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Barbados Budget 2017
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456 responses to “Barbados Budget 2017”
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Hants May 31, 2017 at 7:38 AM #
New Bajan post budget menuBreakfast…..Bakes and bush tea.
Lunch…..Cheese cutter and a sweet drink.
Dinner….. white rice with onion/salt butter gravy.
Which is exactly what will happen in the case of every new tax.
Bajans have no more money. They will spend the same to get less.
That will result in more closed businesses and more job losses; further shrinkage of the economy.
That will guarantee that none of the increased taxation measures will actually realise any of the income forecasts.
That will worsen the deficit.
Which is exactly the same thing that has happened with every other Stinkliar budget. Forecasts weren’t met because he didn’t anticipate the shrinkage effect more taxation always has.
Fumble’s Fools have never managed a business in their feeble lives. In business you do not increase prices to make more money, you improve product, efficiency and advertising.
There is only so high a price for anything a market will bear. We have long passed that with taxes.
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The private sector has to step up meaning their voice has to be more strident. For example, the goverment has met with the social partnership on a frequent basis to harmonize approaches given the state of the economy for the last 9+ years? It has done so only in a token manner.
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@Hants
That breakfast will not help to improve the NCD population in Barbados.
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All of these taxes are needed to cover up the Massive Land Fraud, which then was turned into a PONZI, To run Ponzi system you need more and more money all the time to cover up the Fraud, As the people collecting the money spends it on the other side, Sir Allen Standford and Madoff are now in jail for such, Sir Richard L Cheltenham and Sir CO Williams got this going in 1986 then with the Help of AG 1995 at the time Sir David Simmons who moved up to CJ.
The Owen and Mia came in next with UDC/NHC in 1997, With the help of the same CJ Simmons, Help with of Lawyer for the NHC Samantha Cummins, With the Help of Mark Cummins of Town and Country, With help of UDC lawyer Keith A.E Mayers, with another Minister/Church BARBADOS DIOCESAN TRUSTEES , CHECK WITH ST. MARYS GLEBE, check Secretary Graham Hinkson, Venerable Eric Lynch. Archdeacon.With the Banking Fraud from this side check when Barclays Bank switch to FIRST CARIBBEAN/ CIBC. SIR COW moving the land he doesn’t own” to please” and adding land to CLICO. COP Dottin knows of the crimes and all AG from the Early years including Smith&Smith law firm and Yearwood and Boyce, G. Dennis Clarke QC, and his former firm with Lawyer Iva n.Jessamy at Carrington & Sealy etAli,many others who were around at that time and still alive today to blame for Barbados mess, Now covered up on the DLP watch for the last near 10 years , taken over from14years of PM-Owen and ExAG-Mia, Who now want to get back it to try to cover up the fraud and ponzi.
Vote Both Parties Out, Vote Bajan Free Party apart of the CUP.
BFP have the proof and the facts of our FINDINGS being coverup by the NOT SO ROYAL BARBADOS POLICE FRAUD SQUAD, MAYBE UNDER ORDERS OF THE DO NOTHING ATTORNEY GENERAL? -
@ David,
Are there any MPs who might “cross the floor” to support a no confidence vote if brought by the BLP ?
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@Hants
The only two who would probably consider it are Inniss and Estwick. For Inniss he smells opportunity if he remains with a damaged Sinckler and Estwick appears not to have the stomach for it.
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@ Hants and David
The only DLP MP with any guts to do anything to upset the apple cart is the PM and he will NOT do it, he has to think long and hard on it and by that time it is 2018 with elections at the door. Hence, not a good idea for a motion at this time given that timeline. BLP must just lay out the facts and keep the pressure on while dismantling the DLP’s propaganda and directionless economic strategies.
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Knowing now that the chances for wage increases are zero, if the NUPW marches for elections the rest of the island might follow.
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Politicians never cease to amaze me.
Denis Kellman wrote on his FB page: “In old economics governments only invested o commercial capital projects when the private sector is not interested. The sale of the Hilton is a master stroke because it allows us to expand our foreign exchange by not borrowing while allowing the government resources to further expand the productive sector. By selling the Hilton allows the country to Continue to have the Hilton plus the sale…”
Kellman did not have a similar view when Barbados National Bank’s shares were sold.
Perhaps someone should tell him that a “one off” transaction of foreign inflows from the sale of Hilton would not necessarily increase the foreign reserves and solve any underlying problems, as he seems to be suggesting, because such increase would be temporary.
Kellman is conveniently ignoring that prolonged running of an increasing fiscal deficit is main reason why the reserves have been decreasing.
