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benluttrell
Reviews
Life and Debt (2001)
Misinformed and emotionally-charged
As the gushing reviews on this site attest - this documentary panders to the anti- globalisation, protectionist conspiracy theorists, using emotionally-charged but intellectually challenged arguments that fits their narrow, misinformed view of the world.
While the story of Jamaica is very sad, the argument that Jamaica's devalued currency and removal of tariffs and subsidies is the cause of its failed economy are not only absurd, but threatening in times of low global economic growth (look up the events of 1929, and see how this short-sighted economic policy resulted in a contagious disaster).
If Jamaica wants to turn back time to the agricultural-age, well that's fine, but you can't moan in the same breath about a lack of health, education and basic infrastructure.
In short this documentary completely misses the point. The key to Jamaica's economic prosperity is turning around its woeful productivity, encouraging foreign direct investment (and with it the innovation and technology that will modernise its industry) and committing to economic reform to liberalise its markets and promote fiscal responsibility. Without properly addressing the first point, however, this task will always be an enormous challenge.
Instead, this documentary employs brooding voice-overs, montages of mcdonalds and taco- bell, fat US tourists trying to dance, and the views of who are essentially peasants to support its uneducated idea of appropriate economic policy.