The answer is blowing in the wind

L$205.1281/US$1.00 How many roads must a man walk down Before you call him a man? How many seas must a white dove sail Before she sleeps in the sand? Yes, and how many times must the cannonballs fly Before they're forever banned? The answer, my friend, is blowin' in the wind The answer is blowin' in the wind Yes, and how many years can a mountain exist Before it's washed to the sea? Yes, and how many years can some people exist Before they're allowed to be free? Yes, and how many times can a man turn his head And pretend that he just doesn't see? The answer, my friend, is blowin' in the wind The answer is blowin' in the wind Yes, and how many times must a man look up Before he can see the sky? Yes, and how many ears must one man have Before he can hear people cry? Yes, and how many deaths will it take 'til he knows That too many people have died? The answer, my friend, is blowin' in the wind The answer is blowin' in the wind Lyrics from Blowing in the wind, Bob Dylan.

You can fool some people sometimes...

L$202.4819/US$1.00 ...but you can´t fool all the people all the time. (B.Marley) Nuff said.

Law business

L$194.7185/US$1.00 What make it that we like law business so? Wherever you turn, everybody arguing about law business. This one and that one. Everybody can just be invoking different laws. You go this side, this other one know it. What?! But when you go look, nobody know how to make farm. Nobody knows how to make anything but trouble. We bringing all kinds of foodstuff from abroad. When we go look, our paper money just getting useless. That it now oh.

Bury your garbage, City mayor urges

L$191.5041/US$1.00 Lo and behold. Only in Liberia. "The Mayor of the city of Monrovia, Jefferson Koijee, is urging Monrovians to begin disposing off their garbage by burying them in the earth." Daily Observer

Supply of money

L$190.4475/US$1.00 When a country prints new bills, they are usually meant to replace older damaged notes. It is the job of the Central Bank to collect the old bills and destroy them and infuse the new ones. If you do not replace defunct currency, but just adding to money supply, you undermine the currency. We saw this in the Weimar Republic in the 1920s. In Zimbabwe, Mugabwe thought he was smart and started printing money to be able to pay govenment employees. In Venezuela today, Madouru is doing the same thing. In the short term, you may seem to solve a problem, but very shortly after, the currency is soon not worth more than what it actually is, paper. At this stage, when a country issues more money than it has backing for, you get increased inflation. Inflation is the increasing of prices, or really the decreasing of the value of the currency. In Weimar, Zimbabwe and Venezuela the printing of "new" money just kept on and on. This caused HYPERINFLATION. In the end, to buy a loaf of bread, the equivalent amount of money had to be carried in a wheelbarrow. Luckily, we are not here yet, but the tendencies seem to be ther. Wake up now, and smell the coffee.

Another one gets a bank

L$189.4508/US$1.00 Lo and behold. The Central Bank of Liberia has allegedly inflated its payroll by almost 300 people. For what? Are we going back to becoming a banana republic?

Supply and demand

L$187.6225/US$1.00 The more demand for any product, the more will be the price of it. The less the supply of something, the more the price. These are the two major facts in economic theory. The important lesson here is that to solve the problem you have to supply more of the scarce product. Or find a way to decrease the demand of the scarce product. There is unfortunately no piece of legislation that can do anything about this. Solution: Find a way to make the flow of US dollars into the country increase. Produce things that can be sold abroad to bring in foreign currency.

Our neighbor

L$182.6281/US$1.00 Meanwhile in Sierra Leone. After eleven months in office, the new Sierra Leonean president has put measures in place to encourage a boost in agriculture. They have also implemented a central govenment account for the collection of revenue. These measures have gained approval from the IMF and World Bank. Things are looking up for our neighbors, for us, not so much. We are concentrating on building mansions for ourselves.

One, two, three

L$172.5305/US$1.00 One, two, three.

In this day and age

L$177.8284/US$1.00 In this day and age we are still writing checks? An employee of the Revenue Authority has managed to cash a check for USD 450 000 and make off with the amount. Are we surprised?

New money, old problem.

