CaribPress: How did the idea to start Travelwire Global, Inc, a worldwide online travel and tour company, come about?

Oliver Huie: Having worked in the travel industry, I felt the personal touch was missing.  A desire to bring back the personal touch to travel, while providing quality services to travelers, led me to launch this online travel business.

CPress: Tell our readers about the experiences that you bring to Travelwire Global.

OH: Travel savvy – A passion to travel, coupled with a wealth of knowledge about the Caribbean infrastructure and the back-end of travel Information Technology (IT).  The experiences that I bring to the company includes over fifteen (15) years experiences working as an IT Engineer, as well as a few years as a travel agent.

CPress: Travelers are looking for deals.  There are other online travel companies providing deals as well.  What types of deals do Travelwire Global offer that sets the company apart in the industry?

OH: We are focusing on the Caribbean market, we are from there.  This is advantageous because we know the demographics of that market better than our competitors. We are bringing back the customer support and service aspects to the travel industry.  Our staff at Travelwire ensures that your travel experience is smooth by providing comprehensive customer service from the time the trip is booked.

CPress: In today’s tight economy, travelers are looking to cut costs and save money.  Savvy travelers are looking for a luxury vacation on a low budget.  Tell us about how a family can benefit from the “Make Your Own Deal” program?

OH: Travelers can get a lot for their money with the Make your Own deal program.  Our business resources on the ground are able to provide great deals for hotel rates.  We are from the Caribbean and we know the suppliers.

CPress: In light of the cruise ship wreck in Italy, your thoughts on how this devastating accident could impact the travel industry?

OH: According to some of the reviews, they are expecting an impact to first time cruise travelers.  At the same time, we have to market the safety of cruise.

The advice to travelers is that when you are going on a cruise, the first thing you should do when you board the ship is to attend the safety drill within the first day of the cruise. It is important that every cruise passenger attends this safety drill;

CPress: What travel spots are on your bucket list for the 2012 travel season?

OH: Cancun – Spring Break; Negril; Jamaica – Spring Break; Jamaica, Virgin Island – Carnival – April; Jamaica – Reggae Sumfest – July; Barbados – Crop Over festival – July; Jamaica 50 – August; Trinidad 50 – August;

CPress: What is Travelwire Global ‘Fab Five’ travel destinations and why?

OH: ‘FAB FIVE’ Destinations are the following:

1. Jamaica — have the beach in the Caribbean, in Negril you have 12 miles of white sand beach. The food, culture, people and the best adventure experience.

2. Dominican Republic — This Island is a hidden treasure, is lost somewhere under the blanket of green felt that coats its densely forested hills. It has some of the best rates in Hotels and attractions.

3. St. Lucia — St. Lucia is quickly gaining steam as the best destination in the Caribbean – and rightfully so. The island has the perfect mix of what one desires in a Caribbean getaway; a vibrant port city surrounded by tall, sweeping, rainforest covered mountains.

4. Barbados — Barbados clinches the number two spot for being a country that has truly established its own identity since breaking away from the British rule in 1966.

5. Mexico – Mexico is the most visited destination and receives over 3 million visitors each year. Its modern hotels, gorgeous Caribbean coastline and proximity to US makes it a destination anyone can enjoy.

CPress: As Jamaica move towards 50 years of nationhood, what are the most significant milestones thus far for the black, green and gold?

OH: Jamaica becoming an independent nation, our national heroes and the influence of reggae music globally are significant milestones.

CPress: In terms of the Jamaican diaspora, what plans are in the pipeline for Jamaica 50?

OH: I am excited to say that there are many special events planned within the diaspora in the United States, Canada, United Kingdom and Jamaica.  The events kick off in January.

Visit the Consul General of Jamaica web site for more details at: www.congenjamaica-ny.org

CPress: With the age of smartphones, tablets, other portable devices and social networking, what role will this play in the travel industry?

OH: Technology is changing how travelers book their flights.  Social media has played a major role in internet booking.  Everything is geared to twitter, facebook LinkedIn or a website.

CPress: Elaborate on the future for Travelwire Global.

OH: We foresee Travelwire to be a leader in the travel industry, while positioning our self as one of the top leaders in the travel industry by offering good prices, good packages and good customer support.  And build our customer base on word of mouth referrals by family and friends.

Barbados economy stabilized in 2011

That plan is designed to achieve a balanced budget by 2016/2017.

The bank, in its economic performance review for 2011 and prospects for 2012, stated that the fiscal deficit was down more than two per cent of GDP from the previous 7.4 per cent for the latter nine months of last year, in line with the revised strategy targets.

The economy grew by an estimated at 0.5 per cent last year aided by increases in construction (4.4 per cent), tourism outputs (0.3 per cent), and transport and communications sectors (0.6 per cent).

The United States and United Kingdom markets rose, while the Barbados-based low-cost airline REDjet boosted arrivals from the CARICOM region led by a 35 per cent increase the Trinidad and Tobago market.

“Tourist numbers have increased, but length of stay and average spending have fallen, leading to an increase in tourism output that was marginal, at 0.3 percent,” the bank stated.

It noted that Barbados’ tourism remains competitive because the country is known as a high quality destination, adding, “In order to maintain a competitive edge in tourism, the industry must attain and maintain international standards at all times.”

The Central Bank called for further investment in refurbishment and upgrades of hotels and tourism facilities, including the cultural and historical legacy of the country.

