First the News. With the only news from the Tech World being stale news that was rumors now confirmed from the noise coming out of E3 (Electronics Entertainment Expo) as elucidated in my blog article entitled “Alternative Energy and Biofuels - Liberation from Fossil Fuels”, aside from the regular news feeds about the continuing oil leak from the exploded Deep Horizon Well off the coast of Louisiana, which occurred on Tuesday April 20th 2010, now leaking for the last eight (8) weeks and six (6) days, other small stories abound.
Such as the story about the turtle and his camera and the resulting YouTube debut as stated in the article “Sea tuirtle films self, becomes YouTube sensation”, published Wednesday Jun 16, 3:52 pm ET, MIAMI
Then there is Twitter being a hit in Japan after previous Social Networking sites failed to make a dent in their tech-obsessed markets as stated in the article “Twitter a hit in Japan as millions 'mumble' online”, published Friday Jun 18, 8:16 am ET By YURI KAGEYAMA, AP Business Writer, Yahoo News.
Google finally pulling out the big guns in the form of their much rumoured Google Chrome OS as stated in the article “Google Chrome OS Could shake up PC Market”, published Wednesday June 2 2010 by Jeff Bertolucci, Yahoo News, slated to debut this Fall (November here in Jamaica).
Speculation with regards to the future of the Netbook in the face of the onslaught from the Apple iPad eReader and other tablets that keep coming as stated in the article “Will tablets surpass Netbooks in two years?”, published Thursday June 17 2010 by Christopher Null, Technology Writer, Yahoo News.
This coming on the heels of another announcement of yet another tablet, this time the Samsung Galaxy as stated in the article “Samsung touts new tablet, smartphones”, published June 16, 2010 8:38 AM PDT, by Lance Whitney, CNET News - Wireless
Then thee is the usual news about Telecom Provider AT&T’s readiness as stated in the article “Is AT&T ready for the iPhone 4?”, published June 16, 2010 4:00 AM PDT by Marguerite Reardon, CNET News - Signal Strength as it relates to its over-ordered Apple iPhone 4.0 refresh as noticed in the article “Apple, AT&T get record number of iPhone orders”, published Thursday Jun 17, 12:19 am ET by PETER SVENSSON, AP Technology Writer, Yahoo News and confirmed in the video CNET News Buzz Report, aired Thursday June 17 2010 by Molly Wood, Executive Editor, CNET News.
A perfect setup for the coming clash of the Summer of 2010 between Google Android OS and Apple iPhone 4.0 as stated in the article “Android-iPhone Clash shaping up amid Pre-order Flood”, published Thursday June 17 2010 by Adam Dickter, newsfactor.com for Yahoo News.
Thus, as a Jamaican, the only thing left to gripe about would be the Jamaican Economy in the Aftermath of the Tivoli Gardens War (Hollywood, that title sound better, star?), specifically the revaluing dollar………..which was expected, but was not supposed to be occurring so fast. Not good, John Public surmises with a hint of nervousness.
Now to some, this gripe would seem a bit odd, as after all, with a revaluing dollar, the price of imports or anything made from materials imported would naturally begin to tumble as noted in the letter to the editor entitled “Jamaicans ignoring positives”, published Monday June 14 2010, by Carlin Cook, The Jamaica Gleaner.
So with people looking forward to lower prices on imported goods or goods made from raw material that are imported such as products from Mr. Matalon owned Wisynco Group as per advertisement on Sunday June 13th 2010 in the Sunday Gleaner, pg. A11 and thus an easing in the cost of living for the poorer classes in Jamaica, what could then be the problem with that?
Well, it would seem that there is a problem with that, as with the increasing confidence being displayed by Mr. Brian Wynter, Governor of the Bank of Jamaica by virtue of his actions as it relates to lowering the interest rates to single digit territory as stated in the article “Interest rate cut signals Bank of Jamaica optimism” published Sunday June 2010 by Sabrina Gordon, Reporter, The Jamaica Gleaner, due to the excess of US dollars in our economy
These US dollars are both from the IMF (International Monetary Fund) as well as from Multi-Lateral lending agencies, their is now a glut of US dollars in the local market to the point that it is causing our currency to revalue, which affects exports by making their “artificially” more expensive and thus unattractive to merchants abroad who naturally are looking for goods at cut rate prices.
