Delroy Chuck THE WEALTH of the world increases at an exponential rate. Countries are getting richer and the quality of life for their people improves daily. Man's creative genius is making our lives better. Commerce, trade, and goods and services move across borders with relative ease, and billions, nay trillions, of dollars are exchanged hourly in one form or another to keep the growth of industry, of technology, of the financial sector and of the world economy expanding at an unimaginable rate. The global economy, and the opportunity to compete within it, has opened windows of opportunity to make our lives richer and to share in the wealth of the world.
Yet, we are not making use of these wonderful windows of opportunities and concentrate more on the negatives and challenges of globalisation instead of the benefits and enormous potential it offers. There are many who fight and are opposed to the new era of globalisation, as they are still locked into protectionism. Recently, the Presidents of Nigeria and Guyana, Obasanjo and Jagdeo, were our invited guests to our fortieth Independence celebrations. Both of them spoke unfavourably of globalisation but they have completely missed the point, and unless they, like us, lock into globalisation, then we will soon be locked out and can only suffer the dire consequences.
One understands well why Nigeria and Guyana would be opposed to globalisation. They are Third World countries, rich in resources but poor, extremely poor, in human development. Both countries have enough natural resources to compete globally and to make themselves rich, but they have failed to capitalise and effectively utilise their rich natural resources. They have still not learnt the simple truth of the modern age that the wealth of a nation is not in its natural mines but in its human minds. The wealth of a nation is no longer measured, if it ever was, by its natural resources but by the creative output of its people. Nigeria and Guyana rank very poorly on the index of human development and will remain at the bottom of the economic ladder if they fail to develop their human capital.
Globalisation is nothing new, even though it is being referred to as the new enslavement of the poor people of the world. Ever since countries opened their borders and started to trade with one another, the era of globalisation began. With the advent of the telephone and the easy movement of people and information across the globe, the age of globalisation entered its adolescent years. Now with the Internet and the ability to move money, goods and services, across continents in seconds and certainly within days, globalisation is in full flight and mature reality. It is just plain stupid to fight and speak ill of globalisation. It shows a lack of understanding and appreciation that the days of protectionism are over, that the world is fast becoming a small village and, soon, if we fail to become a part of this global village we will be a welfare state depending on others' charity and beneficence.
Globalisation is nothing more, and nothing less, than the opportunity for producers and countries to compete globally. What a golden opportunity that is being resisted and feared. If little Singapore, not much bigger than the parish of St. James, with four million people and no natural resources, even water it has to buy, can compete globally why can't we? Yet, Singapore succeeded because its leaders envisaged and determined to produce goods and services cheaper and better than anyone else. It certainly didn't have a local market so it made the rest of the world its hinterland and produced not only for its people but also for the world. Yet, in relatively large countries such as Nigeria, Guyana and Jamaica, we are cursing and fighting this golden opportunity of globalisation, in which the markets of the world are made available for our goods and services. Imagine if we could sell Red Stripe beer, Ting, coffee, etc. to every corner of the globe. And why not?
If we can, and must, compete with the world in sports then we better learn and be willing to compete in business and commerce, otherwise we will be left behind. It means we have to start doing business differently. It means we have to see the era of protectionism as coming to an end. It means we have to develop and produce goods and services for which we can be efficient and competitive, and discard those products we cannot produce efficiently. In truth, globalisation will force our local producers to be efficient or to get out of production and let others do it better. It will weed out the inefficient and those who fail to match up to world standards.
Is Jamaica ready for globalisation? While we boast about cellular phones and motor cars as solid achievements, we are in error, it is the producers of these items who should marvel and boast, as they are providing jobs for their workers and market for their goods. What are we producing to afford these marvels of modern technological improvements? Banana is in trouble, sugar is in trouble and, indeed, without trade barriers and high tariffs, everything would be in trouble. The temporary respite afforded by the belated passing of the Safeguards Legislation Acts will go to waste unless the economy is overhauled now.
When we can't produce even basic items we use everyday then something is wrong. Everyday, we wake up and use soap and toothpaste, but has it occurred to us that we no longer produce these items here. Colgate Palmolive that used Jamaica as one of its main manufacturing centres is now nothing more than a trading company, and isn't this true for Goodyear, Sterling Drugs, Caribbean Steel, Gillette, and the list goes on and on. Jamaica is getting poorer because we are producing less. Our economy is barely kept afloat from the surplus of others, instead of from the work and produce of our hands and minds. When we import everything we use and consume, without producing anything to export, we are providing economic benefits and work for the exporting nations, while our workers are forced out of jobs, graduates are unable to get work, and the hundreds of thousands of unemployed drift even further into hopelessness and frustration.
Jamaica has to wake up and smell the coffee and realise that the whole economy needs a complete overhaul to make it more profitable and beneficial to produce and export, instead of to import and trade. Our businessmen who merely buy and sell will soon learn that they will be marginalised, if they fail to trade efficiently and cheaply or to get into production of some needed goods and services. Jamaica needs to open its borders and business sectors to foreign investors to come in, open factories and provide the capital and jobs we so desperately need.
When will we learn that it is better to have our government Ministers and bureaucrats travelling abroad to look capital and investment to start businesses, instead of what they do presently, seeking loans, concessions and grants. Moreover, Jamaica needs local entrepreneurs who are willing to take on the world and to compete globally. We need the leadership and vision to inspire our local manufacturers and producers to look beyond our shores and explore markets regionally and globally, to make Jamaica a wealthier and better place. Leaders who are locked into the era of protectionism and socialism need to divest themselves of these lost causes or, more appropriately, be replaced by those who understand how to make free market capitalism and globalisation work for the benefit of Jamaica and to let our people start sharing in the extraordinary wealth being created around the world.
Delroy Chuck is an attorney-at-law and Opposition Member of Parliament. He can be contacted by e-mail at delchuck@hotmail.com
