Does any of these bloggers have a 9-5 job like me??
Just peep in for lunch and de place hot nonstop.

David, can you publish the amount of hits per day?

Technician // February 3, 2009 at 3:37 pm

Does any of these bloggers have a 9-5 job like me??
Just peep in for lunch and de place hot nonstop.

David, can you publish the amount of hits per day?
===========================
at least I now you you aint nuh indo-guyanese or some other foreinger. Onl y a bajan could be dis malicous. Would you wish that we would just go away? How about navigating away from this page? chuspe. ha ha ha ha lol!

Chris Halsall // February 3, 2009 at 3:34 pm

@Adrian Hinds and Johnnie Too Bad…

Please take your pathetic, small, simple, idiotic, stupid, ridiculous, [rants for five minutes], narrow minded, imbecilic positions, and SHOVE IT!!!

Some of us have some work to do.

Lead, follow, or SHUT UP!!!

OR, AT THE VERY LEAST, ***UNDERSTAND***!

(Deep breaths….)
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Even this short contribution gives me a headache to read. Wuh you don’t learn to write wid a flow though. chuspe!

anyway uh hear yuh Uh gone later people!

wunnuh de majority get down deh and leh a minority group people continue to such wunnuh and fool wunnuh dry.

@ Johnnie Too Bad

Man, you are either a bad cook or a bad blogger. If I see you back here within the next 15 minutes, I know you cooking macaroni again today. lol. Why can’t you do both at the same time?

@Technician

We have tried to stay away from the issue of visits/hits to BU for reasons which maybe obvious. What we can say is that as are approach end of year two our numbers continue to increase. The support of the BU family is one of the reasons we continue to produce the blog even though it is a leech on our time.

Johnnie Too Bad do you own a steel business? If you dont do you pal around with someone who does?
Do you or any of your mates sell a product with letters CRB not necessarily in that order?

@ David….

Just keep on doing what you doing and everything will be all right.

@ Warrior…..

Now that is keeping it real !!

A read of the Trinidad press who has been unrelenting in exposing this matter is interesting to say the least. There appear to be many issues coming out as we write. In the interest of being fair we will wait a little before we explore some of these side stories.

It seems to me that the Nation newspaper and Starcom have taken a decidely negative slant in this crisis.

Why could the headline on Monday not have read “Show of confidence by Central Bank of Barbados.”

There is a lot to clean up, but we certainly do not need a run on nay financial institutions.

there is more in the mortar than the pestle!

Wuhlos what date was this? I got suh many video clips uh de shortman, I may have it. But then again I am not about to continue pelting blows in he. I aint gine continue to do nutten to help Mia hold on tuh de leadership of the blp.

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But, as if we didn’t know de Blogs tuh big in Bimshire check this from de BLP

[QUOTE]
http://blp.org.bb/writting

The ruling party is not interested in the things which ordinary Barbadians care about. As a result, a large number of persons who voted for change in the last general election feel betrayed and are angry. They realize that the present Government does not know what it is doing and that it is not intune with the things, which are important to ordinary people. Ordinary Barbadians also feel let-down that the DLP Government has no solution to the problems facing the people of this country.

We therefore want to work with you in your crusade to rescue this country. We invite you to put your thoughts and ideas in writing and encourage you to play your part in effecting real change. Help us make a stronger case on your behalf. Assist us in our written communication. Let the government know of your frustration through letters to the editor; text messages to people you know and THROUGH YOUR SUBMISSIONS ON THE BLOGS.
Thank you for letting us be the change you need. We now invite you to share your ideas for progressive programmes and policies, as well as that of your community and groups with us.

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ha ha ha hhhaa After 14 years in power and one year in opposition. Talk about no shame!!! what change what????

I still wearing my red shirt though. I am showing solidarity with the black bees mention on a Bajan white-background blog. I standing firm on the color-line in my red color shirt. ha ha ha ha ha

ha ha ha Chris wuh you want from me? why are you attacking me my friend? I merely offer responses to people comments.

