KINGSTON, Jamaica – Federation had a swift demise. With hindsight we now know it could not work for us. CARICOM was a “feel-good” project of limited scope; the CSME is a reprise of a federal vision couched as a single economy. Over decades, powerful men invested their reputations but did no due diligence. CARICOM was faith. In a free market, “failure will out” but taxpayers are eternal and can be made to sustain failure ad infinitum. God bless Chris and Andrew for placing CARICOM on the agenda. Every year I do a piece but nothing sticks. CARICOM is okay, but what of CSME? Why do we want a union with small, poor, competing nations separated by miles of ocean? We do not see or speak to them and maybe don't like them? This has no precedent. Andrew speaks of suspending relations, but let's do a good job, not token and not be distracted from our key job to meet IMF targets. The devil with CSME is not the detail, it is overall feasibility for us. CARICOM is social — fine — CSME is business. Let's delink our economic future from this imperial construct. If we must work out our salvation in four years — we did not accomplish it in forty — we need focus. Take this CSME off our to-do list so we can focus on production, education, security, trade, and build prosperity. Got my “Jamaica First” bumper sticker? Take no calls from Georgetown, leave Trinidad alone, let CAL fly where it will, all our critical work is here. Job #1 is Jamaica, and we will catch up with CARICOM around 2024.
