians and Bermuda's Government hasn't positioned us well during a period of rapid growth driven by external circumstances (Sept. 11 and Hurricane Katrina).
We may be able to muddle through, but right now the Government is watching and waiting - reacting - because they don't have a lot of cards to play with massive spending and an increasing debt load.
Bi-partisanship isn't just the UBP supporting the PLP's agenda. It's the PLP acknowledging that others have a point and raise legitimate issues.
Posted by Christian S. Dunleavy