The Golden Goose Egg

The Golden Goose

Life is not a fairy tale but for generations, old time folklore and fairytales have been used to teach valuable morals and lessons to our children.  Take for example,  the fairy tale trope of ,“The Goose that Laid the Golden Eggs.”  I don’t know if its still a favorite, as I can’t remember telling the story to my kids. At any rate, a farmer and his wife had a goose that laid a golden egg every day. This is obviously everyone’s favorite part of the story as it is often referred to metaphorically.

We could take a lesson from the Farmer and his wife when we look at the state of the Territory’s economy.  For sake of argument, let’s refer to jobs or job creation as “the Golden Eggs” and those that produce jobs as “the Goose”.  It doesn’t take long to see where this story is going. Every year our elected leaders and officials spend a considerable amount of time discussing how to create and protect government jobs.  However, what many seem to forget is that the private sector are the ones that make a large number of  these jobs/eggs possible in the first place.

The first thing we have to remember is that the private sector is the sponsor that makes it all possible. In fact, the private sector creates significantly more eggs  (some would argue all) than the  government.  It is important to note that on average, government employees earn more, they traditionally have better healthcare coverage and retirement plans than private sector workers. But it is imperative that we note that 30% of the island works for the government. However, there is another whopping 70% of our citizens that do not and actually work for the private sector.

That being said, it shouldn’t take a rocket scientist to conclude that we need to be dedicating a significant amount of time exploring how we are going to nurture the goose because it is evident that it is dying. If you don’t believe the goose is dying, the following are several indicators that should make this a reality for you:

(1) Our main industry’s outlook, tourism, is flat. We can debate about this but at the end of the day with the opening of Cuba, lack of air transport and shrinking capacity for overnight rooms, we have a problem. Even if you don’t think we do you, have to admit it is highly unlikely that we can increase our arrival rate to a point that would eliminate our budget woes overnight.

(2) Unemployment is conservatively at 11% and probably at 16%. The goose can't lay any eggs because it is not getting fed.

(3) Our GDP is predicted to grow by less than 1% for the next 5 years.  The current plan is to fund government capital projects that have no potential revenue.

People WAKE UP! It is time to feed the goose. The priority should be how do we grow the private sector.  By growing the private sector, we by default, will increase government revenue .  It is no secret that income tax is the single largest revenue source of the Territory. This figure has shrunk by $100 million dollars over the past 10 years. We have lost $200 million  in salaries. Take a minute to contemplate that. If we divided that by the average salary of about $40,000 (I’m being generous) that’s 5000 jobs. We have a lot of work to do and the increase in job and job creation cannot start in the government.  Relying on the government to create jobs is a fallacy that will only add to the tax burden and the “structural deficit” instead of reducing it.

Jobs are not only important to the people that hold them but also to the government that benefits from the taxes they generate. The latest plan by the current administration calls for 4 new taxes and an increase on 3 taxes. This will not help us, doing so we are overtly preparing the goose for slaughter, thinking that there is more gold in the inside.  At the end of the day, the only way we shrink the constantly reoccurring budget deficit is to build and create a new, more robust and diverse private sector.

We have to bring in new revenue to the economy by reducing regulation, decreasing taxes connected to hiring and employment,  allowing for access to capital as well as creating more turns in our sales. Every time something is sold in the Virgin Islands, the government gets 5%. If we tax more, the result is less consumption resulting in fewer sales. The more we encourage local trade, the more we collect.

The idea of federal bail out, applying for grants and increased government spending are all 20^th century economic schemes that have played their course unsuccessfully. In the 21^st century the only proven way to win the challenge of sustaining a healthy economic infrastructure is with skilled workers, attractive tax incentives and government flexibility and competitiveness. Leveraging our resources to create new inflows of capital instead of new ways to squeeze it out of the goose that has delivered for us in the past is not the way to go.

My readers, I leave you with this: if there are so many  things we can do to give our private sector development a chance to expand, why is our current administration spending so much time trying to kill the goose.

