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Barbados Underground is extremely pleased to see the emergence of another consumer organization in Barbados called Barbados Consumer’s Watch. It will advocate using the novel approach of the electronic channels of Facebook and blogging. In any market where buyers and sellers meet it is to the advantage of the consumer to have a body that will work tirelessly in their best interest. The better known Barbados Consumers Research Organisation, Inc. (BarCRO) led by Director-General H. Malcolm Gibbs-Taitt has proved to be ineffective to date. We do not seek to denigrate any accomplishment which have been achieved by Mr. Taitt and HIS organization but there is one thing which must be said:

All commonsense and logic suggest that the head of a consumer organization CANNOT be or perceived to be aligned to any political party. During the reign of the Barbados Labour Party (BLP) Mr. Taitt was often heard spouting pro-government rhetoric in public fora. We recognize Mr. Taitt’s right to exercise freedom of speech but in the process he must accept that as figure-head of the consumer organization he leads, the public perception of BarCRO is greatly influenced by his public positioning.

Mr. Taitt’s recent public demand to be included in the tripartite social partnership is laughable. He is a one man band who brings no value to the table. Who are his constituents?

We wish the new Barbados Consumer Watch organization well. We notice that Annette Beckett, who is one of our favourite people is at the forefront of the new organization. Sometimes there is an advantage to being second or third to market. There is the opportunity to learn from the mistakes of those who went before. Any successful consumer advocacy body must be mindful that Barbadians have been passive through the years regarding imposing their rights as consumers. Barbados Consumer Watch must come to the market with strategies which are designed to SHOW Barbadians the benefit to mobilizing. They must beat the streets, they must issue PR statements when required, they must demonstrate using strategic approaches to win public support, they must be prepared to litigate. Support from consumers will not come from day one, the journey will be long.

The BU household will offer any support or critique to assist you in meeting your goals and objectives. Your role assumes great importance given the prevailing global economic condition of which Barbados is not immuned.

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32 responses to “New Consumer Watchdog Launched In Barbados”

  1. anotherview Avatar
    anotherview

    This is a good move. Good Luck to the people involve

  2. BGR Avatar
    BGR

    Barbados Consumers Research Organisation, Inc. (BarCRO)
    The name says it all.

    Barbados Consumer Watch
    The name says it all.

    Lights, cameras, ACTION!

  3. David Avatar
    David

    Barbadians need to become more active and respect the benefit of what being a consumer advocate brings. Barbados often boast that of how Internet ready we are and the high level of penetration. Here is an opportunity for BU family members to tell friends and relatives about this new consumer organization.

    The people behind the organization have a long record of public service and we wish them well.

  4. The People's Democratic Congress Avatar
    The People’s Democratic Congress

    The members of this newly launched consumer lobby – Barbados Consumer Watch – must be commended by the People’s Democratic Congress (PDC) for having the foresight and capacity to conceptualize and organize and establish this body at such a critical time when the broad mass of consumers in Barbados are finding it extremely difficult in coping with this increasingly frightful situation of the cost of living and the cost of doing business in Barbados being so unacceptably monstrously high.

    While we would have truly desired it to be another political party seriously formed and established to help depose of this concept of DLP and BLP Governments, we nevertheless still wish it well in its endeavours and do look forward to a very pro-active, dynamic and relentless multi-faceted approach to dealing with the myriad consumer issues and problems facing the said mass of consumers out here in this very turbulent elitist political economic-driven consumer market in Barbados.

    Also, we would like to tell this body that it must NOT, in its efforts on the behalf of consumers in this country, be daunted by inane, senseless and ill-timed utterances like those that we have seen attributed to the Chairman of the Barbados Private Sector Agency (BPSA), Mr. Ben Arrindell, in the Barbados Business Authority of Monday June 23 , 2008, re how COMING UP WITH WAYS TO CONTROL THE COST OF LIVING IS COMPLEX AND THERE ARE NO SIMPLE SOLUTIONS. If those remarks are what the BPSA chief actually said or implied at the Public/Private Sector Consultation on the cost of living at Sherbourne Centre, on Tuesday last week, then that is an example of the TREMENDOUS VOID IN LEADERSHIP that exists in the Private Sector in Barbados, and of which the Barbados Consumer Watch must NEVER in any way be affected by.

