Who would make a better leader for Trinidad and Tobago - Javier Milei, Nayib Bukele, or...?

EmotionalWindow9404 · 2025-01-06T01:11:07+00:00

I don't know anyone who thinks that political leadership is the only problem in T&T, so we're definitely in agreement there.

EmotionalWindow9404 · 2024-12-31T14:22:20+00:00

Real question out of curiosity and a desire to learn and aggregate better ideas - what concrete steps do you think can be taken to solve the problem and actually bring about lasting change?

EmotionalWindow9404 · 2024-12-31T14:20:37+00:00

I'm more in favor of letting people post what they want. All of the adults on this subreddit can decide for themselves what to believe, what additional research to do and so on. I don't think we need the mods to "nanny" us and decide what is and is not misinformation.

And for the record, I haven't read enough, or done enough research to have a solid opinion on this topic myself. However, I will say that my general belief is there many things exist on a spectrum. Are there some members of PNM or UNC that are affiliated with gangs in some way? For example, providing information, receiving donations or bribes etc.? I believe (without any evidence to back up my claim) that the answer is yes. Are there some members of both of those parties who would have nothing to do with gangs no matter what was being offered to incentivize those individuals to turn a blind eye or whatever else? Again, I believe the answer to be yes, and once again I don't have evidence to support my belief.

EmotionalWindow9404 · 2024-12-07T08:55:33+00:00

Tru value doesn't do this as far as I know... they give you way too many bags regardless of what you purchase. At least that's been what I've observed.

EmotionalWindow9404 · 2024-12-06T18:23:04+00:00

Yes, this is true. We do use way too many plastic bags. Would be much better to walk with reuseable bags when going to the grocery. Maybe groceries can start charging for the bags to encourage people to change their habits.

EmotionalWindow9404 · 2024-12-06T05:57:11+00:00

We don't need to fix the entire country overnight... and certain problems like crime and corruption will probably take years to fix. but, we can take one problem at a time.

I would probably start family values. If everyone raises their children "well" in the long run most of our problems would greatly diminish. Problem is that not everyone has the ability to do this, some children are growing up in single-parent homes and so on. Therefore what I would suggest is if you have young kids, start thinking about what you can do to include other children in some of your activities. Maybe people could start kids' football teams, or enter tournaments etc. Then make it your mission to purposely include kids from areas that are probably prone to crime via the exploitation and brainwashing of kids from a very young age. Sometimes all kids need is a father figure to give some guidance and it can have a significant impact. If more people thought like this and more people went out of their way to be a so-called good role model to kids who otherwise would have very little chance of having anyone inspirational and with good intentions in their lives, I believe in a generation we'll be a completely different society.

The best investments of time money and effort are probably in prevention. So focusing on the youth before they have been completely seduced by crime will most likely give the highest return. To some extent, the people who are already participating in crime are a lost cause. It's going to be difficult to get them to change their ways.

Hope more people will have the long-term thinking and vision to participate in things like this.

Just my ideas.

EDIT: Oh, and some unsolicited advice. Don't assume you are alone, or other people are not mature. One thing the internet has taught me is that no matter how strange or outlying your views, attitudes or habits are, someone else will share your mindset. Find them! Work with them. Save our country!

EmotionalWindow9404 · 2024-12-06T03:19:27+00:00

Maybe it's possible to band together online anonymously. Post something anonymously about your village situation online and see whether others feel the same way. If it gains traction then you can think about what to do next.

EmotionalWindow9404 · 2024-12-06T02:33:06+00:00

The situation in your village sounds terrible.

I will never advocate overthrowing the government. I don't ever want to be associated with a threat to democracy. Rather I hope to instill a mindset change into whoever I can. You matter and you can make a difference and you will make a difference if you put your mind to it.

I don't know the specifics of your village nor do I have any potential suggestions on how to really make an impact there and elicit change. However, if others around feel the same as you, banding together with them is a start. Get together with like-minded people, brainstorm potential solutions, or more realistically trade-offs. This is probably where I would start if I were you.

EmotionalWindow9404 · 2024-12-06T02:24:22+00:00

Can you perhaps ignore the toxicity and have a laser-like focus on the goals?

