Free Trade Zone Fallacy
“The past indicates the future” and those who “never learned from the lessons of history are bound to repeat it” so says two world renown leaders in their own rights.
Let us take a quick glimpse into current events within the context of the combined meaning of these old maxims, including defining what lies ahead for these isles in all its efforts to forge lasting investments or wealth and jobs creation for our people.
Briefly, the tourism industry and related businesses have gone south for two basic reasons: 1). It’s a natural victim of the regional contagion (Asian Crisis). 2.) We haven’t done anything of substance to stave off any further assault on the balance of business in this sector.
The $1.2 Billion local apparel industry has been and continues to be the full blown target of our detractors not necessarily for all the propped-up human rights abuses, but because the textile labor unions in California can’t stand the stiff competition it must endure from the Pacific’s Little David as a result of its well greased sense of complacency.
In fishing parlance, we’ve chosen to conveniently neglect our “fish in boat” in favor of the school of fish behind our boat that have decided to float and toy around with our live bait (Free Trade Zone) simply refusing to bite. Dusk is falling when we discovered that we’ve only been able to hook and land seven pieces of tuna (bonita). It’s time to head home fully aware that our catch won’t even pay for the cost of gasoline spent on this trip.
As we kick back recounting that day’s trip, we engage in hopeful though sorrowful discussions of the “what might have been” had the million of fish behind our boat taken a bite. Our ramblings centered on the preposition “if” as we drown our bad day at sea with more of the preposition “if”. We end that day with lots of “ifs” and about the only other thing that we caught at sea were more “ifs” to soothe our wounded ego. Realistically, all the combined “ifs” will never pay for planned family expenses and not when that day’s catch can’t even defray the cost of gasoline.
We liken the preposition “if” to that of the free trade zone measure or the millions of fish in the water behind our boat. How unfortunate that we view this measure as the pen-ultimate answer to industry substitutes saddling it with another “feel good” though redundant expression that has been around for more than the better part of the past 50 years of “economic diversification”. It’s the usual imposition of ad hoc political answers to serious economic problems. And the non-experts in public office aren’t done with their meaningless speeches either. When would we learn at least the basics of lasting public policies?