Seriously! What is it you are driving at? You keep saying we have much to “get on with” yet i don’t see a formulated approach to what you may intend. Whatever it is I am on board. Now spell it out for me please!

email me and let me know

Trinidad and Tobago Express
Thursday 5th, 2009
Duprey Chairman of CL Financial Group

…”He said his plan had been to sell the group’s 55 per cent stake in Republic Bank eight years ago, but he had been encouraged to not divest it to a foreign buyer”…

I wish someone had the “common sense” to impart the same advice to the authorties in Barbados about BNB.

If I remember correctly, Bajans politely declined to purchase when BNB was offered to them.

BNB is now seen as the #1 bank in Barbados, so I would say that they decisions would be different now, in that most people will back a winner.

Back then the impression was given, maybe deliberately, that BNB was not up to scratch when compared to the other players in the market.
Since Bajans are more of a saving, rather than investing, people, the lack of guidance from knowledgeable persons caused people to think that the shares were over-valued and that it was not a prudent investment.

Bajans are slowly realizing that saving all of their money in a bank keeps them poor while making others rich, even though the current climate has the ordinary man looking at his mattress more often.

Would the transformation of BNB have been the same, if the name had changed?

It is all about perception, (mis)information and education.

Lowdown points out today that the CL in CLICO stands for COLONIAL!!

It is worth reading.

I decided to refrain from making a comment on this article, but since it is now on BU, I will make a general observation.

I do not know if the named individuals have committed any misdemeanours as I have no proof of that. However, I do know that they have no reason to lose “one nights sleep” because of what has been written.

My knowledge is based on information in the public domain about Switzerland.

Switzerland: …” Switzerland’s lucrative tax haven industry is constructed from two laws out of step with other developed countries. First, whereas most countries will merely sack bank employees who leak information, the Swiss charge them under article 47 of their criminal code and jail them. Second, whereas most countries regard tax evasion as a crime, Switzerland insists that it is no crime at all unless it involves active fraud, such as the forgery of paper work”….

…”The result is that other countries are constantly trying to breach the walls of the Swiss fortress. Indeed Switzerlands bank secrecy law was introduced, in 1934 to stop bank staff helping the French tax authorities – and certainly not, to help Jewish refugees hide their assets from the Nazis”…

Against this background and banking culture do you honestly believe notice will be taken of a few names from a blog.

…” In January 1997 Christoph Meili, a 28 year old security man at the biggest commercial bank in Switzerland – Union Banque Suisse (UBS) in Zurich – discovered that the bank was burning the records of Jewish clients who had died in the Holocaust. When he reported this to press and police, he was himself accused of breaching the law and ended up fleeing to the US, where he was granted political asylum”…

It is only those who are unaware will believe those names so exposed will have an impact.

“…Swiss authorities have been fighting a running battle with Rudolph Elmer, 53 a former employee of the Julius Baer bank who posted internal paperwork on internet sites which, he claims, reveals tax evasion and money laundering by individuals. Elmer was held in prison for 30 days and told he will be charged for breaking secrecy laws”….

I could go on but it serves no purpose, to believe action of any kind will be taken by the Swiss for the information allegedly supplied..is just smoke and mirrors.

Quoted material from: Guardian, London Thursday 5, February 2009

Good morning GP how are you? You have made me very upset with the truth you write!

I was listening to a Mr. Branker and he was saying that Barbados will never own these things again!

We have caused our own demise! This is a sad and harsh reality! BLACK Bajans need (or should I say ‘NEEDED’) to invest more!

GP it is a sad state of affairs our country has found itself in thanks Mr. Arthur and fellow barbadians!

