We will weather the storm
Thursday 29th January 2009, 3:00PM GMT.
JERSEY has a ‘sound and stable economy’ and can face international scrutiny of its finance industry with confidence, the Island’s new Chief Minister told business leaders yesterday.
In his first major public speech as Chief Minister, Senator Terry Le Sueur outlined major challenges ahead as Jersey follows the UK into recession but remained upbeat about the Island’s longer-term prospects.
The Chief Minister told the Chamber of Commerce that he would spend the next few weeks working on his first Strategic Plan and wanted to hear from them and other Islanders about priorities for shaping Jersey’s future after the recession. Meanwhile, the States would offer emergency help to stimulate the economy with ‘timely, targeted and temporary’ use of its £140 million Stabilisation Fund.
Senator Le Sueur, a former accountant who took over the top job in Island politics last month after six years as Treasury Minister, told a packed house that Jersey was well-placed to weather the economic storm and that the finance industry at the heart of the Island economy was among the most responsible in the world.
Despite the daily bad news on the economic front, there was no need to be despondent, said Senator le Sueur.
‘We cannot be immune from the collapse of some UK high-street retailers, however successful their Jersey operations may be,’ he said. ‘This is really a problem that affects the whole community. All of us, in fact, are at the sharp end of this. My task, and that of my fellow States Members, is to deal with the results of the changing economic climate.’
• Picture: The Chief Minister addresses the Jersey Chamber of Commerce lunch. Picture by Rob Currie (00614633)
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Will wonders never cease? The Chief Minister wants suggestions from islanders about planning for the islands future after the recession.
Add this to the fact that they are planning on raising the retirement age so future generations pretty much work until they drop and I reckon it might be time to start packing a case.
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So there will be no need to head off on those ‘networking’ trips to the USA then as we don’t have to worry about scrutiny any more.
Good-oh, more money not squandered.
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No need to worry everyone is safe under Terry Le Sueur’s Brolly!
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To be quite honest, I don’t give a monkey’s about the survival plan, this place has been ruined, and it ain’t worth staying, six months to retirement then me and the missus are gone, so thanks for nothing mate!!!
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What is really scary is that this statement comes from the same person credited with the following opinions:-
Taxing the 1.1k residents and the wealthy any more than the tiny amounts they do, would be immoral.
There is no recession in Jersey.
We will have an inclusive Council of Ministers that will engage the public more.
I wonder if our Glorious Leader was the Health and Safety officer that signed off on the Titanic project with the notes: “This ship is unsinkable!”
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Pip Clement
You can’t one day say that the Chief Minister is out of touch with the people and the next day criticise for consulting the Chamber of Commerce etc – which is it to be?
The reason why the retirement age needs to increase is because all of us in the developed world are living longer and the current basis for pension contributions cannot cope with the elderly requiring longer payouts. So whilst the average retirement period may not be increasing – it certainly isn’t being reduced. Go and pack your bags – good luck to you – When you’ve found a country that does not have the same problem let me know. In fact most countries are worse off than Jersey in this respect so you’ll probably end up working longer in the country you decide to live in.
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Humm, I have a vision, I don’t know what it is but I have a vision, actually I will have, once I’ve got enough advice as to what it is. I’ve started already all on my own, one and one is two and half, two and two is more than three, right oh, it’s lunchtime must go and circulate for a few hours, the day always look shorter in the afternoon, and after all tomorrow is one day near to retirement, or it was last week?
PS: what does a Chief Minister do?
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They couldn’t weather a storm on the Milbrook boating pond, let alone in the big world. Don’t get complaisant. Jersey is in for hard times whether the politicians can see it or not
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The reason we have a ‘problem’ with the aging population is the vast influx of low paid workers we have allowed into the island. We are now paying the price for all those hotel and farm workers with no private pensions living in states accommodation.
I remember in the 1980′s retired bank worker with private pensions, private health insurance, etc were not allowed to stay, however the great council house boom then started to house the low paid who have then imported their grannies, aunties etc who are now having treatment at the hospital.
