We Are Not In The Economic Textbooks That Is The Problem

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So you are wasting time calling 'super-economists' to fix economic problems that are not found described in any text books on economics. 
There is no vet or animal doctor anywhere in the world who can revive a dead horse. When the horse has died you just have to get a new horse to pull the wagon.




 
Falling Ringgit and economy
Murray Hunter
Jun 26   

cost of living, lacklustre Bursa, EPF, rise in interest rates
Ringgit has fallen from 4.60 to 4.68 over June
Ringgit falling below what has been psychologically acceptable
BNM raised OPR to 3.0% Ringgit still on downward trend
bank base lending rates to 6.47-6.70%
repayments of mortgages and business up by 13.5%
far above official inflation rate for May 2023, at 2.8%
rate rise  devastating upon business and households
Malaysia economic policy vacuum
economy very challenging
April’s year on year exports fell 17.4%
Capital outflow likely to keep increasing 
downward pressure on the Ringgit
cost of repaying external govt debt will increase deficit
going to increase imported inflation
Malaysia has national problem
no super-economists among political elite
think tanks all seemed to run for the hills
not facing public with explanations and plans to fix economy.
economy really needs to develop very quick plan
Originally published in FMT 26th June 2023
 
My Comments :
The Malaysian economy really has no problems at all. Genuine private sector Malaysian companies and entrepreneurs already work hard and compete with the rest and the best in the world. Our country did not become the 24th or 25th largest trading country in the world because our entrepreneurs and businessmen do not know how to do business.
There are TWO very huge problems in Malaysia which have a chokehold on our economy. The two huge problems are the government and worse still the government's failed policies which have continued unabated for the past 53 years.
And since corruption has not been eradicated by ALL the governments it can be assumed that corruption is a part of government policy. There is plenty of close one eye still going on in the country. One example is online betting which, no less than a minister has made public in Parliamentary debate, is protected by the politicians. Corruption is part of policy making.

And the government's economic policy is race based. What does this mean? It means that race based economic policies are not found in any economics textbooks. You cannot apply the known principles of economic management to race based economic policies.
So you are wasting time calling 'super-economists' to fix economic problems that are not found described in any text books on economics. 
There is no vet or animal doctor anywhere in the world who can revive a dead horse. When the horse has died you just have to get a new horse to pull the wagon.

Dont misunderstand me. I am not saying that race based economic policies are wrong. I have said before that we must continue with the Affirmative Action Policies in this country for a very long time. And I will repeat my mantra one more time - you abolish Affirmative Action and this country will burn.

But we must marry Affirmative Action Policies with the free market Price Mechanism. The simple price mechanism will save us all. 
There has to be a combination between the two - Affirmative Action and the Price Mechanism.

Yes give the contract to the bumiputra but why must we pay two times or three times the market prices?
(I met a very enterprising young man the other day. I have known him from just a few days after he was born. He drives a Porsche now. He does government contracts and he is already an expert at Variation Orders. I will not say anymore.)
The Malaysian economy has been dealt death blows that have already killed the economy. The presence of each and every foreign worker in the economy means higher value jobs have been destroyed in the economy.
The corruption in the Immigration over entry of illegal immigrants 40 years ago, then the corruption in the Immigration over "legal" foreign worker permits, the cronies given licenses to "traffic" in foreign workers have all destroyed higher value job creation in the economy.
The semi-literate Banglas, Indons and Nepalis now produce our less value added goods. You cannot expect a semi-literate Bangla or Indon to assemble rocket engines or create software apps. So we are stuck in producing slave-labour, manual work, low value added goods. That is why the Ringgit is also falling. We export shiploads of output but their value is decreasing.
The GLCs and their monopolies, the government licensed monopolies that choke the economy, the crony capitalism, the rent seeking and the piracy that does not add market value to the economy - have killed the economy long ago. Now just wait and see the next generation become poorer. They will end up sleeping in the streets.

The politicians will not even understand what I am saying here. Almost all of them cannot even understand English.
The bottom line is the governments (plural) economic policies for the past 50 years cannot be found written in any text books of economics. All the governments, from the BN-UMNO of 63 years until the present government today.

You cannot go to Oxford University or Harvard University and ask them 'Can you show me an economic textbook which details Malaysia's New Economic Policy'.
They will just laugh at you. Not just because you are an idiot but because they see a monkey pretending to wear shoes.
Here is the real problem - they will not understand what I am saying.

The views expressed are those of the writer and do not necessarily reflect those of MMKtT.
By Syed Akbar Ali 

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