Latest update December 13th, 2024 1:00 AM
Nov 09, 2024 Dem Boys Seh, Features / Columnists
Kaieteur News- Dem boys seh dis economy runnin’ hotter than a pot left on de stove when Auntie forget to turn off de gas. Everybody feelin’ de heat—rich, poor, big, small. Even dem big shot businesses feelin’ de squeeze, and if you watch close, you gon’ see dem sweatin’ like sugar left out in de sun.
Two call centers done shut up shop. Now a bakery closing shop. Hundreds of workers lef’ pun de road. Why? De answer easy—cost gone up fuh everything. Dem big company owners scratchin’ dem head, wonderin’ if is time fuh dem to go back to raisin’ chickens, ‘cause even fowl business gettin’ hard now. Yuh want build a coop? Forget it. De wood price gone up like it got wings. Cyaan even afford de nails to hold de thing together.
Dem contractors talkin’ bout how de price of one bag of cement so high, it might as well be gold dust. Dem can’t finish dem lil’ house dem was buildin’ and de poor man, he just watchin’ he dream house vanish like de last plantain chip at a family lime.
And don’t talk bout wages. Dem businesses, deh strugglin’ to pay workers ever since de public service minimum wage increase. Government raise de public service pay, and now de regular worker demandin’ all kinda big sum. One fella tell he boss he ain’t settlin’ fuh less than $120,000 a month. Imagine dat! Back in de day, dat kinda money coulda buy you land, now is de new entry-level salary. But where de small business gon’ get it from?
Dem boys seh even de 10-day wuk programme cause problems. People rather go malinger fuh a week an’ a half, get a lil change, an’ relax de rest of de time, rather than tek on a permanent wuk. So now is hard to find workers. De business people watchin’ dem shop empty and dem pocket empty too.
As if dat ain’t enough, dem foreign companies movin’ in like dey own de place. Dem got big bucks, big style, and big discounts. Poor lil shop man watchin’ he customers run over to dem foreign stores where everything come cheaper. De lil shopkeeper, he there scratchin’ he head, wonderin’ if he next stop gon’ be de breadline.
But de government? Dem actin’ like dey ain’t got no clue. Dem tink de economy boomin’. Dem tink everybody happy. Dem don’t see de shutters closin’ on business after business. Dem boys seh maybe one day, when all de businesses gone, when de chicken coop empty, when de last call center gone quiet, maybe den de government gon’ tek notice. But right now, de only thing dem seein’ is de numbers goin’ up on paper, while de people an’ businesses fallin’ down in real life.
Talk half. Leff half
(Pressure bussin more pipes!)
Dec 13, 2024
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