Wah yuh think about de Budget?

Feb 01, 2026 Dem Boys Seh, Features / Columnists

(Kaieteur News) – Dem boys seh is Budget season again, and like mosquito after rain, everybody suddenly turn economist. So dem boys stop one gentleman on the road—shirt half-tuck, tie swinging like pendulum—and ask him plain and simple: “Bai, wha yuh think about the Budget?”

The man clear he throat, adjust he spectacles though he nah wearing any, and seh, “Well, when yuh examine the fiscal framework through the prism of marginal propensity to consume, yuh does realise immediately that the inflationary coefficient could destabilise aggregate demand.” Dem boys seh, all we hear was “prism” and “consume” and start to wonder if is Budget or cook-up rice he talking about.

He continue warming up now. “The real issue,” he seh, “is the lack of fiscal conservatism coupled with expansionary monetary posturing. Yuh can’t be pumping liquidity into the system while ignoring the velocity of money and the elasticity of consumer confidence.” Dem boys seh, we nod politely, though one of we nearly sprain he neck.

When dem boys ask if ordinary people gon feel relief, the man seh, “That depends on the redistribution matrix and whether the multiplier effect offsets the erosion caused by cost-push inflation.” Bai, dem boys seh, that sound like something yuh does catch if yuh stand in rain too long.

He then warn about “structural deficits, unsustainable debt-to-GDP ratios, and the peril of pro-cyclical expenditure.” Dem boys seh, by now the Budget sounding less like national plan and more like advanced algebra with feelings.

But the best part come when dem boys ask straight: “So yuh like it or nah?” The man pause, look into the distance like he watching GDP grow, and seh, “It’s neither good nor bad. It’s contextually nuanced within a macroeconomic continuum.” Dem boys seh, translation: he don’t know.

By the time he finish talking about stochastic variables, fiscal buffers, capital injections, and consumption smoothing, dem boys seh the ice cream vendor next to we raise he price—probably because of inflationary expectations.

Dem boys seh, if jargon could balance a Budget, we would be in surplus already. But until then, leh we remember: plenty big words does hide small answers, and sometimes a simple “things tight” does explain more than a whole lecture on marginal propensity to consume.

Talk half. Leff half.

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budget, consumer confidence, Dem Boys Seh, Economist

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