Trinidad and Tabadoes…..Of course….it’s destined…. Oil $$$ to invest..Bdos ripe for the taking….another anomaly.

When the T&T companies started their march to consume Barbados in the early 2000s, Barbadians were told how the acquisitions would allow Barbadians to benefit from economies of scale resulting in lower prices etc. There was even talk about expansion and the like. To be honest BU has not seen any extraordinary benefits, in fact we have seen the opposite global recession understood. T&T investors want to see ROI, if it means shutting down the companies in Barbados so be it. If BS&T (Bajan led) for example was still running things would we be witnessing the decimation of Barbados employee workforces and the economy in the process with the massive layoffs?

The Trinidadians are capitalizing on the fact that most Black Barbadians are consumers and not investors. When businesses are placed on the market for sale, those who have the money should form a consortium and purchase these companies. Instead, we prefer to call the call-in-programs and talk nonsense.

Andrew Bynoe suggested that Barbadians should take a 10% cut in wages to help the country, and his suggestion was answered by people sending BB and all types of messages, asking for a boycott his supermarket. Yet, 500 Barbadians are going home from the Neal and Massy owned Almond Beach Village. Neal and Massy has systematically closed DaCosta Mannings and Knights Pharmacy outlets in St. Peter and Bridgetown, The Autodome in Warren seding home Barbadians; and not one BB message suggesting that we boycott DaCosta Mannings or Super Center Supermarkets.

Pissin true dat….dun drinkin a shite from Them..stin kn mudda Frs
Nah corncurls nuttin..ent want one shite….Gine fa my money just now too…

The Credit Unions in a deep sleep with money as their bed

The Credit Unions are in the process of establishing a bank.

Artaxerxes | May 11, 2012 at 7:15 AM |
Barbadians continue to support foreign beers other than our own, and what is most interesting is that Guyanese love Banks beers. We complain about the other regional nationalities, when in fact Barbadians are generally not patriotic.

So true, witnessed an Oistins stall owner forcing Stag beer on a tourist who was asking for local beer. The Guyanese only drink our Banks beer no carib or Stag for them. Bajans can learn from Guyanese about patriotism. We dont fly our flag enough Bajan entertainers and DJ’s are the worst offenders they big up every nationality except their own Bajan people.

@ David
So what did we expect from CSME?…. Handouts?

CSME is nothing but a 21st century Trojan horse. Bushie has been cursing and abusing this nonsense from since caricom days…

Now we have welcomed the enemy into our gates and handed them control of our news, our banks, our companies….. The only thing left to hand over now are our asses…. Uhhhh ASSETS.

Well Bushie it maybe about to get worst if Arthur is returned to office given his pro CSME stance. He has the opportunity to shoot for completing his legacy.

When will we as a people get serious though…? or may be there is too much subliminal influence…?

We do not trust each other nor do we trust ourselves to take chances. Yet we want someone else to take the chance for us. That is not how business is done. We are always looking at what can lose and not how much we can gain.

“When will we as a people get serious though…? ”

When we realize that Caribbean is a big place and when we decide to spread our wings and stop peeping out from behind the curtains.

Those who constantly criticize Barbadians for not investing and taking chances or putting their money under the bed, do not really understand Barbados.

Barbadians – the majority ethnic group – for many years have been excluded from business by a variety of methods, refusal of loans, conspiracy by others to cheat them – including the black middle classes – denied a presence at the top table despite years of honest endeavour at work. They believed that business in Barbados was a cartel from which they were denied a presence at the top table.

With years of that treatment and other subliminal messages, they kept their money in banks where they could see it. Not wise in the long term but they were cheated enough.

Those who have “suddenly” become rich have done so in the most part riding on the backs of fellow Barbadians.

Now others have come here to tell us all that is bad about us Barbadians and what we should and should not do. Yet they are “HERE” to tell us after they have made a mess “THERE”.

Must we spend our lives being afraid then? Must we allow our own to rob us as well? Can’t is a man who has never tried.

Bushie ..Yardie…so wait I can’t get in da do….I got pestban mixed wid diesel. ready.for Igloo.

Tedd
Play you en’t know how wealth distributed in paradise…..majority of so called ‘ wid lil money’..but a small lot…..You see Mugabe….lol
From the time Lynch just up so …..let go BST….we were exposed….but we got to know the man…to continue

Last time Barbadians up and invest within themselves …CLICO ERP plans… they got burn’t…..by home drum too….How we could expect people not to remember this ? Sampouchie n the duppy is who we should be rousting….our Laws want amending to suit…especially trust laws.