Foreign exchange spending of BDS$5.5 billion (US$2.75 billion) was financed almost entirely from tourist inflows, earnings from the International Business and Financial Services sector, exports and capital inflows.

“As a result there was a minimal need to draw on the Central Bank’s foreign exchange reserves, which fell by only 1 percent between the end of 2010 and December 2011,” the bank explained.

“The Barbados currency remains well protected, with foreign reserve cover of 18 weeks of imports at December 2011, comfortably above the international norm of 12 weeks.”

Growth prospects for 2012 are tempered by the unsettled international climate, while the medium term growth prospects are encouraging, once the international economy settles down, the bank said further.

“The growth rate in 2012 may be one per cent or less, unless the international economic and financial climate improves. Construction of tourism facilities and Government’s housing initiatives are expected to be the main drivers,” it explained.

“In the medium term, growth rates of 2 to 3 percent are possible, provided the strategies mentioned earlier are successfully implemented,” the central bank said.

US Virgin Islands To Lay-Off 500

Governor John de Jongh announced yesterday, December 28, that 143 temporary and part-time workers will be dismissed on December 30, and that another 350 workers will receive dismissal letters on January 5. And, he warned that additional layoffs might be needed.

The territory faces a US$17.4 million deficit this year and an estimated US$90 million deficit next year.

The governor blamed legislators for the dismissals, saying they have rejected other proposals including wage cuts to offset a budget crisis.

Approximately 13,000 employees and retirees are on the government’s pay roll. The private sector provides approximately 30,000 jobs, with the majority in the retail trade and service industries, where low wages are common. The driver of these two industries is tourism, which has been in a prolonged slump. There were 108 612 residents in the US Virgin Islands according to the last Census.

Self-made success story Melissa Evans believes innovators who have come to know their true strengths and align their business with their purpose and natural abilities will succeed even in turbulent times.

“Entrepreneurs and companies who have a clear understanding of who they are operate with certainty and confidence, which are the two things businesses and customers want most in these troubled times,” said Evans, a healthcare industry consultant and author of Sole to Soul: How to Identify Your Soul Purpose and Monetize It (www.soletosoulbook.com). “Everyone is not broke in this economy, some are thriving. Monetizing your purpose is the best way to have an abundant life.”

Hers is a modern, spiritual take on a classic economic theory: Countries and individuals are most successful and efficient when they know what they do best and focus on it. Aspiring entrepreneurs seeking more control over their financial futures or those looking to remake their careers after a layoff aren’t out of luck if they look inward and define their natural talents, she advised.

Evans offers these points for those looking to swim against the economic undertows:

• Entrepreneurs must start by looking inward: They must know, love and be themselves to be successful.
• They must inspire people to become aligned with their strengths and natural abilities and to put those skills to good use and to work for the good of their community.
• Business people and companies must understand and assess the importance of being clear about their service so that customers can find them.
• That clarity and forthrightness, in turn, will help people and companies monetize the talents and skills they offer, while removing limits to their growth.

“These are times that call out for individuals and business – and even our nation – to clearly define what makes them powerful, unique and able to move forward,” Evans said. “The greatest eras of economic growth occur when individuals, communities and countries embrace their gifts, talents and purpose and come from a place of genuine service – then they will be financially successful.”

As legions of both the unemployed and working people face the prospect that the overall economy will not improve soon, Evans believes a defeatist attitude is the worst possible path to take for individuals and the nation at large. Having interviewed scores of successful business people who succeeded despite the odds against them, Evans said the path to prosperity is clear: Those willing to work toward a single-minded, soul-inspired goal are successful and in turn create abundance for others, she said.

“You can monetize your ‘soul’ purpose, but it’s not all about the money – it’s about your gift and what you offer to others,” she said. “Those who understand what skills and traits make them special, who then develop a purposeful business plan and know how to remove the barriers that stand in their way – even a barrier as big as a recession – will and do succeed.”

About Melissa Evans

Melissa Evans, MHA, PMP, Master Coach, self-made millionaire at age 31 and “The Guru of Implementation,” founded The Broshe Group in 2001 in Atlanta, Georgia. With her focus on the healthcare industry, Evans helped numerous companies improve patient care, safety and service while growing profits. Her privately-held company serves clients worldwide.

“This same fear was present at the end of our first millennium and it was also palpable at the end of our second millennium,” he writes. “What if we, in looking toward the future, actually saw a wonderful event coming – a New Age of Vision?”

Instead of death and destruction, we can look forward to an epoch of world peace, an end to greed and poverty, says Woods, a Dallas computer engineer and former mental health-care worker. That’s possible, in part, because humanity is ripe for it, he writes in A New Age of Vision (www.anewageofvision.com). And the path to solving our problems, he’s discovered, is remarkably simple.

With the pragmatic precision of an engineer and insights into the workings of the human mind derived from an academic background in psychology and philosophy, Woods spent years researching the history and development of Christian theology and how it applies in today’s world. His goal was to find the truth – the basic tenets of the wisdom shared by Jesus of Nazareth, “the real founder of Christianity.”

His message of hope for a beleaguered planet stands in stark contrast to the myriad doomsday books hitting store shelves. Woods finds no evidence to suggest that the Mayan calendar’s end signifies anything more than the end of another cycle of time. Rather, he views it as a beginning, a spiritual awakening in an era of global preoccupation with cell phones, news feeds and acquiring – or hanging onto — wealth.

