Sargeant

Welcome to my world …!

@ Sargeant | August 28, 2012 at 8:05 AM |
“You are overlooking the fact that in a major war someone may push the nuclear button and only a few stragglers will survive along with cockroaches and rats.”

Sarge, we humanoids (as a species) have been this way of mass extinction before. At least this time the number remain from such an unprecedented world population level would be sufficient to ensure a faster rate of recovery than existed when previous cataclysmic culling took place.
Mother Nature is getting tired and upset with so many human parasites demanding and extracting too much for their own good and survival.

There is no such thing as “Entrepreneurship” in modern Barbados unless it is manifested in importing and selling trinkets and other junk made in China or somewhere in the Far East.
The word ‘entrepreneurship’ is used by the ‘mis-educated’ Bajans as media sound bites and as conversation pieces among the chattering class on the cocktail circuit. Black Bajans are educated to be glorified servants to serve the new mercantile owners of a different ethnicity and foreign owned larger corporations. Why do you think the local “Civil Service” is so overloaded with unproductive servants? A small 2×3 country should not have such a large public sector. This not a communist dictatorship with a ‘State capitalist’ economy.
When the forex runs out rather soon and there is no more money to borrow the true meaning of entrepreneurship would manifest itself. It’s called “Survival”!

Just a few short months ago, the Minister of Finance on the floor of the House, with all the charm he could muster said……we have collected the most money ever in the history of VAT collection to loud thumps from the front bench. He said so much so, the increase with remain at 17.5%.

My question there is why is the government in so much trouble if it has been collecting so much money? Why cant it pay the UWI’s share?

Can we ask the PM then since we cannot get a comment from neither Minister? Oh no we cant ask the PM, he could even answer the child yesterday who ask him when is the general election…..the PM said….I dont even know!

Lord please help Barbados!

I see huis royal Mpain in the arsss have devise a brilliant plan designed on ” ;BORROWING” to bail out the CLICO policyholders . never one to disappoint ,keep up the good work . but i wish some one would maybe onions or miller whisper in your ear that the country is reeling in high debt accumulated over the past 14years By your administration.

@miller and ac

Is it possible that many of the problems we confront as a nation like many other countries has nothing to do with Arthur?

For godsakes!

@milller

This is part of our problem in Barbados, we always have to distill issues with a political frame. On Sunday there was a panel discussion on VOB to discuss the status of sports in Barbados and guess who was quoted in the news arising from the program.

@ David

How can we have a vibrant common market and only focus on immigration? What about trade and settlement (monetary market).

Thank you. Unfortunately too many of us think CSME is just about Guyanese moving to Barbados rather than envisioning a cohesive strategic development framework for the region that focuses on the strengths/advantages of each island to the overall ‘plan’.

@ Halsall
When I say WE I mean the member states not just Barbados, and if Trinidad and especially Jamaica want to stay away from the table let us forget about them. Do you think Trinidad have more oil and gas than what lies in the territorial waters of the other islands combined? What does Jamaica have to offer…..sprinters?

In answer to the articled quesiton, I would say yes, storm clouds are gathering.

We have missed one crucial point in education, that of practicality and implementation.

There is nothing wrong, indeed much right, for intellectual discourse and development for its own sake.

However, in the context of education for economic and social development, education must be focused on output i.e. what will be the career paths of the graduates.

Every year we have many emanating from UWI with management degrees.

What are they going to ‘manage’?

Where are our mechanical engineers, who can solve design and implementaiton issues, our civil engineers, our textile manufacturers, our product developers, our computer software specialists?

Yes, there are some such programmes, but those should not be the minority, those should be the majority, not ‘management’, what the xxx, is that?

Further, this is tied to our ‘import eveything’ lifestyle, instead of ‘produce’ for ourselves.

The real point is that our local economy, built for so long on distribution and retail, has imploded, because our ‘import lifestyle’ cannot be supported by our foreign exchange earnings, any longer.

