Alternative Energy Contract for JPS Co Streetlight Upgrade Coming - JPS Co Winsome Callum's Bourne Supremacy

 JPS Co (Jamaica Public Service Company) Corporate Communications Manager Winsome Callum is certainly one chatty lady. After revealing in a Press Release that JPS co was effectively going to be deploying smartmeters, just that some of them were not activated as analyzed in my blog article entitled “JPS Co New Digital Meters are all Smart Meters - Winsome Callum's A Simple Twist of Fate”, she is again in the news.

This time it is for statements related to yet another reason why most Jamaicans still think themselves overcharged, despite the  recommendation of J. Paul Morgan, Head of the JPS Co Review Team as per my blog article entitled “JPS Co cleared on Digital SmartMeters but chastized on 10-year backbilling - Future Plans from the Penguins of Madagascar”.

In the article “Day-Burning Street Lights Costing JPS”, published Sunday November 20, 2011, Gary Spaulding, Senior Staff Reporter, The Jamaica Gleaner, she conceded too that streetlights, whose bill is paid for by the Local Government arm of the Government of Jamaica, are one even in the daytime, wasting taxpayers money, quote: “We get reports every single day about malfunctioning street lights which is why it is difficult to respond to a general statement. There is a response mechanism where once the street lights are reported, they are logged and assigned, but I am not in a position to say what percentage are addressed within a prescribed period”

Clearly aware of the problem but not its scope, her further statements to the Sunday Gleaner are more revealing, quote: “Day-burning lamps indicate a failed/malfunctioning photocell. The photocells control the on/off function and are designed to fail in the "safe mode" that is to stay on, rather than to lose the service of the lamp completely.”

So the photocells need to be fixed. Straightforward GOJ contract to upgrade streetlights photocells and fix and replace bulbs with more efficient Fluorescent or LED (Light Emitting Diode) bulbs, thus necessitating that my article should naturally end here.

But what about the complete solarization of these streetlights, that is to say put them on Alternative Energy power sources, be it Solar Panels or Mini Wind Turbines, meanwhile making money from the excess being sold back to the JPS Co Grid?

Folks, I smell the coming of a HUGE Government of Jamaica contract…….

This as we are now moving towards a new Alternative Energy Paradigm is now possible as Minister Clive Mullings of the Ministry of Energy, Mining and Telecommunications has made changes to the Energy Sector that should see coming of competition as described in my blog article entitled “Ministry of Energy Clive Mullings alters the JPS Co License for Energy Sector Liberalization - Jamaica and The Sun Salutes You”.

Possibly a means by which Google as a FDI (Foreign Direct Investor) or a Local Investor may provide Residential Solar Power to the Government of Jamaica Local Government as per my blog article entitled “Google invests US$75 million in Residential Solar PUC - Aliens in future Energy Market Shakeup”? My fingers are crossed, as an islandwide contract seems very likely here, in this JPS Co Corporate Communications Manager Winsome Callum’s The Bourne Supremacy (2004).

LIME goes FTTH like Verizon's FiOS - Free ADSL after FTTH Mass Adoption

I know I have not been updating my blog of late folks, so please forgive me. I am now gainfully employed as a CSA (Customer Care Associate) at ACS-Xerox working under the Amazon .co.uk Account. So you know who to contact if you want to purchase something from Amazon. So look out for future article making reference to my work at Amazon as well as about any new Services being launched by Amazon.

Seriously though, the news has been rather slow since the my last blog article entitled “Blu-Ray debut of 1TB Storage coming as their popularity ramps up – Denyque Summer Love of Physical Copies”. So I am pleased to announce that Telecom Provider LIME has decided to take my advice as nicely written out in my blog article entitled “LIME look to the future with new Services - Video and Audio Friends with Benefits in the Dead Zone” and go FTTH (Fiber To The Home).

In case that appears to be a mouthful of an acronym, that is basically a fancy pants version of Telecom Provider Verizon’s FiOS service. Effectively Fiber Optic Service to the Home, with speeds capable of 100MBps and scalable in the future up to 1GBps as reported in the article “Confirmed: #LIME launches 100 Mbps 'Fibre to the Home' in Rhyne Park, St. James”, published Friday, November 11, 2011 at 12:30pm by On the Ground News Reports.

