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Blind man’s bluff
Guyanese are so divided that they have a way of not seeing what they do not wish to see. Half of the population turns a blind eye to the faults of the APNU+AFC and the other half did the same to the mistakes of the PPPC when it was in government.
This approach of seeing things through the haze of partisanship means that objectivity is not achieved at all. No amount of rational arguments will convince people who do not wish to be convinced.
Right now there are clear signs that businesses are shutting shop. The businesses themselves are claiming that it is as a result of the downturn in the economy. This newspaper had sought comments from a wide cross section of the business community in Georgetown and all of those interviewed indicated that sales had fallen to such a degree that it threatened the viability of their companies.
Yet, there are some people who refuse to accept that business is bad in the economy. They only see what they want to see. They are so much partisan in their outlook that they refuse to admit that money is not circulating even though the very government to which they are blindly loyal has come around to accepting that there has been a slowdown in the economy.
Businesses in Guyana have a way of complaining but surely everybody is not going to complain that things are bad when they are not. When major franchises which cost millions of dollars to procure are closing their doors, it does suggest that there is a problem with spending in the economy.
But the supporters of the government will not accept this fact. The problem they face is a psychological one. They associate any criticism of the government they support as a failure on their part. They therefore personalize criticism. This forces them to look for excuses.
And boy, the supporters of the APNU+AFC can surely find excuses! If excuses were worth money, they would be billionaires. One of the excuses they are saying for the closure of businesses was that the old economy was narco-economy and this has dried up since the new government has come.
Those who peddle this excuse have not supported their arguments with evidence. They can point to evidence which suggests that the narcotics trade has slowed. In fact, there is evidence that smuggling of narcotics continues based on the fact that an abandoned aircraft was found hidden in a remote part of Guyana and that a vessel from Guyana was held in the United States with narcotics. There is no major crackdown on the drug trade in Guyana.
The excuse of a narco-driven economy of course insults the intelligence of Guyanese and slanders them. It fails to take note of the thousands of persons who are not involved in underhand businesses.
It is also contrary to basic common sense. The evidence is clear that all of the sectors of the economy except gold have contracted for the first quarter of the year. Even though the economy continues to grow because of gold, it does not mean that there is more money in circulation because not all of the gold proceeds come back to Guyana and also much of the proceeds have to set off against increased expenses.
There is a myth about the impact of drugs money in the economy. Guyana does not produce cocaine. Guyana is a transshipment point which means that drug runners in Guyana get only a small fraction of the drugs which are transshipped from here. The rest finds itself back to the suppliers. This is basic common sense. Yet people have this idea that Guyana is floating on raft of drug money.
But those who do not want not to see the truth staring in their face will not do so. They will believe what they want to believe and see what they want to see even when they cannot see further than their noses.
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