Submitted by Crusoe
Sandals Butch Stewart
The Barbados Today digital newspaper has reported that Butch Stewart stated that Barbadians are too entitled.
This is a remarkable statement from a hotel magnate whose company has received forty years of tax free concessions from Government, when small hoteliers get nothing.
Entitled much?
For a government to maintain services, it must seek revenues. By allowing one company to be exempt of all taxation, much revenue for services is lost.
Is the problem lost revenue, or excess services? Many countries, especially in Europe, provide excellent social services and are able to function well.
The problem is not the social services.
As for Stewart’s own operations, at a time when Barbados is in urgent need of foreign exchange injections, can we ask whether room revenue from international sources, all of it, is banked in Barbados? Many companies, through their corporate structure and international banking arrangements, have revenues banked in say, Panama, sending only funds for operating expenses to the location of the operations.
Therefore, significant foreign exchange flow loss results, for the source of operations.
One wonders what is the process for Stewart’s operations? Are your revenues all banked in Barbados, Mr. Stewart?
This revenue business is all the more critical, when international jurisdictions such as Canada are penalizing companies for sending operations cashflows out of foreign jurisdictions.
Are we adhering to international standards, by allowing those companies that profit from Barbados’s economy, to do so?
Barbadians, face reality!
Butch, Jerkham and all the other influential persons who receive tax concessions, public contracts or NIS money are the masters of this island, BECAUSE the black ruling elite allows it against all economic wisdom.
Barbados might be a tax haven, but it is surely no taxation paradise for ordinary residents.
The taxpayer is the new slave, golf is the new sugar and hotels are the new plantations where you do not need any education to work.
I was always under the impression that if you owned something you were entitled to it. But this is a New World where the magnetic poles are reversed. Barrow’s prophecy is certainly being fulfilled. And we like it so. We are too short sighted.
You should recall the captains of industry all sniggered when Adrian Loveridge asked the same question read the dollars Sandals expected to bring onshore from booking revenue. This the same private sector railing against the issue now.
Here was his arrogant response.
https://wp.me/a43Aa-ac8
@ David at 9 :55 AM
Greed and short shortsightedness informed their responses. They were hoping the concessions would have trickled over to them as well.
Where will Bajans work if they lose their welfare payments.
Does Barbados have a a lot of job opportunities ?
@ Hants January 13, 2018 at 11:02 AM
They can always turn to the Church which has been taking from them for the past 150 years.
Let them start with the modern-day get-rich-quick preachers of the Prosperity Gospel like the Very Rev. and Holy Bishop ‘David-Cannot-Die-Under-My-Watch Durex fella.
Maybe the South Coast needs a bit of ‘reverse’ gentrification.
The once booming and flourishing Bridgetown of the 40’s, 50’s and 60’s, with the likes of the River Road and Fontabelle ‘suburbia’ on the Bajan scale of things, was the place for the well-heeled and not the hoi polloi of today.
The ghettoization of the South Coast might just occur given the sewage fiasco and pending infrastructural degradation thereby making room for the homeless and dispossessed about to descend on the Island after the Devaluation.
Stewart, Bjerkham, Maloney, Cow etc all believe they are entitled to taxpayer contracts the pension fund, welfare concessions, Butch believes he is entitled to encroach on a public beach and stop the majority Black population from using it, all believe they are entitled and have a right to say what the Black population should and should not get….while trying to steal everything in sight.
Have the lazy ass ministers and authorities warned Butch about encroaching on the public beach like he does in Jamaica?
Or have they taken his bribe money and cannot tell him anything like the corrupt, greedy sell outs they all are, the reason why he believes taxpayers get too much while he is exempted from paying taxes?
What Butch said has been said by OSA the IMF and the BLP although not openly using such language as stated by Butch the blp has openly called for IMF interaction to help solve barbados economic woes
All knows that IMF policies have attacked social programs and the blp party and operatives has not shyed away from entertaining the policies of the IMF which are mostly antisocial
Butch is out of line, it does not concern him…he pays no damn taxes in Barbados….so his tax dollars does not fund or contribute to welfare, he needs to mind his damn business and stop encroaching on public beach.
And check for the violence in Jamaica and their social programs, that is his business.
@ David January 13, 2018 at 9:55 AM #
“You should recall the captains of industry all sniggered when Adrian Loveridge asked the same question read the dollars Sandals expected to bring onshore from booking revenue. This the same private sector railing against the issue now.
Here was his arrogant response.”
It’s also amazing how those so blatantly discriminated against did not seek justice (judicial remedy or relief) – either individually or jointly under a class action suit- under the Administrative Justice Act.
We are sure there are many well-heeled legal practitioners who have invested some of their largely ‘untaxed’ wealth in the local hotel and tourism sector instead of the hairy purse.
Maybe they thought they would be better off hobnobbing (lobbying on the cocktail circuit) than being a victim of their own making through the local comatose judicial system.
Shouldn’t they have taken the PM’s advice and hired a lawyer like Comissiong, the legal David battling alone a behemoth of Injustices called Goliath right across Barbados?
An entrepreneur can smell desperation several miles away. The question becomes, do you play and take advantage, or stay away concluding the “risks” are too high? [Malfunctioning sewerage systems, et al, are risks, stemming from a gov’t which has no free cash]
One of my mentors frequently reminded me, ‘desperate people do desperate things’.
Is Stewart at fault for taking advantage, or should he have found an alternate destination? His brand isn’t yet in the DR/Mexico/Latin America/Cuba etc.
Is the GOB at fault, or did they make a deal, other destinations (similarly desperate for investment and jobs) were willing to offer?
The tax concessions and how the business operates are two separate issues. Hotels owned by Barbadian citizens, and based in Barbados, can set up head offices elsewhere too. They do not have to flow money through Barbados.
The expense of social services ‘may not’ be the problem, yet expenses in general are a problem, when they outstrip revenue on a consistent basis.