    So, finally, we would like tell this body that in truth and in fact there are many ways and means of drastically reducing the cost of living and the cost of doing business in Barbados. And, they are NOT difficult to implement either!! For, we in PDC have come up with many “ways and means” of helping to drastically reduce the cost of living and doing business in Barbados and have been getting fair support from many people in this country for them and esp. as they relate to those twin issues. Some of these ways and means that a future PDC Government shall implement to evermore keep the cost of living and doing business in Barbados to very acceptable levels include the Abolition of Taxation; the Abolition of Interest Rates; the Abolition of Motor Vehicle Insurance; the Abolition of Exchange Rates Parities with the Barbados Dollar; Making sure that Imports of Goods and Services into this country are Zero-priced at all points of entry; Making sure that Exports of Goods and Services are paid for in local currency/”prices”; Making sure that land spaces in Barbados whether “bought”,” sold” or “leased” are available ONLY at administrative/nominal costs; and that a Regime of Rent control is implemented with regard to ALL residential, commercial, and social properties in the country.

    So, there it is, the Barbados Consumer Watch!!

    Best regards.

    PDC

  5. Carson C. Cadogan Avatar
    Carson C. Cadogan

    OFF TOPIC BUT…

    It just keeps getting “better and better” in Guyana.

    Another group of people , eight miners, found dead, this time beaten to death with hammers and their bodies burned.

    I wonder if Faria is aware of these happenings?

  6. Tony Hall Avatar
    Tony Hall

    I am pleased that another consumer watch group has come onboard. It is sorely needed. I just got back from Barbados last night having spent a few weeks there and I taught family and friends that there are alternatives. You enter a place of business and if the price of an item is not acceptable try an alternative one or don’t buy at all. Try other businesses. I have 90% convinced them to get out of the habit of saying” yuh can’t eat de money”. For too long consumers in Barbados have been passive and it has got to STOP.

  7. ROBOT Avatar
    ROBOT

    Malcolm Gibbs-Taitt. Taitt Gibbs
    whatever !

    never seems to get any support
    Robot does not understand why

  8. TO: Robot Avatar
    TO: Robot

    I am not sure if I got it right; you said that “Mr. Taitt never seems to get support”
    Under the last Admin. Mr. Taitt had plenty clout. In fact he was so fortuanate to run his Oganisation from the daily call in programmes and still keep his job.
    Mr. Taitt is obviously a megalomaniac who is pasionately addicted to being on the news and criss -crossing the globe.

  9. TO: Robot Avatar
    TO: Robot

    I am not sure if I got it right; you said that “Mr. Taitt never seems to get support”
    Under the last Admin. Mr. Taitt had plenty clout. In fact he was so fortuanate to run his Oganisation from the daily call in programmes and still keep his job.
    Mr. Taitt is obviously a megalomaniac who is pasionately addicted to being on the news and criss -crossing the globe.

  10. TO: " The people Democratic... Avatar
    TO: ” The people Democratic…

    You fellows say that under a PDC govt. you will “abolish: taxes, motor vehicle insurance, set exchange rate parity”, pie in the sky, etc etc….
    Once you abolish taxes you don’t need to lower the exchange rate, you’ll have an instant devaluation.
    Fellows, if you are representng an Organisation or Interest group, it would help if you could contribute something of sensible value.
    You long diatribe above isn’t even worthy of being labelled comedy.

  11. Adrian Hinds Avatar
    Adrian Hinds

    There is to my mind a consorted attempt to profit from what is essentially volunteer work. I will be more focus on these new and existing players in the Consumer rights/advocacy space.

  12. Global Voices Online » Barbados: New Consumer Watchdog

    […] Barbados Underground welcomes the emergence of a new consumer organisation in the island. The blog says Barbados Consumers Watch “will advocate using the novel approach of the electronic channels of Facebook and blogging” in serving the needs of the public. Posted by Skye Hernandez Share This […]

  13. Chris Halsall Avatar
    Chris Halsall

    Dear PDC.

    I have two questions for you:

    1. Would you be willing to share with us exactly who is the *author* of your postings on the Barbados Blogs? You know, like, a name?

    2. Would you be able to explain exactly *how* you would achieve all the amazing things you promise? You know, like a detailed mathematical economic model (an n-dimensional spreadsheet would be fine).

    It has been said that while in grade school, individuals are nieive and ignorant. In college or university we are socialists, because be think this can work. But once we enter the real world, we quickly become capitalists, because by that point we’ve realized it’s the only system which actually works.

    If you, PDC, are actually able to define a socialist system which could work, while Cuba, Russia et al could not, I would be the first to tip my hat to you.

    But… please! Show us a detailed analysis and methodology, rather than simply continue to spout utopian promises!

    Best regards to all.