Government’s primary fiscal deficit essentially means they have been consistently borrowing to pay interest on existing debt. Taking the fiscal deficit and increasing arrears into consideration, one can logically assume government may be experiencing difficulties in paying its debt obligations.
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Artax May 31, 2017 at 9:21 AM #
Politicians never cease to amaze me.Further, are the rental payments made by Hilton to the property-holding company for the property not ForEx payments made annually?
These people are idiots.
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No one crossing now floor, they will hang on to the last cent,
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Dont expect much of any response from Mia. This time around she does not have Clico and Cahill to play to the blp yardfowl gallery LOl. Nevertheless it would be interesting to see how she bobs and weaves away from addressing the critical financial problems of the economy or having better recommendation than the MOF
Another LOL moment was when Chris revealed that Mia and her crew for all their crticisms against Sandals when behind closed doors would give Sandals their blessings -
If we go by comments on both traditional and social media we can safely categorize yesterday’s budget as ‘very unpopular ‘.
DiD Chris DeCaires allude to a cash poor NIS last night? This is of interest because the MoF mentioned the need to use sales proceeds to repay NIS and other creditors.
We have to be vigilant!
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@ Frustrated B
….are the rental payments made by Hilton to the property-holding company for the property not ForEx payments made annually?
These people are idiots.
+++++++++++++++++++++++
Not just ordinary idiots…
Brass bowl idjuts. -
As Vincent would say…. Chuckle…
The only thing Angela Skeete understood about the budget was the fact it was delivered by a DLP finance minister. As such, she is obligated to hail it as a success because that is the job of a yard-fowl.
If she did not understand the policy initiatives contained therein, how can she understand Mottley’s response?
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@Artax
Not sure how economic strategy that is forced by protracted economic crisis can be described as a ‘master stroke’.
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Little does the yardfowl know that the DLP is so corrupt that there is no end to the hidden skeletons available to be exposed.
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David May 31, 2017 at 9:40 AM #
“DiD Chris DeCaires allude to a cash poor NIS last night? This is of interest because the MoF mentioned the need to use sales proceeds to repay NIS and other creditors.”
@ David
DeCaires made an interesting observation relative to the NIS.
The increasing arrears and primary fiscal deficit remained “liquid” because government has been using NIS funds to finance its debt obligations.
According to the 2016 IMF Article IV report, the NIS has been facing pressure as a result of slow economic growth and an aging population.
“Nevertheless, the weak employment growth in recent years has led to a deterioration of the NIS’ financial position and expenditures began to exceed contributions in 2013, rather than in 2024 as estimated in the 14th Actuarial Review, and, since 2014, the NIS has faced LATE contribution payments FROM the government and state owned enterprises. The BULK of the (NIS) INVESTMENT PORTFOLIO—74%—is held in government securities, well in excess of an earlier suggested prudential limit of 54% and the NIS’ target of 60%.”
This is one of the reasons why the NIS is “cash strapped.”
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Government is repaying the NIS with securities, which would obviously affect the scheme’s short-term obligations to contributors.
As a result, the NIS seems to be prioritizing its payment of benefits and this is evidenced by the fact that people have been waiting over a year for certain benefits.
For example, I have a friend who was retired from work medically unfit in June 2016 and has received only one disability benefit so far.
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Year after year our Finance Minister is including projected sale of government entities within the budget which never comes to light. Back in 2008 DT and his cabinet kept criticizing Privatization and how it resemble selling off Barbados. From 2013 until now, we have embrace PAROtisation, selling everything for a one-time lowering of our deficit. Let’s be realistic, what will you sell next budget….BWA etc.
We must also take in consideration that the additional 8% will automatically increase our VAT tax to 25.5%. Also, the 2% Foreign Exchange Level will affect everyone….retailers, wholesalers, vehicle sector, manufacturing sector plus the rich and poor.
Simple, we are paying more for a lower dollar.
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It is clear from this budget that things are desperate for this idiot we have as a finance minister.
There is no way that he would be able to collect 219 million from increasing the NSRL when the spending power of all Barbadians will be further reduced.
Most people have not had a salary increase since these idiots took office. All that will happen is that the government will not collect a fraction of the expected revenue as people are just in survival mode.
Devaluation on all levels!
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Artax
I have a claim in NIS and for months now all I havebeen hearing is that the claim has been approved and just waiting for the cheque to be printed.
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@ David
What about the 15th Actuarial Review as at Dec 31st, 2014???When will it be made available to the public? Or is this now a secret document?
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Suppose you are a small business entrepreneur who own an online business website and your clients pay your services via credit card. Will the new budget measures in regard to the 2% credit card tax be charged to these credit card payments and any funds which are wired to the entrepreneur’s bank account, incur another 2% charges for the wire transaction?