Each states member should be made to repeat every morning – this is an island of 40 square miles, we cannot invite the population of the world to come and live here
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I remember Gordon Brown saying the same things in October/November. How many politicians have you heard/seen saying “[insert your home country] is well-placed to weather the economic storm”? and then the country going belly up? Economy in deficit, redundancies, big stores bankrupt, mortgage rates high, inflation high, fuel bills high, countries wanting more tax revenues (rather than leaching to places like Jersey)… looks good to you?
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Hi Joker,
Actually I can. The Chief Minister does not know what he wants. He said he was going to build a more inclusive administration and then packed the CoM with all his best buddies and political allies. The Strategic Plan was supposed to be discussed more openly in the States but there are secret discusssions going on in closed committees on raising the pension age.
The Waterfront is an on going muddle that is likely to keep the JEP in stories for the rest of my lifetime. The depositor protection scheme is up and running in Guernsey but in Jersey we are still thinking about it. The redundancy law is a matter of urgency so they say but I doubt much will be done on this before next Christmas.
However I can guarantee that cigarettes will no longer be displayed openly in the shops within a few months and this will be trumpeted as a great success.
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Picture: The Chief Minister addresses the Jersey Chamber of Commerce lunch. You have to be a paid member of the Chamber of Commerce, why can’t he talk to the General Public
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P Lee – spot on, Jersey could fully provide for itself whilst being a friendly happy quiet place if we had a sensible sized population say 60000 but it does not seem like the increase will stop until we are well past 100k. I think a referendum on population is called for.
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What recession Terry??? your words not mine!
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P Lee, I am one who agrees that Jersey needs to go farther to ensure that locals are given jobs ahead of anyone else (and I’m not from Jersey). However, I know some employers who have tried, tried, tried again and failed to recruit local people, so what would you have them do?
In Scotland schoolkids 16 and over get themselves evening or weekend jobs in supermarkets, restaurants, cafes etc. In fact it is the norm. And these are not uneducated kids, after school they go on to be Nurses, Doctors, Teachers etc (many keep their part-time jobs throughout the university years also). Yet, having spoken to some Jersey young people they think these jobs are ‘beneath them’.
How can that be? Some of the kids with this opinion are not particularly bright and won’t be able to go on to University yet they deem perfectly good jobs to be beneath them. At that age I was just proud to be earning my own money and to be reaching some level of independence, but for Jersey kids that’s not the case (and I know it’s not ALL but it is a high percentage).
In Scotland you will get cleaners who are Scottish, in Jersey it is also ‘beneath them’. On the rare occasion that my friends have managed to employ a Jersey young person they have found that the person just wants the money for no work! I hear this from other employers also.
Maybe Jersey needs to wake up to itself, get rid of the snobbery and stop raising its kids to look down on others. You need the foreign workers because of the abysmal attitude of some of your Jersey folk.
And before anyone says these jobs don’t pay enough, that’s nonsense, they pay more than the equivalent in the UK and school kids still live at home and don’t have any bills so actually the Jersey kids would be better off than their UK counterparts.
This island really suffers because of false snobbery. Wealth does not make you better than others and it does not make you ‘above’ any job. If Jersey kids starting getting real then more of Jersey’s money will stay in, and benefit, Jersey. In fact, the overall behaviour of Jersey kids would improve at home and in school if they were taught respect for others instead of having parents that denegrate those in ‘lesser jobs’.
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Last time I was in Jersey everyone had massive mortgages and were up to their necks in debt – Keeping up with the Jones’s I think.
So the Credit Crunch – big problem in the UK, its going to be a massive problem in Jersey as the banks start pulling cash out. There should be massive alarm bells ringing in Jersey the bubble is bigger than anywhere else!
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Having read Leah’s post above, it brings to mind the UK news headlines today that thousand of workers in England and Scotland have gone on strike because Oil Plant bosses don’t want to employ British workers but would prefer to give big contacts to Portuguese and Italian workers.
It is becoming increasingly well known that English workers, (and that includes Jersey), are comparatively expensive and downright lazy in comparison to European workers. The comments of the Jersey kids that Leah has spoken to support this theory.
