I would like to make an observation and a suggestion. Firstly, this country does not have shortage of money. The Treasury has a shortage of money, but the nation of T&T is overflowing with cash.
We can see this is true from the conglomerates which have each posted profits (profits not revenue) of between 900 million and 1.1 billion dollars for last year. Even banks such as RBC posted profits in the billion-dollar range.
This does not include that the banks have stated that collectively they have over five billion dollars sitting down doing nothing because people have reduced their taking of loans and mortgages. They are now trying to almost give money away with low interest rates and reduced security requirements.
The question then is how to get this cash into the Treasury. The most common method and the one the Government seems to favour is taxation.
The problem is that taxes have a tendency of mostly affecting the middle and lower classes and not around those who actually have the means to pay.
Now I am not suggesting class warfare, what I am suggesting is that in these recessionary times that the Prime Minister or Finance Minister contact the worthy men and women that run these institutions and ask them to agree to support a bond offering.
I know the Treasury already issues bonds but I suspect not on the scale required to fill the gap created by low energy prices. What I am suggesting is that if these institutions, whose profits are built upon a healthy T&T economy, were to invest a substantial portion of those profits back into the government, via bonds or other instruments, then it would do a lot to alleviate both the economic situation and, just as importantly, the fear that is building in the population, by showing the populace that all economic classes are in this together.
It would ensure that any new taxes would not be so burdensome and ensure that the economy does not stall or fall further as people reduce their spending.
If too great and too sudden a tax burden is placed on a population that is already facing rising prices and increased unemployment, then what you are looking at is an economy that shuts down as people spend less and dodge paying taxes. And possibly we may end up like Greece or Iceland where both major political parties are tossed aside as people turn to the fringes to defend their livelihoods.
Neil Eniath