Understanding Manning's economics...click the link and read more.

In the 2002/2003 Budget delivery on 21 October 2002, the then Minister of Finance Patrick Manning said that “when the PNM was returned to office late last year, it was clear that the world economy had entered a recession. The US economy had come to the end of its longest uninterrupted expansion in the post-War period, Europe was flagging and Japan continued to show signs of economic depression. In such an environment, commodity prices were generally soft. Notwithstanding this global environment, in the 2001-02 Budget, the UNC administration pressed on with revenue projections and expenditure plans based on overly optimistic assumptions for oil prices and non-oil tax collections, despite evidence available since the latter half of 2000, that a domestic economic slowdown was underway.”

Sounds familiar? Click the link above and read more in my Newsday column.