Yes, storm clouds indeed, more like a tsunami.

A comment posted to a blog on UWI which BU monitors:
Anonymous has left a new comment on the post “Lawsuit for UWI“:
Contrary to what I heard about UWI , Cave Hill, I would not advise anyone to pursue studies there. Can you imagine students getting 1/50 and 2/50 on their Math final examinations? MATHEMATICS??? Have we stopped giving points for steps and only awarding points for correct answers? It’s about time we wake up and realise what these people are after…MAKING MONEY!!!!
Earlier this year, In St.Vincent, a situation arose during an exam at the Teachers’ College. Students’ papers were collected ahead of the time preventing students from finishing the exam. The majority of students got “F” on that exam! No explanation from anyone was given. Come on, people! UWI needs to be exposed!
Requesting a discussion or a remark of your papers…USELESS. Don’t waste your money, there’s no such thing as “changing grades” with UWI. They accept your remark fee (BDS$125) and they don’t even respond to you. Come on people, UWI needs to be exposed!
Our Caribbean governments are investing heavily into UWI, therefore, there needs to be some form of accountability. Too many students have been complaining about UWI. Why is it that no one is looking into the matter?
Why is it that everyone seems to be so afraid of challenging them? Come on people,why stand aside and allow UWI to take advantage of people? Time to wake up. UWI is a MONEY SUCKING MONSTER!!!!!

BAFBFP

Agree with all you said above.

David @ Ac is it possible that many of the problems we confront as a nation like many other countries has nothing to do with Arthur?
ac
i would be lying if i say yes /fuh godness sake.

“but i wish some one would maybe onions or miller whisper in your ear that the country is reeling in high debt accumulated over the past 14years By your administration.”

The below figures are extracted from Table 5: Public Debt outstanding, produced by the Central Bank of Barbados in its June 2012 press release.

Gross Gov. Debt (BDS $Million)
2005 – 3,840.0
2006 – 4,147.2
2007 – 4,773.9
2008 – 4,960.5
2009 – 5,813.3
2010 – 6,314.0
2011 – 6,832.6

What these figures show is that Barbados’ Gross debt went from $3.8billion at the end of fiscal 2005 to $4.7billion at the end of fiscal 2007, an increase of $.9billiion with substantial new infrastructure to show for it and previous years’ debt accumulation, but went from $4.7billiion at the end of fiscal 2007 to $6.8billion at the end of fiscal 2011, an increase of $2.1billion, with little in the way of infrastructural improvement to show for it. Those are the facts.

Perhaps the reality of the import of these stats will shut up the idiot quoted above who incessantly tries to ascribe current debt levels to the former administration, but I doubt it.

@ Inkwell | August 29, 2012 at 6:52 AM |

Thanks for dipping your pen in the inkwell and reproducing in written format the facts on this country’s debt level history.
Talking to ac about facts is like shouting in a very large cave or underground chamber with you being the only person inside; just an empty echo. Ac, although constantly being told the truth about the rising debt since 2007, is purposely death and will now play blind to these statistics. She will dismiss these figures and even blame OSA and his plants for massaging and fiddling with the statistics. She will argue until your inkwell runs dry that the increases in debt was to pay off the debt that OSA incurred in the first place. What circulatory nonsense!
Be careful, “inkwell” you will now be accused of being a BLP yardfowl and plant in the CBoB.

Thanks Sir or Madam for bringing the facts to light. And take heart in the proverb: “the faintest ink is greater than the sharpest mind”.
BTW, inkwell, do you know where one can find similar statistics for the country’s foreign reserves, the lifeblood of this country’s economy?

thuis guy OSA seems to take people for an idiot in his political opportunistic selfserving style he concotes this ridiculous plan of borowing billions of dollars to appease the Clico policyholders who will in turn along with all of us have to repay the loan with interset .another one of his high wire gymnatics tricks with a definte cat spraddle landing

The plan by the multinationals who dictate US foreign policy for all open economies is to have these countries so indebted that they will be forced to sell off national assets, including their populations (as markets) to the highest bidder. The debt that Barbados is accumulating will never be repaid, and economists are employed to have you believe that debt is a good thing.

