You would think it would be clear by now: The Government using its considerable resources to minimise the impact of the economic downturn on working families.

One of the best ways to do this is to create jobs through public projects such as building construction, road maintenance and municipal infrastructure upgrades. The idea here is that government projects hire workers laid off by the private sector as construction projects wind down and recession-hit businesses shed workers.

In the world of economics, this is known as counter-cyclical spending, wherein the public sector uses its considerable resources to counter the impact of economic downturn.

You would think this basic approach to stimulating the economy when necessary – using public resources to help working families victimised by recession– would by now be understood by this Government.

But it's not.

This week the people of Bermuda got a peek at Government plans to spend more than $24.5 million to buy an office building in Hamilton and further untold millions to buy a second building on Par-la-Ville Road. It appears the idea, which was put forward by Works Minister Derrick Burgess with the support of Premier Brown, was to save the Government money it now spends on office rents.

No argument there, if one accepts the highly questionable numbers put forward by the Minister. But there is a right time and a wrong time to do these things and this proposal at this time is absolutely the wrong for Bermuda.

Here's why I say that:

¦ The Bermuda economy needs the Government to focus public spending on projects that create jobs for people displaced by recession.

¦ Creating jobs will help the people who get the jobs, with their wages used to meet the day-to-day needs of their families and, in the process, helping the overall economy. The money spent will circulate through stores from pharmacies to coffee shops; and some even returning to benefit the Government in the form of tax revenues.

¦ Buying office buildings will not create jobs. It will not stimulate spending. It will only transfer a capital asset – a building – from a private enterprise to the public sector. It will increase the public's debt – already at historically unheard of levels – and the interest the public pays on that enormous debt, now near $1 billion, or approximately $15,000 for every man, woman and child on this island.

For nearly two years we have urged the Government to prepare for the downturn and the counter-cyclical plans needed to protect working families and shore up the economy.

In February, 2008 our warning was plain enough: The US, I said, was headed toward a period of "slow growth, no growth or contraction" that would drag the global growth rate down. Bermuda did not operate in a vacuum and therefore it was critical that the Government "adjust its plans, its strategies and its spending habits based not only upon local needs but also on the imperatives of the global economy".

The Government did not heed the warning and its careless spending continued as the recession swept ashore. A few weeks ago, the Government, in questioning by my Senate colleagues, revealed that it faced a $100 million cash shortfall this year – a result of underestimating how much it would spend and overestimating how much it would earn.

Now, in the wake of that shocking news, and the management failure underscoring it, the Government wants to spend tens of millions more on buildings that will do absolutely nothing for the economy and the people suffering in this ongoing downturn.

My colleagues and I shake our heads in frustration and wonder. Does anybody in the Cabinet understand the requirements and duties of government at this time? Does anybody understand the relationship between fiscal planning and prevailing economic conditions? Does anybody understand leadership by example?

There is one more aspect to the Government's building purchase plan that we find extraordinary and concerning. It is the fact the plan was put before the Cabinet "for decision" without the support of the Finance Minister.

This is extraordinary given that virtually no spending decisions go before Cabinet without the Finance Minister's support, at least in normally functioning governments.

In my opinion, the only way that could happen is through the power of the Premier who controls the Cabinet agenda. In allowing Minister Burgess to bypass the Finance Minister, the Premier is sidelining the one voice at the table with an explicit responsibility to manage the public purse.

Everyone should be concerned about this power play and the Finance Minister's difficulty in standing up to the Premier. We have had nearly a decade of loose, imprudent and careless spending by this government. Clearly, no one responsible has really been in charge and the chickens are coming home to roost – Bermuda is now creaking under the weight of public debt five times greater than it was a decade ago, with no sense of direction, no sense that anyone is looking at the bottom line.

It matters. It can make a difference, for better or worse.

E.T. (Bob) Richards is Shadow Minister of Finance