LIME Managing Director, Garry Sinclair gets melodramatic, quote: “This technology will revolutionize the in-home internet experience. Our suite of solutions is based on the new, cutting edge Fiber to the Home technology which provides homeowners with improved service, convenience, comfort and security.”

The service will make it debut in the form of an affordable 12MBps service codenamed Ignite priced at a decent JA$2400.00 and scalable up to 100MBps. The initial guinea pigs with be the residents of the upscale communities of Rhyne Park Community in St. James and Morris Meadows community located in St. Catherine.

No surprise there, as who else could afford Fiber Optic to their house that these well heeled individuals. Service goes great with their recent ramp up for Streaming IPTV with Avail-TVN providing the content as described in my blog article entitled “LIME parent CWC partners with Avail-TVN to provide IPTV Streaming Service - War of The Worlds against Netflix”.

Even higher speeds are possible, as Telecom Provider Verizon has demonstrated with a 1TB demo with NEC as per my blog article entitled “Verizon, NEC and the Dawn of the Terabit Age - Audia's FlashDance and Surf's Up”.

Not to mention a house controlled by AI (Artificial Intelligence) while delivering all telecom services over a High Speed Data Service again to draw words from LIME Managing Director, Garry Sinclair, quote: “Our aim is to make homes ‘smarter with fiber’ by using the speed and superior quality provided by this technology to deliver our landline, internet and entertainment products, demonstrating further that LIME is truly for living, everyday”.

So how is Telecom Provider LIME able to make the price so low? Simple really.

They had laid Fiber Optic Cables as far back as 2002AD in a project to interconnect their Landline exchanges which still run on all-digital DMS SuperMode Switches with Fiber Optic so as to replace their ageing Copper Cable Backhaul system. But since then demand for Voice Telecoms services such as Landline and even Mobile has been falling, partly due to the Recession and partly due to shift to Data Services which can do Voice as VoIP and Data simultaneously.

This as evidenced by Telecom Provider LIME having to increase its Rental Fee for Landline and the technology behind how HomeFone XPress, which is my idea from 2003AD, works as noted in my blog article entitled “LIME Landline Rental Increase and HomeFone XPress - The Dead Zone is the Sum of All Fears”. Thus this is the Dead Zone Theory that Telecom Provider LIME used to harass poor little Lindsworth Deer at C&W, then a Network Maintenance Technician (2001 to 2004) as chronicles in my blog article entitled “Telecom Providers and SMS - The Dead Zone”.

So now that Voice Traffic has declined, this leaves lots of spare unused capacity on their Fiber Optic Backhaul. Thus the Engineers, most likely begrudgingly agreeing with the Senior Management, have decided to utilize this spare capacity to provision another service that can provide an equivalent service to that of Coaxial Cable based Triple Play Provider FLOW for comparable prices.

Like I said simple Really.

But it has implications for ADSL service, which may end up being free like my request for SMS, EDGE and GPRS to be free as per my blog article entitled “Telecom Provider LIME and M2M Services - Free SMS and EDGE for the Caribbean to Foster Regional Integration” if FTTH achieves mass adoption, if the prices are good for 100MBps speeds.…..fire to Ignite another article folks on the potential usages of such “free” ADSL!!

Blu-Ray debut of 1TB Storage coming as their popularity ramps up – Denyque Summer Love of Physical Copies

Self-preservation is the first law of nature.

S. Butler, Remains (c. 1675)

Sony in collaboration with the Researchers from Tohoku University in Japan have developed a new type of Blu-Ray that can hold up to 1TB of data, a step up from the 25GB limit on the technology as noted in the article “Japanese Working on a Disk 1000 Times Larger Than Blu-Ray”, published MAY 24, 2010 BY RYAN FLEMING, DigitalTrends and the article “Sony’s Blu-Ray Replacement to Store 1TB on a Single Disc”, published JULY 27, 2010 BY RYAN FLEMING, DigitalTrends.