Jesus’ original message, he concludes, has been lost in the “din of orthodoxy.” And the truth can set us free.

“We have not been able to reach an understanding of his message. We have been misdirected by our religious institutions, which have been mainly interested in ecclesiastical power,” he says. “The words of Jesus Christ have been buried under 2000 years of obfuscation. We now need to dig out the truth, and arrive at a new understanding of what His message means for us today.

Woods is neither an evangelist nor a church pastor. He does not believe there is only one path to understanding, nor that church is necessarily the place to find that understanding. “Our path…may lead us through the teachings of the Buddha, or through Lao Tzu, or through Plato,” he writes. “It does not matter which path you take – as long as you arrive at the ultimate truth…

“The spiritual mind is a mind that is unencumbered by the need or desire to prove that its truth is the only truth required by all people. We all walk our own existential path – and we alone are responsible for making sense of our world.”

A New Age of Vision is Woods’ journey of discovery as he methodically strips away the trappings of Christian doctrine in search of the evidence that reveals Jesus’ original message: Love God; love your neighbor.

Turning doomsday predictions to world harmony can start by simply changing how we think, he says. Think love; think compassion; think empathy. And then act on it.

About J. Craig Woods

J. Craig Woods has worked in information technology for 25 years, including 20 years as a UNIX system engineer. He graduated from the University of California, majoring in psychology with a minor in philosophy, following several years in the U.S. Navy. He worked in mental health until economic pressures prompted a career change. He lives in Dallas with his wife, Verdelle. Having accomplished most of his personal goals, his aim in recent years has been spiritual growth.

The Census Bureau’s annual report released Tuesday offers a snapshot of the economic well-being of U.S. households for 2010, when joblessness hovered above 9 percent for a second year. It comes at a politically sensitive time for President Barack Obama, who has acknowledged in the midst of a re-election fight that the unemployment rate could persist at high levels through next year.

The overall poverty rate climbed to 15.1 percent, or 46.2 million, up from 14.3 percent in 2009. The official poverty level is an annual income of $22,314 for a family of four.

Reflecting the lingering impact of the recession, the U.S. poverty rate from 2007-2010 has now risen faster than any three-year period since the early 1980s, when a crippling energy crisis amid government cutbacks contributed to inflation, spiraling interest rates and unemployment.

Measured by total numbers, the 46 million now living in poverty is the largest on record dating back to when the census began tracking poverty in 1959. Based on percentages, it tied the poverty level in 1993 and was the highest since 1983.

Broken down by state, Mississippi had the highest share of poor people, at 22.7 percent, according to calculations by the Census Bureau. It was followed by Louisiana, the District of Columbia, Georgia, New Mexico and Arizona. On the other end of the scale, New Hampshire had the lowest share, at 6.6 percent.

The share of Americans without health coverage rose from 16.1 percent to 16.3 percent _ or 49.9 million people _ after the Census Bureau made revisions to numbers of the uninsured. That is due mostly to continued losses of employer-provided health insurance in the weakened economy.

Congress passed a health overhaul last year to deal with rising numbers of the uninsured. While the main provisions do not take effect until 2014, one aspect taking effect in late 2010 allowed young adults until age 26 to be covered under their parents’ health insurance.

Brett O’Hara, chief of the Health and Disability Statistics branch at the Census Bureau, noted that the uninsured rate for adults ages 18 to 24 declined last year _ from 29.3 percent to 27.2 percent. It was the only age group which posted a decrease. “For the change in uninsured, the law change certainly could be a factor,” he said.

The median _ or midpoint _ household income was $49,445, down 2.3 percent from 2009.

The latest numbers, which cover Obama’s second year in office, offer political fodder for both parties as Obama seeks to push a new $447 billion plan for creating jobs and stimulating the economy. The plan includes a proposed payroll tax cut and an extension of unemployment benefits.

Obama is urging Congress to pay for the new spending largely by increasing taxes on the wealthy, which Republicans have rejected emphatically.

On Tuesday, the Census Bureau noted the impact of government safety-net programs on the poor. It estimated that new unemployment benefits passed in 2009, which gave workers up to 99 weeks of payments after a layoff, and did not run out for most people until this year, lifted 3.2 million above the poverty line. Social Security kept about 20.3 million, seniors as well as working-age adults receiving disability payments, out of poverty.

Magic Johnson Enterprises and EdisonLearning announced Monday that the partnership will concentrate on services to help urban school districts boost their performance and reduce dropout rates.

Johnson said in a statement that he hopes to help boost graduation rates and educational achievement in those districts through his participation in the partnership with EdisonLearning. The company seeks contracts with school districts to manage all or part of their operations, including staffing, curriculum development and testing.

“When just over 40 percent of students in Los Angeles, Houston, and Baltimore are graduating from high school and less than 30 percent of black males in New York, Detroit and Miami, steps need to be taken to recapture these students into the education system to better their opportunities in life,” he said.

EdisonLearning spokeswoman April Hattori said the company will benefit from Magic Johnson Enterprises’ knowledge of the urban communities where the partnership will seek to operate.

“Through partnerships with urban school districts throughout the United States, we want to link Mr. Johnson’s passion and leadership for improving the quality of life in urban communities with the expertise we have developed over the past 20 years helping to improve urban schools,” EdisonLearning President and CEO Jeff Wahl said.