L$170.1264/US$1.00 and counting. Our Finance minister has proclaimed that in order to solve our currency problem we will have to change our currency. Changing the currency will do nothing but make it worse, and it will not solve the real issue. We import almost everything that is consumed in our country. For this the importers need foreign exchange (US dollars). If the importer cannot get a hold of US dollars, they can´t import goods and go out of business. So, to insure a steady supply of US dollars, the price will continue to increase. In order to counter this, you have to either stop importing all your goods and producing your own goods or even begin to export your goods for foreign exchange. This is simple economics. There is nothing that the government can do about this except encourage people to produce goods to export.

Freedom of speech

Ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls, please listen up. The cost of living gets so high, the rich and poor, they start to cry. Now that we must get strong, they say oh, what a tribulation. Them belly full but we hungry. A pot has cooked but the yield´s not nuff. L$166.0221/US$1.00 Today the minister of State for Presidential Affairs has sued the host of the Costa show!! Can you imagine.

Pro Poor?

Pro Poor!Pro Poor!Pro Poor!Pro Poor!Pro Poor!Pro Poor!Pro Poor!Pro Poor!Pro Poor!Pro Poor!Pro Poor!Pro Poor!Pro Poor!Pro Poor!Pro Poor!Pro Poor!Pro Poor!Pro Poor!Pro Poor!Pro Poor!Pro Poor!Pro Poor!Pro Poor!Pro Poor!Pro Poor!Pro Poor!Pro Poor!Pro Poor!Pro Poor!Pro Poor!Pro Poor!Pro Poor!Pro Poor!Pro Poor!Pro Poor!Pro Poor!Pro Poor!Pro Poor!Pro Poor!Pro Poor!Pro Poor!Pro Poor!Pro Poor!Pro Poor!Pro Poor!Pro Poor!Pro Poor!Pro Poor!Pro Poor!Pro Poor!Pro Poor!Pro Poor!Pro Poor!Pro Poor!Pro Poor!Pro Poor!Pro Poor!Pro Poor!Pro Poor!Pro Poor!Pro Poor!Pro Poor!Pro Poor!Pro Poor!Pro Poor!Pro Poor!Pro Poor!Pro Poor!Pro Poor!Pro Poor!Pro Poor!Pro Poor!Pro Poor!Pro Poor!Pro Poor!Pro Poor!Pro Poor!Pro Poor!Pro Poor!Pro Poor!Pro Poor!Pro Poor!Pro Poor!Pro Poor!Pro Poor!Pro Poor!Pro Poor!Pro Poor!Pro Poor!Pro Poor!Pro Poor!Pro Poor!Pro Poor!Pro Poor!Pro Poor!Pro Poor!Pro Poor!Pro Poor!Pro Poor!Pro Poor!Pro Poor!Pro Poor!Pro Poor!Pro Poor!Pro Poor!Pro Poor!Pro Poor!Pro Poor!Pro Poor!Pro Poor!Pro Poor!Pro Poor!Pro Poor!Pro Poor!Pro Poor!Pro Poor!Pro Poor!Pro Poor!Pro Poor!Pro Poor!Pro Poor!Pro Poor!Pro Poor!Pro Poor!Pro Poor!Pro Poor!Pro Poor!Pro Poor!Pro Poor!Pro Poor!Pro Poor!Pro Poor!Pro Poor!Pro Poor!Pro Poor!Pro Poor!Pro Poor!Pro Poor!Pro Poor!Pro Poor!Pro Poor!Pro Poor!Pro Poor!Pro Poor!Pro Poor!Pro Poor!Pro Poor!Pro Poor!Pro Poor!Pro Poor!Pro Poor!Pro Poor!Pro Poor!Pro Poor!Pro Poor!Pro Poor!Pro Poor!Pro Poor!Pro Poor!Pro Poor!Pro Poor!Pro Poor!Pro Poor!Pro Poor!Pro Poor!Pro Poor!Pro Poor!Pro Poor!Pro Poor!Pro Poor!Pro Poor!Pro Poor!Pro Poor!Pro Poor!Pro Poor!Pro Poor!Pro Poor!Pro Poor!Pro Poor!Pro Poor!Pro Poor!Pro Poor!Pro Poor!Pro Poor!Pro Poor!Pro Poor!Pro Poor!Pro Poor!Pro Poor!Pro Poor!Pro Poor!Pro Poor!Pro Poor!Pro Poor!Pro Poor!Pro Poor!Pro Poor!Pro Poor!Pro Poor!Pro Poor!Pro Poor!Pro Poor! By repeatedly saying something does not make it true. By repeatedly saying something does not make it good. By repeatedly saying something does not make it legitimate. By repeatedly saying something does not make it proper. Go figure.