  14. Knight of the Long Knives Avatar
    Knight of the Long Knives

    To PDC And also learn to get your point across without these massive essays each time. I doubt most people read them. When I scan them they seem to be very repetitive and utopian. When you abolish taxation what will you pay the police, firemen, nurses, doctors etc with. It is very true that taxes in Barbados are ridiculous and that successive governments have provent to be increasingly greedy and gluttonous but no taxes is simply unrealistic.

  15. Knight of the Long Knives Avatar
    Knight of the Long Knives

    The government does need to reduce import duties. What they never admit is with prices and ocean and air freight spiralling no one is profiting more than the government because duties are paid on the CIF (cost + plus insurance + freight) so if a container of oil costed U.S $8000 2 years ago plus US $2000 ocean freight makes $10,000. Now duty on that is 40% + maybe 2% envoirmental levy of the CIF value so you pay 42% of $10000 x 2 to convert to Barbados $. Thats $8400.
    Now oil goes up to U.S $13000 freight goes to U.S $4000 (freight has actually double in about 3 years). The government now collects $13,600. That is and additional $5,200. That is an additional 61% in duties for no good reason.
    Same thing can be equally applied to corn flakes or potatoes or shirts etc..
    Import duties on food items and neccessities need to be reduced or better still to prevent the merchants from just keeping the difference reduce vat to 8% period

  16. Diaspora-ite Avatar
    Diaspora-ite

    Knight of the Long Knives, BINGO!

    Import duties on CIF is iniquitous! Duties should be levied only on materials/goods only.

    But if you think that taxes in Barbados are “ridiculous,” try visiting Canada. At least in Barbados, the threshold of taxation, the amount one can earn before attracting tax on income, particularly with respect to pensions, is acceptably high. In Canada pensions are taxed at the rate of 17% beginning with a taxable income of ca. $8K. In Barbados that figure is $35K or thereabouts. In Canada citizens pay for goods with already-taxed dollars, and then pay VAT on top of that. Tax on top of tax. Rates of corporate tax in Barbados are also lower, 25% in the case of Barbados, significantly higher in Canada, without as many tax concessions. Mortgage-interest deductibility does not exist in Canada.

    Barbados isn’t doing so bad, from a taxation perspective. But those import duties!!

  17. Pat Avatar
    Pat

    Diaspora-ite:

    You are so right. However, dont forget what we are getting with all those taxes we pay. Free hospital and medical, Good highways, food inspectors, water inspectors, health and safety inspectors, etc. (remember the tainted tuna?). Then, there are the free houses and monthly $1500 per month cheque, for all those welfare mothers, most of them in the Toronto are, young and black. In addition, they get free dental and eye care, free bus passes and dont even work. Then, check and see how much goes to the Arts – of all kinds, performance and visual. Add to that the $930 a month that goes out each and every month to every disabled person, plus costs for support care, entertainment, etc. Add subsidies to public transportation, our prisons and the 3 squares plus two snacks they are entitled to, plus their education while behind bars up to and including university all out of our taxes. Remember Homolka? She graduated from prison with a BA and fluently bililngual on our coin!

    With regards to businesses, dont forget all the subsidies that goes to small and large business alike, all from our taxes, governments work nowhere! I dont even want to start naming the programs (I worked in IC). However, our SMEs get a good tax break. I am sure the ‘effective’ rate of taxation is below 20%, after allowances and deductions.

  18. David Avatar
    David

    Like Adrian H commented we shall be keeping an eye on the BCW. They seem to be off to a good start.

  19. The scout Avatar
    The scout

    I would like the new consumer body to investigate the charges medical doctors are saddling patients with. You would pay for an appointment but would still have to wait for hours while others that were ahead see the doctor. This can happen 3 or 4 hours after your appointed time . Then the fees charged are rediculous sometimes $ 200.00 for 10 mins and no special treatment. When you study it, the waiting room is full, God knows how much that doctor makes in any one day.

  20. Pat Avatar
    Pat

    Scout, go to Dr. Branker. I saw him last summer while on vacation. I waited 15 minutes, got a full check out (I went for a throat infection) and paid $125.00. I thought that was pricey, but I guess not. He noticed my tan marks and counselled me about over exposure and to use plenty sun screen.

  21. David Avatar
    David

    Doctors and lawyers are untouchables in Barbados. They charge horrendous fees. There is a hurry on the part of professionals to recoup their investment in education which we appreciate is very high. This said fee regulation in the professional services is a must.