Hattori said the company hopes to establish 25 so-called dropout recovery centers bearing the Magic Johnson Bridgescape name by 2013.

Some existing centers _ such as those provided by school districts in the Ohio cities of Columbus and Cleveland _ will become Magic Johnson Bridgescape entities, while other facilities will be created where centers do not exist, Hattori said.

The partnership will also offer its testing, professional development and other services to districts that are seeking to boost student achievement, EdisonLearning said. It currently offers such services to 80 schools in Virginia, Maryland, Hawaii, Delaware and Nevada.

Guilbert Hentschke, a professor at the University of Southern California’s Rossier School of Education who studies corporate involvement in public schools, said he thought the company was allying itself with Johnson because public school districts are suspicious of the profit motives of firms such as EdisonLearning.

“Everybody knows Magic Johnson, therefore he’s a semi-trusted commodity,” Hentschke said.

Celso Amorim said Brazil is negotiating with the United Nations to begin the pullback, but will keep troops in Haiti until local forces are ready to take over.

Amorim spoke after lunching with Uruguayan President Jose Mujica in Montevideo, where ministers from the Latin American peacekeeping nations held a long-planned meeting on the future of the U.N. mission in Haiti.

The meeting has been overshadowed by allegations that Uruguayan peacekeepers sexually abused a young Haitian man inside their U.N. base, an event apparently captured on an Uruguayan’s cellphone video.

Demonstrators in Haiti this week have stoked anger over the scandal and called for an immediate pullout of the U.N. force.

Former U.S. President Bill Clinton, visiting Port-au-Prince on Thursday, told The Associated Press he still supports the U.N. mission, which is known as Minustah. Its mandate expires Oct. 15.

The videotaped episode was “a terrible thing,” said Clinton, who is the U.N. special envoy to Haiti. “The U.N. had to do something, and apparently they have.”

Praising the U.N. mission’s work in Haiti, Clinton added: “I don’t want what happened _ that terrible incident that happened to the young man _ to be put off on all of Minustah, and all of the soldiers, or even all the Uruguayans.”

The alleged abuse by Uruguayan sailors at their base in Port-Salut happened in July but became public last week when two Haitians spotted the video on a sailor’s phone and shared it with a local reporter.

Amorim called it “a lamentable and isolated act.” Brazil leads the peacekeeping mission, so his comments both on the scandal and the mission’s future hold particular weight.

Mujica, who sent a letter of apology to Haitian President Michel Martelly. also has said that he wants a gradual reduction in the U.N. peacekeeping force. “We aren’t in Haiti to retire,” he said Wednesday.

Martelly strongly condemned the alleged sexual assault, but has not joined some of his countrymen in demanding an immediate pullout.

Martelly has called for more economic development work by the U.N. mission following last year’s earthquake, but he also asked peacekeepers to quash gangs in Port-au-Prince slums that have been strongholds for his political opponents. The force also helps bolster Haiti’s weak economy by spending, from buying snacks on the streets to dining at high-end restaurants in the capital.

Peacekeepers arrived in 2004 to help control the chaos that followed the ouster of President Jean-Bertrand Aristide. Since then, the U.N. force has been instrumental in maintaining stability in the coup-prone country, and it has helped allow a democratically elected president serve two full terms for the first time in Haitian history.

But some Haitians see the U.N. troops as an occupying force that has done little to ameliorate the country’s misery. In 2007, almost a tenth of its Sri Lankan battalion was recalled because of a sex-abuse scandal. Last year, a contingent from Nepal was blamed for introducing cholera to Haiti, which caused an outbreak that has killed more than 6,200 people and sickened 439,000, according to Haiti’s health ministry.

Republicans and some Democrats would not support the measure on a preliminary vote in which SB116 fell six votes short of the two-thirds majority it needs.

The Assembly had approved a similar bill, AB40X1, on Thursday with bipartisan support.

Sen. Sam Blakeslee, R-San Luis Obispo, said Republicans tried to work with Brown on comprehensive tax reforms six months ago, without success. He and other Republicans said the Legislature should not rush through the Democrat’s plan in the closing hours of the legislative session.

“Let’s call a special session and get it right,” Blakeslee said. Senate Minority Leader Bob Dutton, R-Rancho Cucamonga, had called on Brown to call such a session on California’s economy in a letter to the governor on Thursday.

Sen. Kevin de Leon, D-Los Angeles, urged lawmakers to pass his bill without further delay.

“The rush is we need to put these families back to work. We need to get them jobs sooner rather than later,” de Leon said.

Brown’s plan calls for closing a 2009 tax loophole that benefited large, multi-state corporations by allowing them to choose between two formulas and thus, lower their tax liability in the state. He wants those companies, many of them based out of state, to follow one formula by calculating it solely on the portion of sales they have in California, which would generate an estimated $1 billion in additional revenue for the state each year.

The governor proposes to use the proceeds on tax breaks for California manufacturers and small businesses by encouraging them to buy equipment and expand in the state. He also would use some of the money to increase the standard deduction on the state income tax, which would provide more cash to more than 4 million working Californians.

Individuals would be able to claim an additional $1,000 and couples $2,000. For 2011, the standard deduction for individuals is $3,769 and $7,538 for couples.