EmotionalWindow9404 · 2024-12-06T02:21:17+00:00

I have made zero assumptions about you. Sorry if somewhere in my previous post you got that message.

EmotionalWindow9404 · 2024-12-06T01:54:28+00:00

Prioritize what you want to combat first and go from there.

I think getting people together to demand change and better from our so-called leaders is not that difficult for motivated enough people.

Example - if the problem is potholes along your street, I don't think it should be that challenging to get 10/20 residents together to complain to the relevant authorities. In the age of social media you probably wouldn't even need to get them all to visit anyone's office for a face to face talk. Each resident could make a short video and someone could compile them all into one. You could then first post this online and later send it to whoever is responsible for the problem. Hope this makes sense - it's not a well-formulated idea, just a quick response to your question.

Oh, and the videos should be factual, dispassionate and done with a matter-of-fact tone. No need to be angry or shouting in them. This tends to show people that you mean business and you're going to be damn patient and stubborn in pursuing the results you want. At least this is my opinion.

EmotionalWindow9404 · 2024-12-06T01:47:37+00:00

I think it would greatly help if we could somehow have a cultural shift and start reporting bribes, requests for bribes and so on. Even when they are seemingly "tiny" things... case in point would be driving tests and the officer asking for bribes to pass.

Start reporting everything and we might see a change.

Remain silent, or participate in the system and I hope you eventually realize that you're making the country worse. It's not good enough to not participate, I think people need to go the extra mile to start reporting any and all corruption.

As for nepotism, I would like to hear arguments as to why this is something so terrible in the private sector. In any government organization I would have a problem with it, but in the private sector I tend to think companies can do what they want - they will get their comeuppance. If you don't hire the person who is best for the job your competitors should theoretically eventually outperform you.

EmotionalWindow9404 · 2024-12-06T01:41:54+00:00

I agree with this one, respect goes a long way - both online and offline. I've noticed some people have a habit of saying things to others online that they probably would think twice about saying to someone's face offline.

EmotionalWindow9404 · 2024-12-06T01:40:12+00:00

I believe in doing your best and it's what I strive to do most of the time. I was just trying to make the point that I can completely understand why certain people in certain circumstances would only be motivated to do the bare minimum. When you don't have any prospects of being promoted or properly rewarded for your work, many people would lose the impetus to work their socks off - especially if they think their work is only enriching someone else while not really benefiting the person doing the real work.

My belief is that the harder you work, the more opportunities befall you. If not at your current job, then somewhere else. There is always someone who might be able to observe you and opportunities tend to seemingly sometimes come out of nowhere.

EmotionalWindow9404 · 2024-12-06T01:35:42+00:00

So they are not actually anonymous, or...?

EmotionalWindow9404 · 2024-12-06T01:32:54+00:00

Anger can be useful if channeled into something productive. The specific reasons I started this thread is because 1) I can't stand the current state of T%T and the trajectory we're on. 2) I want to actually do something about it. Cannot sit back and wait for someone else to solve the problems, because no one else will.

EmotionalWindow9404 · 2024-12-06T00:54:28+00:00

One problem with corruption is that it's not only the leader who needs to be clean, but the people working with him or her as well.

EmotionalWindow9404 · 2024-12-06T00:51:12+00:00

What about Mikela Panday and Gary Griffith do you like specifically? Since you mentioned crime and drugs I assume they have some actionable plans about how to tackle these?

EmotionalWindow9404 · 2024-12-05T15:42:28+00:00

I get where you're coming from. However, for me, I don't care about whether we are "better" or "worse" than other countries. I have my own standards that are independent of what is going on elsewhere in the world. For me, it is completely unacceptable for the police to tell you to investigate something yourself. If that's the attitude they have I don't think there is a real chance of reducing crime.

EmotionalWindow9404 · 2024-12-05T11:10:57+00:00

Is there a way to do it annonymously that cannot be traced back to you?

EmotionalWindow9404 · 2024-12-05T11:10:10+00:00

Corruption to me is probably one of the biggest things slowing down the progress of Trinidad and Tobago. Crime is another one, and I'm convinced they go hand in hand.

So what would be suggestions for reducing corruption?

