The Editor, Sir:

In dealing with the controversy that enshrouds the so-calle financial schemes, the authorities must be careful not to throw out the baby with the bath water.

Having decided to live by the capitalist system the country must neither discourage nor destroy the entrepreneurial spirit that is evident in this matter. Free enterprise is a highly competitive and sometimes vicious business that has to be so governed that newcomers are not unfairly crushed by established entities.

Essentially, there must be appropriate regulations to ensure that all transactions are underlined by honest dealings on the part of investors and reasonable security for those who put their trust in the system and are willing to take risks in order to succeed.

I have neither the skill nor expertise to determine the viability o schemes. What excites my imagination is the ability of young Jamaicans to whip up the interest and confidence of so many of our people and mobilise billions of dollars in the process. If this spirit and this money can be channelled into viable, productive local enterprises, their jobs will be created, further investments encouraged and the country's prosperity assured.

It's been a long time now that Jamaicans have been suffering from the fruitless expectation that progress and prosperity must be engineered by the political directorate. This is the way of the failed economic doctrines that were propounded by the Soviet Union 90 years ago. Now that those thoughts are behind us, our people must be assured that their advancement depends heavily upon the use of their own energy, efforts and ideas; and they must be skilfully guided in this direction.

In taking Singapore from Third World to First World status, Lee Kuan Yew once remarked, "... In 1949, I did not understand the importance of talent, especially entrepreneurial talent, and that talent is the yeast that transforms a society and makes it rise." This is the lesson that I am drawing from Jamaica's latest economic dilemma.

I am, etc.,

KEN JONES

alllerdyce@hotmail.com