“It’s unbelievable that so many politicians in Sacramento would choose to protect cigarette makers and out-of-state corporations to the detriment of California jobs,” Brown said in a statement as the bill stalled late Friday.

Senate President Pro Tem Darrell Steinberg, D-Sacramento, said Democrats had to put the measure into a new bill because Republicans would not agree to waive parliamentary deadlines so the Assembly-approved bill could be considered.

Any troubles in the world’s largest economy cast a long shadow over the markets, and a report Friday that the U.S. economy failed to add any new jobs in August caused European and Asian stock markets to sink sharply Monday.

But the news from Europe was also discouraging. Wall Street, which was closed Monday due to the Labor Day holiday, braced for losses Tuesday after the yields in so-called peripheral eurozone countries _ Greece, Italy and Spain _ rose sharply against those of Germany, whose bonds are widely considered a safe haven.

Although retail sales in the 17-nation eurozone rose unexpectedly in July, a survey of the services sector Monday showed a slowdown across the continent for the fifth consecutive month. The purchasing managers’ index for the eurozone showed the services sector was still growing _ unlike the manufacturing sector _ but only barely. That will add pressure on the European Central Bank to keep interest rates on hold when it meets this week.

“There’s so much uncertainty, so much fear, that investors don’t know what to do,” said David Kotok, chairman and chief investment officer at Cumberland Advisors. “I don’t remember the last time stocks were so cheap and nobody wanted them.”

Investors were also shaken by signs that the Italian government’s commitment to its austerity program is wavering. Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi’s government has backtracked on some deficit-cutting measures, prompting EU officials to urge Italy to stick to its promised plan.

The difference in interest rates between the Greek and benchmark German 10-year bonds, known as the spread, spiraled to new records on Monday, topping 17.3 percentage points. Yields on the Greek bonds were above 18 percent.

Mario Draghi, the incoming chief of the European Central Bank, told a conference in Paris that among the common currency’s problems was a lack of coordinated fiscal policies and that the solution was more integration.

He dismissed the idea of eurobonds _ debt issued jointly by the eurozone countries. Some have argued this would help weaker countries borrow more easily because they wouldn’t have to pay such high interest rates. But stable countries like Germany would likely see their rates rise.

Instead, Draghi suggested the eurozone should adopt rules that would require more budget discipline.

Renewed jitters over the eurozone debt crisis also contributed to the slump in financial stocks amid concerns the banks would need to raise new capital. Deutsche bank closed down 8.9 percent in Frankfurt, while Societe Generale in Paris shed 8.6 percent.

The U.S. unemployment crisis has prompted President Barack Obama to schedule a major speech Thursday night to propose steps to stimulate hiring. Until then, however, traders coming back from the U.S. holiday weekend will have little to hold onto.

The August jobs figure was far below economists’ already tepid expectations for 93,000 new U.S. jobs and renewed concerns that the U.S. recovery is not only slowing but actually unwinding. U.S. hiring figures for June and July were also revised lower, only adding to the gloom.

Many traders have already pulled out of any risky investments _ such as stocks, particularly financial ones, the euro and emerging market currencies _ and pile into safe havens: U.S. Treasuries, the dollar, the Japanese yen and gold.

With Wall Street closed, investors focused their selling in Asia and Europe, where the equity losses Monday were some of the heaviest this year.

“We’ve got some rough riding ahead,” said Jack Ablin, chief investment officer at Harris Private Bank in Chicago, adding he was “concerned that we could see a second wave of selling when most traders are back at their desks.”

Dow futures were down 1.8 percent at 11,010 points while the broader S&P 500 futures were 2.0 lower at 1,145.70.

After Asian indexes closed lower, with the Japan’s Nikkei 225 shedding 1.9 percent, European shares booked sharp losses. Britain’s FTSE 100 closed the day down 3.6 percent to 5,102.58. Germany’s DAX slumped a massive 5.3 percent to 5,246.18, and France’s CAC-40 tumbled 4.7 percent to 2,999.54.

The health of the U.S. economy is crucial for the wider world because consumer spending there accounts for a fifth of global economic activity. The U.S. imports huge amounts from Japan and China and is closely linked at all levels with the European market. The U.S. has seen a slump in consumer and business sentiments.

Traders were hoping for signs that the Federal Reserve might take action at its September meeting to support the economy _ perhaps a third round of bond purchases, dubbed quantitative easing III or QE3, analysts said.

“Right now the possibility has increased,” said Linus Yip, a strategist at First Shanghai Securities in Hong Kong. “I think they have to do something. The markets are expecting QE3.”

Banking stocks were among the hardest hit Monday, partly because the U.S. government on Friday sued 17 financial firms for selling Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac billions of dollars worth of mortgage-backed securities that turned toxic when the housing market collapsed.

Among those targeted by the lawsuits were Bank of America Corp., Citigroup Inc., JP Morgan Chase & Co., and Goldman Sachs Group Inc. Large European banks including The Royal Bank of Scotland, Barclays Bank and Credit Suisse were also sued.

In Asia, Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 followed the broaden trend to close down 2.4 percent and South Korea’s Kospi slid 4.4 percent. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng slid 3 percent. Benchmarks in Singapore, Taiwan, New Zealand and the Philippines also were down.

Shanghai’s benchmark Composite Index down 2 percent to 2,478.74, its lowest close in 13 months. The Shenzhen Composite Index lost 2.4 percent.