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Yes, those with high aspirations to ‘keep up with the Jones’es, which is rife in Jersey, have indeed made a rod for their own backs. Our European workers are prepared to undertake jobs that locals would stick their noses up at, so we cannot place blame on them. On the other side of the coin though I know of one large employer looking to replace someone in an office based job. Through word of mouth they heard of a European worker, did not advertise to see if it could be filled by a local/British applicant, and whoopee, filled the post on a lower salary than they had previously paid. So, employers have to take responsibility for this situation as well.
Nice to have such an optimistic CM!
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Leah – as far as I am aware it is not only the Portugese who are taking local jobs, the scottish are just as guilty!
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Pip Clement
When he said more inclusive he didn’t mean the JDA and their cronies who, to be frank, are totally unfit to have any Ministry and so should not be included. Inclusion means more consulting with the Chamber of Commerce and private sector.
As for important discussions regarding retirement age etc – they need to start somewhere and consulting actuaries and specialists in the area is essential before a contentious subject is discussed in the States for a vote – the Strategic Plan has not been debated yet. It is typical of those I’m sure you would have preferred Ministerial positions, to turn up with a half baked ideas like tax payer bailouts for Woolworths without considering the bigger picture. Same goes for a depositor protection scheme; it takes months, not weeks to draft such legislation that would have a material affect on the tax payer should it be needed.
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All I can say is carry on Joker!
It is quite evident to me that the CoM have reached the point where they have circled the wagons and are regarding any criticism as hostile.
This is usually the point where a government starts to die.
You only have to look at the last days of Callaghan, Thatcher, Major and it seems Brown.
My prediction is that in three years time a lot of the men now in the CoM will not be in the States, they are either planning on retiring or they will lose their seats and for better or worse the JDA will be a lot stronger.
I am not a supporter of the JDA by the way, it is just that the Jersey establishment seems to want to see them in power!
Complacency which is a quality the CoM have in spades, hubris and a conviction that you cannot lose always presages a fall from grace.
But Terry le Sueur will have had his three years as CM before retirement so things won’t have all been for the bad
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Jersey may weather the storm. The situation that will make the recession pale into insignificance is Obama and Whether or not his influence will affect Tax Havens and Crown Dependancies under British Jurisdiction. I think it will.
On watching Panorama it appears his stance is one of Zero Tolerance for Tax Avoidance or Dodging as the peasants would say.
What will happen as these ‘havens’ tumble. Liechtenstein is under great scrutiny, and others will follow. Based on the CM’s performance last night I fear the worst when the really sharp questions are being asked.
I
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Pip
Hopefully you are right and the Government as we know it and it will be trimmed to a sensible number as per Clothier. You can’t put entire blame on the CoM when they have a lot of dead wood to carry and deal with. It tends to be a lot of the other 41 members holding up debate about the important Island wide issues we face. Perhaps if we only had 36 or so members it would be quicker and easier to get stuff done.
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Actually I think the continued behaviour of Liechtenstein (Panorama) makes Jersey’s progress in the last 20 years look good. Still it would be nice if the States of Jsy and a certain large legal firm in Grenville street chipped in to the UK govt for the losses of Northern Rock as a gesture of goodwill. That was a business model this island shouldn’t have helped facilitate.
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Ooh Joker that will be the day!
36 members all of the same type elected from say 12 constituencies of approximately equal population.
Now who has to vote for this wonderful new system?
The States
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And the really good bit is we could elect them all at the SAME time!
Radical or what?
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Hellllooooo does anyone want to recognise the fact that president Obama is about to force much US investment out of this island. Less jobs, less income from finance industry, higher taxes for everyone, less money for the States to spend.
We may have a ‘sound and stable’ economy now but as for the future,…we will see.
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As long term resident of Jersey and a home owner I read with interest the comments that appear on these forums….and sympathise with what people are going through. There is one solution though and I took it. Its called the 5 year break. Rent your house out, get someone else to pay your mortgage and disappear somewhere warm for five yrs. Just earn enough to live on (in my case a few hours a day cleaning or gardening) and then chill out, soak up the sun and enjoy the fact your mortgage is being paid and you are free. When you come back to Jersey you will either love or hate the place but you will see it with fresh eyes and be better off financially than had you stayed and slogged a 40 hr week for the last five yrs.
Try it. I am loving it.
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