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EDITORIAL: Low
numbers drag Ma down
Some depressing figures recently released by the Directorate-General of Budget,
Accounting and Statistics (DGBAS) prompt the question whether President Ma Ying-jeou
(°¨^¤E), in the dead of night, ever finds his conscience stirring or is struck by
guilt for having failed the people.
The data show that the unemployment rate rose for the third consecutive month
last month to 4.31 percent ¡X the worst among the ¡§Asian Tiger¡¨ economies.
Meanwhile, annual consumer price index (CPI) growth for last month marked the
highest level since September 2008 with a rise of 2.46 percent. Second-quarter
GDP contracted by 0.16 percent from a year earlier, the DGBAS reported, adding
it has also cut the growth forecast for this year to 1.66 percent, from a
previous estimate of 2.08 percent. Exports for the second quarter were US$4.34
billion lower than a year ago and the DGBAS has cut this year¡¦s export revenue
forecast by US$5.6 billion to about US$302.9 billion amid falling global demand.
The gloomy numbers seem to just keep coming. On Friday, the agency reported that
the income gap remains relatively steady, noting that while the gap between the
highest and lowest-income households decreased slightly last year, the ratio
between the two groups would have reached 7.75 last year ¡X the second-highest
level on record ¡X if social welfare subsidies and tax benefits were excluded
from the calculations.
All these numbers cut a sharp ¡X and rather ironic ¡X contrast to the rosy picture
Ma had painted for the voters during both of his presidential campaigns.
Ma may choose not to remember, but Taiwanese cannot forget his ¡§6-3-3¡¨ electoral
promise ¡X 6 percent economic growth, unemployment of less than 3 percent and a
US$30,000 per capita income within four years ¡X which led to him being elected
by a significant margin in March 2008, but ultimately failed so miserably. He
later said the goal would be reached in 2016, but who really believes such
promises anymore?
Also, what about the so-called ¡§Golden Decade¡¨ policy that he touted during his
re-election campaign? The policy was aimed at narrowing the wealth gap and
bringing greater prosperity to the country as a whole, so this latest set of
bleak numbers have many people wondering whether it will suffer the same fate as
the ¡§6-3-3¡¨ promise and become little more than another piece of trivia for the
¡§Ma misspeaks¡¨ collection.
In addition, the cross-strait Economic Cooperation Framework Agreement, whose
merits the Ma administration has trumpeted so loudly, has thus far failed to
generate palpable gains for the economy.
It might be a good thing to see a head of the state exuding confidence and
offering grandiloquent visions for his nation, yet when all the promises turn
out to be empty, those who suffer the consequences are the nation¡¦s
competitiveness and its people.
However, as the saying goes: better late than never.
All eyes are now on Ma, waiting to see whether he can deliver on his promises as
he revamps his pledges. Otherwise, it will be only a matter of time before he
realizes that the legacy he is seeking to build will be tarnished and he will be
remembered as the president under whose terms all economic indicators reached
record lows.
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