Unaccounted for but not hidden

Since the beginning of time, in this glourious land of Liberty, whenever someone happens upon any kind of funds that they were not previously in pocession of, they will build a house. We have seen it throughout the years. It it always there for everyone to see. So, those in the know will say that there is nothing wrong with that. I respectfully disagree. Unfortunately, impunity here is a well guarded tradition. This is usually also the case with these same people, who have not even declared their assets in the first place.

Aint you see it ehn!

So my friends "The time has come, let´s raid the rules and have som fun." Exactly what we were expecting has now come to pass. No one can tell me that they are surprised. There is no surprise there at all. As George Orwell so pleasantly put it, "Some animals are more equal than other animals." And that it what we are now seeing. Press freedom. The first casualty in the Weah regime is now a fact. As Donald Trump would put intricately describe it, "Sad!"

The emperors new clothes

Apparently there is going to be a New Monrovia. In the middle of a swamp. When actually viewing the footage of the excursion, I was reminded of the fable about "The emperor without clothes". The very fact that you needed to wear knee high rain boots to be on the expedition in the middle of the dry season said it all. To see all these guys in suits, ties and loafers ushering along our leader in this environment. Either someone owns this wasteland and is looking to make a killing or someone just thought it was a perfect photo opportunity for some "Pro-poor" propaganda. My question remains, "How will this ever benefit Liberia?"

Banana republic

If only we could once again become a banana republic. That would be a great step up from what we have become. The problem is that a banana republic produces and exports bananas for foreign exchange. We will never get this far. We do not produce anything that is worthwile to export, so we have to import everything. We import everything that we wear, eat, drink, communicate with. Ladies and gentlemen, we import eggs, orange juice, rice, meat, chicken, fish, beer. The list goes on and on. If you can buy it, it is imported. All these items are imported by buying them abroad with the US Dollar. You cannot take Liberian dollars abroad to change into other currencies. Anybody who is importing stuff to sell here in Liberia has to pay for it with US dollars. If they cannot get US dollars, they cannot replenish their stock. If they cannot buy more goods to sell, they will evetually have to close their businesses. This constant demand from importers to aquire US Dollars is what is driving up the demand for the US Dollar. The more something is in demand, the higher the price of it. This simple economics, people. The Liberian dollar will continue to depreciate as long as this continues. There is nothing anyone in goverment can do about this. Not imediately anyway. In order to curb the increasing demand for the US Dollar, we have to change our ways. You heard that? We have to change our ways. We have to encourage local farmers to produce what we eat. We have to buy local products. If we make it profitable for farmers to produce say eggs or tomatoes, they can concentrate and scale up production. This will take care of all the US Dollars being spent to import food. Even more ideally, these farmers might produce more than needed, which could be exported. We also have to find ways to produce goods that could be exported. We need to attract foreign investors to open factories here. We have to find ways to add value to local produce in a way that the quality is of international standard. We have to lift our eyes above the pettiness that usually consumes us. We have to rise above the fact that everyone wants a job in government. We have to find things that we are good at, and exploit them. We have to stop being traders and become innovators. Until next time.

Election day

And it came to pass... When the hurlyburly's done, When the battle's lost and won. That struts and frets his hour upon the stage And then is heard no more. It is a tale Told by an idiot, full of sound and fury, Signifying nothing.

All of us

What ever you say. I will say, "All of us!" to it. Who is responsible for our shortcomings? Who will benefit if we manage to overcome them? Whose responsiblity is it to condemn corruption? Who does this affect? Enough of the "It was not me attitude!" It is too easy to make excuses and blame eveyone else. Remember this. All of us.

Cutting off the snake´s head

When we were growing up, once in a while, someone would see a poisonous snake lurking on the ground or in a tree. The general reaction to this would usually have everyone rushing to find long sticks to beat the snake to death. When this is done, usually someone cuts off its head and buries it very deeply. So that noone can mistakenly step on it. This is the same attitude we have to have with Ebola. Cut off its head. Do not play with it!