This was a hot summer discovery that went unnoticed due to the then unpopularity of Blu-Ray Discs because of the high price of Blu-Ray Players and disc titles. Curiously, I also did a blog article entitled “Netflix & the Death of Blu-Ray - Rise of the Machines meets Chicken Run” on the predictions of the waning popularity of DVD and Blu-Ray, which I suspected to be false, as people still have a preference for watching movies in a stored format as opposed to streaming via Web TV or IPTV Streaming options such as Netflix.



That blog article drew upon the statistics of analyst NPD which had indicated that 78% of people still watch movies using DVD as stated in the article  “Blu-Ray Discs's New Format: The Old School DVD Discs ”, published Wednesday, April 20, 2011 at 6:40 pm By Ed Oswald,The Technologizer. At that time Blu-Ray penetration was also very weak for the aforementioned reasons.

The effect of DVD piracy that is forcing movie studios to go 3D, both in the Developed countries such as the US of A and Developing World countries such as Jamaica is ample proof of the staying power of physical storage media to watch movies as opposed to streaming and the expense of paying for Broadband Internet as stated in my blog article entitled “Palace Amusement and the 3D Movies - Lady Gaga's 3D Mui Mui and Dolche & Gabbana”.

Looks like my analysis in those articles may require a revisit on my part. This as recent statistics released in a report by Digital Entertainment Group indicates that DVD is now on the decline and Blu-Ray sales seeing a significant uptick in popularity during the Third Quarter of 2011AD as stated in the article “Blu-ray software sales finally start accelerating”, published OCTOBER 31, 2011 BY MIKE FLACY, DigitalTrends.

The statistics tell the state of Blu-ray’s rally:

1.      58% increase in Blu-ray sales in the Third Quarter of 2011AD when compared to the same period in 2010AD

2.      52% increase in the number of persons sporting a Blu-Ray player in the Third Quarter of 2011AD when compared to the same period in 2010AD

3.      The total number of Blu-Ray players is thirty three million five hundred thousand (33,500,000)in the Third Quarter of 2011AD

4.      Five million (5,000,000) of HDTV capable television sets sold in the Third Quarter of 2011AD

5.      The total number of HDTV capable television sets stands at seventy million (70,000,000)

Please note Blu-Ray players includes Microsoft  XBox 360 and the Sony  Playstation 3, which are also capable of IPTV and Web TV Streaming as noted in my blog article entitled “Netflix coming to Latin America - Fantastic Four Rise of the Silver Surfer”.

Streaming IPTV and Web Tv, if anything, is more to affect Cable Providers and Free-to-Air Broadcasters as noted in my blog article entitled “Cable Providers secretly mull unbundling their cable channels - Google TV has Customers Tangled A La Carte” and the article “LIME parent CWC partners with Avail-TVN to provide IPTV Streaming Service - War of The Worlds against Netflix”.

Physical Storage media, be it Discs or Hard Drives, will still continue to hold their own as originally argued in my blog article entitled “Netflix & the Death of Blu-Ray - Rise of the Machines meets Chicken Run”. Especially as technology advances as noted at the start of this article, point to such Physical storage media having sizes in the 1TB region or larger and viewable without paying for Broadband Internet.

Sony and Tohoku University in Japan are betting big on developing increased storage capacity based around cheaply available Titanium Oxide to make higher density Blu-Rays and Lasers that work at higher frequencies to read these higher density discs at faster speeds. No doubt such Super Blu-Ray players will have faster DSP (Digital Signal Processing) Processors.

Possibly too, using the ScOC (Super Computer on a Chip) that are the expected results of the IMB-3M collaboration to develop the adhesive to make this possible by 2013AD as predicted in my blog article entitled “IBM and 3M to develope adhesive for Iso-Linear Processor - Rihanna's Umbrella for Intel's SuperComputer on a Chip”.

So the rise in the popularity of 25GB capable Blu-Ray and the wane of4GB capable DVD is not surprising, even in a Recession. This kind of spending was last observed pre-Recession in 2008AD and may indicate people spending to enjoy themselves more at home and sit out what increasingly is appearing to be a protracted Recession or even a Double Dip Recession, Denyque Summer Love Style.