In currencies, the euro weakened to $1.4100 from $1.4187 in New York late Friday. The dollar was roughly flat at 76.87 yen. Last month, the dollar fell under 76 yen, which was a new post-World War II high for the Japanese currency.

Benchmark oil for October delivery was down $2.12 to $84.33 a barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Crude fell $2.48 to settle at $86.45 on Friday.

In London, Brent crude for October delivery was down $1.63 at $110.70 on the ICE Futures exchange.

Saurel Jacinthe, president of the Chamber of Deputies, told The Associated Press that Haitian President Michel Martelly picked Garry Conille as his third nominee for Haiti’s head of government.

The decision comes more than three months after Martelly took office. The entertainer-turned-president has struggled to install a government because parliament has rejected his first two nominees for prime minister.

Martelly’s first pick, an entrepreneur, was turned down because of questions over his citizenship and taxes. The second pick, a former justice minister, angered some lawmakers because he was accused of prosecuting supporters of former President Jean-Bertrand Aristide when he oversaw the judiciary in the middle of the last decade.

The failure to install a prime minister has put reconstruction efforts from last year’s devastating earthquake on hold.

Conille, 45, could meet opposition as he goes before parliament for approval.

Lawmakers are almost certain to raise questions over his eligibility because he has not lived in Haiti for five consecutive years, a constitutional requirement for the post. The Martelly administration will likely argue that he is exempt from the residency requirement because he has been working for the United Nations.

Conille is a seasoned development worker. With a master’s degree from the University of North Carolina and a doctorate from the State University of Haiti, he began his career with the U.N. in 1999 and served in Ethiopia and, until June, in Niger.

After last year’s earthquake, Conille worked as chief of staff for Clinton in his position as U.N. special envoy. The former U.S. leader also is co-chairman of the Interim Haiti Recovery Commission, which is in charge of coordinating earthquake reconstruction efforts.

If approved as prime minister, Conille would assume responsibilities as the other co-chairman on the reconstruction panel, which has drawn heavy criticism for making little visible progress since the January 2010 disaster.

Conille could not be immediately reached for comment Wednesday night.

KINGSTON, Jamaica _ When the afternoon bell rings at August Town Primary School, children kick around a plastic bottle filled with gravel instead of a soccer ball. When administrators need to buy a copier, they turn to parents, businesses or foreign embassies for donations.

Making do has become a way of life at the school as it has all across Jamaica, where paying off the nation’s punishing debt takes priority.

The country owes creditors $18.2 billion, which is more than its entire domestic economy produces in a year: 132 percent of gross domestic product, according to the International Monetary Fund. That’s a heavier load than crisis-hit Italy, Spain or Ireland face, and nearly as high as Greece’s.

For years, over half the government’s budget has been dedicated to paying the debt, and that has forced the government to scrimp on schools, hospitals and infrastructure.

“The budget’s tight, there’s no question. But it’s been tight for a long while and we’ve had to learn to make things work as best as we can,” said August Town Vice Principal Dwight Peart at the low-slung concrete school in an impoverished valley community in the capital.

Roughly a third of the Caribbean island’s 2.8 million people live in squatter settlements, and there’s little money for housing aid. Public hospitals are hampered by a shortage of medical equipment. Roads are filled with potholes. The thousands of Jamaican dropouts from overcrowded schools become easy prey for drug and extortion gangs.

With the exception of the pearl-toned beaches of Jamaica’s resorts, no corner of the island has been spared by the debt monster.

Jamaica’s experience with austerity holds lessons for other nations struggling to cope with debt, says Mark Weisbrot of the Washington-based Center for Economic and Policy Research.

“Attempts to squeeze the economy in order to maintain unsustainably high debt service can lead to prolonged periods of stagnation and high unemployment.” He said Jamaica’s recent domestic debt restructuring erred by merely reducing some interest payments without writing down the principal.

It’s not the first, or even the worst time Jamaica has faced an avalanche of debt. The debt-to-GDP ratio soared to 262 percent at the start of the 1990s, according to a Jamaica-based think tank, the Caribbean Policy Research Institute.

Most of that, though, was owed to foreign governments and international institutions such as the World Bank and International Monetary Fund at relatively low interest rates. Some of the debt owed to governments was written off. A spurt of growth in the late 1980s helped make the debt less of a burden, while a spike in inflation, which reached 80 percent in 1991, sharply devalued the domestic part of the debt.

Since then, the debt has been more challenging, partly because of Jamaica’s high domestic interest rates, said Damien King, executive director of the think tank. The government was paying as much as 28 percent a year on its domestic currency bonds until a few years ago, with the inflation rate hovering near 20 percent.

“Research shows that the entire increase was due to debt contracted by entities outside of central government, debt that the government subsequently had to assume responsibility for. The largest portion of it derived from bad private bank loans that the government absorbed as part of the resolution of the banking crisis of the late 1990s,” King said.

If the old crisis was caused by too much government intervention, the current one may have been caused by too little.

Before the 1990s banking crisis, Jamaica ended exchange controls while lifting restrictions on lending and interest. Local banks went on a spree of lending while interest rates shot to near 50 percent. Then, in 1996, the system crashed. Dozens of banks failed and the government stepped in to absorb the bad loans and keep the rest of the system from collapsing, taking pension funds along with it.

