Earlier we told you about the superbond holders harsh words to the government, and how the IMF hangs like spectre over the negotiations with the unions.
Well, this morning, the media asked the PSU president his thoughts on an IMF standby agreement. He rejected the IMF solution, and, like the government, advocated for homegrown solutions - but stated that the government simply does not have the political will to effect the kind that's truly needed.
Gerald Henry - President, PSU "There's a reason why, historically, no administration in the recent past, including this administration under different leadership, wanted to go the route of IMF, my research has shown that the IMF is the wrong direction to go, I think there has only been only two, as far as my research has shown, two successes when IMF gets involved and that required some very serious political will, and the one I'm talking about is the most recent one, Jamaica, and so I don't believe we'd want to go the route of IMF, we as public officers who know the system, know there is a home grown remedy, the government just does not have the political will to implement it, and it goes back to the whole issue of the reason we need campaign financing, to me, that's one of the main issues that I think they don't have the political will to implement it because we are looking at increasing your revenue, and increasing the revenue from the taxes that are owed by these millionaire businessmen who owe millions of dollars, you can't owe a million dollars in tax if you are not a millionaire, you can't owe two million dollars in tax if you are not a multi-millionaire, but they refuse to even entertain the thought of getting those taxes that are owed by these millionaires and so that is where we are with the home grown remedy, they don't want to go really home grown."
