The budget has come and gone. The Progressive Labour Party government laid down its eighth budget agenda since returning to power in 2017, this time alleging an end to austerity. We know, given the hefty salary increases given to themselves and many government employees recently, that austerity most definitely ended for them.

Usually, the Opposition’s replies over the many years have been just critical — and the response this year was spot-on. But that may be because the Government’s failures are so numerous now, the One Bermuda Alliance could aim anywhere while blindfolded and still hit the bull’s-eye.

Trying to identify the most egregious aspects of public life that grip and agonise the social fabric must be the increase in violent crimes. Perhaps with there seeming to be no end to the escalation, and with no solution on the table, the issue is so gripping on the psyche that it is better avoided than to admit failure.

Maybe it will go away on its own is the hope — like when Donald Trump wittered on about Covid-19 during his first term as US president.

It is always the economy that churns out social consequences and its phenomena. The global picture in the immediate to short term will see economies retracting in our neck of the woods. America is set for a recession as supply chains get choked by uncertainty, and this global dilemma offers nothing to our economy unless we can innovate some worthwhile investment opportunities.

We may get an upshot in tourism, and should market ourselves widely as an alternative to locations such as Florida and the United States generally. It’s interesting how Prince Edward Island seems to attract a lot of Asian and Japanese travellers. Maybe it is time Bermuda diversifies its concept of tourists.

Good things are happening among our youth, but the level of anger exhibited has become epidemic, with violence once attributed to boys and gangs now equally, if not more aggressively, displayed by young girls.

While it may be true that the Bermuda Police Service are understaffed — so, too, the courts — police and criminal justice are not the answer. We are all collectively responsible for what is going on in our community, and it will take strong leadership allied to economic vision to pull through this crisis.

We live in a changing world with new emergences — although slowly, but assuredly, the world powers are shifting. China has already eclipsed the US as the new economic power in the world, and with it are new alliances. Europe is shrinking in relevance and will soon, for its own survival, become hinged to the new “Belt and Road”.

Africa and the Caribbean will redefine their leadership that has, for decades since becoming independent in places, taken the empirical bait as puppets — benefiting themselves while their populations remain poor as wealth is extracted by Western hegemony. It’s early days still, but these populations have become more educated, and the desire to become productive managers and industrial participants, rather than cheap labour as modern-day slaves, is rising throughout Africa and other less developed societies.

Where do our leaders fit in this new paradigm? Can we lead ourselves through our social problems and arrive at a prosperous place in the new and emerging world?

Vision is the answer, not austerity.