I am glad I spent time to carefully listen to this clip of Mr. Martelly. At the very end of it, he unveils his plan to reform our agricultural practices or means of production. His plan is pure socialistic, which we don’t need for Haiti.
I am for the state to subvention or give incentives to the farmers to help them to cultivate the lands -just like we do here in the United States. I wholeheartedly disagree with him, however, when he wants the state to run agro-credit institutions to lend the farmers money to cultivate their lands. We don’t need that. Keep the state out of the credit market. Let the private sector compete for better rates to the farmers. When it is like that, you create a competitive marketplace where the farmers can go around and shop for the institution that could give them the best deal.
I also disagree with him in that he wants the state to buy the farmers’ harvests from them in an attempt to control prices on the national market. So if he does that, how could he expect the farmers to compete for better quality products and better prices for those products then? You cannot have players competing against each other in the sector of government. Basically he wants to do (to us) the same thing we allowed the American farmers to do to us. I say let the competition in the market dictate how prices should be fixed and controlled. In other words, let the market control itself. We don’t need the state to be like a godfather controlling the market.
Also, he talks about creating jobs in the peasantry sector, which I disagree with. Government is not in the business of creating jobs. The job of government is, rather, to enact economic policies that would encourage job creation by the private sector.
As I said many times before, in Haiti, the biggest competitor is the state, causing a problem for the private sector to compete for greater performance and returns on their investments. The market tends to be stalled when the state gets to compete against the private sector. If anything, we need to encourage a competitive market environment, not discouraging it. That’s what capitalism teaches us. We don’t need a socialist economy in the likes of Mr. Martelly’s proposal. It is not good for business, and certainly not good for the economy.
Ekspoze! -The final word 
After reading your ezpoze, it lead me to believe that you are not in touch with reality and have never conducted or involve directly in the Haitian market. These formulas and assumptions is destructive to our people, I am not saying that you have to agree with candidate Martelly’s plans or ideas. This man may not be the most educated or the savviest businessman in our midst but he is willing to step in and help, unlike the rest of us internet bandit and know it all. Haiti is a country where, there is absolutely no infrastructure at all. Money makes every thing possible, yet so many are dying from hunger. The private sector has been running Haiti ever since I can remember and look at where it is. So if not now, when ? to try something different. I am not a Martelly supporter or any other candidate, I just have a vested interest in the outcome of this election and see where my country is going. I would like to go home and conduct business there and have my kids come back after their studies to share their acquired knowledge as real Haitians used to do.
Thanks for taking the time to not only disagree with me but also formulate a response, though I, of course, disagree with you on many things you said.
“These formulas and assumptions is destructive to our people…”
I assume you believe that socialism is the answer for Haiti’s problems, right? For your information, Haiti is and has always been a socialist state. Everything -from health care to education to job creation -is government-run, where has that taken the country? Don’t you think it is time for a change?
“This man may not be the most educated or the savviest businessman in our midst but he is willing to step in and help…”
I am not questioning Mr. Martelly’s intentions. You are not following my disagreements with him. He could be well-intentioned, but what good will his good heart do if he is going to implement the same failed economic policies that have gotten us where we are in the first place? So I guess for you, just because he is well-intentioned, I should have not expressed my points of disagreement?
“Haiti is a country where, there is absolutely no infrastructure at all…”
Okay… how is that addressing my policy disagreement with Mr. Martelly?
“Money makes every thing possible, yet so many are dying from hunger.”
So many are dying of hunger, have you asked yourself why? In this 21st century, in this era of information revolution, how could you expect someone to be economically useful in this global economy, if he/she does not even know how to read and write? You have 65% to 70% illiteracy rate, yet you are talking about economic development.
The Haitian workforce is left behind, my friend. The people are dying of hunger because they are not qualified to do the jobs of today and, if nothing is done on a short, mid and long term basis to restructure our education, they will not be for the jobs of tomorrow.
When the world was changing 50 or 60 years ago, we were not paying attention, explaining the reason why we are in this mess we are in today. It will take us time to just catch up. We need to increase the economic worth of our workforce through education and job training. Well, this is another topic.
Why do you think Jobs are leaving the US economy to travel to China and India? It is because there is a supply of high tech workers there, and labor is cheaper. Haiti is only 600 miles off the coast of Florida, how come these jobs don’t go to Haiti instead? Well, they do not go to Haiti because your workforce is not qualified to do these high tech jobs. You cannot develop an economy only with an agriculture that is based on archaic means of production.
“The private sector has been running Haiti ever since I can remember and look at where it is.”
The private sector is not the problem; the problem lies in our economic policies. The state has always been in the middle of the market competing against the private sector on every front. So we do not really have a strong private sector where competition is the only market thermostat or regulator. How can you compete against the state?
“I just have a vested interest in the outcome of this election… I would like to go home and conduct business there and have my kids come back after their studies to share their acquired knowledge as real Haitians used to do.”
We all do, my friend. You are not the only one. But that does not take away the fact that I could disagree with Mr. Martelly’s plan to address the problems with our agriculture.
All I will say here is that I do not believe that capitalism is the best and only way for every nation nor that socialism is “evil” as often portrayed in America. Case in point, currently in Cuba, the entire population has right to free education and healthcare and although the entire population isn’t rich, they aren’t dying of hunger either and their country is still beautifully preserved.
I am not agreeing or disagreeing with Martelly’s plan, but simply observing that before labeling him as a socialist and putting a bad connotation on that word, we must examine all the possibilities and pros and cons because like Bamboch said: for those of us familiar with how things work in Haiti, so far having “competition” in the private sector and “democracy” have all been illusions and most of the population in no way benefits from it.
We can spend an eternity reviewing failed policies in Haiti for we have yet to find one that works, so in my previous post I took it from the top to the bottom. Most of us are afraid to try new things or get involve directly unless it’s beneficial to us directly, yet we are quick to label others on their efforts. We nothing to loose by taking a different path, we are sinking deeper and deeper on our current path.
I don’t understand how Socialism became such an evil word. There are very prosperous countries that are run on a socialist economy. And what’s better about these countries is that the people are well educated and happier than many capitalist countries. I’m not saying that this is what Haiti needs to be, but there is not 1 system that is better than the other. They all have goods and bads.
But, in the case of Haiti, I don’t see how you think it is socialist. Try doing anything in Haiti without money. You need money to send your children to school or even to see a doctor. Things are so expensive in Haiti I can’t understand how it continues to be the poorest country in the western hemisphere. I went to Mexico; in some places it was cheaper than Haiti. the places where richer people live, life is at about the same rate as Haiti. I went to Belize… cheaper than Haiti. Guatemala… Much cheaper than haiti.
I really do not think Haiti is what you can call socialist. Everything; gas, water, milk… is priced ridiculously high. That’s because the capitalist merchants know they can get what they ask.
“I really do not think Haiti is what you can call socialist. Everything; gas, water, milk… is priced ridiculously high. That’s because the capitalist merchants know they can get what they ask.”
Not true, Dyva… Capitalism is not to be blamed. Things are wrongly and ridiculously priced because of monopoly, stalling competition.
The Haitian state, as far as I know, has no law addressing monopoly. I am for competition, not monopoly or any other market-destroying practices.
If you go to Haiti you will see everybody is out for themselves. There is no monopoly, there is no order. Whatever the government takes care of (like electricity) is so badly run, because they are not getting any money. It’s getting pilfered by the people who work for the government.
Contrary to what you seem to believe, there are mostly small businesses in Haiti. Everywhere you go someone is out to make a buck. Competition is not stalled… it is out of control. You have to go and see…
Bravo DYva