"Things mean exactly what I want them to mean," said the famous fictional character. And we pay homage to the term "rising economy" as if it really meant very much to our health, welfare, and quality of life.
Let me explain.

The Joneses and the Smiths are two Jamaican families. The Joneses drive a gas-guzzling car, buy their kids the newest videogames, eat imported foods, buy imported clothes and even (foolishly) drink imported beer. Family outings take them to the Mall, where fast food is consumed in indigestible quantities, and where they impulse-buy to the max on their credit cards.

Families like the Joneses are exemplary consumers - and their moving of dollars as quickly as possible into a throw-away economy sends the figures on our economic activity soaring.

Not so the habits of the dastardly Smith family! Mr Smith rides a bicycle to work and his kids bike to school. When Mr and Mrs Smith shop, they carry (if you can believe it!) an old-fashioned straw market basket, politely refuse scandal bags, and stagger the cashier by paying with (if you'll pardon the expression) "ordinary cash". (That's those paper folding things that - forget it!)

The Smiths take the family to the beach, with a packed picnic lunch made partly from vegetables grown in Mrs Smith's kitchen garden. The Smiths borrow their books from the public libraries and go to free concerts in Independence Park. Oh wicked, wicked Smiths! How can we expect the economy to grow with people like you refusing to ride the consumer roller coaster?

Then too, some of our ministers of government are equally to blame when our import spending goes down. The minister of agriculture made the ridiculous suggestion that we should eat what we grow - and even mentioned the lowly cassava as worth consideration. (No matter that we pay premium price for bammies at Port Royal!) What a hue and cry ensued! How could we endanger economic growth by consuming local vegetables fresh from the field in place of cold storage imports? How could we choose guavas and otaheite apples over last year's half-rotted crops from abroad? Shame on us! And shame on you, Mr Minister, for such a preposterous idea! If certain economic indicators plummet we'll know whom to blame!

But who am I to say? I confess I don't know much about economics. But don't take my word for it. A great man once wrote:

"We will find neither national purpose nor personal satisfaction in a mere continuation of economic progress, in an endless amassing of worldly goods. We cannot measure national spirit by the Dow Jones Average nor national achievement by the GNP. For the GNP includes air pollution and advertising for cigarettes, the upkeep and cost of ambulances to clear our highways of carnage. It counts special locks for our doors and jails for the people who break them. It grows with the production of napalm and nuclear weapons, and with the broadcasting of TV programmes which glorify violence to sell goods to our children.

"It does not allow for the health of our families, the quality of their education and the joy of their play. It is indifferent to the decency of our factories and the safety of our streets. The GNP measures neither our wisdom nor our learning, neither our compassion nor our devotion to our country. It measures everything, in short, except that which makes life worthwhile."
Who said that? His name was
Robert Kennedy.

Clearly, he was just asking for it!

Cynthia Wilmot is an award-winning film-maker and veteran writer.

cynthiawilmot@yahoo.com

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