This is if the EU Deal as recorded faithfully in my blog article entitled “EU Debt Deal Reached on Wednesday October 27 2011 - Austerity measures for sustained Recovery” falls through and fails to get the backing of the People’s Republic of China.

Video Calling Standards for Cross-Platform Video Calling – Beyonce and Lady Gaga VideoPhone Requiem

O ye who lead,

Take heed!

Blindness we may forgive, but baseness we smite.

William Vaughn Moody, An Ode in Time of Hesitation

Video Calling appears to be on track to hit the predicted milestone of twenty nine million (29,000,000). This statement is based on projections by  Juniper Research published in October 2010AD as stated in the article “Mobile Video Calling to hit 29 million users by 2015”, published October 12, 2010 9:10 AM PDT by Don Reisinger, CNET News - The Digital Home and “Smart phone Video Calling adoption stymied: Juniper”, published Tuesday October 12, 4:28 pm ET, AFP, Yahoo! News.

Chatroulette, thus far the only Video Calling theme Social Network, is set to get a boost from this coming crush of Video Calling as prognosticated in my blog article entitled “Chatroulette, FaceTime and Smartphone Video Calling - The Thomas Crown Affair”.

Being the Fastest Rising Search Term on Google’s Zeitgeist List for 2010 as per the article “Chatroulette, iPad lead Google's Zeitgeist 2010”, published December 9, 2010 10:42 AM PST by Don Reisinger, CNET News - The Digital Home did not hurt either, as I myself saw this on my blog with a lot of search spikes for this VERY SAME article.

Earlier in 2010AD, the Apple iPhone 4 set the standard for Video Calling on a smartphone with the introduction of FaceTime. FaceTime marked the first true integration of a Video Calling Platform tailored uniquely for smartphones as per my blog article entitled “Apple iPhone 4.0 and Video Calling - FaceTime sets the standard”. 

The Apple iPhone 4S has been a modest improvement on Video Calling with better Front and Rear Facing HD Cameras as noted in my blog article entitled “Apple iPhone 4S is a hit and the Apple iPod may get an upgrade - Steve Jobs Opus Major” and my Geezam Blog article entitled “Apple iPhone 4S Post Mortem – Siri Voice Assistant and iMessage Rock”.

It seems though that FaceTime has not been made possible over Telecom Provider AT&T’s Network via the iOS 5.0 update. Strangely Skype has this privilege since June 2010AD as per the article “Skype for iPhone now support 3G, but free ride's ending”, published June 2 2010, by Ben Patterson, Yahoo! News and as noted in my blog article entitled “Skype and the Videophone - The Apple of my eye is FaceTime”.

Telecom Provider CLARO in Jamaica, before being gobbled up by Telecom Provider Digicel on Friday April 11^th 2011AD attempted to capitalize on Video Calling in the Apple iPhone. But they did very little advertising of its Video Calling capabilities.

Additionally, statistics from Analyst InStat and ABI Research in 2010AD indicate that more and more devices are coming pre-built with Wi-Fi (IEEE 802.11n) as stated in the article “Wi-Fi smart phones to dominate”, published March 23, 2010 3:01 AM PDT by Marguerite Reardon, CNET News - CTIA 2010 and the article “More people buying Wi-Fi enabled devices”, published May 4, 2010 10:03 AM PDT by Lance Whitney CNET News – Wireless.

This puts Telecoms Providers that provide Wireless Broadband via proprietary 3G, 4G LTE (Long Term Evolution) and WiMaX 4G Mobile (IEEE 802.16d, e) on their guard as evidenced from my Geezam Blog article entitled “Crouching LIME Huawei E586 Mi-Fi – Hidden Dekal Wireless Dragon”!

So the future of Video Calling here in Jamaica appears to be via Municipal Wi-Fi (IEEE 802.11n) Networks such as Wayne Chen and Lee’s family owned Dekal Wireless and Nubian-1 Tech Services Limited via Laptops (now UltraBooks, their eventual replacement!!), smartphones and Tablets.

Remember folks, the NetBook is already extinct!!!

Smartphones sporting proprietary 3G, 4G LTE (Long Term Evolution) and WiMaX 4G Mobile (IEEE 802.16d, e) Radios will also be popular, but less so than the already ubiquitous and IEEE (Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers) Open Architecture Standard already popular with Laptops, UltraBooks, smartphones and Tablets.

