You will live to eat those words in the next 9 to 12 months. Stop living in cloud cuckoo land! It’s a safe bet to make that general elections will be called before May 2012. The serious economic and financial adjustments that must be made will only be made during a possible second term of DLP power. Anything moves before that will result in electoral slaughter giving you the distinct title of the first one-term administration in Barbadian politics.

BU please start a thread on news tonight on cbctv in which an oilman calls on GOB to go after oil and gas reserves off shore the oilman speaks as if he is sure there is commercial hydrocarbons in Barbados waters we want to know more.

I thought the dead king said that there was no oil off Barbados! As soon as he became PM, he said that the BLP was fooling the people and wasting money on exploration. Well, well, well!

Plus the hydrocarbons off Bim are heavy and high in sulphur. Not very suited for the high margin finished products (e.g. gasoline).

you know this how millertheanunnaki | October 20, 2011 at 9:56 PM |?

@ Time to explore:
Because I have more than a passing knowledge of the industry.

Elections will be January 20, 2013.

@ Str8 Up:
Are you saying that history really repeats itself and we learn nothing from its circulatory motion? If so, you might just have a philosophical point there!
Here we go again, another sand(ie)castle in the making! This time we will have a more sophisticated and snooty presentation of the play “Leave it or Lump it”!
FYI, there is an old bajan proverb that goes like this: “ya can hide and buy land, but ya can’t hide and wuk um”! Or for another one, as the BAG would, “nite does run til day ketch it”! Pick sense from DEM two old-time sayings!!

@ Clone:
I agree with you that the economic problems confronting Bim are too great for the burnt-out fellow to handle. Hence the skulduggery to get Clydie to be an elected member to handle the day-to-day stress of high finance and economics. But get real, the place is gloomy! If it was not so, the government would be able to pay its recurrent bills, refund income tax payers and honour its commitments to the various statutory agencies and the UWI.

@ anthony:
Are you sure about the latest date for next GE to be called?

Given my limited knowledge on constitutional matters I was of the view that a government had an additional 90 days to play with BUT MUST CALL THE GE WITHIN THAT ADDITIONAL WINDOW OF TIME.

Advise me if I am wrong similar in regard to the repatriation of proceeds for aviation fuel sold to int’l airlines (tongue-in-cheek here!).

@ CCC:
It certainly would be in your party’s interest to call the general elections before the forex runs very low and the IMF come a calling to occupy Bay Street or maybe Warrens if the building is ready for occupancy.

CCC
Maybe if Owen had paid the IMF some attention, the DLP would not have been able to blow millions of Clico money, plus the two big guns would not have been able to pull so much money out of the company for themselves. Remember the late David Thompson was Clico’s attorney.at that time.

Maybe we need rebels here too, will NATO bomb for us?

We can always ask?

@The Scout | October 21, 2011 at 6:10 PM |
“CCC, Maybe if Owen had paid the IMF some attention, the DLP would not have been able to blow millions of Clico money, plus the two big guns would not have been able to pull so much money out of the company for themselves. Remember the late David Thompson was Clico’s attorney.at that time.”
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
Yeah CCC, Your boy Wickham The Spy, told the Americans that the figure received by the DEMS was THIRTY FOUR MILLION DOLLARS!!. You believe it is possible that the poor deprived and devastated policy holders will get back any of that from the DLP? Did they spend all in that lavish election caqmpaign, or might the balance of it be found in Families First’s account and other obscure places?

As usual, CCC, you focused on the wrong things, and barking up the wrong tree!
By the way CCC … Which liquor can one SEE THRU BETTER? White rum or Absolut Vodka?

@ Scout
Low voter turn out when the cost of living and unemployment higher than 2008 when many promises were made? 1986 – 1994 redux?

@ Time to explore:
It has been known for decades that there are pockets of hydrocarbons off Barbados, some of which might have commercial appeal.
It was as a result of the oil crisis and the high increase in oil prices that the Tom Adams Administration took a more focused interest in attracting drilling companies to explore this potential resource. Tests were carried out by geologist and chemical engineers who specialise in hydrocarbon exploration. The results indicate the presence of heavy crude. Economic analyses suggested that the costs of exploration, transportation and refining of this crude and the many risks associated with offshore drilling (environmental and aesthetic, etc) did not match the probable economic returns, given the prevailing cost of oil on the world market that had dropped from it previous high in the early 70’s. It was recommended to the political directorate that offshore oil exploration as a strategy of wealth creation be shelved until the economics become more attractive and that alternative avenues be pursued such as further development of tourism and establishment of niches or enclaves for the expanding international business and financial services. This ‘services-oriented” model of economic development was seen by both EWB and his successor JMGA as the replacement to the sugar-based economy and as necessary agents to absorb the emerging blue collar workers who have been the beneficiaries of ‘free’ education post the Primary level.

Although the current ‘high’ oil market prices (mainly due more to speculative behaviour than to the basic forces of supply and demand at play) might appear as a possible spur to the revisiting of this myth of the existence of a “black” gold mine, other factors might force this idea back into its Pandora’s box. Any attempts at encouraging off shore drilling for hydrocarbons would invite criticisms from those who peddle the clarion call for the urgent need to move away from fossil fuels and look to alternative renewable sources for energy requirements. The risks to our environment and our major economic asset-tourism- are too great to entertain. The probable much larger reserves off Brazil, Cuba and Guyana might be more attractive to the international oil companies than little Bim with its continuing disputes of territorial boundary and economic zone limits with its main investor and assets owner.

Read in the press the reaction by Economists Sir Courtney, Charles Skeete and Michael Howard to the IMF’s recommendation of a wage freeze for public servants. This may be true but to be fair Minister David Estwick’s name should be added to the list. Very early in this government’s term he made his position public but he was hushed by late PM Thompson. There is a suspicion on BU’s part Estwick has been biting his bottom lip for some months now.

http://www.nationnews.com/articles/view/nupw-cold-to-freeze/

if the media was doing it’s homework it would be pointing out that the NUPW has acted more than responsibly in the interest of the country by not pressuring the government about the delay in the commencement of salary negotiations almost one and half years overdue. it seems to me that a wage freeze has been in place surreptiously since april 2010 and i would not be surprised if the nupw suffers a fallout in membership.our brand of economics is predicated by an unwritten economic maxim that increases in the cost of living are met by some increase in emoluments even when there is abreakdown in negotiations and this has not been the case.