We hope that this week will produce something in the way of concrete information and details in relation to what the government proposes to do, rather than what it is not going to do to tackle the economic slump here.

And with the Legislative Assembly convening for the Throne Speech and Budget Address on Friday, together with a Cabinet media briefing the day before, there will be lots of opportunities for the general public to be told what the government thinks is in store for us.

Whether the Leader of Government Business, Hon. McKeeva Bush, will be able to pull an economic rabbit out of the hat at the last minute must be, however, remains to be seen.

As mentioned, we know what he is not going to do, apparently, and that is to raise new revenue by means of new taxes; neither is he going to cut government payroll.

Possibly, he fears the political fallout from either or both of such moves but, according to what local residents have been saying to us, it is by no means a foregone conclusion that there is universal opposition to either proposition.

Some civil servants have told us that they would be prepared to accept a modest cut in pay, because they recognise that the country is in dire straits economically.

Equally, as reported earlier this week, there appears to be a surprising degree of local acceptance of the necessity for new or increased taxation – for the same reason.

Others, of course, are notably outspoken in their opposition to increased taxes, whilst at the same time supporting reductions in government expenditure, but usually conspicuous by their absence in such contributions to the debate are any constructive or creative proposals for increasing revenue.

The government is constantly exhorted to be creative and “think outside the box” but those doing so rarely offer any such creative or “out of the box” suggestions.

The more usual refrain is that the country cannot afford to tamper with its traditional tax regime because to do so will drive business and investment away, it is claimed.

Unfortunately, the business and investment in question has been steadily diminishing in any event during the last few years for a number of reasons. Equally unfortunately, even though this newspaper for one has consistently predicted the current circumstances, no one in authority apparently had the corresponding foresight to recognise the warning signs and do something about it.

Indeed, we were reminded just this week by a well-known Caymanian that some nine months ago we predicted exactly the circumstances in which the country finds itself today and, as a result, he has personally been adjusting his spending patterns.

It is a great pity that the government of the day was not equally astute. Although the economic climate would not have changed, at least some steps could have been taken at the time to start efforts to mitigate its damaging effect.

Instead, the government and the people of the Cayman Islands find themselves caught between the proverbial rock and a very hard place.

It may be, as many commentators are saying, that we do not need to be bailed out by Britain or any other country for that matter, and that we can borrow our way out of the current mess, but we come back to the question that has not so far been answered: where is the money coming from to repay the massive new borrowing of over $300 million that is being bandied around?

Debt service requires revenue and, similarly, no one has yet given us any concrete information as to where that new revenue is coming from. If tourism was booming and we could look forward to years of steadily increasing income from that source, then that would indeed be something we could count on.

Regrettably, however, tourism has been declining and, as we become less competitive in terms of attractions, security and value for money, there is no reason to suppose that it will magically improve.

Likewise, the financial services sector has been experiencing its own major issues – something we have been predicting for at least six years. So, again, what will be the miraculous change in circumstances for the finance industry that will cause it to reverse its current decline and suddenly grow by leaps and bounds?

We look forward to the answers to these and other pressing questions being provided this week by those in a position to do so.