Our nation faces several very critical issues at this time. The ongoing violence is linked to our socio-economic deficiencies, corruption, drugs, guns, politics and extortion. Our economy has been on very shaky ground for a very long time and the recent worldwide financial catastrophe has compounded our problems immensely.

The last time that the foreign-exchange rate was J$1 to US$1 was January 1978. I remember the general feeling of a loss of worth (as a country) when our dollar began its steady decline. Since then, we have experienced many losses. Last year May, the rate was $71.38 to $1, but now the rate is hovering between $88.97 and $88.99 to $1.

The basic problem is that we are spending three times more foreign exchange (FE) than we are earning. In 2005, we exported US$1.53 billion but imported goods costing US$4.7billion. Last year, we exported US$2.7 billion but imported US$8.5 billion in goods.

We have been borrowing (passing the buck on to future generations) in order to survive. There is no clear plan to close the chasm that now exists; we are simply trying to tax our way out of domestic economic shortfalls. Our problem is more than just precocious modernisation and/or social evolution (a natural process of increasingly complex change); it's social mutation (a fairly sudden, unnatural change) towards 'Americanisation' without a requisite strong economic base.

We gain foreign exchange mainly from tourism, the export of goods, foreign investors, remittances, returning residents (investors and pensioners) and overseas government loans and grants. We lose foreign exchange to imported goods and services (including raw materials), servicing foreign loans, the 'exportation' of profits, overseas-based and distance-learning students and to contractual fulfilment to pay employees (partially or totally) in foreign currency. These put (supply and demand) pressure on ourFE reserves, but things are poised to deteriorate.

Absolute loss of confidence

There are some trends that overtly demonstrate an absolute loss of confidence in our country's economy and therefore undermine our floundering dollar. Some commercial and residential landlords with local mortgages have chosen to dismiss the value/validity of our currency by quoting rent and lease figures in USD to their Jamaicans tenants. This only fuels the belief that our dollar is unstable.

There is a spreading rumour that our dollar may not maintain its present value and could slide further in the near future. This kind of talk has been spreading like wildfire by word of mouth, the Internet and by telephone conversations. Consequently, people are engaging in FE speculation by converting their local savings into USD accounts.

Having an FE account for occasional travel expenses and for purchasing small office and personal items is one thing, but speculating, especially in this time of extreme financial crisis, is making an already bad situation even worse. People who speculate are weakening our dollar and dooming our country to even more severe economic hardships.

Not very patriotic

Many Jamaicans are not very patriotic. Perhaps it's because we never had to fight foreign invaders or insurgents to secure our sovereignty. Perhaps it's because politics divided us early in our nationhood. Or, it could be that the greed, indiscipline and violence within our society make us apathetic.

This economic situation constitutes a true test of our patriotism. So, in spite of the aforementioned factors, I pray that patriotism will supersede and that our citizens will have the good sense to avoid foreign-currency speculation. Acting on rumours of a badly weakening dollar could make for a self-fulfilling prophecy.

Garth A. Rattray is a medical doctor with a family practice. Feedback may be sent to garrthrattray@gmail.com or columns@gleanerjm.com.