@Northern Observer
By your argument the question then is are we satisfied with the measurable benefits Barbados has gotten out of the deal read washpan of concessions?
Well Well & Cut N’ Paste At Your Service January 13, 2018 at 12:15 PM #
Butch is out of line, it does not concern him…he pays no damn taxes in Barbados…
You said it. Right there. He has no say, none.
By the way, are they still trying to flog Sandals internationally?
Has been brand. AirBnB has put paid to that sort of operation.
@ac, speaking of parasites….
While no one here is going to stop you commenting, it would be better though if you would get up off your knees before coming here to comment.
Aside…I received some continuing education yesterday by Dr. JR. I wasn’t aware the Public Service Pensions (expense account title), were a) paid from a current account under Transfers & Subsidies b) said expenses are annually MORE than expenses for the QEH/SSE/NCC/BAMC and public transit combined?
The content of Dr.Robinson’s lecture aside, surprised that he agreed to fan the optics around delivering a lecture to what is accepted as a DLP party faithful affair.
@Blogmaster
I do not have the information to measure those “benefits”. Or to accurately measure the cost of the concessions.
That is a cost/benefit analysis the issuer must make.
This is the point, besides the vacuous public commentary there has been zero attempt made to inform the public about the measurable benefits since approving the concessions. The assumption here is that the ‘issuer’ is measuring.
Because Butch says it it is wrong! However when the blp calls for Privatization which can affect some social programs the blp yardfowls gleefully endorses such policies
@ac
” the blp calls for Privatization”
wait after firing on all cylinders yesterday, you gone and blown a few again?
The BNTCL, Hilton etc have nothing to do with the Blp. And the Dlp logic, is they need this privatization to keep their financial heads above water. It may be short sighted, but it is the current level of public expenditure which is forcing alternate revenue (privatization). Read social programs = privatization.
Are all Bkack governments in the Caribbean fcking idiots?
Soon the piece of shit butch will be saying Grenadians get too much welfare.
“Deal or No Deal: Grenada- Sandals Partnership Debunked
“To lay, with one hand, the power of the government on the property of the citizen and with the other to bestow it upon favored individuals to aid private enterprises and build up private fortunes is none the less a robbery…” ~ Samuel Miller
In an act screaming of blunderbuss and willful myopia, last weekend, the Government of Grenada saw it fit to award a multi-million dollar private enterprise (Sandals Resort International) a multiple tax break. A tax break embodied as a sweetener of almost coma-inducing diabetic proportions in the name of development and job creation.
It was with a total suspension of belief that we both witnessed the Minister of Finance, a self professed economist; proudly boast of the “economic incentives” that would continue to line the pockets of Sandals for the next three decades. Sandals’ own CEO confirmed the agreement between Sandals Resort International (SRI) and the government of Grenada by which the government of Grenada waives corporate taxes for 29 years, property taxes for 25 years, customs duties on all capital inputs for 25 years and an extension of the duty waiver on alcohol from the usual 15 to 25 years. Cue series of exclamation marks. These waivers are return for the purported $100 million dollar investment SRI would be making in Grenada, which is a fallacy as would be explained.
In layman’s terms (because taxation jargon is notoriously opaque) this means that Sandals pays zero taxes on all profits it makes in Grenada. For thirty years. Corporate tax stands at 30% so Grenada will lose 30% taxes on hundreds of millions of dollars. Further, the press release issued by Sandals also states that this alleged $100 million “investment” into La Source covers the cost of lands and additional property acquired from the Taylor family. This means the real “investment” figures are therefore much lower than the 100 million dollars advertised. So although the purchase of property comprises a significant part of the deal, Sandals will not even pay the 0.3% tax on the land it acquires or the 0.02% tax on its buildings; and it will not do so for any other land it acquires for 25 years. In addition, any equipment or structures that Sandals chooses to import will be duty-free for 25 years and it will be free to import as much alcohol as it wishes to for its all-inclusive guests, without duty, for 25 years. Even to those of us who do not profess to be economics graduates, this deal reeks of the word “mistake”.
It certainly isn’t our intention to belittle an investment of $100 million US dollars (or rather far less, as earlier explained) in these tight economic times. Even with the promise of an additional 200 jobs raising rising to a headcount of 400 based on Sandals’ press release. Still the forbearance on the revenues given a waiver in this deal strikes as way too much given for way too little. Must we always genuflect before these gods of “foreign investment”? Without a doubt, with some ingenuity, creativity and imagination, our own local manufacturing and agro industries could be supported in a similar fashion to create much more than 200 jobs, and without requiring such deep tax cuts.
For a nation as indebted as Grenada, the implications of these terms are profound. With an ever increasing unemployment rate, glaring social issues requiring governmental funding, an inability on multiple occasions in recent months to cover the payroll needs of public servants including teachers, doctors and nurses, potential default on its debt obligations, and a health care system on the verge of collapse, Grenada is already in an emaciated financial position. Its coffers are too malnourished to withstand this gluttonous forbearance on essential revenue for the next thirty years. Can we afford to postpone much-needed deposits into our national Treasury? How will the employment of an additional two hundred locals, most, in low-paying roles, stimulate economic growth? This deal smacks of a hastily contrived opportunity to woo public confidence. Even accepting that tax breaks were necessary to close the deal, reduced corporation tax in a staged and contingent manner possibly on the first year of profit or for a limited number of years, would have been a sensible option. It may be that the negotiators are not familiar with more nuanced form of taxation policies such as reinvestment credits, tax abatement by specific percentages for specified periods, or reduced sector rates, all of which would have been much more suited to the project than a flat rate tax holiday.
All of the above is without even referencing the solid economic theories underpinning economic development and international trade studies by the World Bank, the United Nations and academic institutions. Research from these institutions find that tax incentives do not increase the aggregate amount of foreign investment available to developing countries. In addition, they have found these incentives do not create a net transfer of taxation from taxpayers to investors. In other words, our Grenadian vendors, teachers, policemen and nurses are subsidizing and financing Butch Stewart.