By 2010, Jamaica’s towering debt and the damaging impact of the global recession forced the government to seek assistance from the IMF. It helped the government carry out the debt restructuring and provided $1.27 billion in standby credits. It also unlocked funding from other global lending organizations, including $600 million from the Inter-American Development Bank and $450 million from the World Bank.

Yet roughly 60 percent of government spending goes to debt and an additional 30 percent goes to pay wages. That leaves just 10 percent for education, health, security and other functions.

The 2010 domestic debt-swap program lowered the government’s debt-service costs by $450 million a year. But it left the amount of capital owed untouched. The interest expense breakdown is about 70 percent for domestic debt and 30 percent for external debt.

“Servicing the debt has undoubtedly absorbed fiscal resources that otherwise would likely have been deployed on infrastructure improvements as well as on needed social services,” said King, who is also head of the economics department at Jamaica’s University of the West Indies.

A sluggish global and local economy has frustrated Jamaica’s effort to grow its way out of the crisis. During the global recession, three of the country’s four alumina refineries were closed and revenues from tourism and Jamaicans working abroad slowed.

In recent months, the economy appears to be on a meager upswing. Recently, the country recorded first-quarter growth of 1.4 percent over the same period a year earlier. The inflation rate for the first five months of the year was 1.7 percent.

Prime Minister Bruce Golding, whose Jamaica Labor Party came to power in 2007, argues that his government is finally putting the country on a solid economic pathway. This year it has divested money-losing entities such as Air Jamaica and its three remaining sugar factories, and Golding says a crackdown on gangs should improve the business climate.

With money short, Education Minister Andrew Holness said he is looking for foreign help in building schools.

“If China wants to build them _ (or) U.S., Canada, Saudi Arabia, Jamaicans _ it doesn’t matter to me,” he said.

Stephanie Black, the New York-based director of “Life and Debt,” an award-winning 2001 documentary that dissected the impact of globalization on Jamaica’s economy and skewered lending policies of international organizations like the IMF, said she does not feel the island’s economic situation has improved since her film was completed a decade ago.

“When one looks at the class divide within the country there is little mobility, (and) the high cost of daily living, low minimum wages, prevailing unemployment, lack of improvements in basic infrastructure, and widespread corruption makes it terribly challenging for too many who are still living hand to mouth,” Black said.

Self-made success story Melissa Evans believes innovators who have come to know their true strengths and align their business with their purpose and natural abilities will succeed even in turbulent times.

“Entrepreneurs and companies who have a clear understanding of who they are operate with certainty and confidence, which are the two things businesses and customers want most in these troubled times,” said Evans, a healthcare industry consultant and author of Sole to Soul: How to Identify Your Soul Purpose and Monetize It (www.soletosoulbook.com). “Everyone is not broke in this economy, some are thriving. Monetizing your purpose is the best way to have an abundant life.”

Hers is a modern, spiritual take on a classic economic theory: Countries and individuals are most successful and efficient when they know what they do best and focus on it. Aspiring entrepreneurs seeking more control over their financial futures or those looking to remake their careers after a layoff aren’t out of luck if they look inward and define their natural talents, she advised.

Evans offers these points for those looking to swim against the economic undertows:

• Entrepreneurs must start by looking inward: They must know, love and be themselves to be successful.
• They must inspire people to become aligned with their strengths and natural abilities and to put those skills to good use and to work for the good of their community.
• Business people and companies must understand and assess the importance of being clear about their service so that customers can find them.
• That clarity and forthrightness, in turn, will help people and companies monetize the talents and skills they offer, while removing limits to their growth.

“These are times that call out for individuals and business – and even our nation – to clearly define what makes them powerful, unique and able to move forward,” Evans said. “The greatest eras of economic growth occur when individuals, communities and countries embrace their gifts, talents and purpose and come from a place of genuine service – then they will be financially successful.”

As legions of both the unemployed and working people face the prospect that the overall economy will not improve soon, Evans believes a defeatist attitude is the worst possible path to take for individuals and the nation at large. Having interviewed scores of successful business people who succeeded despite the odds against them, Evans said the path to prosperity is clear: Those willing to work toward a single-minded, soul-inspired goal are successful and in turn create abundance for others, she said.

“You can monetize your ‘soul’ purpose, but it’s not all about the money – it’s about your gift and what you offer to others,” she said. “Those who understand what skills and traits make them special, who then develop a purposeful business plan and know how to remove the barriers that stand in their way – even a barrier as big as a recession – will and do succeed.”

KINGSTON, Jamaica _ Jamaica’s government signed over its three remaining sugar estates to a Chinese company in a privatization deal Monday that has been a long-standing goal of Prime Minister Bruce Golding’s administration.

Under the agreement, China’s Complant International Sugar Industry Co. Ltd. will be leased roughly 18,000 hectares (44,478 acres) of cane fields for the next 49 years and will own the three sugar estates and their surrounding properties.

Complant paid $9 million for the Monymusk, Frome and Bernard Lodge factories and control of surrounding sugar cane lands under the lease. The deal also calls for the Chinese company to rehabilitate the sugar mills.

Golding said Complant’s total investment should come to roughly $166 million.

“We have been very careful to ensure that the critical assets of Jamaica are protected and therefore the … acres of land which have been earmarked for sugar will be leased to the company,” Golding said.

Agriculture Minister Robert Montague said Jamaica expects the Chinese company “will play its role in other areas and aspects of the Jamaican economy.”