“Wait” is a four-letter economic cuss word

“Wait” is a four-letter economic cuss word. Over the years the tendency for our leaders to “wait and see” has rarely lead to success. Opportunity is not a doorway that swings wide and remains open until one is ready to walk in. Conversely, opportunity is a doorway that is rather elusive and once found you have to knock hard, wedge your foot between the crack and pry away until you get entrance. Our leaders must recognize that introspection, examination and deliberation are all part of the decision process but the decision must be made as quickly and as wisely as possible.

If the elusiveness of opportunity does not give you occasion to take note then contemplate the frequency of the national and international recessions. One thing that that all economists agree on is that economic recession are appearing more frequently and lasting for longer periods. We have not recovered from the last recession and looking at the outlook for 2015 the road ahead is precarious.

We have expended a tremendous amount of resources to survive the last five years and we still have not seen a return to the “good old days” when we were complaining. Think about it, the projected 2015 VI budget shortfall is $60 million dollars away from not doing well! We are trying to get back to pre-recession levels and no one was satisfied with those numbers. We have a lot of work to do and certainly no time to “WAIT”.

As the world economy recovers from the last recession over 70% of Americans still believe that the economy is not getting better. This is because like most of us they work for wages and are not independently wealthy. They have seen the decrease in available jobs as well as the stagnation or decrease in wages.  This is even truer in the Territory as inflation has deteriorated the buying power of all salaries. The top 10% of the country’s wealth has increased 30% while the rest of us have only seen a .04% increase. This one of the largest consumer markets in the world . Its buying power drives many economies including ours. 

If the US faces another recession before we recover from this one the Territory will face even more dire times. We are not a country, we do not print money, and we do not adjust interest rates. We have no tools that control and dictate the economic infrastructure for the Territory. We depend on the consumer spending of the 70% that are not confident in the US economy for our tourism numbers and now a Republican congress for federal assistance. If this consumer base doesn’t feel confident, they do not spend. This is the economic reality of 2015.

In order for us to receive the economic growth we certainly deserve, we are going to have to develop the fortitude for risk. The old adage “nothing ventured, nothing gained” hold s true. We keep looking for the perfect project, with the perfect investor, for the perfect location. Ladies and gentlemen, new ideas are ugly and scary and rarely have the benefit of mass public appeal; if they did we would all be billionaires. We would know where the next, Google, Facebook or Tesla would come from, sign up and live happily ever after. Risk is something that we have to embrace because let’s face it, as the years go by we have less and less to lose!

Calculated risk is a must, I will never argue that you shouldn’t look before you leap but as you look, recognize that the gap is getting wider and the leap will have to be higher and longer. God forbid we are faced with another global recession. It would be like finishing 23^rd in a triathlon only to be told that you have to run a 40K marathon before you get some rest.  How well we do as a territory will depend on our ability to be aggressive, decisive and supportive of leaders who are brave enough to try new approaches and take RISK! No one is coming to save us. It is up to us to make the decisions to move these islands forward. We can do a lot of things but we cannot afford to WAIT! Not for another legislature, not for another administration and most certainly not for another recession.

Sometimes experience means knowing that it can’t be done

Sometimes experience means knowing that it can’t be done, and that’s the problem. Innovation is the charge of the day and the buzzword that is used loosely in social and political circles. Yet have you ever wondered how experience impacts innovation? If it’s one thing that experience lends itself to, is knowing that it can’t be done, probably because you have tried it before. Let’s take a look at how that would of impacted history.

One of the most amazing accomplishments of man is the ability to fly. No matter how you think of it, it’s pretty amazing that an iron vehicle that weighs tons manages to not only take flight but do so loaded with cargo and passengers. Can you imagine how bizarre the individuals who purported human flight seemed hundreds of years ago? Just picture some guy working in a blacksmith shop or as a ranch hand tending horses saying that one day, man’s mode of transportation for long distances would be air travel. They would have thought him/her insane and may have even accused him of witchcraft. They would summarily convince him or at least try to convince him that it could never happen and thus it would never happen. Imagine if the Wright Brothers ascribed to the same philosophy? We would of still been riding bicycles!