We preface the above to say that we are not opposed to Sandals’ presence per se in spite of our personal objections. Grenadians reliant on jobs related to this industry will be more than grateful. However, we must note Sandals’ very ethos is reliant on the “all-inclusive” sale, where the local environs inevitably suffer because all accommodation, meals, soft drinks, tips, recreational activities, entertainment and drinks are included in a flat rate cost, disincentivising local expenditure. Sandals’ guests will not be encouraged to get out of their infinity pools sipping their tax free Mai Tais to patronise and support our local economy. Most of our tourist and spice market vendors in the market will not benefit. Most of our local restaurants will not benefit. Only a few selected tour operators will benefit, if at all. Instead, land prices will increase, there will be a drain on our water resources (these infinity pools do not come cheap) and our local suppliers will be priced out of the market. Not to mention the thousands of well educated underemployed or unemployed young adults who will remain so under this acclaimed deal.
This decision is also a foolish one because it belies our naïve and amateur approach to marketing and foreign investment and our inability to recognise that our country is a partner, not a charity. With frequent plugs on Wheel of Fortune and countless tourist magazines, Sandals is a well known and highly publicized luxury brand. But so is our country. It is significant that the chain boasts of world class locations in Jamaica, St. Lucia, Antigua and the Bahamas. Yet, we note that Butch Stewart stated during his press conference, announcing Sandals’ arrival to Grenada that this was a dream realized after twelve years of pursuit. Grenada is in a unique position; it boasts unparalleled beauty, has a very low crime rate and a highly educated work force. In our view, packaged right, this should be incentive enough.
This unreasonably large tax deal has done nothing more than to undercut local hoteliers and to create a precedent for investment opportunities- now that this deal is public, no other investor will be inclined to invest in Grenada for any less. Via this deal, our political leaders have essentially presented Grenada’s economically struggling rump for a very long and public ravaging.”
Now you know why the house negros in parliament are still trying to keep the Sandals welfare rat concession deals a secret,
Northern
The ‘current level of public expenditure’ is only a symptom. It does not represent causation.
We’ve always had these kinds of relationships between revenue and expenditure.
That relationship cannot explain 10 years of austerity economic policy, and continuing.
No sir!
Where will Bajans work if they lose their welfare payments.
Does Barbados have a a lot of job opportunities ?
@ David,
since no one is responding to my question I will shout.
DOES BARBADOS HAVE A LOT OF JOB OPPORTUNITIES …..IN BARBADOS….FOR CURRENT
WELFARE RECIPIENTS ?
Hants,
Answer is No. There are current Uni grads and qualified professionals who cannot get jobs.
The situation is brutal.
David
Why are you? Surprised.
@Pacha
At the overt showing.
The more things change the more they remain the same.
Is paying taxes for GOB produced goods and services welfare?
Are tax concessions to private business not welfare ? Who are paying for the publicly produced goods and services that these exempt entities are enjoying?
GOB employees work for less salaries and wages than in the Private sector in exchange for a guaranteed pension at retirement. Is that welfare?
Is there a material difference between contributions to NIF and direct and indirect taxes to the Consolidated Fund from which GOB pensioners are paid? Surely they are both Pay as You Go financial contrivances?
In sum we are just rearranging the chairs on the Titanic. What an exercise in frustration.
Can anybody confirm if Sandals has a sewage treatment facility?
David
If history is your judge the players who would prefer to be behind the scenes must now show their faces because all hands are needed on the deck of a sinking ship.
Justin is a well known DLP operative who has been an adviser to government.
And while we do not expect he would have gotten them to follow his advice in all matters or to the fullest extent, it would not be imprecise to state that he has had significant input.
At least he has to defend his credibility, should he have any left.
Some years ago he was known to have advised some government officials to consider a strategic default as one option, that took some courage.
@Blogmaster
note how he (JR) did it. He split history into three separate decades. He then compared revenue/expense categories over each decade.
In decade 1…87- 97, exp were 87% of revenue. to 07, decade 2, exp were 100% of revenue. Decade 3, to 2017, expenses were 107% of revenue.
In decade 1, T&S were 25% of exp, in decade 2, they rose to 39%, and to 41% in decade 3. Debt expenses also rose, from 16% to 24%. Meanwhile wages and salaries dropped from 35% to 33% to 28%.
The challenge is get INSIDE the T&S category.
@Pacha
you need to explain.
“We’ve always had these kinds of relationships between revenue and expenditure.”
10 consecutive years where expenses have exceeded revenue in EVERY year? I would suggest that is a first.
We have never experienced this level of debt to gdp ratio as one measure.
@BC
the Titanic? That baby sunk.
Lets hope when the rudder on the good ship Barbados is engaged, she responds.
ASK BUTCH STEWART THE WELFARE RAT AND PARASITE ON THE LIVES OF BAJANS FOR THE NEXT 25 YEARS…the last 15 years of his welfare scam will see him paying minimal taxes, but of course he would have croaked by then and the house negros in parliament children and grandchildren will be working for Butch’s children and grandchildren because house negros have no vision and dont care about their future generations or anyone else’s except for the minority crooks who bribe them.
@ Crusoe ,
Thanks for your reply.
Barbados will never recover under the present arrangements and conditions and Stewart got the never to want to speak out about entitlement to the island’s people, oh please….they better tell him to shut the hell up…stupid people.
“Tax concessions a ‘serious danger’ to economies – Golding
Added by Marlon Madden on November 17, 2017.
Saved under Business, Local News
2Save
Barbados and other Caribbean countries are losing millions of dollars every year due to a number of concessions being used to lure investors to their shores, according to former Jamaican prime minister Bruce Golding.
Golding has described the practice as a “serious danger” to economies, pointing out that it was almost impossible to wean some businesses off those concessions.
He said tax incentives should not be to the detriment of the country’s economy, and the process should be transparent, while suggesting that necessary changes should be made over time.