The same is also true in the US of A, as our American counterparts are most likely to make Video Calling more popular now that:

1.      Most smartphones sport a front-facing camera

2.      Wireless Broadband Speeds are getting faster, suitable for clear Video Calling

3.      Wireless Broadband Prices will get cheaper as Telecom Providers migrate to faster 4G LTE Networks

4.      3G, 4G LTE and WiMaX 4G Mobile Networks begin to support technology that allows Handover to Municipal Wi-Fi (IEEE 802.11n) as recorded in my blog article entitled “KDDI's Broadband WiMax and Wi-Fi Municipal Network - Ruckus's Japanese Flight of the Navigator”

5.      Spectrum freed up from the Analog Television DSO (Digital Switch Over) in 2009AD can be used for Municipal Wi-Fi (IEEE 802.11n) as recorded in my blog article entitled “Telecoms and White Spaces - A Man for All Seasons and the Big Bang Theory”

Throw in the fact that you can “steal” Wi-Fi (IEEE 802.11n) from Open Networks as noted in my Geezam Blog article entitled “Crouching LIME Huawei E586 Mi-Fi – Hidden Dekal Wireless Dragon” and you can see the appeal of Wi-Fi (IEEE 802.11n).

So what is needed to make Video Calling really take off?

Common Video Calling Standards, much as there is a need for common IM (Instant Messaging) Standards, which was my recommendation post the great BB Messenger Outage of October 2011AD as STRONGLY suggested in my blog article entitled “Apple iPhone 4S and Apple iMessage - Timeline for Standardization of Instant Messaging”.

This as there is a smorgasbord of IM apps and programs for smartphones, Laptops and Tablets, but no common stand that allows them to talk to each other i.e. Yahoo Messenger, MSN, Skype, Fring, OoVoo, etc do not talk seamlessly to each other as noted in my blog article entitled “Apple and FaceTime - BladeRunner and Beyonce and Lady Gaga's Video Phone”.

So as I had recommended in the case of the Blackberry Messenger and Email failure, I would again recommend seamless secure Cross-Platform standard to allow these Video Calling Platforms and all up and coming Video Calling Platforms to be able to talk to each other.

It would also guarantee Video Calling Redundancy for users of one proprietary Video Calling Network, should in case their proprietary Networks fail e.g. FaceTime fails, they can re-route traffic over Server used by competitors to guarantee the five 9’s i.e. 99.999% uptime.

A good gesture among the varied Video Calling Program and app makers to make a clear break from the locked in proprietary models of PC and embrace the Developer driven models of UltraBooks, smartphones and Tablets in this “Post-PC Era”, courtesy of Beyonce and Lady Gaga Video Phone.

Cribbing from myself: Suggesting strongly that the Telecoms and IT boffins ironing out IM  and Video Calling Standards, with the declining usage of SMS and MMS and the rise of M2M (Machine-to-Machine) Communications, free SMS subsidized by increased Paid M2M Traffic.

An inevitability as described in my blog article entitled “Telecom Provider LIME and M2M Services - Free SMS and EDGE for the Caribbean to Foster Regional Integration”.

Rise of King Tobacco threatens Agriculture for Food – Vybz Kartel Hot Grabba killing Marijuana Farming

Statistics are like alienists – they will testify for either side

F. H. La Guardia, In Liberty, May 1933

Jamaican Agriculture is in serious Trouble, despite the 24% increase in crop production and 14% overall growth in the entire Agriculture Sector for the Second Quarter of 2011 when compared to the Second Quarter of 2010AD as per the article “Jamaican crop production up 24 per cent”, published Monday, May 02, 2011, The Jamaica Observer.

 No, not for a lack of investment as the Chinese are gung-ho about it. This as evidenced by the recent signing of the Memorandum of Understanding with the People’s Republic of China for cooperation on Agriculture with US$3.288 million bars of silver thrown in for good measure as stated in the article “Jamaica, China sign grant agreements, MOU for agricultural support”, published Thursday, September 22, 2011, The Jamaica Observer.