Anything truly amazing that man has accomplished has been done void of the benefit of experience. These individuals had the audacity to believe the impossible could be accomplished.  We grew up watching the Jetsons, in awe of people talking through their watches, using videophones and eating food that was instantly prepared. We are living in that world now with cellphones, videoconferencing and microwaves!

True innovators are always pioneers in their field. They are the ones that lead commerce and society to new heights of accomplishments. They always carry labels like, crazy, stupid, eccentric or just plain loco, but every once in a while one of them realizes their hair-brained scheme and our way of life is transformed.

Now more than ever the benefit of experience is being negated, simply by the speed of technology. Everything that we implement to make things move faster incrementally makes everything else we do faster. It also multiplies our mistakes that much faster. Think about how long people listened to the conventional phonograph or record player as we know it. In the last 20 years alone those records, cassette tapes, reel to reels, VCR’s, laser discs, floppy discs and CD’s have all gone obsolete. The technology you adapt to today will be obsolete in less than two years.

Coming back from a 30,000 ft. view, how does this translate to the workplace? This is the perfect excuse to give inexperience a try. As we move further into the summer, I am pleased to see many bright young graduates returning to our shores from the Universities on the mainland and UVI looking for opportunity. It’s time for us as a community to give them one! The one thing that we are positive of is that they haven’t done it before and they don’t know that it can’t be done.

The future success of the Virgin Islands is forever married to the education we provide and the ability to attract and retain talent. This is the talent that we will need to man our workforce and power our economy. While tourism will probably always occupy a large part of our economy, we have an opportunity to provide services to the world via the Internet. Adaptation to using videoconferencing through Skype, networking through Facebook/Linked in or accessing information through Google, these are the masters of the modern day economic marketplace.

Not knowing you can fail, strongly increases your chance of success. Young people who still have the light in their eyes and believe that they can save the world and more specifically the Virgin Islands, just might. And even if they shoot for the stars and hit the clouds, they are bound to be a valuable asset to your organization. Remember, sometimes experience means knowing it can’t be done…..and that’s a problem.

When is it enough?

A couple of months before my father passed away he asked me a question in one of our frequent chats on life. He said “Do you know when it’s enough?”. Knowing him the way I did and being true to the statement that “apple don’t fall too far from the tree” I responded that it is never enough. There will always be new obstacles to overcome, new goals to be met more battles to be won and glory to be celebrated. Shockingly, he disagreed with me. He said that we all need to know when we have enough and he asked if I would know when it was enough. I think we should all ponder that thought.


When we look at our world, our nation and even our little place under the sun in the Caribbean we can see that we have lost sight of enough. It seems that we are caught up in the awe of “more”. I often listen to people and what we complain about and how in our own way have been sucked into the “American Dream of Consumption”. We are in no way, shape or form as decadent as our continental counterparts but this mass infection of consumption which has consumed us, has to have a limit.

More is not synonymous with greed but it is certainly a close cousin. In American culture we are taught that it is never enough, bigger is always better and more is the calling of the day. When I grew up we had one phone in the neighborhood which we borrowed for emergency calls, now even our kids walk around with one. People lived in modest homes of 600 or 700 sq. ft, now the TV has a room that size. You were lucky to have 1 car per family, we can’t imagine not having our personal transportation big enough to carry 6 yet usually we are the only one driving. We used to have two TV channels, we have a 100 now and still can’t find anything to watch. More has not fulfilled us and our TV’s and the ever present message of the marketers constantly remind us that we are underachieving and we need what???? You guessed it, more!

We have been witnessing a significant change in our national economy that has and will continue to change the way we live and make a living. As our economy transforms from manufacturing to service it takes a higher level of education and a smaller amount of people to make money. Just as an example, GE makes more money from its financing operations than it does from manufacturing. Small hedge funds make more money than some countries while our minimum wage languishes at $7.25.

This transformation has left great disparities in income levels among the elite, the educated and uneducated. It has paved the way for hundred million dollar bonuses, personal jets and multi billionaires. While this has proven to provide tremendous opportunity for some it has proved disastrous for the American middle class. While we were at the mall or shopping at the internet the competition from has been doing its homework and wooing away our jobs with cheaper labor, less regulation, less taxes and more profits.

