George C. Brathwaite (PhD)
“The least we can expect from our leaders is to deal with the ‘issues of real life’, [and] provide at the very least … shelter, healthcare, education, sanitation, and transport” – Senator Dr. Jerome X. Walcott, 2016).
Former Prime Minister Owen Arthur and the Barbados Labour Party (BLP) performed sufficiently impressive to put Barbados as the number one developing country in the world by the end of 2007. The BLP team comprised of persons devoted to service such as Mia Mottley, George Payne, Dale Marshall, Glyne Clarke, Ronald Toppin, Kerrie Symmonds, Trevor Prescod and others inclusive of Lynette Eastmond who now chairs the unknown United Progressive Party (UPP). Between 1994 and 2008, the BLP managed to bring unemployment down from a very scary 26.5 % to as low as 6.5 %. The BLP as a team serious about governing and running the affairs of Barbados met numerous challenges, scaled many hurdles, and maximized the opportunities that would boost Barbados’ socio-economic fortunes.
Owen Arthur remains the longest serving Prime Minister and, arguably, the most adept Minister of Finance in post-independence Barbados. Throughout his tenure as prime minister, Arthur stood tall on the democratic socialism of Sir Grantley Adams. He was emboldened by the embrace of JMGM ‘Tom’ Adams, and encouraged ‘only the best’ for Barbados. Even Errol Barrow’s thrust for ‘friends of all, satellites of none’ helped Arthur to carve a developmental niche for Barbados that was compatible with the needs of the country and satisfying for the expectations of the people, regardless of their social status. The BLP’s public policies and programs offered increased socio-economic prospects and, the scope of much legislation was captured in the cloth of higher earnings and distributive justice. By global indicators, the BLP had in three election cycles placed Barbados on the verge of stepping up to a higher status of economic and social development.
Then came 2008 and a politics of uncertainty that seemed lopsidedly incestuous. Divisiveness replaced the politics of inclusion and determined leadership. Thousands of Barbadians presumed that they would have been better off with the re-entry of the Democratic Labour Party (DLP) to the governance arena. The politics of innuendo, was emotively practiced by David Thompson, and won the day over the diminutive leader. Some commentators speculated and unjustly followed the DLP’s fabrication that Arthur’s politics had become arrogant and emitted intimations of malfeasance. For almost a decade under the spectacle that ‘Barbados is more than an economy, it is a society’, the DLP has been a beleaguered government. During this DLP sojourn, Barbados has not become a failed state; nor has every implemented measure of social or democratic development showed regress. Rather, the DLP has dodged and wobbled regarding Barbados’ development.
The signs have pointed to an economic shallowness that is compounded by policies which induce societal backwardness. The DLP’s choices and policy preferences superficially appear paternalistic, but have more regularly been dismissive of critics. Cabinet Ministers attempt to control everything from the national discourse to who gains access to tertiary education. In effect, the DLP government under its current leadership, has largely denied and dampened the expectations of Barbadians through inertia, threat and control mechanisms. The result is that Barbadians are poorer and worse off in mid-2017 than in January 2008.
The abject disappointment for the Barbadian population regarding the DLP’s approach and actual performances in public policy can be realistically set against a series of unending tax-grabs, and the several botched fiscal initiatives which have become characteristic of the DLP’s return to government. Failure abounds in many places, and the DLP has created multiple ways to pursue a blinkered focus of development in which unsound judgements have made progress a pitiful lament. Social services have become appalling and under-financed by the DLP. Access to basic social services appears more difficult and disconcerting for Barbadians.
For example, the provision of basic services under the DLP regime, such as providing clean water and proper sanitation, has been acutely problematic and prolonged. The troubling experiences of residents in St. Joseph and other northern parishes, cannot be hosed away by any momentary gush of water. The fact is that for too long, these rustic folks were unable to consistently access clean water in their homes. On the issue of sanitation, workers of the Sanitation Services Authority (SSA) deserve medals of commendation for their work despite the atrocious approach of Minister Denis Lowe. Since 2013, Barbadians saw nasty evidence of the terrible dereliction of duty emerging from the DLP Cabinet. On several occasions and sometimes over months, the garbage build-up in Barbados became unbearable in terms of size and stench. It was disgusting that Barbadians were forced to accept the SSA’s plight of operating with a regular working fleet of five or six trucks due to the negligence of the substantive Minister, while the garbage unhealthily swelled – thereby becoming eyesores for the nation and our tourists.
Today, Barbadians are fighting to escape the clutches of intergenerational poverty. Young men and women are doing their best to cope with the vagaries of underemployment, and the exploitation that has become commonplace in badly skewed power relations. Low and middle-income families are trying to adapt to lifestyles which negate the terrible effects of non-communicable diseases. Yet, these same people are forced to live through depressed earning capacities and lesser disposable incomes, while being kept at the periphery of tertiary education. Bright young minds hang on through bursary but they simply cannot keep abreast of the inflationary DLP policies that pushed the prices of food, medicines, and daily maintenance through the ceiling.
Shamelessly, DLP Ministers and the parliamentary group continue to shout down those who disagree with their antics or are critical of their long lists of shortcomings. Just recently, Minister of Social Care, Steve Blackett instead of utilizing his energy to address hunger, homelessness, and joblessness which are all affecting his constituents and thousands of Barbadians throughout the urban corridor, preferred to pitch his tent on the party mound. Blackett accompanied by several DLP surrogates, mocked the reality that is suffocating the masses. Blackett carried his charade ‘into the constituency to distribute the FACTS’ according to the DLP’s propaganda team. Boasting that the DLP has a ‘stellar record’, the Minister has had little or nothing to show that has improved the lot for the aged, the poor, hurting parents or the many childless women who lack anyone to come to their welfare assistance. DLP supporters are themselves finding it difficult to remain silent on public policies that have brought about more pain than gain for Barbadians under the Stuart-Sinckler combination.
In another display of castigation from the DLP, it was Senator Jeptor Ince’s turn to demonstrate the type of behaviour that can occur when ignorance conflicts with haughtiness. Ince, insulted the private sector in Barbados when he short-sightedly ranted that the sector is “an extension of the public service and a parasitic plant in the bosom of Government.” Senator Ince made no apology or even worthy qualification, although he felt it necessary to say that entities comprising the local private sector “have no grounds for complaining.” Ince implied that the private sector and Barbadians in general should simplistically accept whatever is offered by the Minister of Finance and the DLP Government. If Ince’s remarks were signs of a pyrrhic victory, then it is more worrisome that Barbadians are fed-up with the current socio-economic situation about to be unleashed in Barbados after July 1st.
Indeed, things are becoming harder and unbearable under the austere vice-grip of Finance Minister Sinckler. The DLP’s severe strangulation and/or reduction in the provision of social services to the citizens and residents are alarming. The seemingly uncaring or badly incompetent DLP government continues to make a deplorable mess in public transport, on top of the deficiencies seen in sanitation, education, healthcare, and other needed services. Even with the heavily subsidized public transportation system, bus-shortages and inadequate designation of routes, are like daily slaps in the faces of the poor masses who depend on public transportation for maintaining their livelihoods. Who can forget the moving and deceptive DLP advertisement in the lead up to the last general elections? It ultimately floored Arthur and a realistic approach to discussing privatization and people empowerment.
The DLP must realise that the adequate provision of basic social services is an input into aggregate economic activity and national productivity. Prime Minister Stuart is Barbados’ National Productivity Champion for 2017. It was Stuart that asserted productivity is “the pivot on which the entire society spins,” and consequentially, Barbadians young and old, will struggle daily to stave off the punitive and counter-productive measures of Finance Minister Sinckler. Doubtlessly, conceit, vanity, and failure have become synonymous with the post-2008 DLP Cabinets. The DLP’s dodge ought to bring its demise in the next general elections.
(Dr George C. Brathwaite is a political consultant. Email: brathwaitegc@gmail.com)
DLP government is incompetent.
The private sector business people are parasitic, they drain the taxpayer’s treasury with their bogus contracts and drain the NIS pension fund with their fraudulent business loans from government ministers from both political parties.
