Moral Guidance

There are groups, within the population, the society, the community, your own neighborhood, that receives messages, communicated via words, presented, advertised and in conversations, musical audio beats, short video scenes, which leave us empty, uncaring and morally bankrupt. Such persons, an audience, varying in age, levels of education and income, religious devotions, and other types of demographics, are targeted to react to an explicit designed message. People, who respect the law, understand right and wrong and would not purposely set out to commit crime, good people that can easily lose their way. It is never the message by itself, surrounding influences, marks of membership, are much more important, to create that decisive powerful designed effect.

Returns On Investment

Money knows no borders, as each and every nation competes for large sums of foreign direct investment. Administrations invite investment bankers, hedge and private equity funds to participate in joint ventures. Projects, which benefit the nation's population, where utilities and other infrastructure entities, are built, operated, leased and transferred or commissioned and maintained under specific terms and conditions, while charging the public as regulated. Such opportunities generally allow for a long repayment period during which investors are guaranteed a minimum annual return. But this can only work, if the nation's law-makers legalize, implement and honor such long-term agreements, beyond political periods, requiring an independent office of budgets.

Fiscal Policy 2018

(An extract from Foreign Direct Investment 2018)

Functioning on a budgetary allocation; 26.39% of the nation’s total expenditure, as reported by the office of the Auditor General 2016 and 30.39% in the 2017 revised estimates, while estimating 30.46% for 2018 down by 0.93%, as published by the Ministry of Finance. This category, comprises the Ministry of Finance, Charges on Account of the Public Debt and Pensions and Gratuities, must focus efforts on increasing productivity and revenue collection while, reducing the nation's debt and debt servicing expense. Hence, as core revenues fall, below recurrent expenditure, resulting in mounting deficits, forcing new borrowings to balance the nation’s annual budget, severe pending cuts, will then trigger an inability to borrow or repay placing the economy into a debt trap.

Economic Drivers 2018

(An extract from Foreign Direct Investment 2018)

Operating on 5.90% of the nation’s total expenditure, as reported by the office of the Auditor General 2016 and 4.39% in the 2017 revised estimates, while estimating 3.84% for 2018 down by 13.44%, as published by the Ministry of Finance. Economic Drivers are administered by the Ministries of Energy and Energy Industries, Agriculture, Lands and Fisheries, Planning and Development, Foreign and CARICOM Affairs, Labour and Small Enterprise Development, Trade and Industries, and Tourism. The nation's revenue, to offset its total annual expenditure, comes from the collections of taxes, duties and royalties; taxes on (personal income) salaries and wages, on (consumption) sales and value added, on (operations) business levy and green fund, on (corporation) profits, etc. Such revenue generating activities are encouraged and facilitated via Economic Drivers, which designs, implements and reviews the conditions for investment, employment and, the resulting, taxation.

Infrastructure Management 2018

(An extract from Foreign Direct Investment 2018)

Utilizing 20.38% of the nation’s total expenditure, as reported by the office of the Auditor General 2016 and 20.39% in the 2017 revised estimates, while estimating 20.60% for 2018 down by 0.17%, as published by the Ministry of Finance, to maintain and expand public spaces. Such Infrastructure expenditure has widely been realized and accepted to directly impact productivity; outputs, driven by comfortable and safe, work and play environments, for example; organizations to produce and deliver water and electricity, industrial parks, courts, police stations, hospital, schools, housing, administration offices, communications, community centers, open parks, transport hubs, roads and bridges, etc. This Infrastructure Management category consist of the Ministries of Public Utilities, Works and Transport, Rural Development and Local Government, Housing and Urban Development and the Tobago House of Assembly.

Your Nation Needs You

You, the Idea Promoter, the Risk-Taker, the Entrepreneur and Member of SEED (the Society for Entrepreneur and Economic Development), are desperately needed now, not just to rebuild. Your nation and the world needs you, to restructure using innovation to protect future populations and properties. Your ideas and efforts are highly appreciated and very valuable and must be tied to the essential initial contribution and investment. Your guidance and plans are very necessary to achieve the objectives, and therefore, requires powerful relationships with banks, for operational cash flow. Hence, it is you that must step forward to fix the nation’s economy.