The one thing that the hungry belly of corporate America seemed to have forgotten is that somebody would have to consume all of the goods that were being made in Asia and other remote parts of the world. They seemed to forget that if they took the jobs, profits and salaries away from America there would be no one left that could afford to purchase all that was produced. What a conundrum!!!!!

We as consumers are not innocent!!! I don’t buy that we are completely faultless in signing on for mortgages and balloon payments that we could not afford. We cannot pass it all on to “the man”, that would be laughable, we are in this together. Our personal greed has created a populace heavily indebted and low on savings and personal worth. While people make more money they are no wealthier (real dollars) than they were fifty years ago. But fear not, the American dream has not been vanquished but we have to learn a new way of thinking and understand what is ENOUGH.

Balance is the key to life. Excess, is a path to certain destruction. As the American economy recovers we are not going to be allowed to go back to the mall and act like everything is going to be OK, it’s not. The first order of business is to move on our education system and recognize that education is a lifelong even and the preparation starts in the home, peaks at some college or trade school and is enhanced throughout our life. As such we need to make it as affordable and accessible as possible. Information is the cheapest and most accessible it has ever been but certification and validation by degrees has never been more expensive. Think about that. True public universities & Technical schools, at no cost must become a staple of our education system.

We also have to learn to live simpler and get away for the excess of consumption and debt. We exhibit this craving for more in every facet of our life from how much we eat, to how much we owe. Our lives are built around excess. This excess is killing us whether it’s in the form of obesity which manifests itself in diabetes, hypertension or the stress of how much we owe that drives us to bad decisions and ultimately more health complications. No matter how you live today eventually you have to face the music and pay the debts of your transgressions.

So build your house like you’re going to have to maintain it and pay the mortgage from your social security check and save like you won’t have social security. Enjoy life for the real things and real people not the electronic ones. Invest in your human capital in your professional and personal life because the returns on a good relationship are priceless.

We have to be concerned with our fellow human being. This is the basis of CIVILIZATION, a system of rules and culture for humans to peacefully coexist, a high level of cultural and technological development. “The accountants run the world”, I love this statement because it has to be true. It alludes to the fact that our decisions have become so profit driven that little else matters.

We have to bring integrity and concern back in to our corporate culture and recognize that while corporations are entities unto themselves, they are made up of people and their well being should always be a concern. Knowing that this pill will not be easily swallowed and it may take some time for that type of thinking to come around, it is the duty of government to make sure that its citizens are protected from the raiding that they have been experiencing in recent years.

A good lesson in enough is sobering for all of us. On a personal level, we have an opportunity in empathy. A chance to recognize that what is happening to our neighbor is but a minute away from our house. We have to look further than our own kitchen tables and realize that if we don’t pitch in and take care of our community it will ultimately lead to our own demise. Volunteer, donate and empathize for those less fortunate its make us human.

Our economy is built on growth and in the vast American landscape that may be OK but here at home we only have a little over a 150 sq. miles, we can’t grow forever. Think about that and ponder ENOUGH.

Progess is an individual movement not a collective one!

Progress is not a collective movement. It is a series of individual ones that move the collective. When the cell phone was invented, everyone didn’t wake up on the same day and venture out to buy one. It took years but one by one we bought into 24hr personal access and now we can’t live without them. The same is true of the internet. We went and each bought our computers and signed up for $19.95 dial up service. Everyday people await progress. They are waiting for progress to knock on their door and say you’re next. It doesn’t happen like that. While there is inspiration, there is no miracle that comes along and transforms you to success. It happens slowly and it is an individual decision and not one of the collective.


Even in the worst of times men prosper. While so many remain unemployed and continue to lose their homes and other worldly possessions success plods on. I say this because opportunity is an elusive mistress. It is like being the only one in a 3D movie without the glasses. Everyone is oohing and ahhhing at the marvelous things that are happening on screen and you cannot see it. In order to see the opportunity you have to be ready to see it. You have to stop seeing the world as flat and build dimension into your static perception of the world around you.