George,
I have a lot of admiration for you, but sometimes I think your love of the BLP over-shadows your judgement. The Arthur government reduced unemployment, which is good for the individual households, but how many of those jobs were in the public sector? In other words, how many were camouflaged welfare?
Arthur the most adept minister of finance, apart from the non-economic assessment, you are basing this assessment from a very limited talent pool.
You at e also subscribing to the myth of Barbados being a developed nation. Ask yourself why is South Korea still not regarded as a developed nation, or moreso China, the second most powerful economy in the world yet is considered under-developed. Little New Zealand and Canada, a waste of space, are both considered developed.
George, for 50 years Barbados has under-performed regional and global growth trends, and has depended on debt as the lever of ‘growth’.
What are the great structural improvements that Arthur made during his 14 years as prime minister and minister of finance? Name one, for convenience. The DLP inherited a terrible economy from Arthur, but sadly they went on to make it even worse. I blame Stuart and Chris Sinckler, neither of whom should be in their current positions.
The one gift that intelligent and highly educated Barbadians can give to the nation is to be clear in their vision of progress and speak truth unto power. It may not make you popular, but then again you are not interested in being in a beauty contest.
George I will give one final example of the gross incompetence that governs our administrative, political and business classes.
The prime minister asked the so-called Social Partnership to look at the fiscal deficit. They set up a working arty made up of eight people, four of whom were senior civil servants, three of whom worked under Mr Sinckler. The non-public sector members were largely just making up the numbers, apart from an irrelevant representative of a Canadian bank.
But when they reported the minister ignored the report. Yet, hardly any comment from our Opposition politicians, press or social media forums.
What kind of nation are we? We do not even know how to debate.
@Hal
Solid critique and questions asked. OSA feed the conspicuous consumption model given greater life during a world economic boom.
With all of these allegations swirling around MIA AMOR MOTTLEY it is PURE YARD FOWL LOYALTY which is propelling you all to pretend to be backing MIA AMOR MOTTLEY people out side of the BLP and more importantly people within the BLP have various issues with her .
The Bajan public cant get her to produce her Law Certificate and LLB, the Bajan public don’t want a gender confuse person to become a PM of Barbados , they are afraid of being made the laughing stock of the Caribbean.
Within the BLP Senior members question her suitability to be Leasder of the BLP. They want answers for missing Barbados Labour Party funds, They accuse her of aiding Irene Sandiford-Garner in the 2013 elections, they accuse her of working against Dale Marshall in St. Joseph during the 2013 elections, they accuse her of Criminal activity. Bottom line no one at a high level in the Barbados Labour party is comfortable with Mottley.
And on and on it goes but jokers like you want Bajans to stupidly vote for the BLP.
“”Hinkson’s affidavit is a response to a lawsuit for defamation brought by Payne against him on April 25. Hinkson, an attorney-at-law, also stated that Payne accused Mottley of assisting the DLP in their campaign against St. Joseph MP Dale Marshall. The document indicated Mottley vehemently denied Payne’s accusations.
Hinkson also charged that at the meeting Payne accused Mottley of stealing party funds.
“During the meeting personal insults were traded between many of those present. The claimant [Payne], himself, accused Ms. Mottley, who is herself a long standing member of Parliament, a Queen’s Counsel, former Leader of the Opposition and the main contender for re-election as Leader of the Opposition, of criminal conduct.””
BARBADOS TODAY
June 19, 2013
George
These issues are not going to go away.
Thanks, David. Two years ago I asked a prominent Barbadian to get ten people together, including the two of us, to write 10000 essays on what Barbadian independence meant to us. I was going to pay for the publication. Nothing.
In any other self-respecting nation there would have been lots of work on our 50th independence; all that I have been aware of was some work done at the UWI on Barbados and Guyana independence. Not what I had in mind. Our media, especially TV, did nothing to show Barbados 50 years ago, and Barbados now. It is still not too late.
Excellent ‘camouflaged welfare’ comment Hal, I have typed the same dozens of times here. National income being pissed away to employ people who were otherwise unemployable.
What Arthur didn’t anticipate is that the ‘hoe leaners’ on the side of the road and other unemployables would eventually be promoted through the civil service system to senior positions. Those are the people who only know laziness, poor time-keeping, inefficiency and teefin’. Those are the ones now holding the rest of us back.
Stinkliar, through his most recent budget measures, has sacrificed 20% of current tax-payers and NIS-contributors just to keep those people employed until the next election. The 20% increase in costs will result in business closures, staff layoffs and increased black-market business.
No gov’t of this country for the past 30 years has been interested in civil service and statutory corporation productivity. It’s all about keeping the hamsters on the wheel.
@ WW&C
You are not being entirely fair to the “private business people.”
On what basis have you described the private sector as being “parasitic” when they do not formulate business contracts with government entities unless such contracts are facilitated, processed and approved by politicians and (partisan) government officials?
10000-word essays.
@ Dr. George Bra(i)thwaite:
“Former Prime Minister Owen Arthur and the Barbados Labour Party (BLP) performed sufficiently impressive to put Barbados as the number one developing country in the world by the end of 2007.”
George, you ought not to mislead readers of your column, albeit inadvertently.
Barbados was classified as the No. 1 “developing country” as far back as the early 1990’s; placing at No.20 on the United Nations Human Development (UNHD) Index; just after Israel at No.19.
Under the Owen Arthur and the subsequent DLP administration Barbados has dropped significantly from that ‘coveted’ pedestal and now finds itself languishing somewhere in the 50 to 60 range on the same UNHD Index; far below Singapore which was far below Barbados in the 1990’s but which is now in the top ten.
Barbados will never become a ‘developed’ country in any ‘sense’ of that word as long as the level of social and workplace indiscipline and disregard for the rule of law prevail as the cultural norm.
” It took three years and an intervention by former Prime Minister Owen Arthur to get Port St Charles passed, ”
Prime Minister Owen Arthur was good at intervening.
George,
You need to reread your contribution, re-edit; paying special attention to sentence construction. You also need to check your facts, and understand some of the very claims and postures presented by the parties. Your bias is too blatant and needs to be assessed in the light of reality. For instance you say: “…For example, the provision of basic services under the DLP regime, such as providing clean water and proper sanitation, has been acutely problematic and prolonged.”
Is this factual? All water supplied through the system to households Is “clean, pure, tested and certified as such. By “proper sanitation” are you speaking specifically about “garbage collection” or are you speaking of household individual practices of garbage disposal?
Throughout your essay there are examples of distortions and confusion in your statements.
I think you need to re read your essays before submission.Did you reread this excerpt? “…During this DLP sojourn, Barbados has not become a failed state; nor has every implemented measure of social or democratic development showed regress. ”
Is this correct?
@ Hants, Yes OA also intervened to give the Crane Resort permission to be what it is today in terms of the building structure and development of the surrounding areas. Is it a good thing? If it was, then FS intervention in Hyatt would be praised then too wouldnt it?
Hants June 20, 2017 at 9:55 AM #
” It took three years and an intervention by former Prime Minister Owen Arthur to get Port St Charles passed, ”
Prime Minister Owen Arthur was good at intervening.
In the business world it is called micro-managing. In Bim it is called overseeing, usually by a man on a horse with a whip.
None of which is any member of the DLP gov’t capable.
How the business community feared those 3AM calls. One senses they don’t give two crapauds about Stuart.
FB did you ever receive a 3AM call?
Art…..if I dont answer you right away it’s because I am on some burning hot blogs.
I am not here to be fair to parasites.
We know who the parasites are…
The parasites know who they are….
Copied from an earlier post…
When will Cow and his 4 Seasons business partners pay back the 120 million dollars of NIS pension fund money they got with the help of Mia and this present government….a dead project.
https://www.barbadostoday.bb/2017/06/19/out-of-order-4/
When will Cow give back the hundreds of millions he borrowed from the same pension fund with the help of government ministers.
The money is not his or the ministers and parasites should not be allowed to borrow from taxpayers money or the pension fund to conduc their private businesses….that is what local, regional and international banks are for. ..borrowing for private business.