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Are any of these statements familiar?
The Ministry will immediately instruct all ministries to adjust their expenditure budgets downwards by 2 percent for their 2012 allocation appropriated by this House in March. This will be to ensure that we stay firmly with our fiscal targets for this year and the overall
Medium-Term Fiscal Strategy.
Mr. Speaker while as a country we continue to enjoy free and regular refuse collection and will do so long into the future, it has now become necessary for us as a nation to assist our Government in meeting, at least partially, some of the costs for the treatment of the volumes of garbage we produce on a daily basis. Due to our waste Government has had to engage additional costs to treat garbage without any mechanism for recovery to ensure that traditional services which the SSA provides free of cost to Barbadians can continue.
In light of this, and somewhat regrettably, Government will be forced to introduce a small “greening levy” to assist in meeting the extensive costs associated with the treatment of the garbage which we all produce on a daily basis.
in years of prosperity very little was done to diversify the economy. There has been an over reliance on tourism receipts and more recently international business as the main foreign exchange generating engines of the economy. However, in focusing on these two sectors, what was ignored was the fact that as foreign exchange was being generated,
hardly any effort was being made by the country to prevent the leakages of foreign exchange fuelled largely by the increases in the importation of fuel, motor vehicles and food. In practice, there was a fundamental failure to make the necessary structural changes to the economy as a means of retaining most of the gains made in the two main foreign exchange generating sectors. So the net effect of this situation was that as the country made more foreign exchange it started to spend even more.
We have continued to retain the love and respect of the vast majority of fair-minded Barbadians who know that we have been dealt an extremely difficult hand and frankly Sir, have played it well. We have kept our economy stable, protected the Barbados dollar
from devaluation, contained job losses as best we could, maintained a high level of service in our social services, enhanced the social safety net, and held the hands of our private businesses through a variety of mechanisms. Given the challenges which we faced most Governments as we have seen by example across the world would have collapsed by now.
In the absence of adequate levels of foreign exchange reserves to meet the demands for daily activities in the economy the value of the domestic currency cannot be defended by the Central Bank and inevitably will face a devaluation of the Barbados dollar. So that in that context Government’s most critical tasks are to ensure that:
(i). Our capacity to earn foreign exchange is maintained and where possible
enhanced and;
(ii). Ensure that our reserves management policy and tools are effective
enough to maintain reserves adequacy especially for those periodic
occasions when task number 1 is weakened or compromised. -
@ Prodigal
They give my friend that excuse re: “the cheque has not been printed as yet,” each time she calls or visits the NI Department.
Last week, she was told the head of department messed up the printing system.
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@ George C. BrathwaiteMay 30, 2017 at 7:59 PM
“@ Ping Pong
You wrote: “I am not an economist or an accountant so I am probably missing something.” I am neither sir; but the excise as far as I know is not directly passed on in terms of retail but instead is reflected in the used formulae. That is why he actually gave the set prices for July.”Dear George, we note your disclaimer as being neither an “economist” nor an “accountant”.
But could you explain, or ‘expatiate’ in whichever way you can, the claim you are making by your following statement:
“…..the excise as far as I know is not directly passed on in terms of retail but instead is reflected in the used formulae”.I am putting it to you not only from the position of “an economist and an accountant” but also from common business management sense that all excise taxes, duties and other statutory-imposed levies on finished petroleum products are passed on to the final consumers through the same formula you alluded to.
So George, for your information, that increase in the ‘specific’ (not ad valorem) excise tax of Bds $ 0.25 {from $ 0.74 to $ 0.99} will automatically be reflected in the adjusted price at the pump along with the concomitant increase in VAT in absolute terms as at 1st July or whenever.
What you should be querying or seeking clarification on is whether the 10% instead of 2% “Social Responsibility Levy” will be applicable to the same gasoline and diesel which would make the final price to the consumers even much higher than you may be anticipating.
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@A.Dullard
Minister Kellman reminded BU a few weeks ago that the report should be available soon.
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@ millertheanunnaki
Please reread what I wrote and you will note my deliberate use of the word ‘direct’. Clearly within economic jargon, the words direct and indirect covey distinguishable differences. Come on, you know better!
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Sinckler is still having problems in understanding maths.Last night while the primary JA was leaning back with his head in the air looking to heaven to save him and the DLP next election the man Sinckler was stumbling in explaining the quantum increase in the levy on petrol.The man was stupefied before he listened to the explanation of the growler Boyce telling him what to say.Does BU have any doubts that this cabinet is made up of buffoons and one set ‘o clowns?