Opportunity is not only elusive but it is also scary, it causes you to move from a place of relative comfort to a place of unsurety. You ever wonder why immigrants are so successful. They move to a new country with nothing and a generation later they are living among the most productive. They are wearing their 3D glasses, they can see the opportunity the people who have been there all their lives have failed to see. Not only have they seen it but when you come from a position of nothing it is no risk to move forward. That is to move from a place of discomfort to one of comfort is a “no brainer”, you have nothing to lose.

In being prepared for opportunity you also have to be prepared to be “different”. People like to say that if they are ever get rich and successful they won’t change but there are two contradictions locked in that statement. First of all if you are talking about getting successful, it implies that you are not successful now, so in order to become successful something about you will have to change. Secondly, we are not worlds unto ourselves, you may not alter who you are but people will alter their perceptions and expectations of you which will have an effect on how you behave.

So it’s a foregone conclusion that you will change. Let’s face it, in this world, the majority of people are not successful. People attain success in their own right but to be truly successful one must be “different”. There is something about you that is unique and distinct from others. At first glance this seems like a good thing but let’s look further. Social acceptance is a hallmark of humanity. Humans like to feel like they are part of a group. Any sociologist will tell you this is true. When you decide to become successful, you step aside from the group and act differently in order to achieve your goals. This might be going to college, refusing drugs, going to church or moving out of the neighborhood.

You might say, well Albert, what’s so scary about that? Well it’s not so scary if everyone in your peer group is doing it, but if you are the only one then it becomes a problem. “Who do you think you are?” “You think you better than us”. “You feel you special”. People become afraid of you and afraid of you defying the odds and becoming successful. They say to themselves “if Jimmy and I were born in the same place, with the same race, grew up in the same neighborhood and attended the same schools how is it that he has become successful?” There are only two answers that people tell themselves to this question and it defines whether you are a victim or fighter. The first one is, “he is lucky” and the second is “I must be doing something wrong”.

Luck is when opportunity meets preparedness but that is another story, I want to concentrate on the “doing something wrong”. People hate to admit that they are wrong and once you admit that you’re wrong, then you have to do something about it and therein lies the challenge. It is much easier to await for “luck” or “progress to come knocking on your door. It is much easier to blame your lack of movement on everything from slavery to a bad economy. It is much more difficult to strive towards your success in spite of all the obstacles that are there to hold you back. In spite of being form a single parent household or being Hispanic or black or a woman. This is what successful people do, they defy logic, statistics and the odds. Despite what anyone may say, you dedicate yourself to simply doing the next thing on your road to success, taking that next step because the next step is always the most important one.

Moving forward not only takes risk but it takes a lot of work. It’s not only a lot of work; it’s a lot of work on a variety of fronts. Its work on your emotional front, it may take changing your attitude and who you spend your time with including family and friends. It may be work on the financial side as you may have to reorder your priorities, get an extra job or forego something that you really want because it’s not in a direct path to your line of success. It is work on the educational and foundational side as you may have to go back to school to get the skills you need. Primarily it’s a lot of work on the time side as you will have to sacrifice a lot of your leisure time with friends and family to get there.

One thing that I know, there is no overnight success. There is no such thing. Even the lotto winners have been buying their tickets for years! The most important thing is to find those people with the 3D glasses and get you a pair. The first step is to believe that success and progress is there. No one goes trekking off to find a land that they don’t believe exists. You have to believe that there is success and that you are going to find it. It’s almost like magic how your vision clears and you see the world differently when you believe that success is imminent. Suddenly, challenges become opportunities. Things that were perceived as risk are now seen as ladders to where you want to be.

I am challenging you to see the world through your very own 3D glasses to embrace being different and seek out new opportunities. This is a challenge to success to do much more than those that came before you and when you achieve this success, as you will, remember to look back and make sure that you help somebody else find those 3D glasses.

