[vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text css=”.vc_custom_1525923860729{padding-top: 30px !important;padding-right: 30px !important;padding-bottom: 50px !important;padding-left: 30px !important;background-color: #ffffff !important;}”]

Dear Readers:

Our system of Government requires politicians to compete for our votes every general election, for the responsibility of managing Barbados’ economy.  However, rather than it being mainly a competition of management proposals, our politicians tended to compete by trying to out-promise their opponents.  In the past, we seemed not to realise that their promises would be paid by them burdening us with higher taxes and our children with greater national debt.

It has taken 50 years for Barbadians to finally interpret what our politicians have been promising.  When they promised to give us more than what their opponents promised, what they were actually telling us was that they promised to sink us deeper in debt than the debt level promised by their opponents.

Now that our national debt has grown too large for our generation to pay off, Barbadians have finally woken up to the reality that our children will be forced to pay for the promises that our politicians have made.  We have finally reached the point where both voter and politician know that we cannot afford any more unfunded promises.  Thankfully, the Barbadian voter can no longer be fooled by any politician trying to recklessly out-promise another.  Therefore, the next general election should finally be a competition of how best to manage Barbados’ economy, instead of how many “free” things a politician can recklessly promise.

This is an entirely new experience for Barbadians.  We have grown so accustomed to general election candidates being paraded early, while the policies are kept secret until after the general election has been called.  This gives the voters very little time to critically read and challenge the politicians’ intentions for us, and the cost of their promises to our children.  Given the crucial importance of the next general election to Barbados’ future, we published our proposed solutions to Barbados’ problems over 18 months ago for voters’ critical review.  Thank you to all who commented and helped us to improve the ideas.  Our published solutions generally do not require additional taxes or debt.  They typically require better management of Government services.

We now have 15 responsible employers (not merchants) experienced in good management practises to contest the next general election.  If the remaining 15 responsible employers do not respond to our public invitation to be candidates by the end of this month, then we will widen our candidate selection criteria to include any responsible persons with any type of management experience.

Hold on Barbados.  Help is still on the way.[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row]

[vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text css=”.vc_custom_1525923892480{padding-top: 30px !important;padding-right: 30px !important;padding-bottom: 50px !important;padding-left: 30px !important;background-color: #ffffff !important;}”]Celebrating 50 years of our political independence was an important national event that the Government should have been allowed to manage, without being distracted by constant criticism.  Given the foreseen economic challenges this year, it was also important that Barbadians be allowed to enjoy the Christmas and New Year celebrations.  With these events now behind us, we all need to consider the future of Barbados.

Barbados has never been in so much debt.  The BLP has been responsible for accumulating approximately $8B and the DLP approximately $5B of our $13B national debt.  The international rating agencies continue to warn potential investors about our challenges to repay our debt.  If we continue to manage Barbados’ economy as we have in the past 40 years, then we will not own a country to pass on to the next generation of Barbadians.

The solutions to Barbados’ economic problems should be well known by both of our established political parties.  However, for the past 50 years they have both played this game of criticising the party in power for mismanaging the national economy, and then proceeding to mismanage it far worse when they attained power, leaving the criticising to the other party until their roles are reversed.

Since they have taken us so far beyond any responsible debt limit, to the point where we have no choice but to be badly taken advantage of by investors, then the next general election is crucial to the future of Barbados.

Solutions Barbados has already published workable solutions to the principal problems hindering Barbados’ development at SolutionsBarbados.com.  Regrettably, the games continue to be played while the problems are getting worse.  Therefore, we have assembled 14 employers who have never contested a general election, but who are willing to stand as candidates in the next general election in order to give Barbadians a competent alternative.  We are looking for 16 more candidates.

If you agree with our published solutions, have been a responsible employer at any time in your career (the type and size of business does not matter), and are willing to be a candidate in the next general election, then please contact us at NextParty246@gmail.com[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row]