Apparently Cow believes he is entitled to the local population’s money while his interests are outside of Barbados.
And what do the trade unions say about all of this when there is always some controversy surrounding the likes of Cow who treat his black employees like slaves and expect to be rewarded their tax dollars and pension fund money to keep his businesses going in return.
The majority black population cannot be that docile, the greedy politicians yes, but time for the unions to protest the 6 or 7 minority parasites sense of entitlement to the people’s money,
@ David
After reading the “Action Plan to Reduce the Fiscal Deficit,” I was convinced the members of the “Committee of the Social Partnership to Address the Fiscal Deficit” copied and pasted from BU, because the below issues, for example, have been thoroughly debated/discussed in this forum on numerous occasions.
• Despite Government’s efforts, the debt has reached an unsustainable level – primary expenses continue to exceed revenue after adjustments for non-recurring items; interest expense is steadily rising
• Waning investor confidence and delays in project execution have curtailed foreign direct investment, and the persistent large deficit has reduced sovereign credit worthiness, which has restricted government’s ability to refinance external debt at attractive rates; consequently, government has repaid external debt with reserves
• Without a boost in FX reserves, near term foreign debt repayment will deplete reserves and government will not be able to meet its medium-term foreign debt obligations
• To accelerate economic growth, increase FX earnings and reduce FX consumption, Barbados needs to improve competitiveness and the ease of doing business – focus on labour market reform, speed of service delivery and reduction of electricity costs through acceleration of renewable energy adoption; efforts here are projected to yield the additional $150 million by 2019/20
However, what is amazing is government sanctioned this Committee to formulate a report about the fiscal deficit, asked the private sector and special interest groups to participate in discussions and offer the necessary recommendations to be included the Budget.
Yet I read in today’s Daily Nation newspaper that the “Minister of Finance Chris Sinckler will meet with a number of organizations over the next two days to discuss concerns relating to the recently announced budgetary proposals.”
And these organizations include the same special interest groups government consulted with prior to the budget.
This clearly illustrates that Sinckler et al completely rejected whatever recommendations these organizations presented, especially against the background of this inept DLP administration continually asking for “solutions.”
@ Alvin Cummins June 20, 2017 at 9:58 AM
“George,
You need to reread your contribution, re-edit; paying special attention to sentence construction. You also need to check your facts, and understand some of the very claims and postures presented by the parties. Your bias is too blatant and needs to be assessed in the light of reality. For instance you say: “…For example, the provision of basic services under the DLP regime, such as providing clean water and proper sanitation, has been acutely problematic and prolonged”
Alvin what is so ‘false’ about that statement? What it needs is reinforcement by providing or citing hard-hitting examples for lucid illustration.
Haven’t these same public health infrastructure been put severe stress and deterioration over the last 8 years? Don’t you think that the factual evidence for the statement can be established by the following acts of the present administration:
By decimating the Drainage Unit and allowing rural Barbados and Bridgetown to be turned into a bush wasteland and a rat-infested ghetto.
Through a failure to find an acceptable and workable alternative to Cahill or Greenland despite the much lied about capabilities of the Cahill scam to be the game changer for making Barbados the greenest economy with the cleanest environment in the world.
A shamefully unsympathetic display of arrant disrespect by the authorities for the people of St. Joseph and other areas who had to endure excessive hardships during their time of water shortages.
By way of a blatant refusal to undertake a planned programme of preventative maintenance for the South Coast and Bridgetown Sewage projects along with an undue delay in starting the West Coast Sewage project thereby putting at serious risks the only industry keeping the economy alive while keeping a 50th birthday expensive bash to honour the devil on the Garrison and according to Bush Tea, opening the gates of hell by burying the pitchfork right where the country’s navel string of Independence was buried.
@ Alvin Cummins
You have absolutely no authority to direct me as to what I should or should not do. If you do not agree with my sentiments, you are free to be critical and present your counter-claims.
The one thing that I am certain that I must do above everything else is to help rescue Barbados from what is clearly the worst government ever in the history of Barbados. On that you can also add it is arguably the most corrupt administration and definitely the most insulting and incompetent.
So do not worry about your perceived fictions of sentence construction; instead, make contributions that would help reveal the atrocious manner in which this DLP under Freundel Stuart has governed.
I look forward to reading a regular contribution from you that speaks to the ills that Barbadians are feeling under the burdensome weight of this useless DLP government. Thanks and do have a great day.
George
Looks like you crawl back under your bed to hide.
Questions being asked, comments being made and nary a word from you to defend the drivel which you have written here as a column.
Deathly silence from George. Cant even defend your own article? Am I to take it that there is so much rubbish in it?
David June 20, 2017 at 10:25 AM #
How the business community feared those 3AM calls. One senses they don’t give two crapauds about Stuart.
FB did you ever receive a 3AM call?
I’ve been solicited for bribes several times by representatives of our current gov’t, never by anyone from the previous gov’t or the judiciary.
All in the form of professional and legal fees which are completely legal. If Thompson had paid the VAT on Paris’ stolen CLICO money he would have been above reproach.
The vast majority of the private sector doesn’t ‘pay to play’. One of the biggest problems with the current gov’t is their brazen approach to facilitation extortion. It is openly discussed among foreign business people who have mostly fled.
If Mia was serious about hunting down the teefs she would be worthy of National Hero status. I somehow doubt here sincerity.
@ Alvin Cummins
Regarding water, you did not hear and certainly did not feel the plight of Barbadians living in the central, eastern, and northern parishes. You would likely prefer to forget about the discoloured water that flowed from pipes during the so-called drought period when it was obviously not a case of mud being in the water.
On sanitation: Where were you when many communities and streets across Barbados had piles of garbage for weeks on end without any garbage collection to the point that residents were complaining of unsanitary conditions, increases in the rat population, and being fearful of the potential dangers of mosquito and other pest borne diseases. What about the South coast and parts of Bridgetown when sewage was seeping onto roadways and the beaches.
Now I did not make up these things, they happened. Rather than being a poor judge of use of English, maybe you can become a truthful critic of this shameful and terrible government under Freundel Stuart. The Father of Independence and National Hero of Barbados must be weeping wherever he is. Go in peace and deal with righting the wrongs clearly demonstrated by this Stuart-led Cabinet. As Sandi asked, ‘how did we get here?
George
Answer some questions about gender confused Mia.
Has the BLP recovered any of their missing funds as yet?
@ Frustrated Businessman: enact Facilitation Martial Law! June 20, 2017 at 11:04 AM
“If Mia was serious about hunting down the teefs she would be worthy of National Hero status. I somehow doubt here sincerity.”
The wrath of God would descend on her should she fail to live up to her promises of exposing at least some, if not all, of the many cases of blatant corruption allegedly undertaken by certain members of the current ruling administration.
If she refuses to even expose, we will have to go along with Carrion Cadogan and see her as a fraud should she renege on her commitment to put the likes of Denis the menace Lowedown where he truly belongs; behind bars to put to relevance his PhD by teaching the rules of morality and the health risks associated with same sex activities.
We will see if one of her first tasks of economic recovery is not to collect those large outstanding tax debts on those very shady transactions involving those very close and even bosom buddies of the primate into Parris.
@ David
Hal’s counterclaims are debatable and interesting, but not facts. I see other worthwhile criticisms and agreement. However, please do not allow Carson C. Cadogan to do exactly what I suggested has become a DLP norm of distortion, distraction, and debasement. His statement are by far too moral and upright for me to give an appropriate response here.
@George
Disagree with you, a critique of OSA is a worthy discussion to have.
Regarding Cadogan ignore the idiot.
Should have been statement(s) plural for Alvin’s eyes.
On Friday June 10 in the early morning, I visited the Licensing Department in the Pine and was told “THE SYSTEM DOWN” – Can I go to Roebuck Street? No! Can I go to the Treasury Building? No! Sir, the entire system down and we ain’t know when it will be back up. Everything is at a standstill. Had to wait on Monday June 12. This morning around 9 a.m, I arrived at Licensing Department in the Pine and was again met with “THE SYSTEM DOWN”.