Character & Context

Last Sunday, I decided I would wash my car and proceeded to the nearest car wash. After calculating the cost of the power wash machine and the time it would take, I decided to have my car washed. As such I proceeded to the parking lot in Christiansted and got one of the “guys on the corner”. As it was Sunday and I was dressed in my finest car wash apparel, consisting of a wrinkled old shirt, shades, hat and sandals to match, I found a nice shady spot under the tree on the corner. I essentially took on the context and the uniform (character) of the typical “corner man”.


Having some time to spare, I conducted my own little social experiment and it revealed countless lessons but for the sake of today’s discussion we will stick to two, “Context and Character”. As I was a black male, sitting on a street corner in my Sunday “home clothes”, I was virtually unrecognizable. I sat in awe and amusement as people who would normally say hello whizzed by while I was sitting there. It seemed like I had become invisible. Like no one was aware that I was there reminiscent of Richard Wright’s Invisible man.

I wondered to myself if this was the feeling of most of our young black males in our community. We have made them invisible ignoring the hardships of their plight. You see, taken out of context (TV, Stage, Office, and Neighborhood) and out of character (Suit, Tie, polo, shoes), I had essentially become invisible too. The street clothes seemed to have camouflaged me into somebody else’s problem. It essentially put me outside of the realm or society that I was accustomed to.

One of my favorite postulates is Maslow’s hierarchy of needs. Essentially it says that humans have 5 degrees of needs that are fulfilled in priority order from food and shelter to the highest which is absence of prejudice and acceptance of fact (self actualization). Key on this ladder up the pyramid of needs is acceptance. It is essential that humans feel accepted and a part of the society in which they exists. If they cannot fit in the society that we have created, they will create a society of their own.

A society of their own would include “context”, the corner or under a tree as well as “character”. Character or uniform would take the shape of sandals, short pants and shades and may or may not include weapons. The society would set up its own economic system on a black market and establish its own laws or street rules by which all the citizens would abide by. If this is not sounding vaguely familiar by now you have been living on another planet for the last couple years. We have basically created a fringe society or societies that do not adhere to the same tenets, code or laws that we traditionally abide by.

As we have seen from the recent violence taking place in our community the results of this splintering of our societies has dramatic and drastic consequences. By ignoring members of our society that were clearly crying out for help we are forced now to enter into a battle of wills with an opponent that is fiercer and has little regard for playing by the rules.

This teaches us that we are all inevitably connected. This more evident in this microcosm we call a community. We live a little closer here so we can see the effect up close and in color. We have to address this mis-socialization of our black males and re-absorb them into our community. We have to figure out a way to attract them to our way of life. The reason that America works is because it has guaranteed a relatively high standard of living to all that work hard. That promise is becoming increasingly difficult to be true to in continental America thereby rendering it almost impossible in the Virgin Islands. The lack of jobs and the shift to more specialized jobs needing extensive education and or experience only exacerbates the problem.

These young people have become disillusioned with the American dream because they do not believe it is attainable for them. You might argue that America still guarantees equal opportunity but it does not guarantee equal resources. Loving parents, economic stability, nurturing environments, socialization and access to resources are not guaranteed by constitutional amendments. This leaves the playing feel disproportionately uneven for minorities and the economically challenged. They don’t know why they are locked out of the mainstream society and even more frightening they have stopped caring why!

I think the solution to this problem has several facets and we must meet in the middle on this issue. I think that we have to stop ignoring these young men and women and see what we can do to help, they are outside because they do not know where the doors are located and have no idea how to spin the locks. All the assumptions that we normally make are to be left by the wayside and start from scratch. You cannot rehabilitate someone that has not been habilitated. Let’s start from scratch and teach them the basics of the societal interaction and the new rules to societal success.

We have to make them see the benefits of joining our society. Just like anything else, if there is nothing in it for them they will see no need to join. We have to create opportunities that are attractive to them and are filled with hope, a future and a real shot at the American dream. We didn’t see jail or the cemetery as a vial option when we were young because we couldn’t wait to enjoy the fruits of our imminent success. We never expected any less and this should be the expectation of all of our youth.

We have to stop making excuses for them when they fail. They are quite capable of succeeding given the tools and the time. We only charge them to mediocrity when we limit the scope of their goals and dreams. They have to learn that you probably won’t every time but the most important thing about failure is getting up.

