People across the country are cussing bitterly about the almost nationwide blackouts which Guyanese are suffering on a daily basis. However little do these complainers know that there is serious economics behind it all.
These blackouts are no different to any of President Obama’s stimulus packages. Blackouts stimulate the economy and all Guyana ought to be grateful.
Businesses have to buy generators so businesses selling generators are making big bucks. Generators need fuel so gas stations are being emptied of gasoline more frequently.
Then the average Jagmohan does not want to stay home in the dark so he packs up his family in the old car or bus and takes them to Igloo or Edy’s or Demico or KFC or Church’s or Pizza Hut or Popeye’s or Royal Castle or some other such establishment. They use more gas than usual to drive to and fro so even more business for gas stations. Then more business for Igloo and Edy’s and Demico and KFC and Church’s and Pizza Hut and Popeye’s and Royal Castle and so on.
And those who do stay home have to buy lamps and candles. And lamps need kerosene so more business for the gas stations.
And blackouts improve social interaction and reduce – yes reduce – crime. With no electricity to allow the televisions, computers and radios to work folks are left to talk with each other, share stories, experience and so on. Blackouts help the family to bond whereas televisions, computers and radios cause families to drift apart and become estranged leading to all sorts of social ills.
And when there are blackouts people are not huddled in their bedrooms and living rooms, they come out into their yards and onto their gaps and the streets. With people swarming around everywhere thieves are afraid to strike as they are more – yes more, not less – likely to be identified. One would think that thieves would flourish in blackouts but it is not so. They flourish when the electricity is on as then everyone is indoors watching television or surfing the internet and have no time to look out for the suspicious characters prowling the neighbourhood.
And then workers who know that when they go home they will be going home to darkness prefer to sit it out at work. They are thus less grumpy while working overtime and those who are not working overtime just hang out at work and get a little more done during the stay.
This nationwide blackout is not crippling the country, it is stimulating the economy. Major kudos to the government for instituting this brilliant economic stimulus package.
9 Comments
June 17, 2009 at 10:33 pm
ah yes, i see it now.
June 17, 2009 at 11:51 pm
Well try to look at it from that point of view, but i still got to pay an increase light bill
June 18, 2009 at 1:52 am
this imran chap is a real skunt
June 18, 2009 at 4:53 am
PS: Rum shops and beer gardens are also making a killing from these blackouts. They are packed to the hilt.
June 18, 2009 at 5:49 am
ahhh.. gosh.
June 18, 2009 at 1:24 pm
[...] about the almost nationwide blackouts which Guyanese are suffering on a daily basis”: Imran Khan thinks that “there is serious economics behind it all.” Cancel this [...]
June 18, 2009 at 4:04 pm
Gaggle: to make a noise characteristic of a goose; “Cackling geese”
Quite a fitting name.
June 18, 2009 at 5:59 pm
…the birth rate will increase as well…maybe this is a deliberate ploy of the present regime to re-populate Guyana…recognising the mass migration over the years…
June 19, 2009 at 7:58 pm
good point there adjudicator
gaggle go gaggle some balls something