“We have some incentives that were put in place from the 1960s when the environment was different. We find that when we give, it is almost impossible to wean the beneficiaries off. So I think a government must have the flexibility to provide incentives where it is important for growth, but . . . it must also be contained so that it doesn’t become a major source of revenue loss,” he said yesterday.
During a discussion on Fiscal Policy and Political Cycles during the 2017 International Monetary Fund (IMF) High Level Caribbean Forum at the Pegasus Hotel in Kingston, Jamaica, it was suggested that some political parties would “do whatever it takes” to win elections, including entering into sweetheart deals with potential investors.
Golding, who served as prime minister of Jamaica from 2007 to 2011, proposed that tourism dependent economies should consider publishing a list of all waivers granted by government.
“What we have introduced here in Jamaica is to make it accessible, so that I think it is every month the Minister of Finance has to publish a list of all the waivers they have granted in the course of that month . . . . Certainly in a country that is dependent on tourism, certainly I think we have to recognize there is a need for government to do that,” Golding said in response to a concern raised by one of the participants.
With many regional economies facing serious fiscal problems and stagnant growth, the issue of tax incentives was placed on the table during the high level meeting as participants explored areas Caribbean governments must address.
Respective governments here have been accused of providing too many concessions, especially to the tourism industry, and entering too many secret deals.
One of the most recent was a deal to grant extensive concessions to the international hotel chain, Sandals, which began operations here in 2013 at the former Almond Casuarina Hotel in Dover, Christ Church.
The Gordon Butch Stewart-led chain was granted a 25-year tax holiday that included a waiver on all import duties, taxes, imports and levies on capital goods such as building materials, as well as food, alcohol and beverages. The waiver also extends to duties on the importation of motor vehicles and personal and household effects for senior hotel staff and non-Barbadian workers.
At the end of the 25-year tax holiday the rate on concessions will be cut by 50 per cent for an additional 15 years.
The deal was criticized by the IMF, retired chartered accountant Peter Boos, and former Prime Minister Owen Arthur who said the tax concessions were hurting the island’s dwindling finances.
Arthur had also accused Government of setting “an extraordinary precedent by extending complete duty and tax free status to Sandals for 40 years, with the intention of making such a status available to other enterprises in our main sector – tourism”.
Their children and grandchildren will be slaves, just as they wanted.
“house negros in parliament children and grandchildren will be working for Butch’s children and grandchildren”
I doubt it…They will probably work for the owners of “Slippers”. Butch will milk the contract for a few years and then find a a reason and a way to exit when it suits him. He will probably sell it to some new entity ‘slippers’.
@ NorthernObserver January 13, 2018 at 2:07 PM
“The challenge is get INSIDE the T&S category.”
N O, what did Dr. JR tell us that was not told before by OSA, the IMF, the credit rating agencies and other concerned individuals over the past 5 years?
Didn’t the MoF say the same thing in his December 2013 Ministerial statement and every subsequent statement and presentation on the fiscal deficit?
What he, Dr. JR, should have diagnosed and recommended are the specific areas under the T&S category which require radical surgery to remove the fast-spreading cancer.
Which statutory agencies must be removed from the T&S growing tumour to reduce the pressure on the entire fiscal lymphatic system?
Eventually they will all go the way of the CBC totally drained of financial fluids to keep on life support a set of parasites that should have been purged with a large dose of political castor oil from the fiscal bowels a long time ago.
The quack doctor might have to be retrained to be able to identify one of the early signs of a potentially dangerous cancer.
That is a disease called the Implementation deficit Disorder (IDD) triggered mainly by a party with the patent for deceivers and liars.
Below is an extract of the MoF’s statement of intent to get rid of the parasites or at least reduce the infestation.
Five years on and the parasites are still feeding voraciously on the fiscally emaciated body of the anemic taxpayers. The same thing that happened with the deliberate woeful neglect of the South Coast sewage system will eventually happen to the much overloaded fiscal system starting this year.
“…..Additionally Mr. Speaker, earlier this year, the Ministry of Finance formally requested technical assistance from the IMF’s Fiscal Affairs Department in two critical areas of government’s operations: Tax administration, and fiscal/operational reform in the key statutory entities which rely on central government for large transfers for their operations. For some time now most internal and external examiners have expressed deep concerns about both of these areas as key examples of parts of government’s operations which exhibit unacceptable levels of inefficiency and dis-functionality resulting increasing financial burdens to the state.
I am happy to announce that the Fund has accepted the requests and starting next month, the first team will begin its examination of the fiscal and operational challenges of some of our key statutory entities.
In anticipation of that and in an effort to advance and concretize this work, the Ministry of Finance will assemble a high level task force of senior finance, business and accounting experts to work along with the Fund’s team to finalize a reform agenda for the selected entities to be presented to the Minister before mid-year. I also anticipate that very shortly the Fund will identify a team of experts to conduct the long overdue comprehensive assessment of the direct and indirect tax systems in Barbados with a view to advising government on major reforms necessary in both tax policy and administration. Mr. Speaker the additional measures which I have just announced, though tough, are designed for the specific purpose of helping Barbados’ economy to accelerate the process of adjustment and fiscal consolidation.”
‘One, one blows does kill old (cash) cow’, ya hear!
Dr.Robinson headed a committee with Jeremy Stephens, Simpson and a few others that submitted a report to Sinckler (government) on the best way to rationalize the statutory bodies. We are about to enter a general election cycle and what?
So Stewart is peddling the same model from island to island and their government saying “it good. it was vetted and approved by the smart Bajans”
Lol….
Theo…who will “Slippers” be?
Ya got that right, both times.
Whatever happened to the Bushman, can’t believe he is missing all this..
.,..now if trump had not called them all shitholes, everyone woukd be telling Butch the welfare rat..”yes massa.”
Ah cant even find BU’s trumpanzees to cuss me.