Finally, Character and Context defines us for the rest of the society. If you want to be successful you are going to have to put on the uniform of success and hang out with successful people in places that nurture success. Unless you’re a rapper or a basketball player wearing the uniform of one won’t be much help in this world. It would be like dressing like a waiter in restaurant and wondering why everyone kept calling you to fill their order. Hanging under the tree will make you a fleeting thought, invisible not only to the society but to the success therein it. Next time you see one of these brothers sitting under a tree encourage them to take off their camouflage and help them to join us.

Competition is the American way!

Competition is the American way. It is the way that this country has become one of the greatest that the world has ever seen. It is the reason why we have the best athletes, the best agriculture, the best cities and the most diverse culture on the face of the planet. It is the reason why people flock to our shores from all sorts of erotic places. It is because this nation and the flag that flies over it is founded on principles that all men and women are created equal and have an equal opportunity to make the best life they can forge for them and their family. It is the reason that we have an African American President and a Hispanic Supreme Court justice. We insist on clearing the way for the best of the best to come forward and make this country greater. This is true wherever the stars and stripes reign supreme.


During the last 30 years we have seen the Virgin Islands go through some rapid change as we diversified our economy, populace and inevitably our culture. We have learned to accept people from all over the Caribbean, who have chosen to call these emeralds in the sea home. It was not without great pain and suffering that they were accepted but true to the promise of America they are now Virgin Islanders and their cultures have been infused in our language our food and our way of life. In the constant circle of life we have learned that to be Americans we are compelled by our constitution to accept those that have embraced the tenets of our constitution and the promise of a better life.

Our world is once again changing; we are witnessing the death of the industrial age in America. Detroit and the demise of the car industry is but the poster child of this change. Throughout the land there are less and less manufacturing jobs available. Locally we have seen the death of the watch industry, the closing of several of our rum distillers, the silencing of our once thriving Alumina plant and extinction of our pharmaceutical plants. This has been a trend all over America and an omen of the things to come. This current recession is but another warning of tougher times ahead unless we adapt for competition.

When we think of competition, we tend to think about it from a micro point of view. We think about competition as a battle or sport against another team or individual. We have to start thinking about competition in a macro/global or even better yet from a Territorial point of view. We set up scenarios where we compete against St. Thomas against St. Croix or St. John against the Territory. Our arguments are limited to our neighborhoods, communities and respective home islands. This is but a distraction to what is really at stake, our competitive edge in a Caribbean market and in a global market.

The best way to find out what your competition is like is to scout the market. Coaches look at their rival team’s tapes and find out their strengths as well as their weaknesses. For years we have enjoyed benefits that allowed us to have the edge over our competition. These laws restricted trade and imports, controlled the amount of immigration and allowed for tons of federal dollars to be spent on infrastructure in our schools, ports and other infrastructure. The Virgin Islands was a star in the Caribbean and everyone wanted to move here.

When was the last time you took a good look at our competition? Caribbean nations have been moving at light speed to capture a larger share of our tourism product. They have made alliances with foreign nations such as China and Venezuela, they have leveraged their position with America to weaken our trade compacts, they have invested in their infrastructure for the long haul and they have formed regional alliances to expand trade and increase their bargaining power.

What have we done while these countries were doing their homework and learning from our mistakes? True we had a lot to distract us as our population tripled and our infrastructure almost buckled under the weight but how have we kept our competitive edge? Or have we kept hungry and sharp looking for the next opportunity? Did we get complacent and rest on our laurels? That is a question only you can answer. The most important question is what are we going to do about it today?

Today is a daunting question because while the rest of the world has been training for the fight, America has been resting on her laurels and anyone who has tried to get back in shape knows that it is a painful process. The first few days of your workout can leave you paralyzed in pain. Our recovery, unfortunately will not take a few days but a few years. The main investment has to be in our workforce. Unless you have been asleep for the last 6 months you have to know that America is changing from a manufacturing to a service based industry. The reason why this is happening is simple, anything that a Detroit auto worker can do for $30 an hour, you can find an eager resident of India or China to do for $10 a day! This a serious blow to labor but nevertheless a reality of the 21st Century. We cannot beat them in price so we have to beat them in quality, innovation and productivity.