We the taxpayers of this country whose hard earn dollars are spent/waste should be informed why this system keep malfunctioning. Was this system put out to tenders? What is the track record of the supplier for these computer system? Was the tendering system used and the best chosen? This in unacceptable.
Alvin…ya hear it’s only jerks question grammar and sentence structure.
@ David
You misunderstood me. I said that although I did not agree with Hal’s counterclaims, I still think the points are interesting. Not facts there, but claims that can be debated. I am all for the discussion (time permitting since a funeral calls). So yes, a worthy discussion. Please note that I suggested the same in the article when I phrased it “arguably, the most adept Minister of Finance in post-independence Barbados”. And yes, CCC is to be ignored, for his sake.
Hal Austin June 20, 2017 at 7:46 AM #
Excellent post and on point
Miller
The wrath of God would descend on her should she fail to live up to her promises of exposing at least some, if not all, of the many cases of blatant corruption allegedly undertaken by certain members of the current ruling administration.
…………………………………………………………………………………………………..
Good exhortation.
@Vincent
Why is Sinckler meeting with the BPSA after he delivered the budget?
George,
This is what Cass Sunstein calls cognitive infiltration. I asked for a single major structural project undertaken by the Arthur government in 14 years. Also give me one year in the last 50 when the Barbados economy out-performed the regional and global economies.
David
Good question….. possibly he is about to change his mind…….it could be pure optics……..if he intended to change anything,why meet with them……..I am depending on the Unions not to be taken in with their meeting but shut down the country.
Vincent Haynes June 20, 2017 at 12:57 PM #
David
Good question….. possibly he is about to change his mind…….it could be pure optics……..if he intended to change anything,why meet with them……..I am depending on the Unions not to be taken in with their meeting but shut down the country.
That is our best hope.
It takes much less energy to keep a train or oil tanker moving than it does to get it going. It is the same with an economy. BDS cannot bear one month of Stinkliar’s ridiculous new economic recklessness. We need new receptive, co-operative economic management of this country RIGHT NOW. The only chance we have of that is early elections.
Why is Sinckler still finance minister? Why is Stuart still prime minister? Why is the DLP still the government? Answer: docility of Bajans.
We are all on the same page…..shut down or be for ever damned for letting your country down in its hour of need.
Vincent Haynes June 20, 2017 at 1:32 PM #
We are all on the same page…..shut down or be for ever damned for letting your country down in its hour of need.
And here is the conflict: Stinkliar has sacrificed the rest of us to save civil service jobs in the short term, at least until the next election. He plans to continue the piss-poor management of this country’s economy regardless of consequences, and without intervention from the rest of his useless cabinet (have no doubt it is his cabinet, not Stuart’s). In the short-term, the NUPW should support him. In the long-term, their fate will be sealed with the rest of us.
The BWU would have to know that these latest measures will result in job losses, they should be leading. But it seems there has been a power swing after the last 30 years of BWU leadership to the NUPW, entirely due to the individual at the helm.
Regardless of which one takes action, I am quite sure the Private Sector would support either or both in a call for immediate elections.
The definition of madness has been stated as ‘repetition of the an action in expectation of a different outcome’. By that definition, Sinkler is a raving lunatic.
GeorgeJune 20, 2017 at 11:40 AM
Very little if anything you wrote today makes any sense.
You are trying manfullly to DISTRACT the Bajan voter with what you consider as important. Not that what you wrote is.
You are trying to fool all and sundry that they ought to give your political Party a chance to get their grubby hands back into our Treasury again.
However both you and DAVID are very afraid that if the Bajan voter and potential voter is reminded or alerted for the first time of the crookedness of the Barbados Labour Party that very important information will further reduce the slim chance of the Barbados Labour Party being elected to Parliament in numbers sufficient to form a Govt. anytime soon.
Therefore TRUTHFUL information is to be rendered by you as Distraction. For example, the theft of Barbados Labour Party funds from the Leader of the Opposition’s office as revealed by your name sake George and Owen, , the fear a majority of Bajans have with the very thought of a Lesbian being made PM, Criminal activity within the Barbados Labour Party as spoken by George, not this George, the other George, Hinkson saying that George represented St. Andrew for what appears to be forever with the people living there having little to show for it, a call by a member of the opposition for another member of the opposition to be in prison, I mean how on Earth can all of this be ignored by the Bajan voting public?
This is the same dishonest, party which George and DAVID wants us to smile on with favour. They cant get along with each other, they have sticky fingers, they don’t have the qualifications which they fooled the public that they have, but we must ignore all of that and just vote for them.
I think not.
@ Hal AustinJune 20, 2017 at 1:19 PM
“Why is Sinckler still finance minister? Why is Stuart still prime minister? Why is the DLP still the government? Answer: docility of Bajans.”
Never believed I would live to see the day when Hal would come in from the cold and see the reality of what makes up the current political landscape of his beloved country of birth and early acculturation.
A country which was once properly managed by men and women of class; even if of lesser educational or academic achievement but clearly endowed with the political spirit of working in the interest of national development by raising the chances of the ordinary man to become an asset for the national good.
Now Hal, given your new eyes, do you understand why the likes of Greenverbs Parris can do the illegal crap and get away with it because of his ‘intimate’ association with the same morally bankrupt intellectually conflicted persons whom you so exemplarily referred to?
Such blatant acts of violation of the law would attract the moral principle of justice to ensure the likes of Greenverbs are given their just deserts in more ‘sophisticated’ jurisdictions (like your adopted home Big England) where the rule of law is observed certainly in its application and very rarely in its breach as currently prevails in Little England.
@Miller
You have taken note the MoF has agreed to walk back from a few of the budget proposals after meeting with the BPSA today? What is happening?
@David at 6 :13 PM
Somebody did not do the maths and guess the answers most of which were wrong.
@Bernard
A MoF not able to make the numbers add up? Surely it brings the issue of holding said MoF accountable?
This minister of finance really needs to be honest with himself and finally admit that he is in way over his head and that he just cannot manage the job. Every thing he has tried to do with this economy since 2010 has failed spectacularly.
We had medium term fiscal strategy……then a revised fiscal strategy and then a revisal ofthe revised one. We had so many home grown fiscal strategies that I wonder if this last budget ushered in the final one. LOL!
He is a total failure.
After the cabinet turned down OSA to head the National Economic Council, the PM decided to appoint his version of two eminent persons committees. They reported back to the PM. As expected, he in his arrogance decidedly put the reports in file 13.
The incompetent Stinkliar went ahead and presented a tax killing budget. He has now realised that the measures are problematic and there is a high possibility that he will not collect the majority of the taxes he imposed. The “brilliant” idiot that he is decided to have a meeting today with the same private sector whose advice they discarded.
What brilliance! ………….and as per usual, he will go back to his cabinet to see what changes can be made……..after all the banks have told him …….we are not a tax collecting agency. We done know that if the banks have to collect that 2% …….1% will be the banks’ portion……..there goes Stinkliar’s money to close the deficit…………
We are doomed!
Let us put this matter it its proper perspective. This last budget was one of the most (eagerly) looked forwarded to given the protracted and dire state of the Barbados economy. Now we have what transpired today at Government House. A head (s) needs to roll but we know that it wont, a general election looms. What is the role of the Director of Finance here?
Note the MoF said the real budget is coming in October after the reviews have been done.
Should there be two Budgets attached to one Estimate of Revenue and Expenditure?
“You have taken note the MoF has agreed to walk back from a few of the budget proposals after meeting with the BPSA today? What is happening?”
@ David
I made a contribution to this topic and I’m not seeing it.
It is amazing that the same BLP propaganda can be written every single week. This article needs to be on a BLP blog.
@ Hal
Hate to tell you my brother but you are beating a dead horse-a very dead horse.
@ David
We need to critically analyse Sinkler’s home grown policies. Quite frankly they are more in keeping with the need to avoid the clutches of the IMF and other organisations that have done nothing but ruin small island economies. This is a move in the right direction however ill conceived it may seem.
I am starting to think that Tom Adams, Errol Barrow or Owen Arthur could have presented the same budget and get a better response.