The Will to Live

The call is for a better world, new integrated systems, which eliminates Ego and Greed, moves the artisan, dreamer, planner, thinker or visionary, to the top of the social ladder, while downplaying personal wants and replacing them with public needs. Placing efforts to serve the many before benefiting the few. The average citizen, worker, union member, self-employed, politically active, in other words every individual, must understand, the existing reality, before committing to or taking a position in foreseeable disputes, insurrection or war.

Foreign Direct Investment 2017

As global Politics grapples with issues surrounding Open Markets versus Close immigration, investments are kept and driven into the largest economies, which have the strength of market size and numerous trade agreements, increasing access and influence, to record superior returns. Small economies, with much the same issues, have the advantage of granting greater access to decision-making, so investors, far removed from board rooms in large economies, are invited in, to participate, in small economy decisions and development, guiding their own returns on investment (ROI).

SEED Structuring

SEED, the Society for Entrepreneur and Economic Development, which has targeted grant funds of US$4,000,000 from international donor agencies to incubate 100 startups per annum, with success stories refunding the process, making resources available for other opportunities, was officially launched on Wednesday, June 1, 2011, to assist in structuring the necessary processes and plans to move ideas into industries.

Fiscal Policy 2017

(An extract from Foreign Direct Investment 2017)

Civil wars, insurrections, uprisings, protests, workers strikes, all are rooted in the distribution of wealth. This is the responsibility of the nation's elected executive; to design, adopt, fine-tune, implement and revise policies, which would encourage and reward risk-takers' investment while, maintaining a measured standard of living through employment and the uplifting of the vulnerable in society. Investment, Employment and Social Benefits are the opportunities essential for nation building. However, the nation's capability to earn from its present or projected revenue streams, increasing productivity, currently carries much less influence, when compared to the nation's power or ability to borrow and, of course, service and repay the debt. In other words, it is presently easier to borrow than to diversify.

Economic Drivers 2017

(An extract from Foreign Direct Investment 2017)

The nation's revenue, to offset its total annual expenditure, comes from the collections of taxes, duties and royalties; taxes on (personal income) salaries and wages, on (consumption) sales and value added, on (operations) business levy and green fund, on (corporation) profits, etc. Such revenue generating activities are encouraged and facilitated via Economic Drivers, which designs, implement and review the conditions for investment, employment and, the resulting, taxation. Operating on 5.48% of the nation's total current expenditure budget, Economic Drivers are administered by the Ministries of Energy and Energy Industries, Agriculture, Lands and Fisheries, Planning and Development, Foreign and CARICOM Affairs, Labour and Small Enterprise Development, Trade and Industries, and Tourism.

Private Equity

After the global financial crisis in 2008, which required large stimulus packages funded by taxpayers to save support and strengthen many banking operations, the public and political call for financial regulatory reform grew. By 2010, with a mild recovery, bankers were seeking to restore confidence by adjusting their strategic plans to clearly separate high risk – high returns investments from their traditional commercial operations hence, a boom in private equity business worldwide.

Investors and Employers

The true employers in society are individuals with a small savings account, having bills to pay and living within their narrow financial means. They are not hard nose greedy rich people as often portrayed by the media or enemies of workers’ unions engaged in unfair tactics during employment negotiations. The public impression of employers is one of a bully not listening or concerned with reasons but forcing the most out of their workers, that may more describe management, and the true employers do not directly hire and fire such management. Management’s role is to please both employers and employees. Employees expect the best working conditions with fair remuneration packages. And employers expect a safe place to put funds and receive a competitive yield to live on.

Funding the Future

The nation, which finds itself overdrawn in its current account, needing to raise funds to pay, public sector salaries back pay, overdue bills, recurrent expenditure, finance its infrastructural maintenance and new facilities, and is desperate to diversify its economy, must carefully examine and educate its population about all options. The executive can decide to continue borrowings, locally to finance budget deficits inclusive of capital expenditure, and internationally to meet its foreign currencies import bills and preserve its local currency strength, projecting long-term debt repayments, which would, unless revenues rebound, further grow the current public debt into an unmanageable size. The cabinet can also withdraw from the nation's cash reserves, savings, stabilizing or sovereign funds, invested in foreign low risks, low yield instruments, to finance its previously mentioned needs. Noting that, both borrowings and withdrawals together can solve the nation’s immediate cash flow problems.