@ ac January 13, 2018 at 12:45 PM #
“Because Butch says it it is wrong! However when the blp calls for Privatization which can affect some social programs the blp yardfowls gleefully endorses such policies..”
Angela Skeete the A1 hypocrite, why don’t you just STFU and go away with your Privatization river of crocodile tears?
Do you, No.1 Pit Toilet, know the difference between a proposal to Privatize and Actual Privatization like the sale of BNTCL and Hilton for forex peanuts and the sale of a major slice of shares in the BL&P, one of the country’s most economically strategic assets?
Privatization, contrary to a manifesto position, has been the only thing implemented by your discredited lying party.
But as you well know, not only is a promise a comfort to a fool but also a manifesto is not a contract with the voters; just an electoral pamphlet of lies and pipe dreams to bullshit people like you.
Sorry to interrupt the proceedings, is this how it will end? Pacific Islanders on tenterhooks because of NK.
http://www.cnn.com/2018/01/13/politics/hawaii-missile-threat-false-alarm/index.html
@ Well Well & Cut N’ Paste At Your Service January 13, 2018 at 4:01 PM #
“Whatever happened to the Bushman, can’t believe he is missing all this..”
Yea, most unlike him. One of my favourite sparring partners. I am running to intellectual fat.
Please, pretty please, Bushie, say something. Let us know that you are still on terra firma and have not been visited by 7 angels worshipping at the altar of the Sun to take to home to BBE Land.
Same thing applies to Vincent Haynes. Why are you AWOL or are you definitely ‘MIA’? Your erudite resources are more than needed at this time.
The country is collapsing and the ship of State is about to go under and you have done a ‘runner’ like the captain of the Costa Concordia.
“Up and on, Up and on
Ever upward to the fight
Ever upward to the Light.”
Report for duty, Captain Haynes!
Miller the blp and their operatives are have their guns poised in the same direction as the IMF ready to dislocate social programs day in and day out one would hear calls from operatives opposing bus fares for school children and free lunch meals and day care programs and even those social programs geared to keep children off the street like foot ball tournaments
Yes those are the social programs that the blp and opetatives use as political cans without thinking about the negative fall out that can affect families
@ ac January 13, 2018 at 5:03 PM
Go tell that IMF story to Dr. Deliar Worrell who was in the bowels of your deceitful lying party. Isn’t he recommending to you guys what the miller has been doing for the last 3 years?
If you could treat one of your kind in such a manner why can’t the BLP get rid of the parasites sucking the lifeblood of the taxpayers over the last 10 years?
@ Sargeant January 13, 2018 at 4:22 PM #
The conspiracy theorists will have fun.
Northern
Government has had revenue/expenditure problems long before 2008 when it is argued the recession started.
That for a similar period, in fact going back to the early 1990’s, government has been selling off state assets to balance the budget must lead to a number of questions.
These should include, why have previous sales not made our situation any different. In spite of these sales the imbalances between revenue and expenditure kept getting worse.
Now that we are coming to the end of having things to sell, what is going to happen when we have nothing else to sell.
It seems to us that we maybe facing a massive destruction of primary social services. A more and more predatory form of capitalism, neo-feudalism.
Public capital is being used to pay public expenses. This is a calculation always destined to fail.
Now if all of the sales of state assets have not ameliorated what presents as an intractable revenue/expenditure problem and when such a problem was present since modern Barbados existed might it not be reasonable to presume that a deeper problem exists.
A problem departing from the orders of magnitude hithertofore.
And just like these companies do in the US. They accept the concessions and in a year or so they close up shop or lay off employes and take the money and run.
“……..even those social programs geared to keep children off the street like foot ball tournaments…”
++++++++++++++++++++++++
A 6 weeks football tournament is a “social program geared to keep children off the streets.”
So what happens to the children after the football tournament ENDS?
Do they return to the streets or do they remain indoors in anticipation of next year’s tournament?
The more the ac yard-fowl writes………. the more it exposes its “yard-fowlery.”
That’s all they do, like Sam’s Club owned by Walmart which got a very recent 7 billion dollar tax cut, Walmart has always paid slave like starvation wages and always being sued for mistreating employees, well as soon as they got the tax cut, they raised their slave wages from 9US an hour to 11US an hour, gave out 1000 dollar bonuses and shuttered 63 Sam’s Club stores, at least 10,000 employees will be fired and up to 250,000 if Walmart shuts locations of walmart, they took the money and ran..
It’s all about greed and small island governments would do well to stop giving out these tax concessions to uppity thieves like Sandals, just to collect bribes to put in their pockets, for once start negotiating deals to benefit the population and not rob them with low paying jobs as the only benefit..
And put Butch Stewart in his place unless he is speaking about his business and how it benefits and not steal from the island and people….shut him up, he does not pay taxes and will not for 25 years, he has no say in the island’s business and will not have any say for 25 years, then he will only have half a say, because he will only be paying 50% in taxes while everyone else will be still paying 100%.
Put Butch in his place, he is disrespecting the people while he benefits and they dont.
And the products he is proposing sounds like the fledgling time share business that everyone wants to get out of. All inclusives are a wadte of your money unless you drink alcohol 24/7.
And the products he is proposing sounds like the fledgling time share business that everyone wants to get out of. All inclusives are a wadte of your money unless you drink alcohol 24/7.
Who could feel more ENTITLED than Gordon “Butch” Stewart?”
Sandals Resort in Antigua and Barbuda pays no direct taxes to the government treasury, an agreement that extends for another 25 years. It also pays no taxes on imported capital items, food or beverage, and on items needed for resort improvements.
In September 2006, then ruling administration of Antigua, the Baldwin Spencer’s United Progressive Party (UPP) replaced the Hotel Tax and Guest Levy with the Antigua and Barbuda Sales Tax (ABST).
In January 2009, the UPP administration signed a tax concession agreement granting Sandals compensatory relief from a portion of the ABST.