  22. The People's Democratic Congress Avatar
    The People’s Democratic Congress

    To the person/s attempting to corrupt our name (which is totally wrong); to Chris Halsall, to the persons operating under the psuedonyms: Knight of the Long Knives, Diaspora-ite, and to the person/s called Pat,

    There is on our website@www.somassfreedem.org, a down loadable version of our pre-election Manifesto 2006. If you are capable of downloading it please read how we are going to ABOLISH TAXATION, and at the same time REPLACE IT with the necessary strategies for allowing the government/state to arrive at its own revenues – WITHOUT the state continuing to fascistically and demonically steal parts of the incomes of the relevant businesses, peoples and other entities in Barbados – and the necessary strategies for allowing the government/state to pay it own bills with regard to its own existence, programs and project, et al – WITHOUT the government/state itself – via TAXATION – continuing to be so wickedly and profoundly devaluing the commercial and productive inputs and outputs of the far greater and more effecient private sector.

    To Chris Halsall alone,

    We do NOT and have NEVER subscribed to Capitalism, Socialism, Economism, Eurocentrism on the whole. However, where there are – from our standpoint – any “positive” and “good” ideals and practices found within any of them, we do and have surely been supporting them, and esp if they are of any help to us and to the wider Barbados and humanity. And, where there are – in our opinions – found to be “negative” and “bad” ideals and practices found within any of them, we do and have been failing to supporting ( in some cases denouncing) them, and esp if they are hurting us and wider Barbados and humanity. Unfortunately, the largest proportions of “negative” and “bad” more than “positive” and “good” are found within those isms, and thus we do and have been mainly refusing to support them.

    Chris, we are a people’s progressive nationalist developmentalist party and one that subscribes to any rubric, epithet, nuance, term, method, or practice that fully or partially expresses its true meaning or materialization within the context of such a designation or its consonant behaviourisms.

    Finally, Chris, our principal job is to make sure that masses and middle clases of people in Barbados and the country as a whole are able to benefit from our or some others’ leading the way in the movement towards achievement of the POLITICAL SOCIAL objectives of the ABOLITION of Taxation, Interest Rates and other such named diabolical schemes!!

    PDC

  23. Chris Halsall Avatar
    Chris Halsall

    Dear PDC.

    Thank you for your response. I will review your Manifesto as my limited time allows. I do hope it goes into detail — I’m a very mathematically inclined individual, and I do hope I don’t have to build my own model based on language.

    I do note, however, that you still haven’t shared your *name*. Is there a reason for this? Political parties are mostly based upon the *people* behind the agenda….

    Kindest regards to all.

  24. Chris Halsall Avatar
    Chris Halsall

    Dear PDC.

    I assume, from inference, that I’m actually “speaking” to Mark A. Adamson?

    I just spent a bit of time reading your Manifesto. Actually, being 391 pages, I only really read about 100 pages of it, but I did speed-scan the rest.

    I came away with the following:

    1. You seem to have a fundamental misunderstanding about what exactly is Economics. You argue that it should be rejected, because it’s used to keep the poor people down.

    Economics is little more than Math, applied to the study and analysis of human nature and behaviour in constrained environments. You might as well reject Physics.

    2. You present no true analysis as to how you would achieve your utopian promises. There does not appear a single table of figures, nor a spreadsheet, nor a “business plan” anywhere in 391 pages of language.

    I’m sorry — I’m not meaning to be harsh. Obviously a lot of work went into these documents. But at the end of the day (IMHO), there’s simply no there there.

    Kindest regards.

  25. The People's Democratic Congress Avatar
    The People’s Democratic Congress

    Mr Chris Halsall,

    Good that you said you would have read 100 pages of our 2006 Pre-election Manifesto, but it is so unfortunate that you sped-can the rest of the pages.

    However, what we are politely asking you to do, Chris, is to properly re-read the segment on economics in order to have a good understanding of the reason why we are rejecting economics as an idea/discipline and practice. For, it is economics that has for eons been dastardly helping to destroy many of the the life chances of the vast majority of people (millions upon millions ) across the world and thus helping to make them poor and weak and to remain this way for as long as possible; that has been wickedly unfairly helping to make ONLY a few millions of people greedily rich and contemptibly powerful; and at the same time that has been disgustingly helping to cause the enormous multitudes of middle classes across the world to be continuing to exist in a global state of serious crisis. Therefore, why should any objective, rational persons of the masses and middle classes any where across the world – including Barbados – NOT openly reject such! Why? Why should they NOT object to this elitist/neo/colonialist/imperialist/fascist vampire concept and practice called economics? Indeed, economics is one of the worst and most destructive things that has ever been invented by humankind!!

