One of the many ways in which they seek to do so is to seize and exercise political power, either directly or through the use of willing and easily corrupted surrogates taken from amongst the ranks of the poor.
Quite naturally the wealthy, having seized political power, will have their ‘errand boys and girls’ enact laws which favour them.
It is very interesting to note that as far back as the year 1814, an American writer by the name of John Taylor made and recorded the observation that “when the rich plunder the poor, it is slow and legal”.
The combined ownership of both economic and political power by the wealthy few is ALWAYS a lethal combination.
Whichever route they choose to exercise their ‘control’, the ever widening disparity inevitably results in some form of strife, which may lead to violence and, eventually, revolution. In other words economic inequality is always a source of instability, and, as the gap widens the people look for a leader to take matters forward and help them to overthrow the oligarchy.
Quite interestingly, people have always chosen that route as their first option. It is only when they cannot find such a leader, or when they have been pushed so far, and matters have reached the point of being utterly unbearable, that they (The People) turn to mass uprisings as the way to strike back.
Today, in this fair land of ours, as we struggle with the problems of development in general, and those of the ever expanding levels in the type and numbers of crime in particular, it would be well for those in government to pay some attention to the problems of unemployment, income inequality and public disaffection occasioned by the political antics of office holders who have proven to be nothing more than outrageous liars, deceivers, bobolists, and self-serving practitioners of naked nepotism.
We of this newspaper warn them that designing and implementing policies which benefit the few at the expense of the many ultimately leads to social and economic disasters, and it is always the poor people who end up suffering the most. The economic and financial disaster of 2008 is but one case in point.
Let us learn from the experiences and teachings of those who have walked the roads of development of peoples and countries near and far. Right here at home, we do have the expertise (and the experience) to design and implement policies and programmes which benefit our people. We quite amply demonstrated that in the aftermath of the closure of our sugar industry, the problems of which were compounded by the 2008 crisis that came upon us sharp on its heels.
The SCHEME UNITY government would be well advised to retreat from their ongoing practices of favouring the minority at the expense of the majority, both insular and cross channel, for while they may be politically expedient in the short term they will have disastrous repercussions in the long term.
They should all be thoroughly ashamed of themselves and of what they are doing to the people of St. Kitts and Nevis. The kindest thing which can be said about what they have ‘achieved’ is that we now a situation in which our people are living to serve the economy.
It should be the other way around. We need an economy which serves THE PEOPLE.