The chief of the Complant group of companies, Tang Jianguo, said Jamaicans will still participate in management of the three sugar estates and promised to “set up collaborations with Jamaican counterparts to promote the development of the whole industry.”

The divestment comes some three years after the global financial crisis forced the Brazilian corporation Infinity Bio-Energy to drop a multimillion-dollar deal to take over Jamaica’s debt-ridden sugar company.

The Caribbean island’s government in 2007 began efforts to sell the five companies that made up the Sugar Company of Jamaica because of mounting financial losses and years of rising debt.

In 2005, officials announced a plan to restructure the sugar industry to focus production more on ethanol and molasses. But the majority of the Caribbean nation’s cane fields remain focused on sugar.

Like other Caribbean nations, Jamaica was squeezed by deep cuts in sugar subsidies by the European Union for producers in the Caribbean, Africa and the Pacific.

In recent years, Trinidad and St. Kitts both abandoned their centuries-old sugar industries, blaming high production costs and cuts in subsidies for sugar imports.

The Democratic mayor said he was willing to provide political cover to the governor and lawmakers by suggesting changes to Proposition 13, the 1978 ballot initiative that rolled back property taxes and capped their increases. A pillar of California’s direct democracy, the initiative is seen as untouchable in the state because it so popular with the electorate.

“I’m here to shine a light on a dark cloud hanging over California,” Villaraigosa said during a speech to the Sacramento Press Club. “I’m here because I believe there’s an opportunity for a grand bargain, but it’s going to mean including broad stakeholders to acknowledge that we need to fund government. That we need to make government more efficient.”

Villaraigosa’s comments came against a backdrop of fiscal gloom. Lawmakers closed an 18-month, $26.6 billion budget deficit this year primarily with spending cuts and the hope that tax revenue would continue to rise in a rebounding economy. The rebound has stalled and tax revenue has since reversed, leading to the prospect of even deeper cuts to higher education, public schools and other services at the beginning of the year.

The mayor said the current taxing and budgeting systems are insufficient and are cutting too deeply into the state’s safety net, schools, universities and infrastructure.

He advocated the governor and legislative leader convene a commission on tax reform. He suggested that a major component be a split tax roll, in which caps remain for residential properties but are lifted for businesses. He estimated that such a move would raise between $2.1 billion and $8 billion a year, money the state could invest in education and lower property taxes for homeowners.

He said the impact on business would be softened if the changes are phased in gradually.

“You don’t have to agree with every one of my ideas to acknowledge that a grand bargain is the only way out. A big solution is the only way forward,” he said.

Villaraigosa, who has served in the state Assembly as speaker, said Proposition 13 was intended to protect homeowners from skyrocketing property taxes, not provide a tax-giveaway to corporations. He declined to say what he’ll do after he’s termed out in 2013.

Any attempt to change the initiative will be met swiftly by advocates of limited government. Anti-tax advocates and business groups moved quickly Tuesday to criticize the idea as an attack on small businesses.

Jon Coupal, president of the Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association, said Villaraigosa’s proposal makes no sense at a time when businesses large and small are struggling and the state has the nation’s second highest unemployment rate. A group of concerned Los Angeles business leaders issued a letter to Villaraigosa urging him to drop the proposal.

“There’s a correlation between a favorable tax-and-regulatory climate (and) economic development,” Coupal said. “What he is suggesting is making that tax-and-regulatory climate worse for business, which will hurt California’s employment situation, not help.”

Brown’s spokesman, Gil Duran, said the governor has not had a chance to speak to the mayor directly about his proposal but looks forward to hearing the mayor’s ideas.

“Like Gov. Brown, Mayor Villaraigosa believes both sides must stand up to the ideologues and do what’s best for California,” Duran wrote in a statement.

Former Republican Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger had convened a bi-partisan tax commission to try to smooth out the fluctuations in state revenue but its proposals never gained traction.

Proponents of the split tax roll say Proposition 13 has shifted the property tax burden from commercial property owners to homeowners. Lenny Goldberg, a lobbyist with the labor-backed California Tax Reform Association, said businesses, particularly those that invest in commercial real estate, are often able to evade property assessments when there’s a change in ownership.

For example, Goldberg said the famous Beverly Hilton Hotel in Beverly Hills was not reassessed when it was bought out by the Blackstone Group, a private equity firm. The property’s value is still assessed far less than neighboring properties.

“It’s time to address the unfairness inherent in a system that allows Wall Street hedge fund managers to devise complex real estate investment trusts that give the super-rich a free pass on the taxes every ordinary homeowner in California has to pay,” Villaraigosa said.

Pro-business groups like the California Taxpayers Association say small businesses wouldn’t be able to absorb rent increases at commercial buildings, shopping centers and business parks if split roll were enacted.

Any major changes will be daunting.

Proposition 13 can only be changed by a two-thirds vote of the Legislature or through an initiative process approved by voters. In 2009, San Francisco County Assessor Recorder Phil Ting failed to obtain enough signatures for an initiative that would have placed the split roll question before voters.

The mayor also backed an effort to allow local school districts and local governments to raise taxes on a majority vote, rather than two-thirds. Coupal said the mayor’s ideas are nothing more than a push by labor to increase taxes.

“Unless they’ve changed their tune, we believe the public employee unions just want more revenue and that’s pretty clear in their agenda and that’s contrary to what businesses and families want,” Coupal said.