To make it worse, the People’s Republic of China
This as the United States of America hardly does any exporting to the People’s Republic of China mostly exporting the People’s Republic of China “artificially” cheaper goods (as the United States of America claims) and the People’s Republic of China spend all of its US dollars earned, be it from Treasury Bills and exports to the United States of America on their Economy.
The People’s Republic of China spends mostly to build cheap coal-fired power stations and invest in Alternative Energy, weaning themselves from oil importation from the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and the Middle East and thus making their goods even cheaper, making the peg release pointless, as balance of trade is always in the People’s Republic of China
Further injury to insult is added when you consider the fact that the People’s Republic of China is a net exporter of Oil, Natural Gas and other by-products from Oil and you will realize why their growth is so rapid while the rest of the world is now just beginning to fall into Recession.
Score one for John Public on being correct on the money with regards to the prediction of the devaluation of the Yuan once the peg was removed as many forecast quite the opposite. Spoken here first!!
Thus with this obvious looming danger, what options are available? The most obvious answer would be to lower the cost of our manufacturing and goods produced for export by lowering the cost of inputs to production and manufacturing e.g. Electricity and Water and increase investment in non-traditional streams of foreign exchange revenue, such as Internet Gambling and Offshore Banking facilities
Weaning ourselves more quickly from the IMF and Multi-Lateral lending sources, this is both easily said and easily done!
Assistance in this from a financial point of view is already in place in terms of a lower interest rate spread coming from the Bank of Jamaica, albeit the Big Three (3) Commercial Banks have shown little interest in actually lowering their benchmark interest rates in step with that of the Central Bank, as they are still intoxicated by the good old days of record profits on over inflated and over value Government of Jamaica Bonds.
Additionally, the Banks need to coerce more people into seeing the Banks as their financial partner by encouraging them to save more and spend via their Debit and Credit Card facilities, thus keeping the local currency in a continuous loop from account to Bank account, effectively a Cashless Society Concept, which is very possible
The Credit Reporting Bill is now in place and what is now needed, is a CBD (Credit Bureau Database) built to the security specification of the Credit Reporting Bill as stated in the article “Credit rating bureau needed quickly - Wynter”, published Friday January 22nd 2010, The Daily Observer, by Alicia Roache, The Jamaica Observer.
This is achieved via a combination of advertising to encourage people to save more and thus renew their confidence in placing their money in Banks and Credit Unions, advertising which has already begun, as the Credit Unions have already begun advertisements jointly to encourage people to save more with their respective Credit Unions with the possibility of winning a cash prize of JA$1.75 million.
Banks and Credit Unions also need to encourage people to borrow loans for specific export related ventures, by making the process as easy as possible and soon to be made even easier with the implementation of the CBD (Credit Bureau Database), thereby creating a Credit History that follows you wherever you go, making it easy to borrow, which for the record is the core business of Banks and Credit Unions.
Encouraging the use of Mobile smart phones from Telecom Providers to carry out Financial Transactions without having to enter a physical Bank, as is possible with the app and free miniaturized sugar cube shaped Card Reader widget called Square as described in the article “Ideal for small businesses, Square iPhone app will change the way we shop”, Posted May 19, 2010 8:21am by Kathryn Swartz, Appolocious: Tech
It was developed by Twitter co-founder and Chairman, Jack Dorsey as stated in the article “Twitter co-founder launches new venture: Square”, published May 16 2010, Washington (AFP), The Jamaica Herald, available from Apple App Store App Store as well as in Google Android’s MarketPlace would be a great help, making it easy for people to keep their money in the Banks by creating a spending loop involving transaction executed with Debit or Credit Cards that are cashless
Thus the banks customers merely end up transferring cash between Debit and Credit Card accounts involving intra-Branch Monetary Transfers, inter-Branch Monetary Transfers and Inter-Bank Monetary Transfers on a common Platform, be it one based on Mobile smart phones using the Square App or increased usage of the ABM (Automated Banking Machines) to conduct transactions.