That is a fair statement I cannot blame Mr. Arthur and fellow barbadians for everything I would be foolish, but I am still pist that we SOLD every thing in Barbados to others instead of keeping something for our children NONSENSE!

luv ya GP! (crew dont get jealous)

Nice one on the methadone J but the leaders of the world would pretend to be tossing in naltrexone, and sneak fentanyl in instead 🙂 . But this is not a heroin scenario. Excessive credit is excessive debt, credit is not money no matter the label. It was speculation, and easy credit (read debt), massive leverage and deregulation that got the world into this current mess. More stimulus, i.e more debt will not save the day..tell that to the proponents of Keynesian economic theory. Unfortunately so much of the western world has been drinking that batch of kool-aid and now is the big PAY BACK day. Credit (debt) for expansion of production is useful and can grow an economy. The problem with western nations, U.S.A being the most extreme example is they ran consumption based economies, most of the credit creation went into consumer goods…the credit(debt) expansion did very little to increase productivity or efficiency. Very few new goods where produced or new markets just countless refreshes and derivatives of older products….now people are saying NO i don’t need the new widget version 8 supercool special colour edition… it was mostly bullshit but when the credit tap was on full blast who cared people treated their homes and home values like a potential ATM , refinance and spend the cash. But all that credit was robbing from the future to boost the now….that “now” is the past(2002-2006)…and 2009 is that future that was robbed. That’s why government intervention almost always fails in this scenario because they obsess about monetary and fiscal policy, failing to realize that the problem is structural which is the difference between recession and depression…sucks to be the U.S.A right now but the U.K is even more screw. The sooner they learn the distinction between a recession and a depression the sooner they’ll get out of this mess. As for BARBADOS fortunately we have stricter controls and regulations… our banks, insurance etc have much lower leverage and a lot more assets than most of the (technically insolvent) banks in the so called developed world.
The biggest threat to us is energy and food security, but we are crisis people so we deal with it NOW we should have been preparing for the last 15 years….but our leaders lack vision so that was an unrealistic expectation….they should have seen this tsunami coming since 2006 MINIMUM. Sure it pisses me off that CLICO gets 10million easy so and small businesses have to sell their souls to get a small loan….i’m way to fiscally conservative to understand so I done trying… it is MORAL HAZARD!

Makeveli wrote ” people treated their homes and home values like a potential ATM”

And the banks promoted and encouraged this nonsense.

I heard from a Canadian recently that once the mortgage was paid off the bank issued a check book and said “here you are, you can start spending the equity in your house” This to a 60 year old who (because of family history) has a life expectancy of about 90.

Scary!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

The Starcom Network news program of 7.30 AM, Tuesday February 10 2009, carried comments attributed to Mr. Doug Skeete, where Mr. Skeete suggested that the financial challenges of the CL Financial group could affect subsidiaries outside of Trinidad and Tobago, if the government of Trinidad and Tobago is unable to put the affected institutions in Trinidad in a sound footing. On reading the Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) between the Central Bank of Trinidad and Tobago and the CL Financial Group Ltd., the affected institutions in Trinidad and Tobago appear to be CLICO Investment Bank (CIB), Caribbean Money Market Brokers (CMMB) and CLICO Insurance Trinidad and Tobago.

The MOU between the Trinidad and Tobago Central Bank and the CL Financial group states, “The Central Bank of Trinidad and Tobago will assume control of CIB under the provisions of Section 44D of the Central Bank Act.” “The third party liabilities and assets (to meet these liabilities) of CIB will be transferred to First Citizens Bank Limited.” The Central Bank will provide short term liquidity as needed to ensure that these liabilities are serviced.” “Following the execution of these transactions, CIB’s banking license will be revoked.” Given that CIB will cease to exist it is unclear to me what Mr. Skeete means by “putting CIB on a sound footing? Given that the Central Bank of Trinidad and Tobago has made provisions for meeting any outstanding liabilities of CIB, it is again unclear to me how the assets of CL Financial Group subsidiaries outside of the Trinidad and Tobago (including Barbados) would be affected by a need to meet the liabilities of CLICO Investment Bank. I am sure I am missing something and Mr. Skeete can explain.