Neither is it for a lack of Bipartisan support, as PNP’s spokesperson on Agriculture, Senator Roger Clarke, has pledged his support to initiatives put on by the JLP Minister of Agriculture, Senator Robert Montague as mentioned in the article “Clarke pledges non-partisan support for agriculture”, published Monday, October 03, 2011 BY ALICIA SUTHERLAND Observer staff reporter, The Jamaica Observer. 

Rather, it is because Jamaican Farmers are increasingly choosing to grow Tobacco instead of crops for food as stated in the article “Jamaica: Not giving up on Tobacco”, published Sunday October 2, 2011, by Gary Spauldings, The Jamaica Gleaner.

This as Tobacco fetches upwards of JA$8,000 per pound, as evidenced by a Rural Agriculture Development Authority (RADA) Study compiled in 2011AD that tracked the progress of the Tobacco Industry over a two (2) year period:

1.      It grows in almost any soil type with little needs for cultivation and maintenance, as the plant itself is a weed

2.      The dried leaves can be stored for long periods

3.      It is lightweight and easily compressible

4.      The demand for the product is high and can be readily be made into end products fetching a higher price without having to sell their crop to Carrerras Group of Companies

5.      The level of expertise required is very low, as most of the farmers have been growing the product for less than two (2) years

More interesting statistics:

1.      The Tobacco Industry is valued at JA$397 million.

2.      Gross earnings per acre is approximately JA$1.28 million.

3.      Average Gross Earning per Tobacco farmer is just under JA$693,000

Yes, you read that right folks.

Growing Tobacco is really more lucrative than growing Marijuana (Cannabis Sativa) as stated in an earlier article entitled “Tobacco worries - Jamaica in treaty contravention”, published Sunday September 18, 2011 by Gary Spauldings, The Jamaica Gleaner. The curious fact that caught my eye, as Tobacco, known among the youth of the community of Milk River, Clarendon where I live, is called “Grabbba”.

It is often mixed with Marijuana (Cannabis Sativa) and smoked, which may explain the name (Declaimer: I don’t smoke nor drink alcohol!!). That this simple weed is beating out Marijuana (Cannabis Sativa) cultivation, which by the way is still illegal in Jamaica, speaks to the irony of the legality of growing and selling Tobacco, when BOTH are in fact narcotics with similar levels of addictiveness.

Its excessive cultivation puts Jamaica in contravention of the WHO (World Health Organization’s) FCTC (Framework Convention on Tobacco Control), a treaty to the UN (United Nations) to which the government of Jamaica has been signatory since 2005AD. Thus the Government of Jamaica needs to control the growth of Tobacco, making sure, like sugar cane used for the manufacture of Rum that it is under the control of Carrerras Group of Companies, makers of several brands of Cigarettes such as Rothmans and Craven A.

Carrerras Group of Companies can then follow through on the plan to make e-Cigarettes as suggested in my blog article entitled “Carerras and e-cigarettes - THC Thanks You for Smoking The Next Big Thing”, as it would appear with “Hot Grabba” killing Marijuana (Cannabis Sativa) production, Tobacco production may be seeing a renaissance.

Thus controlling it is essential. Otherwise not only will Jamaica still be in breach of the WHO FCTC, but we may inadvertently starve to death as farmers stop seeing crops for food production as being lucrative and decided to cultivate tobacco, as the Tainos did before the conquistadors killed them off with hard farm labour. 

EU Debt Deal Reached on Wednesday October 27 2011 - Austerity measures for sustained Recovery

All service is the same with god,

With God, whose puppets, best and worst,

Are e: there is no last nor first.

R . Browning, Pippa Passes

The EU (European Union) has finally reached a debt deal that will see most of the major EU nations including Greece, being helped by a boost to the  EFSF (European Financial Stability Facility) from EU$440 billion to EU$1 trillion as reported by Reuters in the article “Euro deal leaves much to do on rescue fund, Greek debt”, published Thursday October 27 2011 3:44PM EDT by Luke Baker and Julien Toyer, Reuters.