This reduces the cost of conducting financial Transactions by cutting back on the cost of operating Banks and aiding the Telecom Providers to retail more Mobile phones by giving customers a mobile smart phone upon which to conduct financial Transactions using Square as detailed in my proposal on my blog article entitled “CLARO and Square - The App of the Year and CLARO's Saviour”,
The cost of goods for export can be made cheaper from an engineering point of view by reducing the cost of Electricity being produced by JPS Co (Jamaica Public Service Company Limited) or via the introduction of increased competition into the Power Utility Company (PUC) Market, as evidenced by the arguments as stated in the article “Government, Opposition wrangle over Energy”, published Saturday April 3, 2010, the Jamaica Gleaner, The Jamaica Gleaner, followed up by further calls for Energy Sector Liberalization as stated in the article "Paulwell calls for number portability", published, Wednesday April 21, 2010, Daraine Luton, Senior Staff Reporter, The Jamaica Gleaner.
Later Senator Phillip Paulwell, Opposition Senator on Mining and Energy stated that “the current cost [Electricity and fuel] is astronomical, especially for businesses. What is needed at this time is competition in the sector,” as he stated in the article “'Follow my blueprint' - Paulwell pushed for break-up of JPS Monopoly”, published Friday April 30 2010, Mark Titus, Business Reporter, The Jamaica Gleaner.
All of which of course is document in my blog article entitled “PetroCaribe Trap - Does this mean that Energy Sector Liberalization will not occur?”
Already signs are in the making that this will soon occur in short order, as Senator James Robertson, Minister of Energy and Mining has finally realized the fact that either Energy Sector Liberalization or an increase in the efficiency in JPS Co Electricity Generation via the implementation of the use of LNG (Liquid Natural Gas) stated by the JPS Co as resulting in a 20% to 30% decrease in the Electricity bills of customers as stated in the article “Government eyes LNG cure for Energy problems”, published Wednesday June 16 2010 by Laura Redpath, Senior Staff Reporter, The Jamaica Gleaner.
This is needed to encourage Private Sector to begin its ambitious expansion plans and thus generate growth and employment, growth here being referred to as not only employment but also increased exports and foreign exchange inflows as stated in my blog article entitled “Alternative Ebergy and LNG - Is Energy Sector Liberalization Necessary?
Reduction in the cost of Electricity will translate to reduction in the cost of Water, another manufacturing input, as Water is produced and distributed using Electricity supplied by the Power Utility Company, JPS Co, with an improvement in the Collection, Storage and Distribution of Water from the various Catchments facilities.
Water Sector Liberalization, as strongly suggested in my blog article entitled “Water Security Policy and Water Sector Liberalization Needed to Avoid Drought” and the use of Solar Desalination from Seawater as a source of both potable Water for Agricultural and Domestic supply, as these supply lines of Water need to be separated in order to make farming profitable, Water being one of the major inputs.
A proposal for Water Sector Liberalization needs to be drafted and put into action.
In addition, The Bio-Fuel Industry in general, specifically as it relates to the production of Anhydrous Ethanol using sewage, and pyrolized organic waste from any organic source as stated in the article “Microbes to start making ethanol, chemicals”, published November 18, 2009 9:52 AM PST by Martin LaMonica, CNET News – Green Tech as well as the article “Microbe converts sludge to ethanol”, published Friday 11, December 2009, by Martin LaMonica, CNET News – GreenTech, the article “Wood-chip ethanol maker opens plant”, published October 15, 2009 7:50 AM PDT by Martin LaMonica, CNET News – Green Tech and the article “A Forest epidemic turns into Energy opportunity”, published April 7, 2010 2:04 PM PDT by Candace Lombardi, CNET News - Green Tech must be accelerated.
So too must be the acceleration of the development of Bio-Diesel as detailed in the article “Gene-altered bus make Bio-Diesel”, published Wed Jan 27, 1:31 pm ET by AFP, Yahoo News and the article “'Green' gas and Diesel get boost in biofuels grant”, published December 4, 2009 12:33 PM PST, by Martin LaMonica, CNET News - Green Tech and the article “Researchers coax bacteria to make Bio-Diesel”, published January 27, 2010 3:59 PM PST by Martin LaMonica, , CNET News - Green Tech.