In 2016, the new Gaston Browne Antigua Labour Party (ALP) administration, citing their disagreement with the concessions which allowed Sandals to collect 100% of the ABST from guests, with the hotel retaining 65% and remitting 35% to government……..decided to rescind the 2009 UPP/Sandals tax agreement.
Sandals also made a request for the Antiguan Cabinet to waive the duties and taxes on food and beverages. The request was denied on the grounds that it would significantly reduce Government’s tax revenues. Government explained to Sandals officials that public finances were in a very precarious position, and if duties and taxes were waived on food and beverage, it would plunge the finances into a crisis, especially taking into consideration government abolishing over $35 million in Personal Income Tax. However, government said they would review the request in 12 months.
And what was Butch Stewart’s response?
In a letter dated July 14, 2017, Sandals served notice of its intention to TEMPORARILY CLOSE the Dickenson Bay property (for the FIRST TIME in 25 years), from September 20th, 2017 for a five-month period, which includes the BUSY WINTER PERIOD, “to undertake essential maintenance works,” thereby affecting over 700 employees.
Clearly, the Antiguan government decision was not to Butch Stewart’s satisfaction and closing the hotel was his way of enforcing ENTITLEMENT.
As small island economies we have to be wary of the danger of facilitating the too big to fail players. Let us learn from Clico and Stanford as two examples.
That is what an intelligent incoming government would do, reverse and rescind that 40 year scam agreement between crooked Butch and this bribetaking government…or it will prove beyond a shadow of a doubt that they are all thieves, ripping off the taxpayers to benefit themselves and the business sector only.
If all the weakling governments across the Caribbean roll back Butch’s scam, put him in his place, let’s see him shuttering all his hotels, he uses extortion and bribery on weak Caribbean government ministers, he is in the US trying to get investors fot his Sandals properties because he is not liquid enough to go it alone…so he cannot afford to shutter not one Sandals hotel..in the Caribbean,
The problem is the weakness in governments in the Caribbean who are easily bribed.
See what i mean rather that see the negative impact social programs are geared in developing positive input in the minds of the youth the early morning paling rooster Artax uses his political poison pen to ask an asinine question Steupse
Social programs designed to create a positive mindset in early childhood development becomes an economic asset to a country long term
Involved in the process is a model which helps the child to build a foundation formulated on a social and psychological framework which is beneficial to country and create positive attitudes in the child’s mind in adult years
http://www.jamaicaobserver.com/news/-8216-if-gaston-browne-wants-to-become-a-8216-butch-8217-stewart-let-him-try-8217-adam-stewart-sets-the-record-straight-on-sandals-antigua-fiasco_116228?profile=1373
How is it someone can be deemed as being political only on the basis of their disagreement with the DLP “paling roosters and hens?”
I often mention that, for reason of political expediency, you dabble in EVERY TOPIC despite the fact you do not have the requisite knowledge or qualifications to give an informed opinion.
Today you have assumed the role of a Social Worker.
In your January 13, 2018 5:03 PM contribution you wrote: “……social programs geared to keep children off the street like foot ball tournaments….” This was an obvious reference to the “David Thompson Memorial Constituency Council Football Classic,” which, as a DLP yard-fowl, you must defend at all cost.
How can asking the simple question re: what happens to the children after the football tournament ends…. do they remain off the streets or return to the streets after the tournament ends?….,….which under the circumstances, is a REASONABLE question…. be described as “asinine?”
How can a 6 week “out of season” football tournament, which caters to MEN that play first, second and third division football, keep CHILDREN off the streets?
Assuming the same football tournament attracts children, how can 6 weeks of playing football “create a positive mindset in early childhood development becomes an economic asset to a country LONG TERM?”
How can 6 weeks of playing football be “a model which helps the child to build a foundation formulated on a social and psychological framework which is beneficial to country and create positive attitudes in the child’s mind in adult years?”
Similarly to government, you want to mislead this forum that constituency football and night cricket tournaments and all the other shiite politicians do pre-election for political aggrandizement, (which ends after election) are beneficial to children.
Please PRESENT the EVIDENCE to SUBSTANTIATE your claim?
You like to put together “sweet sounding statements” that makes it appear as though you know what you are “talking” about.
“Critical dimensions of child development are self-regulation, the establishment of early relationships, knowledge acquisition, and the development of specific skills. These dimensions are affected by individual neurobiology, relationships with caregivers, and physical and psychosocial exposures in the care giving environment.”
What are the government’s and the Child Care Board’s LONG-TERM child development programs, especially under Ronald Jones, the education system is a mess…… with cases of pupils violently attacking each other, mini-bus drivers and conductors, sexual assaults, assaults against teachers, and engaging in sexual activity have increased significantly?
I remember the DLP’s youth manifesto, which contained some “grandiose promises” to the youth.
After 10 years of neglecting the youth and a clueless Attorney General that has not been able to enact any policy initiative curb the recent increase in gun violence among the youth……..
……..and you expect us to believe a shiite political football tournament will solve all the youth’s problems.
Stupid example by the resident, clueless DLP yard-fowl…….
The JA neglected to inform BU that Jamaican Observer is OWNED by Butch Stewart.
maybe so but as usual you pounced on political instead of substance needless to say you read the article with jaundice eye
Gaston Browne needs to receive a medal for Throwing out the Baby with the bathe Tub
At least Gaston Browne does not have to worry about international policing agencies putting out arrest warrants for him and his ministers because they practice greedy corruption with pigs like Stewart. …
….Browne is cleaning up the corruption, bribery and thefts from taxpayers…himself…to keep a clean country, it does not stop the country from getting opportunities, progressing but certainly prevents it from regressing into a sewage strewn shithole.
Lol…..
https://www.barbadostoday.bb/2018/01/13/caricom-condemns-trumps-reported-statements-on-haiti/
“At least Gaston Browne does not have to worry about international policing agencies putting out arrest warrants for him and his ministers because they practice greedy corruption with pigs like Stewart. …”
+++++++
True…………..Gaston Browne may not be one of my favourite Caribbean leaders, but, unlike the cowards, Allen Chastinet, Keith Mitchell and Freundel Stewart, he had the courage to stand up to the shiite.
