Life and Debt analysis
Life and Debt is a very insightful and revealing documentary about the economy woes of Jamaica and the possible causes of its economic down turn. Watching this documentary, I was in shock because I have always known Jamaica had economic issues, but I never knew how bad they were. Jamaica suffers from poverty, a struggling economy, inflation and interference from outside investors like the United States of America and Latin America despite being richly blessed with natural resources and agriculture. Jamaica got their independence in 1962 from the United Kingdom, it has always struggled with its economy and even tried to use its agricultural resources to boost the economy, but to no avail. As the economy became more and more severely immersed in financial problems, the then Prime Minister Michael Manley struck a deal in 1977 with a group of economic institutions like World Bank and IMF to loan money to Jamaica in exchange for removal of trade restrictions and subsidized exports. Twenty five years down the line, it is sad to see that Jamaica is in debt to the tune of seven billion dollars to the IMF. The deal ruined Jamaica’s economy, and Stanley Fischer (second in command at IMF) is interviewed throughout the documentary and he defends the deal, with reasons why it was a good idea at the time and how beneficial the deal was to the Jamaican economy, even though we can see different in the documentary. The deal with the IMF disrupted the Islands agricultural and industrial economy, thereby causing the economy to nose-dive. Farming, agriculture, cultivation and dairy production has become almost non-existent. Markets have being seized and policies put in places which are extremely unfavorably to the locals. There is mass interference from growers and merchants in the US and Latin America over the growth of fruits and vegetables, which are now imported by the aforementioned. This makes imports more expensive than the local produce (if any), the country has become a