Even the production of LPG (Liquid Petroleum Gas) and LNG (Liquid Natural Gas) as well as Hydrogen must be considered a part of the Energy mix along with the use of the Bloom Energy Server as stated in the article “Bloom Energy unveils fuel cell of the future”, published Thu Feb 25, 9:01 am ET by Glenn Chapman, AFP, Yahoo News.
This would not only have the effect of lowering the cost of transportation of goods and services, but it would also reduce our importation of oil and thus result in increased foreign exchange revenue.
This is if Jamaica could manage to make a surplus of the various above mentioned biofuels for the export market at cheap enough competitive prices being driven by Electron Economy or Electricity based Economy, with the Electricity being derived from non-Fossil Fuel based resources such as from Alternative Energy.
Expanding other non-traditional areas of Foreign Exchange Earning such as Internet Gambling, now being adopted in the United States of America as stated in the article “Congress may roll dice, legalizing Net Gambling” published May 18, 2010 11:14 PM PDT by Declan McCullagh , CNET News - Politics and Law and as pointed out in my blog article entitled “MNP, Supreme Ventures Limited, Internet Gambling and the Royal Flush of Smart phones” as well as in “Telecom Providers and Piracy - After the Fox and the French Connection”
France has also followed suit as stated in the article “France opens its market to online gaming”, published Tuesday Jun 8, 12:03 pm ET by AFP, Yahoo News which has decided to break with tradition of the past four hundred and seventy one (471) years on the say-so of King Francois I in 1539 AD just in time for the World Cup and remove the a State controlled monopolization of the national lottery and horse racing by the aptly named PMU, also potentially netting billions of euros in revenue.
Additionally, here in Jamaica with the advent of the World Cup in South Africa in 2010, this issue after the controversy surrounding the signing into law of the Bills related to Casino Gambling is now coming silently to the fore, as there is quiet murmuring with regards to Supreme Ventures latest baby, that of Sports Betting launched under the brand name, Just Bet as stated in the article “Just Bet Media Lyme”, December 13 2009, The Jamaica Herald, Pure Class, Pg. 10
It is now making its presence felt in its debut during the Greatest Show on Earth by doing healthy business for Supreme Ventures, as suggested by the article “Punter's Paradise”, published Thursday 17 2010 by Andre Lowe, Senior Staff Writer, The Jamaica Star.
Albeit not sufficient evidence, this resurgence in possibly the oldest past time, based on betting on Sports Events, and possibly later just Ordinary Events not related to Sports from the comfort of your own home via either your smart phone or even your television set.
This is when DSO (Digital Switch Over) is finally achieved as suggested in the article “Slow road to digital switch-over - Cable groups mum; Flow ahead but network coverage behind”, published: Saturday August 15, 2009 by Mark Titus, Gleaner Writer, The Jamaica Gleaner and for which I had argued in my blog article entitled “Piracy Solution via MNP, DSO and Legislation”.
An expansion of supreme Ventures latest baby into the Realm of Internet Gambling and Internet Casinos should net increased revenues in a similar dollar value to that of the Bauxite Industry, a taxation windfall for the Government of Jamaica as suggested in my blog article entitled “Supreme Ventures and Online Gambling - The Return of the King”.
Offshore Banking, much as is the case with the very stable Swiss Economy and hence the coined term “Swiss Banking”, would also be a good venture for the Big Three (3) Banks to enter, provided legislation can be tabled in time to facilitate their regulation and compliance with the Credit Reporting Bill and monitored via the Credit Reporting Database.
With the introduction of a Cashless Society via the implementation of a CBD (Credit Bureau Database) to make borrowing, saving and spending more seamless and on one common Platform using Mobile smart phones supported by the Wireless Broadband Networks of Telecom Providers.
Energy Sector Liberalization combined with improving the generating efficiency of the JPS Co, as well as expansion into non traditional sources of foreign exchange revenue would result in the growth so much desired.
The short term macroeconomic forest fire of a revaluing dollar and its effect on the Jamaica Economy and exports will be quenched and stabilized.
Thus the Jamaican Economy will on a steady path to growth, external factors, such as the ongoing Recession that is creating global markets that are soft to Jamaican exports not withstanding.
This is very necessary, as the devaluation of the Yuan against the US dollar spells doom for the Global Economic recovery effort and this should be of greater concern to Mr. Ralston Hyman in his next article.
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