The ac consortium of yard-fowls would have us believe that writing to DEFEND this inept DLP, while CRITICIZING all other political parties, they are NOT BEING POLITICAL……
But those that criticize the DLP are being political.
No wonder George Street is in a mess.
Dont mind the yardfowl….yardfowl only know corruption and thievery, thst is what they were rsised on, Broene might have his issues, but at least he is cignizant that that likes of Butch, cirruption and bribery will destroy Antigua….they already had their mess with Allen Sanford and one or two of their ministers got extradited to US….and convicted.
The governments of Barbados are too backward and hardheaded and refuse to lock up or keep away from greedy, corrupt business people and stop colluding with and enabling them in their crimes against the people. ..
…..I cant wait for the day a couple ministers are dragged off the island in handcuffs with their corrupt business sidekicks.
…..US, UK and Canada cracked that whip on the government re the unheakthy sewage leaking into the streets that they themselves created, the idiots in parliament have to fall in line, they brought it on themselves and have only themselves to blame….they have been playing fast and loose with the lives of their own people for decades as soon as they are elected, those countries will in no way allow them to play fast and loose with the lives of their citizen in order to implement their dirty political plans to be reelected.
Alright to stand up ! but when the “real Shit” called social dislocation and economic depression hits the fan all the powerful words and political posturing dont me a dam thing to those lives that are being affected
These small island undeveloped economies are threading on slippery ground electing tin horn dictators who think that outside investors are going to engage or tolerate the small minded way of thinking while their leaders grasp for political straws
Pray tell if Investors like the Sandal Group pull up stumps and leave what does Browne has to offer the people whose livelihood has been affected.
As for one who has accumulated mass wealth maybe Browne can become the pied piper and distribute some of his wealth to those people affected
Yardfowl…those same lives are negatively impacted now, they are stuggling and suffering now despite all that the government has given away to Butch Stewart…
….and the government still cannot pay it’s bills, it’s debts are facing international default, the forex is shrinking alarmingly, the downgrades are onging……the shit can start flowing on the south coast again at anytime this time triggering a travel ban on the island because there is no permanent solution, the sewage system is still overloaded, supermarkets are still price gouging,
……they can’t even get insurance companies properly regulated and that is usually the easiest thing to do in any country,
so what did the government gain from giving away the island for 40 years and still have nothing to show for it….again.
@Crusoe
You heard from VOB News that Butch Stewart denied the BT report? It seems the BT is being accused of inaccurate reporting of late.
You keep worrying about Gaston Browne, when last did Fruendel pick up his lazy ass from partying with tourists to travel and look for business for the island…or pick up a telephone and made calls looking for investors who are not international criminals.
Leaving it to Dumbville will only see the island infested with more international convicted criminals…those are the only business people he can relate to, that is his reputation.
You keep worrying about Antigua. Their ministers are too afraid to be corrupt these days.
So Stewart should sue barbadostoday for false reporting and ask fir a retraction, let’s see if that happens, at least Stewart now has the message load and clear that he pays no taxes in Barbados and to keep his mouth shut and out of the island’s business, no one wants him as a leader no matter which idiots in government he bribes.
we are still waiting for Grenville to ask the newspapers for a retraction about what he said he did not say….couple months ago…lol
The yard-fowl’s main reason for defending Butch Stewart is to defend her inept administration for granting 40 years of tax concessions to Butch and his expatriate employees, while Barbadians are saddled with increased taxes to “build up the short fall” in tax revenues.
If this DLP administration was to rescind the tax concessions, the ac consortium of yard-fowls would make an “automatic turn around” and find all conceivable and inconceivable means to defend that decision.
That’s the stuff yard-fowls are made of.
What happened is Butch did not like the blowback…lol
As scummy as barbadostoday and it’s owner are, after Grenville’s denial and refusal to ask both newspapers for a retraction, ya can guarantee they started taping those interviews…lol
Butch thought the Bajan population was as dumb as the government ministers.
Boy did Browne learn the hard way almost tremble in his boots and piss in his pants when Butch told him they were closing the hotel for maintenance boy was he ready to talk concession to Butch and time limits for reopening of the hotel .
What these small island dictators need to realize they can not have their cake and eat it too and be realist and know when to hold them and know when to fold them
his country is economic doldrums and Gaston trying to mash corns at the wrong time
@Pacha
you restate the mathematically obvious. No one time injection, is going to solve what is an ongoing operational imbalance. And the asset base declines with each sale.
To conclude the eventual solution will see a destruction of primary social services, will depend on what is deemed “primary”. It would appear to us, currently, there is fat mixed in with the meat?
And the base framework must see the role of government as a protector and provider of essential social services. And social goods. And this can be achieved, IF, they keep their noses out of endeavours where the ‘social value’ is questionable.
@ac
it amazes me the clarity with which you see issues, ONCE they do not relate to Barbados.
By the way, that letter fall off a truck anywhere yet?
“If this DLP administration was to rescind the tax concessions, the ac consortium of yard-fowls would make an “automatic turn around” and find all conceivable and inconceivable means to defend that decision.”
If a fowl wants to live, it has to follow the grain..
Shaggy ??
“Sandals issues clarification on social welfare story ”
“…..has given a wrong impression to the amazing people of Barbados with whom we have been friends with and supported for years.”
http://www.nationnews.com/nationnews/news/120010/sandals-issues-clarification-social-welfare-story
So what does the yardfowl say now that Butch has changed his tune, she cant call him a liar since she already agreed with him and she cant say he is wrong after claiming all the IMF and this one and thst one is saying the same thing…the welfare system should be ct…says the yardfowl, when ya are mindless yardfowl ya find yaself in these awkward and embarrassing positions…lol.
We will wait to see if Butch ask barbadostpday to print a retraction.