As always let me say i am not defending or praising the BLPDLP.
George Brathwaite
The only bone of contention I have with your article is the large paintbrush you used to produce your oil facts about successes under the BLP. The mere fact that you ignored the contribution by the BLP that has led to Barbados debt crisis, and the fact that under them they were many controversies that point to possible corruption as well, means that you are not willing to be balanced in your views. The BLP are not perfect, the BLP are not honest, the BLP did their share of shite that must not be ignored or dismissed. If the BLP are the better party under Mia Mottley then tell Mia Mottley to address the issues in years of Auditor General reports with the intention that her BLP government will implement the necessary pieces of legislation to address corruption, accountability issues, transparency issues, and freedom of information issues. If she is serious, she will see the need to increase the powers of the Auditor General so that lawless politicians cannot have a freeway to do some of the shites that they have done over the years. Other than that, your assessment of these idiots in the DLP is correct.
William Skinner from observing your contributions on these blogs you are still very much a DLP supporter because for you to state about BLp propaganda every week and this should be on aBLP blog clearly shows where your loyalty lies.Theere is no disputing most of what George has said.To add insult you mentioned if Tom Adams, Errol Barrow or Owen Arthur had offered the same proposals they would be accepted.First and foremost none of those would have offered anything of the kind because Barbbados would not be in this position to start with ,so to mention those three brilliant economist in the same breath as Mr Sinckler is unbeivable and you should know better so reel and come again,Mr Skinner,chalk and cheese.
Prodigal Son
I see that you are now using your LORENZO handle on BU as well as on Barbados Today.
You have now gone from, PRODOGAL SON to LORENZA to LORENZO.
I wonder why.
Let this sink in
The Bajan voter will not buy into the crooked Barbados Labour Party.
There is too much SLEEZE in that party.
VACATION in sunny Barbados. Enjoy your visit,drink some BAJAN rum and get a tan.
A TEAM FROM the Washington-based International Monetary Fund (IMF) is in Barbados.
http://www.nationnews.com/nationnews/news/97966/imf-town#sthash.6zoVEA9p.dpuf
@ Lorenzo
I expected a response such as that. Just read George’s last three columns and the contribution of Sunshine Sunny Shine . I am not in the business of putting Barbados last in the interest of theBLPDLP. I said we need to “critically” analyse the budget. I am totally against going to the IMF or any agency that walk into my country and pronounce what is often their wrong analysis and not the remedy.
Please tell me how any country with over 20 downgrades can still be open for business.
Arthur chased the IMF out of his office; Worrell former Govenor of our Central Bank once dismissed them (I still condsider Worrell an honest person) On this very blog, Pachamama has repeatedly argued that we are on the wrong path for decades. Hal Austin has offered progressive policy ideas.
My dear Lorenzo, you may have considerable difficulty seeing beyond George and Roebuck Streets and for that you have my eternal sympathy.
@William
You are aware the austerity measures the MoF continues to roll out are as harsh as the IMF would have been read cheap forex WITHOUT the balance of payment support? Despite the 6 year dose of bitter policy prescription mounting debt service continues to be the issue given our inability to generate forex. Bear in mind the low reserves will never fuel investor confidence which is required for foreign direct investment to flow. Tourism revenue cannot pay the bill Barbados on its own.
The fact is that under both administrations there have been (and will continue to be) huge overspends and flagrant abuses of public funds.
In the left corner, or right corner, as the blogger Sunshine Sunny Shine has pointed out, both remind us of the comment “he who is without sin let him cast the first stone”
What however remains the main issue is this.
Neither the Barbados Labour Party, nor the Democratic Labour Party, has ever been able to actively proactively pursue any policies/programs or initiatives that promote true economic growth.
The economy in brief is as follows.
We have 300K citizens for whom there are a number of governmental services that MUST BE deployed to keep the country running all of which cost x dollars, every single year.
We also have a number of additional services and projects that also have costs, some of which are critical to the lifeblood of our country e.g. water supply, health, etc but which find themselves “appended by the incoming minister building a leaking palace for staff to survey the highway OR a prison replacement, or some would add the Edutech project, with its ambitious infrastructural and ICT components that costed 1/2 billion dollars.
Bringing the sea to the Valley in St. George is no less as ridiculous than the well documented proposed “artificial Island off Barbados” and idea that i am told Mia Mottley, imminently set to become the next prime minister of Barbados, is purported to have once proposed.
We bajans, need to accept the fact that, few of these 5 year politicians have the vision to (i) either propose or (ii) support a strategic and meaningful growth pathways.
Which of the names the author wrote above in his list of “devoted servants” as he called them can point to any real activity that expanded our economy? Name one?
Did the Toppin regime lead to any empowerment of the masses under his telecommunications potfolio? Your phone is working @ today? can any of you put LIME/FLOW/SLIME in court and get your matter heard for $100,000 that you are owed for 14 years? Who is Prescod? what was his contribution to the growth of the economy of Barbados? He mentions Kerrie Simmons, is that the same person whom the police caught with an expired road tax a few years ago? certainly not for that would mean that this, byhis estimation is soon to be an Honourable MP in the house of assembly.
We are and continue to confuse being the manager of a department, while one was in power, with being a proficient steward WHICH IS WHAT GROWTH IS BASED ON!
Did the BLP proactively empower Sam Headley’s (now deceased) alternative/renewable energy initiative or has the DLP empowered his protege Mr. Hinds (now at the Ministry of Energy allegedly pushing pens)? And what of the many other sons of the soil e.g. Dr. R Clarke?
Do we see that empowrment manifest anywhere, in programmes that proactively seek to replace our 1/2 billion/year dependence on foddil fuel imports?
Sam, William and Clarke were/are seen as dreamers, at best, and “enemies of the state at worst” by most of these “5 year drifters” whose short self serving sojourns manifest themselves in 5 years of cancerous nepotism at best and, well one needs not say what they are, at worst, exemplified by where we are @ today.
The Black Bajan who is now on the front pages of Forbes etc HAS TO forge ahead in external climes BECAUSE
(a.) what he/she “sees” as the new Facebook, cannot be understood by his bajan peers
(b.) cannot be facilitated by Barbados, its ministry, nor its ministers, NOT BECAUSE the resources are not here to do it, but because
(c.) a minister (or prime minister in waiting?) wants a kick back or
(d.) the supporting “gatekeepers” simply are bereft of the skills to move a commensurate process forward. Bless their souls.
Before the remonstrations/castigations come against this fast fading body, I will place this “live praacticum” on the table for your active consideration.
I am a (prolific) inventor and innovator.
I currently have a solution that will serve any, and all, Small Island Developing States, anywhere in the world, as a solution for the devastation caused by hurricanes (winds 100%, rain ** (not flooding NOR land slippage – YET but working on those).
For the nest few minutes I will carry you through the issues of alternatives to our monoeconomic model to underscore the paucity of this article in the context of where we a a country HAVE FAIL AND WILL CONTINUE TO FAIL TO GO under both administrations.
I am going to share with you the exact issues that you will encounter with any product that would proactively diversify our economy be it this specific thing or other similar initiatives that abound about Barbados.
(a) “What he/she is saying DOES NOT EXIST ANYWHERE IN THE WORLD @ today!” “Therefore what he/she is saying is a lie”. Theirs is the concerted opinion that “if there were a solution IT WOULD NOT COME FROM BARBADOS because Barbados does not have that sort of skill!”
(b) I forgot to mention “What is his colour?” Because, “only non blacks can have these ideas. As self depreciating as that may seem to you the fact is that we have an endemic, genetically inbuilt?, legacy in our “negropean psyches” which does not believe in anything that is black. Thank you Well Well and Consequences for that word negropean rather your recall of the quote)
(e) And before I forgot to mention that coup de grace “Who he? What is his pedigree? who he father is, and he muddah, where he come from?”
Now once these first wave issues and experiences have been shared with you, you should get an appreciation of what occurs every single time that a son or daughter of the soil seek to share their “equivalent of facebook”.
What I hope starts to be clear to you is the fact that Barbados IS SIMPLY, NOT AN ENABLING ENVIRONMENT FOR THE DIVERSIFICATION OF OUR ECONOMY @ 2017!