Which to my politically sanitized ears, initially sounded like an European Version of Jamaica’s FINSAC (Financial Sector Adjustment Company) and JDX (Jamaica Debt Exchange) rolled into one as stated in the article “Bare-bones EU debt deal news enough for buyers”, published Wednesday October 26, 2011 7:23pm EDT By Chuck Mikolajczak, Reuters.

Details, however, are beginning to flesh out today, Thursday October 27^th 2011AD. This fund, aptly named the EFSF (European Financial Stability Facility), was eventually boosted to EU$1 trillion (US$1.4 trillion) and includes conditionality’s such as:

1.      EU Bloc countries recapitalizing their Banks

2.      Banks and large holder of Greek Government Bonds agreeing to take a 50% profit cut on their Bonds

However, the EFSF is financed by EU Bloc Bonds as opposed to individual countries, so this is essentially borrowing to pay off Debts that Banks among the PIIGS (Portugal, Italy, Ireland Spain and Germany) and Greece were exposed. This New Deal, as I like to call it, reduced the Greek Debt by some EU$100 billion, a reduction of the ratio of Debt to GDP (Gross Domestic Product) to 120% from a previous high of 160%.

Sustainable Debt?

Greek Prime Minister George Papandreou after the Brussels Meeting on Wednesday October 26, 2011 seems to think, quote:  “The debt is absolutely sustainable now. Greece can settle its accounts from the past now, once and for all.”

Naturally, the stock markets are happy, as the plan involves the banks doing something they should have been doing from a long time ago: making money the old fashioned way via Loans and borrowing instead of profits riding on Government Paper, such as those from the Greek Economy, which was set to default.

This Greek bailout, by the way, sounds an awful lot like our JDX (Jamaica Debt Exchange) , a personal opinion of mine as well as that of Economist Keith Collister as stated in the article “Greek debt crisis solution increasingly resembles Jamaica Debt Exchange”, published Sunday, July 24, 2011 BY KEITH COLLISTER, The Jamaica Observer .

UK Guardian commentator Mark Weisbrot Co-Director of the Center for Economic and Policy Research , in Washington, DC , even drew for the actions of the Jamaican Government and their approach in using the JDX connection and even suggested the very same thing with caveats as recorded in the article “Jamaica's crippling debt crisis must serve as a warning to Greece”, published Friday 22 July 2011 18.32 BST by Mark Weisbrot, The UK Guardian.

This time around, Minister of Finance Senator Audley Shaw deserves all the credit, as he had suggested this very same idea at an Interview at Bloomberg Headquarters in New York on Tuesday September 27^th 2011AD as noted in the article “Greece should pattern Jamaica Debt Exchange - Finance Minister”, published Wednesday September 28,2011 7:20pm, RJR News Online.

As usual, there is more to this simple scaling up of the Fund than meets the eye, as noted by equity strategist at Credit Swisse in Sydney, Damien Boey, quote: “While the headlines look good, the devil is in the details. We don't actually know how they are planning to increase the bail-out fund size from 440 billion euros to a trillion. On top of that, there are some questions as to whether one trillion euros in itself is enough.”

So where the funds are to come from are still unanswered concerns. Ditto too, if EU$1 trillion is enough, a figure that mirrors the bail-out figure of US$1 trillion borrowed from The People’s Republic of China to bail out the US Economy. 

So most likely, the EU Bloc may be running the People’s Republic of China to borrow more money. Like the US has done. No doubt the People’s Republic of China President Hu Jintao will be eager to lend, as the stability of the European Union, their second Largest customer, is of greatest importance.

The long term solution?

Simon Henry, Royal Dutch Shell Chief Financial Officer, put it bluntly, quote: “Europe's macroeconomic position can only recover and the sovereign debt crisis can only be addressed through underlying economic growth. We do not see the European Union creating the conditions for that, in fact quite the opposite.” Productivity in the Private Sector.

Hopefully the actions of the EU can be achieved and they will follow through with Austerity Measures as per my blog article entitled “EU, USA and the Second Recession - Economist Dennis Chung's Andromeda and The Long Night”. This before Peak Oil is scheduled to occur in 2015AD as stated in my blog article entitled “Alternative Energy and the Caribbean - Peak Oil in 2015 and The Day After Tomorrow”.