The MOU between the Trinidad and Tobago Central Bank and the CL Financial group states, “The third party liabilities and assets (to meet these liabilities) of CMMB will be transferred to First Citizens Bank Limited.” The Central Bank will provide short term liquidity as needed to ensure that these liabilities are serviced.” Again, in light of the terms of the MOU, it is unclear to me what exactly Mr. Skeete means by “putting CMMB on a sound footing? It seems clear to me that CMMB will be operated as a subsidiary of First Citizens Bank (the state owned bank in Trinidad and Tobago). It is again unclear to me how the assets of CL Financial Group subsidiaries outside of the Trinidad and Tobago (including Barbados) would be affected by a need to meet the liabilities of CMMB given that it will now be owned by First Citizens Bank. I am sure I am missing something and Mr. Skeete can explain.

The MOU between the Trinidad and Tobago Central Bank and the CL Financial group states, “Clico Trinidad and Tobago has a sizeable Statutory Fund deficit.” “CL Financial has agreed to divest additional assets to help fund this deficit.” “The Government has committed to provide any additional funding that is needed by Clico Trinidad and Tobago.” “Government funding will be provided in exchange for collateral and an equity stake in Clico Trinidad and Tobago. “It will act as a catalyst for implementing a change in the current business model and corporate governance structure of Clico Trinidad and Tobago.” ‘The intention will be to return Clico Trinidad and Tobago to its original moorings.” The assets to be divested were also spelt out in the MOU. The MOU states, “Specifically, CL Financial will divest itself of all, of its 55% holding of Republic Bank Limited and shares in Methanol Trinidad Holdings.” Is this what Mr. Skeete means by “putting Clico Insurance Limited on a sound footing? It is again unclear to me how the assets of CL Financial Group subsidiaries outside of the Trinidad and Tobago would be affected by a need to meet the liabilities of CLICO Trinidad and Tobago given the commitments given by the government of Trinidad and Tobago, and the value of the assets the CL Financial Group has agreed to divest. I am sure I am missing something and Mr. Skeete can explain.

Mr. Skeete was also quoted as saying, “if the affected companies in Trinidad and Tobago are not put on a “sound footing, then the subsidiaries may be affected by a need to liquidate the assets to meet liabilities.” Since, hearing the comment I have searched in vain to find an example of where a struggling financial institution actually ended up in bankruptcy. In the vast majority of cases a struggling firm is acquired by a stronger rival and its assets and liabilities are assumed by the new owners. Why this worst of worst case scenarios would be presented as some plausible or likely outcome is a bit beyond me. I am sure I am missing something and Mr. Skeete can explain.

Unless, Mr. Skeete can provide some more information, it seems to me that the actions of the Central Bank of Trinidad and Tobago have served to contain the impact of crisis to entities in Trinidad and Tobago.

Trained economist, you have quoted Mr. Skeete as saying the subsidiaries outside of Trinidad COULD be affected, if the government of Trinidad and Tobago is unable to put the affected institutions in Trinidad in a sound footing.

This a conditional statement, which you appear to have ignored in your questions. Have you concluded that there is little chance that the government bailout will fail, or have you concluded that it is all over now, problem solved?

In addition have you concluded that the CL Financial group does not have the ability to transfer assets from the Barbados companies, if deemed necessary? Have you concluded that the crisis is now over and that the group might not still need additional steps to prop up any of its Trinidad companies? Has the government of Trinidad agreed to support ALL the CL Financial subsidiaries?

Have you searched for examples where depositors lost funds as a result of struggling financial institutions, or where a government had to intervene and use taxpayers funds to prevent losses to depositors? You might start your search at Jamaica.

Brutus, I am interested in whether or not you see a significant exposure for CL subsidiaries outside Trinidad and Tobago given the terms of the MOU?

A deal can always break down but why would we start from the position of the deal breaking down?

I prefer to be guided by the available facts.

BU readers should also note that depositors in Jamaica were paid in full by the government of Jamaica. The bailout of Workers Bank cost the Jamaican government 3 billion Jamaican dollars.

To say that depositors lost money is inaccurate. The point is that it rarely ever gets to a point of bankruptcy.