Trust the Data

Data generating information and leading to intelligence coming out of the nation's Auditor General Office, Central Statistical Office and Central Bank, which is used to formulate ecological, social and economic development strategies, make knowledge based decisions and set implementation timelines, must be trusted by all groups of the society. Groups intended to distribute profits to its single or many owners via dividend payouts, so called (Profit-Sharing) private or public companies. Groups organized to keep profits for its future operations, so called Non-Profits or (Profit-Retaining). Groups that negotiate for working conditions, via individual or collective bargaining, so called Workers' Unions. Noting that, all such groups are and must be Profit-Making, as it is such profits that offer that crucially needed continuance, for Business must generate growth to paid salaries, taxes and continue, Unions must protect jobs and fair trade, and Government must balance its budget to improve living standards and protect the nation's most vulnerable.

We, the People

Society is form as groups of groups with multiple rooms of ideological walls, floors and ceilings, each with doors, inviting access and escape, and windows, allowing views and voices. Consider a ground floor housing the poor and uneducated, upper floors are for the middle classes and the penthouse is reserved for the wealthy. Opportunities through education and experience allow many to climb up, at lease to a certain level. Networking and risk-taking can elevate a few over many years to the higher floors. The very top are for those who understand, after a lifetime of climbing, it is not how much money one has or controls, anyone can win a large jackpot, it is about influence and power.

Less Tax More Jobs

Investment Opportunities only exist if it can produce returns on investment (ROI), after paying its legitimate obligations. It must offer Capital Gains – growing the investment value and Dividends Payouts – paying for the use of the investment funds, generating a competitive yield. Such Investment Opportunities create employment; salaries and wages along with its associated taxation, delivering on individual management contracts and collective worker union agreements, similarly spawn other opportunities and donate to the society. These Investment Opportunities call on individuals and corporations, who, after many years of work, have retained excess savings or wealth, to participate in building operations, promising safer and greater ROI.

Foreign Direct Investment

At the beginning of the last budget presentation, a few weeks after national elections and the resulting change in the executive, Politics continued with the Minister of Finance painting a negative picture and blaming the previous executive with financial mismanagement, more so in their last three months in office; spending tax payers’ funds on electioneering, leaving massive unpaid bills and running into a negative cash flow position. It is worth mentioning that the Speaker of the House needed to bring order to the chamber several times during the budget presentation, indicating that the previous executive now in opposition were not pleased with many statement attributed to their 2010 – 2015 term in office. This trend is again expected after any national election which results in regime change but is certainly preferred and more acceptable than any Violent Insurrection.

Fiscal Policy (An extract from Foreign Direct Investment)

The people must appreciate, the nation, the state, the citizenry, the economy depends on sound fiscal policy, the means by which spending adjustments are made to bring it in-line with expected revenues to influence economic growth, controlled by the elected executive cabinet under the direction of the Minister of Finance. The Ministry of Finance (MoF) is primarily in charge of the national budget and the state of the economy; forecasting revenue and collections, approving and disbursing funds previously allocated to budgeted expenditure, negotiating borrowing terms and conditions within the authorized debt ceilings, retiring debt, and dealing with unforeseen expenditures, all to bring about a fair distribution of wealth or of sacrifice.

Entrepreneur?

Language is dynamic and interpretive, and when Government representatives and other prominent people speak and the media reports, such usage filters throughout a society. Describing people that simply set out to be paid, as Entrepreneurs and having the Entrepreneurial spirit belittles the title.

Entrepreneurship cannot be taught or forced, it is not a career path, it is not widespread, it refers to a portion of an individual’s life, in which a unique vision of a life changing solution, that can benefit societies, is formed. Moving such an idea forward requires adequate capital for research and development and more importantly, sound management. Such investment, in both tangible and intangible assets, and skilled and experienced human resources, is considered as high risk and promises high returns, but must also take into consideration a very high failure rate. This label should only apply to persons whose ideas have successfully improved lifestyles.