We talk pretty, and people like Donville Inniss, and his predecessor, Toppin, mean well but neither the two of them NOR those who will come after them understand what is required of them in their role as facilitators are unfortunately remain at a loss as to how to facilitate such a paradigm shift.
Some of you will start to understand the “first tier of issues” that the diversification of our economy through the proactive support of indigenous innovation will encounter.
I have stated what others who are afraid of consequences, are afraid to state, but which I as”worms’ meat” have no fear of.
The realities of what besieges indigenous ideas will now put George Brathwaite’s writings which belabour the DLP, while praising the BLP, in its correct perspective.
He has missed, and continues to miss, the central issue to these submissions about our why we the electorate need to make good choices with regard to those we elect which is “how do we effect real change for our country” and not “how do we PRETEND TO CHANGE our country through a superficial change in the occupants in Parliament?”
Nowhere in Dr. Brathwaite’s thesis does he even broach the topic of “the dearth of an enabling environment for self-actuation and the type of growth that our economy requires, and has lacked, UNDER BOTH ADMINISTRATIONS.
I will continue to expand on the realities of submitting alternatives and “real alternatives for economic growth” in our stagnant intellectual landscape, and what our needs are and not this “imagined panacea” under the BLP that the writer touts will be our salvation with the coming of the Barbados Labour Party.
The third tier of encounter that any innovator is subjected to lies in that question “How does it work?”
Now anywher else, this question is accepted as a normal question to be asked of any (disruptive) technology but, in the context of Barbados, 99% of innovators and inventors will tll you it is not asked from a scholarly/academic perspective.
It is not to “familiarize the listener as to the efficacy of the concept” but, unfortunately, given the pandemic nature and disposition of the minister, or ministry official etc, the question is posed as a “precursor probe”
You first become aware by the question that your submission is not seen as a “public sector/private sector collaboration”, but as something the official (i) first tries to extract the secret sauce from you for personal gain via his friends or a company that he operates via a proxy and which is followed overtly, as my affidavit states, or succinctly by a question of “what is in it for he/she?”
Now consider this.
What is the potential worth of a hurricane mitigation mechanism, or any such innovation from any other Bajan, sons and daughters now who hereby make it known, what is your idea worth to the country of Barbados?
How much money could a solution like this as a proactive diversification project, generate in foreign exchange for Barbados?
Suppose we had minister(s)/ministry officials were not predisposed to actively seek to personally benefit from a national initiative, and to get a cut on top of the $17,000 they “earn” a month?
Suppose they could be disposed to actively support collaborations with our (black) citizens, in meaningful cutting edge project, what do you think the outcome might produce for our country?
From an economic point of view, what would be the outcome of Barbados manufacturing a solution that decreased the “direct and indirect damages and economic losses caused by hurricanes to the Caribbean”?
How could such impact other SIDS in the Pacific, or hurricane prone states on the east coasts of the United States every single year?
What are the financial benefits when compared to the cost of the damage as a percentage of Gross Domestic Product (GDP)?
what would such an intervention mechanism mean to the economic growth of (a) tourist dependent country/countries ravaged annually by hurricanes or cyclones?
In the final analysis BOTH GOVERNMENTS HAVE LACKED THE CRITICAL VISION TO MOVE BARBADOS FORWARD.
Being adept at “talking pretty on budget day while shuffling up the stairs to parliament building, or shifting budgets lines from one ministry to another, while spending MORE than the previous administration, IS NOT ECONOMIC GROWTH.
Unless incoming administrations are first capable of, THEN willing to, incorporate more pertinent mechanisms to truly diversify our economy outside the one pony ship (now that sugar is dead), Barbados is doomed!
I do not know what those who are calling for the IMF intervention expect how an IMF program would help barbados emerge out of its debt . The reality there is no magic bullet. If the IMF had a magic bullet Jamaica after so many years of IMF programs would have emerged without having to undergo the degradation of many of his social programs.
As now this govt has to walk a tight rope one of controlling its debt problem and avoid at any cost barbados social enviroment being decimated
Any one who is familiar with IMF programs and their policies and impact on small nations social enviroment would take homegrown medicine over what proposals the IMF prescribed.
@ David who wrote ” Tourism revenue cannot pay the bill Barbados on is own.”
You stated the obvious which seems to elude politicians and some in the private sector.
Heard the head of the BWU rattling govt cage with demands the govt has bend over backwards by proposing new tax policies in the budget in avoidance of laying off public workers . However ut seems that is not enough
Then on the other side the private sector is some what using threatening language in as much stating openly that the new taxes would give reason or cause for laying off of employees
There comes a point when country interest must come first and barbados beyond any reasonable doubt has reached that point and all else be dam.
Yard-fowls never cease to amaze me.
Because the private sector has a problem with the new or increased taxes as announced by Sinckler in the recent budgetary proposals, they are deemed as being unpatriotic and putting self before country (this inept DLP administration’s characterization for those critical of their policies).
However, Sinckler said government will review some of the policies (which is basically an ADMISSION of INCOMPETENCE and they were WRONG), and the yard-fowls will respond by saying government has responded in the interest of Barbadians.
Sinckler is under pressure to review these policies. Everywhich way govt tries to find a balance some entity or group creeps out the woodwork and threatens.
No one wants to consider the country problems only their own
So what does govt do as always gives into to the cries of these crying babies making govt look like idiots
By now govt should realised that the bottom line being that those who are crying the loudest and hardest would never be happy come what may and stop allowing certain groups and entities to get in further escalating a debt problem
“………crying babies making govt look like idiots???????”
This inept DLP administration has been doing a fantastic job of making themselves “look like idiots.”
Case in point:
This administration usually calls together various private sector associations, social partnership and other special interest groups to participate in a general consultation and offer recommendations to be included the Budget.
Sinckler subsequently approached Owen Arthur to serve as Chief Economic Advisor to government, AFTER ANNOUNCING the DATE of the Budget. Even Arthur admitted this did not make any sense.
Arthur made the proposition public saying: “Yes, I can confirm that I have been approached by Mr. Sinckler [and] yes I can confirm that I told him that I would be willing to serve.”
Freundel Stuart responded by sanctioning a “Committee of the Social Partnership to Address the Fiscal Deficit,” who were to make recommendations to be presented to him two weeks AFTER the Budgetary Proposals were read in Parliament.
Now Sinckler is meeting with the same special interest groups government consulted with prior to the budget, to discuss concerns relating to the recently announced budgetary proposals.
What more proof do you need to admit these guys continually make themselves look like idiots?
But No. As if these contrarians job is to object and object and F.ck country debt problems.
@ angela Skeete June 21, 2017 at 10:58 AM
Angela, the evolved accredited cretin (ac), it seems your biggest fear is about to transform from a ghoulish nightmare to a daylight reality of a bogeyman.
The IMF like the big bad wolf has arrived at your doorstep and is ringing the bell.
The Big smelly bear Stinkliar peeped through the window and has prepared a welcoming meal in the form of his 2017 budget of austerity to suppress the Bajan appetite for the lavish imported consumer goods and big country services.
To find the foreign reserves to pay for the upcoming big ticket debt repayments only Uncle Scrooge of IMF Xmas yet to come can help out at this late stage in the multiple ‘downgrades’ game.
No large forex savings means no big lifestyle for lazy ass Bajans. Let the Jamaicans and Guyanese teach you lot a lesson on how to hustle to eek out a living.
I don’t understand what all the hullaballoo is about.
There is nothing for the Hon. Christopher Sinckler to review. The budget given time to work will correct many of the financial ills of Barbados.
The Hon. Christopher Sinckler dos not have to roll back anything unless he wants the country to suffer.
David June 21, 2017 at 9:09 AM #
You are aware the austerity measures the MoF continues to roll out are as harsh as the IMF would have been read cheap forex WITHOUT the balance of payment support?
………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………..
Well put…..except that there 9 months austerity programme is even harsher than the IMF’s offer over a 3 year period with debt repayment covered.
