Our problem: The unnecessary is expensive but mandatory

By Douglas Kruger STORM Benjamin didn’t even make a dent in attendance. The Sundown was packed and humming for the launch of Value Jersey, in the wake of a delightfully provocative social media video by the inimitable Harry Trower. Our family also fought the winds and made it, cheeks flapping, through the door, and spent a couple of hours nodding in passionate agreement to the well-chosen line-up of speakers.The general theme of the meeting was: “Something’s off in Jersey. The cost of living makes no sense.” And the premise was correct. The math isn’t mathing. It’s not just slightly more expensive here. Nor do many necessary costs come in at double or even triple what you’d pay elsewhere, which would already be cause for alarm. It is often, as a matter of no hyperbole, up to tenfold worse than other places, for comparable products and services. And it’s not uncommon to get less for your tenfold outlay. That makes no sense, and it’s not sustainable. Inevitable results will be: Families slipping below the poverty line, young people leaving to find a better deal, businesses folding, tourists choosing destinations that offer way, way, way more value for the money. We have a monster chasing us, and it’s time we turned and faced it. It’s not good enough to say, ‘Things are expensive everywhere,’ when our numbers are so far out of sync: 4.0% inflation here, while France experiences 1.10%. Value Jersey pegs itself as a political movement, but not a political party, which is smart.The idea is to call for ideas. To ask “why is this happening and what can be done about it?”, then aid and support the individuals positioned to take action. From manifesto to reality. And it wasn’t just about combatting cost. There was a strong focus on innovation and entrepreneurship, which, I’m told, used to be stronger here. I was thrilled down to the core of my little libertarian soul to hear the economists and business owners pointing squarely at excessive regulation as our primary driver of costs. I’ve been banging that drum since I arrived here. And I’m not known for it here, but I’m actually the author of a bestselling book titled “Is Your Thinking Keeping You Poor?”But honestly, it doesn’t require that to see it. Coming in from outside, the imbalance jumps out at you as painfully obvious, but I suspect that if you’ve lived with it for a while, it starts to becoming invisible… except at the cash register. Simple example. I was at the skatepark with my son. Three men with clipboards wondered by to inspect those tiny bathroom stalls. I overheard them tutting that there were inadequate fire warning systems. Gentle reader, that facility is a box. A tiny box. If it catches fire while you’re on the loo, I promise you, you’ll know. Hence, this inspection by the clipboard men was an exercise in futility. But the clipboard men take it seriously, and so do the people they will subsequently report back to. And here’s what happens next: The venue will incur a cost in order to comply with their findings. And they will have to pass that cost along to their customers – you – making their offering more expensive. Now repeat that times a thousand small instances across an island economy. And that’s the problem in a nutshell. In Jersey, the unnecessary is expensive, but mandatory. But that’s not where it ends. Because you have also paid for the existence and ongoing salary of Mr Clipboard Man. And his companion, Mr Back-Up Clipboard Man. And their friend, Back-Up Back-Up clipboard man. And other teams of clipboard men just like them, scurrying about around the Island, looking for ways to stop you getting papercuts while you pay over and over for the privilege. That. That’s the problem. That is the thinking that makes Jersey ludicrously expensive. It is systemic, embedded, and entirely solvable. Or take something like aftercare. Ours is no grander than three teachers and a field. And I love those teachers; they’re terrific people. But the kids gambol about on some turf, and sometimes they get toast, white, with jam. So why does it cost orders of magnitude more than what you would pay for significantly better infrastructure in other countries? We need a breakdown of where that wave of financial punishment is coming from. The likelihood is this: Start with the licences. Then add the insurances. Then pile on the compliance items, and then stack a little tax on top of it all. And then a little more. Add a few inspections, And voilà – you have made it punitive for parents to “purchase” time to work. It sometimes rises to this level of stupidity: if the kids are there for more than two hours, different, and more costly government regulations apply. Multiply that sort of thinking – that sort of gratuitous but encultured costly interference – over something as grand as a construction project, and the tiered levels of wanton burden become crushing. Add some net-zero madness, to ensure that powering it all can be three times more expensive than necessary, and you will have companies collapsing, economies turning backward, and individuals haemorrhaging survival money that should have gone into their own dreams. In short, the current Jersey economy. This was merely one of Value Jersey’s themes: too much government. The absurdity of an aggressively ballooning public sector, even as businesses and the economy shrink. They touched on many other issues that have been close to my heart for years now, including Jersey’s value to tourists, to entrepreneurs, to the youth, and more. One speaker pointed out that we are not obliged to copy the worst of the UK’s mistakes, which resonated for me.They also mentioned a little discussed but actually terrifically important problem – that voters don’t know what government ministers believe or stand for before voting them in. I must tell you, if elections were held right now, I would want to vote for the guy who shouts loudest about reducing government, cutting restrictions, freeing up business and gutting taxes…and I wouldn’t have the first clue who that is. Isn’t that strange? Perhaps this new movement can be the beginning of changing all that. Their hearts appear to be in it. And for that reason, they certainly have my support. Check them out by visiting ValueJersey.je, where you can submit your own ideas. Let’s hope it starts a brushfire, and reverses an unhealthy trend. Douglas Kruger is an author and speaker based in Jersey. His books are all available via Amazon and Audible.