Rubens you said to me "Some of your thoughts are highly...

< Previous | Home | Next >

Reply to Msg 4340

Rubens you said to me "Some of your thoughts are highly theoretical and mostly conceptual."
I'm usually accused of the opposite, as I probably should have been in this case. I think that most people would argue that it is the idea of an "economic model" that is "conceptual" when it comes to Haiti.

When someone says, as I did, that we must come up with specific solutions to specific problems, that is not "conceptual," it is pragmatic.

As I don't have the data from which to create concrete solutions, I did not offer any. Besides, although with my knowledge of culture and history, I could help an economist decide what would or would not work in Haiti, I would never attempt to come up with a national economic solution.

I always felt that one of the problems with Haitian culture is that everybody is an expert at everything.

I myself am not an economist and would not be so pretentious as to try to generate solutions for our pitiful national economy.

b. You said: "Since the inception of the UN many experts have published methods, models and plans to turn Haiti's economy around."
First, your statement here supports my argument against "models." Since what you want is for us to come up with "economic models" I'm pretty sure that right now you are not too happy with yourself for supporting my opinion with that statement.

Second, it is so sad that when I said a group of intelligent people you immediately equated that with UN foreigners.

Foreigners will never find our solutions for us unless it is in their own best interest to do so. However, usually when it is in their best interest it is not in ours. Furthermore, and most importantly, solutions generated by foreigners a more likely to fail because they have no true understanding of how the Haitian mind works.

Knowledge of the intricacies of a nation's superstructure (their deep cultural beliefs) is fundamental to understanding what will or will not work in any country.

When I said "intelligent people" I meant Haitians of different educational background who can come up with concrete solutions.

For a country like Haiti, that means seriously thinking out of the box.
c. You said "China is wealthy in natural resources; not the case for Haiti."
Here you're using what's going on in another nation to analyze Haiti.

As I said before, these economies found what works for them and we need to find what works for Haiti.

d. You mentioned GSPARE as an economic model that you came up with:
I did not look at your model because I don't have the proper data that would let me decide whether or not anything in it would work for Haiti.

However, from this post, I noticed something about GSPARE that left me perplexed.

Maybe you could help me to understand.

Correct me if I am wrong, but you said that you (GSPARE) would create revenue by reinvesting tax dollars.

I get how that might work for many nations, but doesn't Haiti's unemployment rate and overall poverty make that impossible?

I could be very wrong about this, but from what I understand, in Haiti about 85 percent of the population is either unemployed or employed at salaries that are not really taxable.

If that's correct, please tell me where will your tax dollars come from. If you are thinking that it will all come from the elite, I can tell you my friend that what your plan will do is to simply create another very lethal problem.

This was an honest question, and perhaps you can answer it for me.

Linda, October 21 2007, 7:17 AM

Topic: HAITI'S ECONOMY/ HOW TO IMPROVE IT!

Start a NEW topic or,
Jump to previous | Next Topic >

< Previous | Home | Next >

Messages in this topic

< Previous | Home | Next >