Where are your own ideas for a stimulus?

Listening from a distance, I got the feeling that the Town Hall-style State-of-the-Union type address and question session by Grenada’s Prime Minister Tillman Thomas at the Grenada Trade Center went down very well.

Of course the critics – and there seem to be a small minority of the Allan Campbell level – has dismissed it as purely as a public relations stunt.There is always an aspect of public relations in every aspect of explaining policy and ideas. But to dismiss it as just that – is either to miss the point, or is a roundabout way of saying there were good ideas which I could not really criticize.

I have read elsewhere the comments of former Finance Minister Anthony Boatswain and New National Party’s current spokesman on economics Kennedy Roberts – who both dismissed the outline of the stimulus package as nothing new.

They both claimed that what was outlined was just some of the old policies and approaches for the former NNP government.By saying that they either did not hear, care to listen or being plain disingenuous. If you ask me to bet on any of those I would take the very latter.

But that aside, if we buy that argument, I would have thought that these two would have hailed the “policies” they had help crafted as the genuine panacea for Grenada’s faltering economy.

Somehow I got disconnected from the argument that these are some of our old policies, and the implicit criticism that they are not adequate.

So what does that say about their previous approaches to the economic challenge?

And while, they are at it – accepting the view that the policies outline were not enough – what are their own ideas for what else can be done?

Give us some concrete ideas sirs, rather than grandstanding.

OFF AND RUNNING

WELCOME to my own little space on the internet, where from time-to-time at irregular intervals I would want to share my thoughts on life, economics, politics, entertainment, sport and even musing empty nothings.

NOTES FROM ALL AROUND was the name of a column I once wrote for about a year back in 1989 for the Grenadian Voice newspaper, which allowed me to comment broadly on my myriad interests.

I want to go back to that vibe and to those roots.

My work allows me to live through and witness new experiences everyday -- mostly ordinary, but sometimes extraordinary.

Extraordinary stories are told easily. My challenge here will be to find extra-ordinary ways to tell ordinary stories, without embellishment.

Sometimes you may have to wander with me about something that may otherwise be considered a small detail.

In my story telling I will seek to turn my wander into a wonder.

The amazing thing about the web is that it also allows for immediate feedback -- and yours will be welcomed -- from the brutal to the kind.

Rest assured that my back is broader than my ego.