We put ourselves in this place over the last 50 years,despite 2 IMF interventions with one being reneged on.
William Skinners of this world have faith in the Sinklers of this world who over 8 years has repeated the same formula with worse effect…..even Ninja man or Gearbox would have stopped after 4 and 1 attempt respectively.
I believe it’s folly for us to assume the level of austerity from IMF supported economic policies without knowing details pertaining to the island’s economic circumstances and the type of financial arrangements government may enter with the IMF.
Also, it would not be fair to blame the IMF for the country’s pre-existing economic difficulties and expect the Fund’s policies to be immediately successful.
A friend of mine who works with the IMF said that he does not know what all the fuss is about. He says the IMF makes visits to countries, not only Barbados, all the time.
They do assessments, write progress papers etc..
Nothing new, nothing unusual.
everytime the IMf shows up u hear the same ole jobby talk from the blp doom and gloom operators
@ Carson C. Cadogan June 21, 2017 at 1:03 PM
“I don’t understand what all the hullaballoo is about. There is nothing for the Hon. Christopher Sinckler to review. The budget given time to work will correct many of the financial ills of Barbados. The Hon. Christopher Sinckler dos not have to roll back anything unless he wants the country to suffer.”
Hi Carrion, the carryon doggone yardfowl feeding from the cesspit of arrant stupidity, it seems as if you will have to eat, like a true vulture, those deadly rotten words of yours.
Your political Massa has just made a volte-face retreat from his pigheadedly arrogant position he took last week.
Not even General Custer would have been so obstreperous with such a supremely untenable position.
One can only guess that such a climb down would have been brought about only from an IMF whisper in that gorilla’s ears:
‘Christophe de Liar, you don’t have to go overboard to impress us, your master.
We are the friendly version of the IMF, reconfigured to assist you and not the big bad wolf of yesteryear to huff and puff to blow your already crumbling house down.’
“Prime Minister Freundel Stuart says the signs of a national economic recovery are there, Barbadians are feeling the benefits, and he is confident of his Democratic Labour Party (DLP) winning a third term in general elections constitutionally a year and a half away.
Addressing DLP supporters at a Father’s Day Luncheon at their George Street, Belleville, St Michael headquarters on Sunday, Stuart said for the past eight years that his party has held the reins of power, he and other officials had ignored detractors and focused on taking Barbados out of the economic recession.”
I hope you guys are watching CBC TV evening news.
THERE WILL BE NO CHANGES TO THIS YEARS’S BUDGET PROPOSALS.
The Right Hon. Christopher Sinckler
(I told you so)
Any one read the news media where the General Secretary of the Barbados Workers Union appear to be calling for RIOTS in Barbados?
glad MOF told that greedy bunch Country First
Now let s hear what the doom and gloom brigade has to say. after all the bull shit talk about govt backing down
George’
In response to my contribution you said:”…you are free to be critical …”
Isn’t that what I am? You acknowledge my right to be critical and I have been, so what’s your beef. I reread what I wrote, and what you wrote and I am correct in my assessment. Since before 2008 we have had our discussions, and no doubt we will continue over time, because we see things differently.
You guys want to get to heaven, or inherit heavenly gifts, but you have no intention of doing what is necessary; like making the necessary sacrifices, or dying, before you can reap the sweets. The Dems, in 1984 succumbed to the inability to accept the sacrifices necessary and threw out the DLP; reducing the Party to two seats. The sacrifices were made and the BLP inherited an economy on an upward growth path. This lasted for 14 years, but by the time they were thrown out the growth had reached and begun on a downward path. Once more the DLP have to give the country another dose of the Castor Oil, and after this purging stability will be obtained. Thus if you win the next election, the DLP would have made the country accept the sacrifices, and be once more on a growth path.
George I have every right to be critical of what you wrote, because the picture is the same.
Government is not a manufacturing company that makes products for export, or for sale, that they can sell overseas. It has a largePayroll, It has many branches and statutory corporations that depend on it for funding; it has many agencies that depend on transfer payments to meet their own payrolls. The major means of earning revenue is through taxes and tourism revenue. Import substitution should be mandatory, and this is where I criticize this government. They should ban certain imports, and make import substitution of others mandatory.
Enough for now.
Today the lil mangy mogrel Artax come nibbling at my heels but by afternoon Sinckler had thrown a big rock in he ugly face fuh me lol
bro dat is wuh happen to public nuisances
Good…. Over to the Unions…..Shut shop.
The unions shut shop and the workers ass would be grass , Remember last time when the Unions call out workers the johnny Annankani had no money to pay them got wages lost and went begging govt for help , this time around he might have to pay all expense for all the workers the govt let go , so u johnny no.2 you better tell him to be prepared for a longggg fight
Country First jack a.ss
David
“@William
You are aware the austerity measures the MoF continues to roll out are as harsh as the IMF would have been read cheap forex WITHOUT the balance of payment support? Despite the 6 year dose of bitter policy prescription mounting debt service continues to be the issue given our inability to generate forex. Bear in mind the low reserves will never fuel investor confidence which is required for foreign direct investment to flow. Tourism revenue cannot pay the bill Barbados on its own.”
Repeating the problem does not make it disappear. You are talking about the worst of two evils. You have no real understanding of what the IMF does to small open economies especially those like ours who are not competitive in exports.
” There is further consideration entangled with the doctrine of “trade liberalisation” and an “open market economy.”There is evidence aplenty that such approaches to economic development in a period of adjustment do not work in the best interest of the country,as the present tug of war between Japan and America suggests. But there is an example closer to home.In an insightful article,Perspectives on Adjustment -Type Programmes And and Economic Development in the third world with Special Reference to the Caribbean,” Kari Levitt recognised the difficult choices that we, as a small economy, have to make during the present period of adjustment and notes our vulnerability to what she calls ” the balance of payment disequilibria’ brought to the fore by the difficult issue of ” how the burden of adjustment is to be distributed between classes and sectors of society”and most critically ” who decides, by what process are policies determined, and whose interests are served by the policies of adjustment” Drawing on the Jamaican example of 1985 in which debt/GNP/ ratio ratio reached 195 percent, and debt export ratio reached 273 percent, one of the highest in the world, Levitt noted that Jamaica had found itself in a ” TOTAL DEBT TRAP”…..forced to accept every imaginable liberalization conditionality which could possibly have been required of any country”
In layman’s terms what Levitt means is that Jamaica’s debt is almost twice as much as the value of goods and services the society produces or close to three times Jamaica’s exports. The Trinidad and Tobago case is not as bad as the Jamaican situation, but it is very clear that the liberalization of Jamaica’s economy and the opening up of the island’s market to foreigners did not lead to the salvation of the society or dynamic economic growth. It simply led to the weakening of the Jamaican economy and left it more firmly in the hands of foreigners and with debt it will never be able to repay. Despite the liberalization of trade policies, the people of the country grew more impoverished seeking to rival the people of Haiti and Guyana. In thsi context, Levitt’s warning is important. She says:
Under pressure from the local private sector, ans as a conditionality required by the Inter American Development Bank-now an important U.S., policy instrument-and again as a conditionality required by the Enterprise of the America’s Initiative(EAI) for debt forgiveness Jamaica liberalised the exchange rate in September 1991. Jamaica was advised that this would reslut in the return flow of dollars parked in foreign accounts. Well, the pundits were wrong; a speculative attack on Jamaican currency brought the country to the brink of political and social breakdown by april 1992, as the [Jamaican dollar broke through the 30 to one barrier.”
( From Eric E. Williams Speaks Essays on Colonialism And Independence) Introduction
Edited by Selwyn R. Cudjoe.
Sounds familar ?
EVEN OWEN ARTHUR HAS MORE SENSE THAN TONI MOORE
“There are some nations that are rich enough to waste their democracy by shutting down their government from time to time, for the pleasure of it, by making gridlock the normal and familiar feature of the functioning of their system of governance, and by making opposition to everything proposed by their leader the main political strategy of key political institutions.
