The flaws in the system responsible for problems

Dear Editor, 

In response to PS Jeffrey, as usual all your points are the points made by a capitalist trying to put a positive spin on a sadly lacking government while ignoring the reality. 

The reality is there is massive unemployment in Samoa. The huge and growing gap between the rich and the poor is a result of your points. 

Your points have not created well-paid jobs so that people can survive the high cost of living in Samoa. This is the real cause of the child vendor problem in Samoa not bad parenting. 

You also miss what I am complaining about regarding the high cost of living in Samoa. My wage is from Canada, I will be fine. It is the person with a family trying to survive on minimum wage of 60 tala per week that I am concerned about. 

It is you, not me, who does not want to raise the minimum wage immediately. You argue the same old argument that this will hurt business, although this has never shown to be the truth. 

You speak of all the spin off industry, i.e.; mechanics, that has been created because of cars being imported into Samoa. 

Let’s revisit this point in five years as I strongly believe the PM is trying to kill the second hand car industry on behalf of his friends who own the new car dealerships. 

The truth is that capitalists like the PM’s friends only like capitalism when the rules are weighed in their favor. Corruption is a huge problem within the capitalist system and in Samoa it is even worse because of factors like S.I.F.A, the chief auditor being the P.M’s son in law, lack of transparency and no accountability. 

Let’s also visit you claims about the airport in five years. As someone on this site so rightly pointed out, without a national airline the airport will probably be another ill thought out white elephant the people of Samoa are on the hook for. Tourism will never thrive in Samoa as long as the cost to get here, stay here, and eat here remain so high while the service and cleanliness remains third rate at best. 

One Sea Breeze Resort does not make a tourist destination. 

Regarding competition from Chinese merchants, from what I have read on this site is that it is not fair competition that is the problem. 

The problem is that there are one set of taxes, rules and laws for the Chinese merchants but another set for the local business people. 

Close those loopholes and I’m sure Moe Lei Sam will feel just fine. She seems like a reasonable and rational woman to me. She just wants fairness. 

I think Kevin Hartin has pointed to this problem as well. 

The bidding process in Samoa is questionable and everyone knows this. Without accountability and transparency what can you do about it though? 

Finally price fixing by two phone giants dies nothing to help the consumer. 

You capitalists like to keep harping on and on about hard work like there is some sort of correlation between hard work and wealth. 

This is not supported by any data. There is a correlation between education and wealth but in Samoa education is not a national priority. 

It is a priority of Fiti Leung Wai and Quenjule Slaven but it is not a government priority. The real correlation is that hard working uneducated people will make capitalists wealthy not themselves. 

In conclusion I just don’t like to overlook the flaws in your system which creates the huge and growing gap between the rich and the poor that is the real cause of poverty and child vendors in Samoa not bad parenting.

 

Wendy Wonder 

Samoa Observer

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