@ Onions
i must say upfront that investment has risk, and profit.

one of ourr weaknesses is the lack of regulation, both legislative and follow up. Executives are also not held accountable legaly, socialy or otherwise so they do as they please and tell you like it or lump it.

saagicor is another example where the board and management benifit from the firm with fat salaries and perks and then give the shareholders 2 cents per share no matter how well the company does . not a percentage of the profits just a flat 2 cents. but i must protest that even though i am here puting in my 2 cents worht of complaints, i know i wont get my share of the profits.

shareholders need to hold the boards and management of firms acountable for their actions and demand as the owners their piece of the profit pie.

@ Ted
What you are saying is the theory….the way it is supposed to work. but as Yardbroom explained, Barbados is different….probably due to our small size, the slaves were never really able to get at arms distance from the whites – and likely developed a strange kind of coping mechanism…
As you yourself said, investing as a minority shareholder is just a scam. They keep all the sweets, live high off your dividends, and then sell out the Company from under you to outsiders when it suits their purpose.
Look at light and power, that was 60% local owned BUT FULLY CONTROLLED BY THE 38% majority shareholder from overseas….through the complicity of the ‘local’ directors. Then the whole thing was sold to EMERA for well under its real value – due to the high retained earnings, that rightfully belong to those shareholders who for years had their shares deliberately undervalued.

Even the foolish government sold out – and then took that money to invest in Four Seasons….a wise government would have acquired majority shares, even if it needed to introduce a special tax to do so…

Is it not SMART in such circumstances to put your money in the CREDIT UNION where funds are used by BAJANS and dividends belong to EVERYONE? And where you at least get to keep it…?

Don’t even talk about the upper class black professionals…mostly they are just uncle Toms who join the various Lodges to be indoctrinated as Lackies who enthusiastically support the crooked system. Read the Everton Cumberbatch case here on BU….

Dont mind IslandGal, As old Bajans used to say… “When yuh see a man fishing in a dry pond, don’t call e a fool”

You know what would get us a fishing agreement? A trade war. Just check the imbalance of trade between the two countries and tell me who would be hurt most. Brydens have foisted upon Barbados the most foul tasting beer called Stag. Why do the bar owners try to push it to tourists? Because Brydens are bribing them to do so, with case upon case of free Stag and unlimited credit. In the meantime, I understand that the same Ansa McAl is bribing Trinidadian bar owners to hide Banks beer from their shelves. Get it yet? But our government won’t do anything because we want Trinidad’s gas and loans. So it’s up to us as individuals to boycott the Trini horse piss and other goods that are inferior in quality that come from “that place”!

@Chris

The FTC talking in the media and the reality of how prices of the utilities impact the consumer are two different situations.

@ David
What FTC what??!
Don’t you know a scam when you see one?

Look at the individual’s on the commission! A collection of lackies paid to sit there and pretend to understand and to decide…. In reality they just do as instructed.

Don’t mind EX Chris. He only helped to legitimize the process by going through the motions of objecting.

When Bushie see someone like Caswell or BAFBFP or even the current auditor general Trotman on that commission Bushie would begin to take it seriously.

Sharon Christopher, the lawyer and deputy chief executive officer of First Citizens Group said the company wanted earnestly for the local public to trust the institution and accept it was not here to deprive Barbados of
anything
***********************************
Lady …had a bank BCCI ( Arab Bnk)….yrs back top broad St. ( them did op.differently doa ML)…said the same thing…..if it had 200 Bajan accounts it had a lot…..if Bajans can’t see what gine on……we going wake up one day wid deep regret.

@BT: “Bushie was laughing…

Meanwhile, ROK and I et al managed to get The Company to release information it really would rather not have publicly known.

Who did the public the most good?

It was interesting to listen to the CEO in a press conference today stating that First Citizen couldn’t guarantee any jobs would be loss. This comes one day after the deputy CEO admits there is anti T&T sentiment in Barbados. Is this a way to start a new journey in Barbados? Sure inspires a lot of confidence.

@ Yardbroom
“Those who have “suddenly” become rich have done so in the most part riding on the backs of fellow Barbadians.”
The Syrians, Lebonese and other Arabs, as well as the Pakistanis and Indians have also become rich MAINLY riding on the backs of Barbadians, through exploitation and ignoring workers rights (we continue to work for them) and selling of inferior products (we continue to buy from them).
You also stated that we do not not understand Barbados. My friend, the way you understand Barbados is quite different from the way I know it. I know it this way:
• Those of us who venture into business are confronted by Barbadians who want your goods and services free or cheap. Yet they will buy from the other ethnic groups at any cost.
• If Barbadians patronise your shop, they say “Man, I dun coming in hay, we does buy drinks and he don’t even put down one”, yet they go into the Boatyard to impress their friends by drinking high priced drinks and none coming free. Patronise Chefette everyday; no free chicken from Haloute.
• They stop supporting your business if you change your 1991 Mazda to get a 2009 Toyota, but do not have the same sentiment when the other ethnic groups buy a 2012 BMW. You hear, “My man Mahmood got a big ride”, and they continue to buy Mahmood things.

I could go on and on.