“In the Caribbean, we cannot afford such a luxury, especially since the countries have to grapple with a range of threats that go beyond the ordinary and which threaten to overwhelm them. For us, there can be no sensible option than to embed harmony and co-operation at the centre of our governance, and to do everything necessary to ensure that the partnership works,” the former Prime Minister told the audience.”
Owen Arthur
https://www.barbadostoday.bb/2015/07/21/owens-warning/
Hants,
Representatives of the IMF come every year for the Article iv consultations, so don’t read anything in their presence.
Miller,
“…had to endure excessive hardships during their time of water shortages.”
Read Drought.
“So called” drought. Why say “so-called?” Are you being Trumpian? It was not so-called. It was a real real drought.
George;
“…Access to basic social services appears more difficult and disconcerting for Barbadians”
Do you know why? Because these social services cost money. What little there is in the treasury has to be doled out judiciously, so some will be more difficult to access, and will be disconcerting to those who try to suckle dry tits..
“”Mottley is the DULLEST, MOST UNINSPIRING, and MOST UNGODLY Opposition Leader in the post-independent history of Barbados.
She continues to practice law in this country without the necessary due legal qualifications – qualifications that today ALL ATTORNEYS-AT-LAW practicing law in Barbados must have.””
MARK ADAMSON
An IMF mission visited St. Kitts and Nevis during April 18-May 4 to conduct the 2017 Article IV consultation. [1]
Notwithstanding a difficult international environment, St. Kitts and Nevis’ economy is expected to grow again in 2017 for the 5th consecutive year. St. Kitts and Nevis’ strong macroeconomic performance owes much to the robust Citizenship-by-Investment (CBI) inflows and their spillovers to the economy, as well as overall prudent macroeconomic policies. Against the background of elevated risks to CBI inflows and risks associated with completion of the debt-land swap, the mission focused on measures to safeguard macroeconomic and financial stability, including by strengthening the fiscal policy framework and reducing reliance on CBI inflows, and necessary reforms to attain sustainable, inclusive growth.
https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=2&cad=rja&uact=8&ved=0ahUKEwj5hIXrv9HUAhXGMyYKHX7EC5oQFggsMAE&url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.imf.org%2Fen%2FNews%2FArticles%2F2017%2F05%2F12%2Fms051217-st-kitts-and-nevis-staff-concluding-statement-of-the-2017-article-iv-mission&usg=AFQjCNH3KhlyFhwePO2pbJuql1Nvj7JUqA
@ Alvin Cummins June 22, 2017 at 8:16 AM
“Miller,
“…had to endure excessive hardships during their time of water shortages.”
Read Drought.
“So called” drought. Why say “so-called?” Are you being Trumpian? It was not so-called. It was a real real drought.”
Alvin, isn’t Barbados is a 166 sq miles 2×3 atoll in the Atlantic Ocean?
Any genuine or ‘sustained’ (“real, real”) drought in Bim would result in the entire island being affected.
If there was indeed a drought how come many other parts of Barbados were fully serviced with some never experiencing any shortages or outages?
How come the situation was rectified as soon as tremendous political pressure was brought to bear to expose and embarrass the authorities, both the bureaucratic officials and political directorate?
It was primarily a direct result of piss-poor management all around and like the shitty situation with the South Coast and Bridgetown sewage fiasco some managerial heads were put on the chopping block as sacrificial lambs to appease the thirst of revenge from the consumers and like Jesus on the cross to pay for the sins of the political botched jobbers.
But what can one expect from an administration when the moronic likes Jester Inch and Stinkliar are in charge of the economic financial decision-making process of a country that has fallen over the last 5 years from international standing once held in high esteem but has been downgraded from being a highly valued borrower to junk bond status of a financial pariah.
BTW Alvin, my great-grand mother and grandmother did not allow the miller to attend Cawmere instead of Harsun Kolig to allow people like you to rub politically-tainted shit in his intellectual face.
William
Why do you persist in comparing ourselves to Jamaica when the reality of how the two economies reached this stage,its land mass,its productive sectors and population is quite different to Bim.
St.Kitts despite its size and 60,000 population is an excellent microcosm of our situation and should be used to critique the IMF involvement in small developing countries.
The Barbados today article shines spotlight on Mia advantage to having family connections to the fisadvantage of others and how corruption can played an illegal hand in having laws legalised
Vincent you are such an a.ss hole here you go regurgitating the IMF diatribe. St Kitts is presently selling out its people birthright to suffice the International lending agencies only a half brain maniac would do such a disservice to the people to make a bunch of one armed bandits happy
There is this deferential mantra about the IMF coming in to Barbados as if they are out of this world as economists. I have said before. That is not the case. The Brettons Woods organisations have a base as far as qualifications and experience are concerned for recruits, after that it is more important which country and region of the world they are from than how bright they are. They seek to be representative.
So, in essence, their views are no more powerful than any good post-graduate’s.
Hal
Who is spouting this deferential mantra about the IMF?
Who is extolling the virtues of economists,theirs or others.
Our present debt situation is dire(local& to a certain extent foreign), achieved due to mismanagement over decades,none of our govts have been able to divorce country from politics……I think we agree so far.
So do we try for the umpteenth time the failed policies of the duoply or do we look for the cheapest source of funds to deal with our immediate concerns?
None of the ideas floated here or the MoF are geared to solve our immediate concerns,they are all about medium and long term solutions………but we need to get ourselves out of ducks guts first……tells us how with the least amount of pain possible.
@Vincent
Isn’t Barbados a member of the IMF since 70s?
Has Barbados not accumulated SDR close to 400 million?
So what is the point of our membership?
Vincent,
Your memory is not very good. We have made all kinds of recommendations on BU – including some ideas from you. The problem with Barbados is not ideas, but a stubborn finance minister in over his head and an ‘educated’ idiot as prime minister.
Hal Austin June 22, 2017 at 10:34 AM #
Again we agree…..hence we need to force them via the Unions to do something unfortunately the only card they will play is the IMF one albeit late…….we the public need to know in order to plan our future.
@ Hal Austin June 22, 2017 at 10:34 AM
Touché!
Now you are cooking with dry cow dung instead of wet cane trash.
The problem with Barbados is one of management of the country’s fragile economy.
Barbados has always been buffeted by economic shocks relying on very few tradable resources to eek out a good standard of living.
The difference between punching above its weight and going under or sliding like a true banana republic has been its former pool of good nationally focused leaders; not the crap floating on top today.
David
Very bad optics and unnecessary inhibition prior to general elections.
Its all about the politics not the people…..we have to suffer in order for them to play their games to get re-elected.
“”@ Vincent Haynes June 22, 2017 at 9:04 AM #
William
Why do you persist in comparing ourselves to Jamaica when the reality of how the two economies reached this stage,its land mass,its productive sectors and population is quite different to Bim.
St.Kitts despite its size and 60,000 population is an excellent microcosm of our situation and should be used to critique the IMF involvement in small developing countries.”
Vincent, I am not comparing Jamaica and Barbados. All I did was draw on an historical reality that is not considerably different form ours. For example inner city crime in Chicago will have some similarities to crime in our city environs: guns, drugs, disregard for life and limb, problems in the school system.
The root cause is the same. When you look at the demographic and economic structure along with the political system, you will see the same patterns throughout the region.
William Skinner June 22, 2017 at 10:51 AM #
What is this to do with going to the IMF?
One Jamaican reality that never occurred here was the Seaga led party telling the businessmen to take their money out so that Manley would be starved….the money never came back.
Note our banks are overflowing with money…..the govt is broke not the country……the populi have no faith in this govt……harsh facts of life.
@Vincent
Just to add context to your comment.
What we have is a lot of Barbadian dollars NOT foreign currency. What the government is doing is to reduce discretionary and other spend to avoid a pull on dwindling foreign reserves. We have two different issues that of necessity must be comflalted.
St Michael East belongs to Prescod. He is a man of the people.
Hal Austin June 23, 2017 at 8:55 AM
Really?
Then why does he not help the poor in that constituency?
Old houses, poor roads, overflowing wells, shootings, crime infested, hunger,
He never did anything for the people of that constituency when the BLP was in power as they like to call it and he certainly is not doing anything now.
Nothing but a nuisance!!!!!!