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Mr. Mottley will do dixxy this evening.
I cant wait for the theatrics. As we all know he/she is full of sound and fury signifying nothing.
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@ Prodigal SonMay 31, 2017 at 10:23 AM#
“It is clear from this budget that things are desperate for this idiot we have as a finance minister.”Prodigal, I think you are being euphemistically kind to the gentleman whose propensity to lie bold-facedly has reached the highest point of pathological analysis.
As Artax perceptively pointed out, this is the same man who promised the Bajan taxpayers due for refunds that he had the BRA staff stuffing envelopes with their notices of assessment and refund cheques enclosed ready for posting ,”shortly”.
Now he is promising the same damn fools (not you of course) he will be making the same refunds from money he plans to collect from imaginary tax defaulters.
The taxes due on those Leroy Greenverbs tax evasion transactions would do nicely don’t you think?
So what were in those envelopes being stuffed many months ago? Tissues of lies for comforting the fools aka Bushie Bajan Brass Bowls?
One can only conclude he is still awaiting recommendations for the imminent restructuring of the twenty odd State-owned enterprises (SOE’s) which were promised in his famous volte-face December 2013 Ministerial statement with a deadline date June 2014.
Un menteur pathologique et extraordinaire!
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@ George C. BrathwaiteMay 31, 2017 at 11:30 AM
By George ,what are you on about?
The point to be made is whether the adjustment in the ‘specific’ excise tax is direct or indirect it will be reflected in the final price at the pump whether controlled or uncontrolled by some regulatory body.
Ping Pong’s point is valid. Whether the upward adjustment in the excise tax is “direct” or “indirect” there is no way the price of gasoline or diesel as at June 1st can be only $3.05 or $3.25 compared to the current prices at the pump for the said petroleum products unless there is drastic reduction in the landed cost or the wholesalers and dealers margins.
Here is what Ping Pong said about the MoF’s proposal on the matter and I have no reason to dismiss or question his (Ping Pong’s not the Stinkliar’s) intellectual integrity on this matter.
“To this extent, I now propose that effective June 1 the excise tax on gasoline will be increased by 25 cents per litre from $0.74 to $0.99 and on diesel by $0.24 from $0.20 to $0.44. The June 2017 retail prices on gasoline and on diesel will now be as follows based on the above two scenarios:
Gasoline $3.05
Diesel $2.25It should be noted that the current prices on gasoline and diesel are $3.00 and $2.15 respectively.”
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So correct me if I am wrong but does this mean that automobiles will now attract an additional 8% (NRL) at the port before VAT and a further 2% to purchase the foreign exchange to settle the debt? Totally agree with Caswell that if the union leadership does not mobilize their membership now, they need to be hung out to dry. Anywhere else in the world would have experienced civil disorder long ago while this moron fiddled with Rome as it burned.
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millertheanunnakiMay 31, 2017 at 12:38 PM
Ping Pong’s point is valid. Whether the upward adjustment in the excise tax is “direct” or “indirect” there is no way the price of gasoline or diesel as at June 1st can be only $3.05 or $3.25 compared to the current prices at the pump for the said petroleum products unless there is drastic reduction in the landed cost or the wholesalers and dealers margins.
That should be: “as at June 1st can be only $3.05 or $2.25”.
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@ millertheanunnaki
Okay, I am not quite convinced but I do take the argument that fuel will be more expensive than has been suggested, particularly with the roundabout devaluation of the $. Cheers.
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seems like the government leaders dont care, they put on that 17 percent vat tax on everything, and now this tax when you use your card. That means if you take out 500 dollars you have to pay over 5 dollars. Meanwhile the government leaders getting brand new cars, a salary increase, and travel allowances, although they say the country is in the red. They are the ones milking and robbing the poor people. Sadly Barbados is a small country and their leaders can do as they please, because they dont have no one to account too. Whats going to happen to all the people that dont have jobs, the mentally ill people that continue to ask for help, but get none. When people come to Barbados to look for their family members, or just to relax in their homeland, its like every time they use their debit card, thats money being taken out to help these rich leaders live bigger more richer lives. These inept government leaders is who is making the people in barbados more desperate, thats why in some poor neighborhoods, its like some neighbors target who they think they can trick. Its going to get worse, because every time you shop or use your card, its like more money is being given to this horrible government workers. I saw people dancing and having a good time. Thats what the leaders encourage, so the people wont think about how they being robbed blind.
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Simple fact: we cannot have internal economic growth and preserve ForEx; the two are contrary. We have just been handed a recessionary budget that will make every Bajan worse off and some Bajans destitute, while doing nothing to promote growth, efficiency or facilitation.