“Home News Sandals issues…
Sandals issues clarification on social welfare story
PR,
Added 14 January 2018
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Sandals Resorts International wishes to clarify a story carried in the Barbados Today online publication headlined “Too Many Entitlements” referencing comments made by Sandals Chairman Gordon “Butch” Stewart with respect to the social welfare programme in Barbados.
…
The story has been presented totally out of context and gives the impression that Mr Stewart was criticising the programme, when in fact the Sandals Chairman was complimenting the country for its ability to provide such a programme, where many other countries have been unable to do so.
It is also important to note that while Mr Stewart did give official statements to the media about the upcoming Beaches project during that lunch meeting, the issue that has been reported on was part of a personal conversation between Mr Stewart and Director of News at the Caribbean Broadcasting Corporation Ms Michelle Arthur.
During that discussion Mr Stewart said that while he was mindful of the challenges such an effort entails, it is important for those it impacts and assists, and was entirely complimentary to Barbados in this regard never once suggesting that the system be terminated or taken away, as the headline would tend to imply.”
In reading thst story…it sounds like Butch is lying anyway, he had a personal conversation with Michelle Arthur, so he told Michelle Arthur one thing in private and told the other media something else..
,,,, either way it’s none of his damn business, he does not pay taxes on the island, his idea of good salaries are starvation wages, he has a bad reputation across the Caribbean, he contributes very little to the island’s economy while reaping millions in benefits that the island does not benefit from, so he can keep his opinions to himself.
For all the nasty people who do not want to see black people taken care of, this is how the country considered to have the highest standard of living in the world, and the happiest citizens in the world, Norway, ….treats her people…it’s welfare from cradle to grave, so her people can strive better in between.
And for all the trump wannabe parasites sucking as much as they can out of the Caribbean while believing they can denigrate and discriminate against the majority population, this is not 10 years ago, people’s eyes are wide open, well except for the stupid yardfowls, they will die stupid…but trying to promote whiteness while destroying the lives and wellbeing of the majority black populations….will not work anymore.
No Thank You, President Trump
By Martine Aurdal
Updated 1654 GMT (0054 HKT) January 14, 2018
(CNN)Donald Trump wants America to have more immigrants from Norway in contrast to what he reportedly called “shithole countries” in Africa.
Although we love to visit America, Mr. Trump, it is highly unlikely that Norwegians are going to flow into the US to live. As a citizen of Norway, I can tell you we’re not flattered, but offended by the President’s eagerness to have us emigrate.
Even though Trump has denied making the particular comment, members of Congress who attended the meeting say that the reports are true.
The offer has left Norwegians offended, not flattered.
President Trump is judging immigrants by where they come from, and it is hard not to see this as a question of ethnicity. Norwegians have had a history of being positively discriminated for our race and have resisted those ideas before — we will do it again.
We like where we live. In fact, Norway is the happiest country in the world. We are that way because we live in an egalitarian society where we strive to give everyone good and equal opportunities — regardless of ethnic, gender and social background.
A century ago it was different. About 800,000 Norwegians migrated to the US, including my great-grandfather. We were a poor country, and the migrants were searching for opportunities and fit the phrase on the Statue of Liberty: They were our tired, our poor. America welcomed them, and they found what they were looking for.
Today, Norway is one of the richest countries in the world, and we will not give up on our cradle-to-grave welfare. Our parental leave is a generous year, kindergarten is cheap, and our higher education is free. Health care is also free for every Norwegian citizen.
Our society strives to be tolerant. Every political party promotes liberal values, gender-equality and human rights. The plumber´s son goes to school with the CEO´s daughter, and social mobility is high. Hence, our leaders have diverse backgrounds and anyone could meet the NATO secretary general skiing in the woods or our Prime Minister at the supermarket doing her own grocery shopping.
So instead of trying to import our whiteness, the US President should try letting some of our ideals in.
Also, immigrants have been and are shaping Norway. Our history is formed by migration, from the Vikings traveling the world to the German Hanseaten coming to Bergen, a city on the southwestern coast. Nearly 17% of our population is made up of immigrants or have immigrant parents. This includes Somalis, Eritreans, Iraqis, Syrians, Filipinos, and Pakistanis.
This is not to say that Norway is perfect — and Trump needs to understand this part too.
Wait a minute, isnt Bjorn Bjerkham from Norway, so why is he still in Barbados making himself such a damn malicious parasite on the lives of Bajans for the last 5 decades…..with all his corruption, bribery, discrimination against black people, attempt to practice modern day slavery against Vincent workers, starvation wages and made a career of stealing from Black Bajan people….when Norway is such a comfortable financial paradise.
Oh I get it, the shit he can do in Barbados he cannot get away with totally in Norway, he cant bribe politicians and government officials, not enough black people to rob, he cant rob Norway’s treasury or pension fund and he sure as hell cannot create thiefing scams like Cahill…against Norwegians..
“If a fowl wants to live, it has to follow the grain..”
Hahahahahahaha………… true dat!!!
Dirty useless yardfowl she is….soon to become extinct. ..never to be seen again.
Where did i agree with Butch statement paling cock. i simply stated that giving the out pouring of negative feed back to Butch statement he would be ridicule and criticized and given a negative grade meanwhile the blp operatives and leadership are in close agreement with IMF policies which targets the poor and elderly who are dependent on social services
Yeah, yeah, you have made yourself so insignificant and irrelevant why bother. ..tick tock…lol
“Bernard Codrington January 13, 2018 at 9:53 AM #
I was always under the impression that if you owned something you were entitled to it. But this is a New World where the magnetic poles are reversed. Barrow’s prophecy is certainly being fulfilled. And we like it so. We are too short sighted.”
It appears that it always fashionable to quote Mr Barrow’s comments whether fabled or mythical but in this case Mr Barrow was the architect of his own prophecy.Research would indicate that the sale of Barbados if we want to so describe it started under Mr Barrow. What measures did he put in place to arrest it ?