The One Bermuda Alliance has outlined a raft of emergency measures aimed at turning the economy around, accusing Government of “running out of ideas and energy”.Shadow Finance Minister ET (Bob) Richards said yesterday that immediate steps need to be taken to “bring back hope, confidence and optimism” to a failing Bermuda.He hit out at Premier Paula Cox for being “bound by missteps” and urged her to hand over the Ministry of Finance to someone “who can bring real energy and real focus”.Mr Richards said Government constantly blamed the Island’s economic problems on the global recession but charged its own “series of blunders” were to blame.The OBA’s economic recovery plan includes following the lead of the Cayman Islands and suspending work permit term limits for two years while a new policy is worked out.The party also wants to grant employers a two-year payroll tax exemption for newly hired staff and to eliminate the employee portion of payroll taxes for those earning less than $50,000 a year.They also believe the size of the civil service should be frozen, Cabinet should be reduced and salaries of Ministers slashed by at least ten percent.Mr Richards said Government should also pay its bills in less than 30 days to increase cash flow, adding: “We cannot expect Bermudians to tighten their belts without their leaders doing the same. Anything else would be sheer hypocrisy”.The OBA also wants to fast-track the planning process and eliminate the licensing requirement for non-Bermudian spouses purchasing property, saying this would create new jobs.Mr Richards said there were “widespread feelings of helplessness and hopelessness” and “our national confidence and optimism have been dented”.He said it was crucial that Government changed the way it did business and worked with the rest of the world.Mr Richards said: “We, the OBA, firmly believe we can turn this economy around ourselves by being proactive instead of being passive.”Mr Richards said Ms Cox “should recognise that she is out of ideas as a Minister of Finance” as her policies and practices “have failed Bermuda”.OBA leader Craig Cannonier and Miguel DaPonte, a member of the OBA’s shadow board on the economy, joined Mr Richards at yesterday’s press conference. Senator Cannonier said the OBA could make the economy work better for Bermuda by reversing the economic decline.He said “the ongoing slide” was threatening us all with “a serious loss of employment and opportunity”.Sen Cannonier said: “I understand why people feel helpless in the face of what is happening, particularly when their Government keeps saying it has no power to do anything; that we just have to ride out the storm.“But we don’t see it that way at all. We have the means to shape our own destiny. We have the means to make a difference. We reject the Government’s passivity. “We can do this, we can turn things around”.Mr DaPonte said the OBA would “get the economy working again” as people were struggling to pay for education, housing and medicines and “the level of hurt is running deep”.He said Bermuda was suffering from job losses and companies leaving while its competitors were increasing foreign investment and jobs in tourism and international business.Mr DaPonte said: “The government has tried to counteract the situation with the argument that we cannot help what is happening because of the global recession.“The global recession has obviously had an impact in Bermuda, but it is wrong to believe it is the sole cause of all our ills.“Negative trends in the economy preceded the recession”.Mr DaPonte, who is a vice-president at BF&M Investment Services, highlighted Government’s $1.2 billion debt and unprecedented levels of unemployment with about 4,000 people or ten to 12 percent of the working age population out of work.He said the result was that an increasing number of people were dipping into their pension funds as they struggled to make ends meet.