Barnacle, was looking at similarities; an election year in Barbados, Grenada, Belize and the Big U.S.

Basically same election problems: how to stop recession in America, how to handle skyrocketing consumer prices in the Caribbean; in Barbados, Grenada, the US, no real ideological differences between contending parties.

Was almost a world wide recession except for China and India; in England and France billion dollar scandals in the major banking industries, in Trinidad where the issue was not dollars it was about the common sense of the executive fighting with the judiciary and presidency (re Pakistan).

So Barnacle looks at similarities and sees coincidences in a report by a senior MSNBC producer on how to turn the US economy around.

The analyst say “in an election year ‘stimulus’ proposals are popular, but will they work?”

Stimulus proposals we have enough of in Grenada.

Dr Mitchell said he had taken positive steps to counter the rising cost of consumer goods – will these steps help?

The E.C. $8 million emergency food package was another local stimulus, except that some of those who received Christmas hampers around the town were saying “when Ivan ravaged, is Red Cross and US aid we see, now we getting free food for nothing.  “For nothing?”

Then a rumour spread that the emergency food would be distributed from NNP constituency offices, which was only partly true, but goes to show how people get so independent that they cursing the hand with food in it.

Like the old saying, “it is better to give a fishing line than a fish”.

Even the strategic trade advisor to Government, Dr. Patrick Antoine, saying we got to give up them customs taxes on the backs of poor people who live on barrels, and that ‘VAT’ with it’s 15% surcharge have new problems accompanying its wake.

The US trying out rate cutting too, but the economists say it would take months to work their way through the system and get the economy moving once more.

A think-tank that focuses on low income families says that spending increases as a better idea, but the ECCB not about to print more money to circulate since the value hinged to the US dollar – and beside the E.C. dollar is independent trouble from certain freelance banks that operate on only political license.

In England and France they can print more money to influence consumer spending, but we have quite different restraints in Grenada.  When the economy get weak we of the ECCB got to get together and work our how to control and coordinate import bills, weaken the outflow of money – in 2003 Grenada’s food import bill was E.C. $50 million less than in 2007.

If we cannot print new money like the Federal Reserve in the US can, we have to ‘find a way to get money to people who will spend it really fast because there it the demand.”

So you tell Barnacle – write care of Melville Street sidewalk – where the police running vendors from their commerce and where some vendors so stubborn they prefer to see ripe fruit rot rather than lower the price – they argue traveling costs, etc.

And if we do get the tourism projects that are listed in the Prime Minister’s 2008 proposal speech, we still have the problem of reliance on an industry that relies on good weather in a time when all the meteorologists forecast bad weather.

The separation space between ‘Janet’ and ‘Ivan’ was near fifty years – we could go on in the belief that Grenada has Jah’s blessing.

But there is the political besides the economic and weather reports: the NDC is forever taunting the Government that it lost the majority vote while winning the elections by a mere six votes, and that its record of bad deals with foreign investors, makes a fourth return in an election victory, almost certainly uncertain.

Some say no proposal that could help the economy will receive NDC blessings.

The politics behind the Chinese housing project is one case in example: If Government could find a $100 million somewhere – but they cannot.

The Chinese Republic has suddenly become a Government stakeholder and all the ideological years that the GULP and the NDC have spent cultivating relations appears lost  - suddenly Taiwan has become a chess piece on the political board and no one is questioning what financial support it is liable to give to anyone who seems likely to replace their former patrons, the NNP.

The opposition media is now making great play of the duty-free concessions awarded to Chinese workers that are being used to open a Chinese hotel that was expected to be a hostel for the Chinese workers … and in Nevis the Government has accused the PRC of offering bribes to cut relations with Taiwan.

Barnacle too is guilty of arguing a nation of 1.5 billion people competing with our nation of 100,000.  And members of the three-term NNP government are worried about the feedback on immigrants displacing nationals.

So worried there is said to be disquiet in Cabinet
The sort of disquiet, in Texas and California where the Republicans plan to send home millions of Mexicans, has cut a boundary line between the Pros and the Cons.

There is disquiet also about whether the party can retire the old leadership, with the consent, to a background status; disquiet caused by the determination of the opposition to use litigation methods that question the connections the party has had with certain real estate adventurers.

Analysts recall that when Trinidad and Tobago Prime Minister Panday was accused of private dealings with the Dole Chadee Gang he later had them hung, and later lost the elections.

Perhaps the real issue to Grenadians is economics – but trust Barnacle, we are going down to the wire – even to April 2009.