The fact that we are still in the recession of 2008 should cause immediate and forceful action by every citizen of this country.
That requires leadership.
Whoever raises the masses in the next couple weeks to move us past this inept gov’t will have earned that position.
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I was amused when I heard the head of the Bankers’ Association said in the 12.30 news edition that banks are not tax collectors and are now going to be asked to do so! LOL!
Anyone want to bet that that 2% tax will take as long as the cellphone tax did to be implemented!
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@ George C. BrathwaiteMay 31, 2017 at 12:45 PM
You need to whisper in the ears of your colleagues in the political class that the MoF is a certified moron when it comes to simple arithmetic or his scriptwriter is a complete dullard whose naive intent is to make the MoF look like a braying brainless jackass whose tail is in his mouth instead of a muzzle.
As it stands, ceteris paribus re other variables in the pricing formula, the proposed retail price of gasoline and diesel as at June 01, (or is it July??) ought to be the prevailing retail prices ($3.05 & $2.25 plus $o.25 & $0.24 respectively plus the nominal adjustment in the VAT as a result of the change in one of the input cost variables (excise tax) making up the pricing formula.
We shall soon see if your leader continues to be complicit in this great robbery of the Bajan intellectual larder once known to be well stocked with commonsense and decency.
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Grab the pop corn
Mia will be braying about pot holes and water shortages and downgrades.3hrs worth -
“We contend that for a nation to try to tax itself into prosperity is like a man standing in a bucket and trying to lift himself up by the handle.”
Quote from Sir Winston Churchill.
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@millertheanunnaki May 31, 2017 at 1:36 PM #
“You need to whisper in the ears of your colleagues in the political class that the MoF is a certified moron when it comes to simple arithmetic or his scriptwriter is a complete dullard whose naive intent is to make the MoF look like a braying brainless jackass whose tail is in his mouth instead of a muzzle”.
…………………………………………………….Did you notice that too, miller?
I felt shame for Stinkliar last night……..John Boyce had to be there helping him out……….the man just cannot handle decimals.
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@ millertheanunnaki
Political class? I am a student of politics or a political scientist. Why put me under the torutre of having to convey messages to the stubborn MoF. Coming from me it would be made to sound like doomsday.
Less hilarious is the fact that gas will see at least a 30 % increase to consumers and diesel around 25 %; prices will dramatically increase.
Truly, Bajans cannot take this nonsense much more. TEAM BARBADOS is calling for Freundel to ring the bell and let us press restart with different people. Under the BLP or any other entity we can expect different and better results. No political party can be as bad as this current crop of DEMS.
Maybe I am more optimistic than you are, but I am also very confident Mia will emerge as an erstwhile Prime Minister. -
@George C. Brathwaite who wrote “Under the BLP or any other entity.”
I thought you were 100% BLP.
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@ Hants
I am foremost a Barbadian and an academic. My cards have long been on the table, I am with no other political party, and I remain a member of the BLP. I also recognise that there are other persons and parties willing to contend in a democracy, as is their right.
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@ angela SkeeteMay 31, 2017 at 1:58 PM
Ac, aka angela Skeete, instead of enjoying yourself in a bout of political masturbation why not tell the BU household how you feel about your administration’s plan to sell off (divest itself) the Hilton Hotel while acting of mortgagor for the phoenix Sam Lord’s and guarantor for the Hyatt Priapus?
Before you choke yourself in trying to speak with your bifurcated tongue just remember you are the archbishop of anti-privatization and anti-divestment of government-owned assets with your ordination going back to 2012.
Now denial would do you no good.
Just remember admission of your faults and confession of you many sins are the first steps
of recovery from being an addicted yard-fowl.As David BU the Thoth will be only too willing to reproduce your many ‘written’ sins of commissions in support of your party’s immovable position reinforcing the non-negotiable motto:
‘Under the current administration and as long as Lord Lying Fumble is King Joker we will never privatize, divest or sell off any asset or entity owned by the government’.PS: Is it true that it is rumoured the great bullshitter Marcus Bal0ney has his eyes on the Hilton just to create competition for his own Hyatt pending erection and that soon-to-be-sold Butchy Sandals.
Do you believe he will knock it down (again) and create it in his own 15 storey erectile image leaving his Hyatt inchoate to prematurely ejaculate into a flaccid dud next to Ram’s rat pen?
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I wish some knowledgeable person would explain how the retail prices (i.e at the pump) of gasoline and diesel are calculated.
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@ George C. Brathwaite,
The BLP will win the next election and you will take your rightful place in the Senate.
The blogmaster invites you to join and add value to the discussion.