What is teenage life if not fun as we explore new boundaries? You meet new secondary school friends and, with that, you form new relationships, including romantic ones. You try thinking independently for the first time, even as there is a confusing rush of hormones never before experienced. What is …
Read More »MSJ: Workers and poor people can’t afford to pay more for transport, withdraw fuel hike
“[…] Minister Colm Imbert said that the $1 increase is so that the burden of adjustment can be equally shared between the Government and people. This is utter rubbish. “The real issue is how is the burden of adjustment to be shared between the rich and the poor—between those who …
Read More »‘No reputable economist would suggest privatising WASA!’: Dr Farrell on WASA, VMCOTT, the fuel subsidy and lay-offs
“[…] No, no—WASA should not and cannot be privatised! There are some entities which are what you call in economics, natural monopolies. For an economy like Trinidad and Tobago, the production of water is a natural monopoly and the state should do it. “[…] We are going to give WASA …
Read More »Budget observations; we may be on track, but we’re not there yet
“[…] While they are yet to put it squarely to the population, for those who have eyes to see and ears to hear, it is clear that, quietly but consistently, the finance minister has been weaning the population off the comfortable, subsidised standard of living we have steadily come to …
Read More »Criticism vs Critique Pt 2: Hassanali takes a stab at the fuel subsidy debate
I am no hypocrite. So before someone, having read what I have so far written, attempts to stick that label on me for not practising what I preach, let me have a stab at elevating the fuel subsidy debate. I totally agree with the sentiment that the subsidy in its …
Read More »Criticism vs Critique Pt 1: Colm, the crowd, critics, commentary and keeping it constructive
Finance Minister Colm Imbert announced an increase in fuel prices with immediate effect. Cue outrage from all quarters in the immediate aftermath. “Cheap Fuel is the bedrock of our society!” they clamoured. “Raise the cost of transport and everything else goes up! It’s common sense!” As tired as these arguments …
Read More »Is subject of fuel subsidy removal a red herring for T&T’s bigger economic problem?
“In T&T, our social protection policies are open to manipulation and are informally enforced as most of them are not enshrined in law. Fuel subsidies also do provide important relief for lower income brackets to achieve social mobility by accessing education and transportation, or pay lower prices for food items …
Read More »