Observations OS

Colide Z     Sweet   Music   Jamaica      Tech Life Will Jamaica ever get cheaper electricity? That remains to be proven but hopefully so. Its April 30, 2014 and Jamaica is still grappling with the prospects of cheaper electricity cost resulting from the proposed Natural Gas fired turbine electricity generation plant courtesy of Energy World International (EWI). When the Minster of Energy sought to personally facilitate Energy World International  he showed the world that he had the biggest balls in the land of the big balls. He took a gamble on a company with huge risks. Failure to implement the new generation facility is a huge risk to the country and the entire implementation process comes with significant risk itself. A bit of "damned if you do, damned if you don't". In this case however the scales are definitely tipped more heavily to the damnation of the country if nothing is done. Now at this juncture a number of things have already taken place: EWI'

Colide Z     Sweet Music Jamaica     Tech Life Last year Jamaicans represented the country tremendously , this year they picked up from where they left off. In recognition of the Jamaicans who represent us in a big way on the international landscape, I would like to say a big thank you! It is important for Jamaica to recognize the monumental reach of Jamaicans throughout the world and the impact, we as a people can have. This is important because Jamaica gains meaningful value from all this goodwill parading the nation's culture on a global scale and on an almost daily basis. This represents a value that has the potential to change the course of the nations socio-economic future and build the lives of each and every contributor. In essence this represent a culture that is worth investing in daily . Here are a few Jamaicans who display our triumphs and our character. Jamaican Track and Field Athletes -  2014 IAAF World Indoor Championships  Sopot, Poland.  Sopot, Poland

Colide Z     Sweet   Music   Jamaica      Tech Life At the time of writing this article the Jamaican dollar exchange rate with the US$ was US$1 : JM$110.07 and the nation was consumed by the newest nine day wonder. A new tax on bank withdrawals  has recently been announced and with much fanfare and hullabaloo everyone excluding Vybz Kartel is up in arms about it. The truth however is that most Jamaicans have jumped onto a miss guided band wagon and few seems to understand the real economic issues as it relates to the nation's budget. Everyone seems to have lost focus of very crucial issues. One of the most notable ones and one thing focus must be placed on is that of the exchange rate and its impact on the nation's finances. Let me start by putting a few things into context. Jamaica's national debt stands at over JM$1,600,000,000,000.00. (That's a lot of zeros). This would mean that every Jamaican (including the just born child) has a debt burden o

Colide Z     Sweet   Music   Jamaica      Tech Life Its no secret Jamaica has a high energy cost and in particular electricity cost. Have you ever wondered why? Everyone thinks that the government and the Jamaica Public Service Company (JPSCo.) have been ripping Jamaicans off. Whether or not that is so I will not comment but here are a few charts to shed some light on energy and electricity issues that concern the Jamaican people daily. Trends of the exchange rate and world oil prices can only mean high fuel cost for electricity generation. Relatively speaking the resulting trend for the cost of a barrel of oil in Jamaican dollars could look like the chart below. Quick Notes: Jamaica consumed 20,305,842 barrels of oil in 2012 Valued at US$2,213,473,615.00 or JM$196,977,016,998.85 Average cost per barrel of oil - US$109.01 or JM$9,700.80 Average exchange rate for 2012 US$1: JM$88.99 Source:  Ministry of Science, Technology, Energy and Mining – 2013 - Energy Econo

Colide Z        Sweet   Music   Jamaica       Tech Life For year I have been asking the question of whether or not the murder rate in Jamaica was correlated to the exchange rate? I still don't have a clear answer answer to that question but at least now I have charts that graphically highlights the data and the possibility. This chart highlights the simple fact that everyone was aware of but has never really seen, Jamaica murder figures have been trending up for the last forty years. The trend seems to be changing however over the last four years from an upward trend to a more range bound trend. Good. The exchange rate with the benchmark US dollar has experienced a similar upward trend over the last forty years with Jamaica. But now I have these chart what does it mean? Is crime driving higher exchange rates or is it oil prices? This chart illustrates something not known by every Jamaican. The upward trend of murder figures has been leading the US dollar e