Moving back to our role in the Territory, we have to start to recognize the competition and compete as a Territory. We must be cognizant that the price of a room at the Buccaneer compared to the price of a room of Caneel Bay is not the issue. The issue is a Virgin Islands vacation compared to a Jamaican vacation. The issue is not so much, how much we can get out of the corporations that are here, but how we can keep them from moving to Puerto Rico. It is not how we can limit benefits and incentives but how we can structure agreements to attract the best companies. We are in competition with the world and the competition is vicious.

I recently visited the Puerto Rico and as we passed the once thriving refineries on the south coast that now stand dormant it gave me chills. It reminded me that nothing lasts forever and that in bad times you make do and in good times you always stick away for your rainy day. This crisis that we are going through at present has a lot of lessons for us to learn. The economy will come back but we have to start thinking about what it is that we are going to do differently when it does, how are we going to prepare ourselves for the competition.

It is imperative that we double down our investment in education. Now when I say this immediately everyone thinks about the school system and what we can do to improve it. Granted, we could use some improvement but that is not what I am getting at. Education is not just the school system. It is the value that we place on education as a society and a constant experience throughout our life. It means that we continuously strive to learn and do more. It means that our level of expectation is a moving target and we are constantly trying jump over it. It means that our University, Training institutes, employers, supervisors and employees all have a role to play. It means that each one of us everyday go out as an ambassador for education and the Virgin Islands and represents and conducts ourselves as we would want to be seen by a visitor. It means that we walk the talk not just talk the talk!

Our workforce is our most valuable resource and we have to make sure that it is educated and prepared mentally to add value to the products it encounters. For instance, tourism is the goose that lays the golden egg but if we don’t take care of our tourism product and ensure that the people who visit here can’t wait to come back, our goose will be cooked. The businesses, employees and families that depend on those dollars will be done as well. If businesses cant find the talent they need they cant expand and if they can’t grow here they will move and grow elsewhere. Our workforce is the lifeline of this economy and we must make sure that we are investing in the people that power it likewise the people must invest in themselves.

The reality of our situation is that we are importing, teachers, nurses, doctors, engineers, welders, instrument technicians and policemen. These are skilled, good paying jobs that are being filled from outside because we cant supply the labor. One thing is clear, as we move further away from a manufacturing economy to a service economy; the gap in pay, working conditions and availability of jobs will continue to increase. This gap will be created by the high demand for skilled workers and the relative excess of unskilled workers. As we are seeing stateside today, you will have the more highly educated workers fighting for entry level jobs and fewer workers receiving increasingly higher pay for skilled jobs.

The time is now to be on the right side of that pay gap. The time is now to invest in ours and our children’s future. Double down on your training and your experience. Learn that new skill, apply yourself and take every opportunity to learn, with or without pay. The skills that you acquire will be yours forever and can be taken to the highest bidder and the best employer. Take advantage of the free training that Labor has to offer and volunteer rather than sitting at home. There is so much in our community that needs to be done, I am sure you can think of someone or someplace that needs your help.

The one thing that really angers me as the Labor Commissioner and one of the things that I fight every day to dispel is the belief and practice of certain people that Virgin Islanders are not hard workers. As a 4th generation Virgin Islander I really take offense to that and make sure that I work twice as hard to prove that is a lie. We who live here have built this Virgin Islands and all things considered we are doing a good job. Take in to perspective that we have only been self governed for about 40years America has had over 200 years and they are still trying to get it right. Take pride in our accomplishment and know that we have a lot more to do before we call it a day.

I am proud of the workforce that I represent 53,000 people strong who are constantly seeking opportunities to make a better way of life for themselves and their family. I am convinced that we want to do it and do it in a big way. We rise out of our beds and go to work every morning hoping that upon our return that we have made the Virgin Islands a better place to live and visit. We have the determination, resources and collective will to make this the best workforce that the world has ever seen. Raise your expectation, move that bar and hurdle over it into a better standard of living for us all!