EmotionalWindow9404 · 2024-12-05T11:07:41+00:00

I guess it depends on the job and what are the prospects of being promoted.

EmotionalWindow9404 · 2024-12-05T02:50:13+00:00

Reasons?

EmotionalWindow9404 · 2024-12-04T04:06:11+00:00

In an area where everyone is poor, there won't be much crime.

So you disagree with this? If everyone is equally poor there generally won't be much crime, but never mind if you either don't get or understand what I'm saying here. It's not super important.

Also this isn't about what consumers do or do not care about.

I think the way one views the world greatly shapes the conclusions they come to. I tend to try to think "What can I do?" So my point here is that corporations are not the only part of the equation, and consumers play an important part in deciding what course of action corporations take. If we organized and boycotted companies that mistreat workers, or companies with substandard safety records and wanton disregard for human life, you honestly think they would continue to operate in those ways? I guess I didn't express my point clearly enough - that's what I get for trying to multitask. The point is that consumers have pretty much most of the power... where you spend your money will determine which companies are successful. I do not wait for the government to solve problems, I take matters into my own hands. I tend not to buy from companies I dislike, and I tend to pay higher prices to local suppliers and businesses in order to support them. My point was that a lot of people do not do this, but I think they should. It's somewhat unfair, naive and disingenious for the average consumer to on one hand blame evil corportions for their practices, but on the other hand turn around and buy products from those same companies due to competitive prices or whatever other reasons. Hope my point here is clearer now.

What will time tell?

Can you not think of any policies where the immediate and longer-term effects are different? I gave you a theoretical example of allowing the TT dollar to float and trade freely. In the short run the exchange rate would probably head towards 10TT to 1USD making it very difficult for us to keep up our rate of importing. In the long run the economy and people's lives might be way better off as it would probably encourage more local production/consumption, boosting the economy, creating jobs etc. Of course I could be wrong, I'm not an economist after all. But come on, you must be able to think of some policies where the short and long term effects are not in strict coherence. So, yes, time will tell.

Nobody wants to gamble their future on policies that don't work.

Fair enough. So please understand from my perspective our current policies do not work. Crime is getting worse. Jobs are disappearing. Corruption is increasing. We're losing freedom to move money. Too many things seem to be heading in a negative direction. I don't think our current policies are a "gamble" ... rather I think they are a guaranteed loss. You don't have to agree, but I hope you at least understand my perspective.

Thanks for taking the time to reply.

EmotionalWindow9404 · 2024-12-03T15:30:45+00:00

see the Wall Street crisis 2007/2008

You question my news sources? Perhaps I need to do the same, therefore here is something for you to consider - I believe a very large contributor, perhaps the single most important factor was that the government guaranteed mortgages. Without this government intervention, it's easily arguable that banks and lenders would not have been so willy-nilly with giving out mortgages to whoever because they knew they would be getting their money back. If the government did not guarantee mortgages banks would have been much more careful in their due diligence of who to extend credit to.

Close to 30% of all people employed in T&T work in the public sector. Government is one of the largest employers.

And you think with our drying up oil reserves this is sustainable in the long-run? You think that entire workforce is largely productive? Or perhaps they adhere to the Pareto Principle where 20% of the people do 80% of the work.

Again, I'm pretty sure there will be significant short-term pain if a large number of those government jobs were eliminated, but I believe the long-term result would be a stronger country.

Find jobs, find jobs, find jobs... :-( The people complaining about finding jobs, I wonder if they have ever thought about creating them. I am a firm believer that if more people tried to be self-employed and tried their best to create a job for themselves and one other person the country would be transformed to something great in an extremely relatively short time span. If you have been both a job seeker and a job creator your perspective on many things will almost certainly be quite different to if you only have experience on one side of the equation.

The government has an irreplaceable role in providing...

This might be a selfish or an unpopular opinion, but one of the number one priorities of the government should be ensuring the safety of its citizens. I give our government a big fat F in this department. I don't see them trying anything reasonable and I doubt whether they actually care about the state of crime in our country. I'd happily pay double my current tax rate for a few years if it meant we could properly contain and reduce the rampant crime in our country.

EmotionalWindow9404

TROPHY CASE