What is worrying and should be to ALL Barbadians is the report posted by Green Money on another blog that countries who have the ignominy of achieving the ratio of 90% debt to gdp will default on debt.

@ Inkwell
Is not your analysis simplistic to the point of being misleading and useless?
Everyone and their pets can recall that the BLP administration executed many of it’s major projects through BOLT arrangements. You must know that this was simply a mechanism for deferring government capital debt so that the “booked” debt ratios would not reflect the true indebtedness of the country.

When the DLP came to office did they not decide to “bring to book” these BOLT liabilities?
Would that not have had the effect of quickly reflecting the TRUE indebtedness of the country WITHOUT any additional infrastructural development (since we were then actually only CORRECTLY showing what debts we had previously incurred)…?

In such a scenario, how could a simple timeline of national debt lead to the kind of conclusions that you have attempted to draw….?

Bush Tea | August 29, 2012 at 9:39 AM |

@ inkwell:
Do not allow Bush Tea to impugn your reputation for technical competence.
In which year was the so-called off balance sheet financing arrangements brought to book?

Since BT knows about these matters he needs to tell us what are these BOLT debts that caused the Debt to rise by approx. $1.9 billion from 2008 to 2011.

@old onion bags | August 29, 2012 at 10:49 AM |

Man onions, you left the blog for an unusually long period and a man called GG the blog police cuss me to high heavens and accuse me of taking over from you. Poor me was just holding the fort and the GG let go a barrage of verbal stink bombs at me threatening to curtail my freedom and even threaten the blog master if my contributions are not limited, monitored and censored. Must be a DLP enforcer because I was not attacking the party only questioning the governor’s technical and professional integrity. Because you know, Onions, that the miller knows his onions when it comes to matters of a financial and economic flavour.

@ Miller
Why my dear friend I am most sorry to have caused you to endure such a distastefully measure and pique from this presumptuous harangue.Why if this shyster could but make good hisher degrade to the ole man in person I would hector the meretricious termagant and garner all pertinacious literally justice possible to make amends….. But this I am sure is certainly unnecessary, as we all know of your competencies..and that you have already demeaned the imbecile and his her reincarnate. Pray tell me more of the epithet.( date etc.)….as I chose to hibernate but for a short while.

And Barrack?

Miller @acwhy don,t you stop being so lying and dishonestand decitful miller are you making me an honuary member of your infamous BPLparty,well wonders never cease.i think i “ll pass

Internet troubles.

@ Halsall

“Ah, no. Not always.

What it often means is the candidate was able to sit through classes (possibly while sleeping) long enough to “get the paper”.

I said “basic” capacity, key word is BASIC. Typically some second year and usually all third year courses have components like presentations and research projects you cannot sit through although this varies course to course and program to program. Have you seen the course handbooks recently?

“Have you heard about “Grade Inflation”? Please let me make it easy for you: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grade_inflation”

Not sure what this has to do with the discussion either but yes, I even made a few points on it previously on another blog post. The questions are interesting Caswell, but for all the jobs I have had so far the interview questions tended to be more relevant towards the work expected, out of the ball park or not. As you say “they only care if the employee can do the job the employee are tasked with”.

“he has time to research silly questions on google.”

As I said before, my opinion is we should work on optimizing UWI not abandoning it all together. People argue about food security; what about education security? I do not think relying on overseas institutions is a good idea on the long term.

For example if you are making a children’s line and it consists of 12 dresses, 6 tops and 6 bottoms then they will be able to provide all the samples for each style. When it comes to having a career in fashion, many people wonder exactly what they can do. The First Lady opts a brilliant red-orange Alexander Mc – Queen gown that she teams with a black wrap and keeps her hair in an up-do.