    Too, what we ask you to do is to carefully re-read the segment on economics in our Manifesto to also get a sufficiently good grasp of some of the definitions of economics. For, clearly you are falsely cavalierly misbelieving that economics – which too is a study – is little more than math and therefore is a study that is applied to a study and analysis of human nature and behaviour in constrained environments. Sir, and we ask you to be very careful with the redundancy and tautology, there!! Where we are concerned, Chris, we have defined economics – whether in terms of it being an idea, discipline or practice – as the inverted political ideology, philosophy and psychology of the caucasian man ( mainly the elitist patriarchal caucasian man ), and that has been used by him to help seriously exploit non-elitist caucasians in Europe and beyond, and almost ALL other non-caucasian peoples across this world, so that he can continue to accumulate great hordes of wealth at the expense of those others and at the same continue to dominate these other peoples. There are, of course, some others who define economics as the study/the allocation of scarce resources to satisfy human wants. Too, the Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English ( the third edition with new words supplement) defines economics as the study of the way in which goods and money are produced and used. So, sir, your failure to include in your definition any one of the central variables (goods, resources, money,etc) involved in the actual production and distribution of goods and services in a country, speaks voluminously as to the inveterate knowledge you need to greater and quicker possess on economics and its mal effects on the aforementioned peoples, if you are really to found in the vales of any meaningful discussions on so-called economics. Whereas, it is true that many aspects of economics are today expressed mathematically and statistically, the fact is that mathematcs and statistics HAVE NEVER and WILL NOT NOW START to juxtapose for controlling any type of general human social behaviour. For, it is only the divine, the social, the political, or the psychological, or any combination of the foregoing, that is responsible for economic thinking and practice. Understood!!

    Finally, Chris, you claim that there is NO TRUE analysis as to how we are going to achieve our policy measures. But the truth is that though our Pre-election Manifesto is really more than a manifesto and far exceeds anything that the DLP/BLP and any other parties have published over the many elections we have had since independence – you still CANNOT believe or reasonably EXPECT to compare, methodologically speaking, this manifesto with some kind of doctoral dissertation, magnus opus, or some kind of scientific study of the gamut of events that have been happening, politically and otherwise, in Barbados for a resonable length of time. To do so would be so unfair to judge it that way, if you know – Chris – what a Manifesto document is!! Also, sir, contrary to what you propound – our party has in fact provided analysis on top of analysis as to how theoritically and methodologically we are going to achieve the many policy objectives that are contained in our manifesto. We have even gone further to outline as well as layout in our manifesto the strategies that are going to tremendously assist a furure PDC Government in the achievement of these objectives.

    Moreso, and very importantly too, is that we have gone as far as to put these said policy measures to the test by participating in the last general election – and with good results too – and by assuring the many voters of this country that it is these very rational, workable, farreaching policy measures that we shall surely unmistakeably put in place whenever we become at the helm of the government of this country, so that the masses and middle classes of the country and the country itself will be able to experience the greatest and best leap forwarding transformation there could ever be in the political, social, material and financial affairs of Barbados.

    So, Chris, there you go!!

    Our best regards.

    PDC

    PDC

  26. Chris Halsall Avatar
    Chris Halsall

    PDC: “Sir, and we ask you to be very careful with the redundancy and tautology, there!!”

    Thank you, kind sir. I haven’t laughed quite so hard in quite some time…

    I will respond to your above at some point in the future, but not today. I’ve got a policy review position paper due, and a new Economist to read. Now there’s 100 pages worth considering!!!

    Kindest regards to all.

  27. The People's Democratic Congress Avatar
    The People’s Democratic Congress

    Mr. Chris Halsall,

    Well, we do wish you every success in making it through your policy review position paper.

    And, we of course do look forward to your response to our last posting under this thread.

    And, yes, we really do hope also that you DONT get yourself too filled up with much of the very meretricious and biassed information and details that normally come from this very elitist, very eurocentric, very politically economically driven ECONOMIST magazine, Sir.

    So, for now our best regards, Chris!

    PDC

  28. To Christ Halstall Avatar
    To Christ Halstall

    Dear Mr. Halstall,

    Just was reading the tangle between you and the “PDC”
    Dnn’t waste your time. These gentlemen are jokers.

  29. David Avatar
    David

    We find it hilarious that that the ‘foremost’ consumer organization’s Website in Barbados has not been updated since December 2007.

  30. Cost U Less Maybe Coming To Barbados « Barbados Underground – bringing the news to the people

    […] excellent opportunity for the consumer advocates in Barbados to show their mettle. The newly formed Barbados Consumer Watch and others should by their actions provide information to the public to stimulate healthy […]

  31. DREDE Avatar
    DREDE

    A RACIST COMPANY…keep them away from the bajans

  32. David Avatar
    David

    @DREDE

    Can you elaborate?

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