An attack on the Middle-Class

But before I continue, there is an important distinction to make between the employed middle-class and the self-employed middle class. Such a distinction is irrelevant in other countries because everyone has to pay taxes, but in Trinidad and Tobago, you do what you want.

It is the employed middle-class who works and pays taxes, but it’s the entire middle-class with the greater purchasing power. The employed middle class provides most of the country’s production with their labour and then in turn use their wages to consume those same goods and services, thereby creating a functional economy. In order to spur sustainable economic growth, the middle class needs to be able to consume; and to do that, they need to see their incomes rise in line with the cost of living.

Notwithstanding their importance to the economy, the middle-class way of life is diminishing; leaving our society divided between the tiny wealthy elite - many of whom are self-employed, tax dodging business-people - and a sprawling proletariat - many of whom were formerly considered middle-class.

The middle-class serves as both a goal for lower classes to aspire to and then a springboard to the upper classes, but without education, the lower classes would never progress.

Full GATE funding is vital to our society, but I agree, it can only be for fully accredited institutions and ON LY at the undergraduate level.

The Prime Minister’s address to the nation last Sunday was designed to be a premonition for the upcoming budget presentation. It was nothing new; much of it we heard on the campaign trail. In summary: “UNC corrupt - Blame them for this”. The first part, I agree unstintingly; the second part, not entirely. I have been vocal about the anti-middle-class economic policies of this version of the People’s National Movement, which do nothing but protect the parasitic oligarchy. And I have no doubt that this year’s budget will provide further evidence to prove my suspicion that the PNM are being controlled by their financial backers in the Syrian/Lebanese community.

You see, when middle-class families can no longer afford to buy the goods and services that businesses are selling, it drags down the entire economy. That’s why these are the people the government needs to protect, not punish and continue dipping into their pockets after they work so hard to provide for themselves and their families. Instead, super (but not premium) gasoline is increased, proposals for taxing online purchases are pending, GATE is being cut across the board, and I would not be surprised if VAT is increased. Because of this attack, the rich have pulled away from the middle class, at the same time significantly increasing their relative political power. This dramatic change in power has distorted our political system. As a consequence of the rich being able to exert even more political influence, the views of the middle class now hold less political weight. The employed middle class, on its own, carries the non-oil aspect of our economy and yet, most of the economic policies are geared towards weakening their way of life. This budget is going to be an all-out attack on the employed middle-class; mark my words. I have nothing against anyone who wants to be their own boss, but I have a huge problem with these people robbing the country without anyone saying a word. Some lawyers and doctors, mechanics, taxi-drivers, and many sole proprietors may not be considered part of the parasitic oligarchy, but they leech just as much as the affluent political puppet masters by not paying taxes on their income.

The government needs to aggressively go after tax dodging business moguls and the self-employed, but I can assure you that there would be no plans from this government to recoup the millions that business people steal from the government in the form of unpaid taxes. And the budget is going to tell us that we can’t afford many things for our own people, while explaining the government’s commitment to support a filthy-rich Jamaican’s plan to build a country-exclusive resort in Tobago, so that the world’s elite can come mingle with each other in privacy, at our expense.

Jamaican reggae artiste, Kabaka Pyramid sings a powerful song that goes: “Well done, well done, Mr Politician Man. You’ve done a wonderful job ah tear down we country, demolition man. Well done, well done, [Ms] Politician [Lady], you’ve done such a great job selling out we country with yuh business plan.” I couldn’t have said it better myself.