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Mini Budget Day in Barbados

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To the observer of the Barbados space post 2018 General Election, there has been non stop activity generated by the newly installed government of Barbados since taking the reins. There is an air of expectancy about what the Prime Minister will convey to citizens.

The unprecedented decision by the government to trigger a selective default has committed Barbadians to travel an uncharted path.

Many Barbadians although discomfited by the state of affairs that will for a long time prevent any reference to Barbados being a model country for others to emulate, appreciate that affirmative action must be taken.

The Barbados brand has received a huge dent!

 

 

 

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298 responses to “Mini Budget Day in Barbados”

  1. Dunks Gripe Avatar
    Dunks Gripe

    Mia did it different it wasn’t only your regular missionary f%*p. It was a mix of back shots ,bend overs and sixty nines. The result was the same the masses got raped. When Charles Herbert and Mary Redman turn beet red with happiness black people know they’ve been properly f**#ked.

  2. Bush Tea Avatar
    Bush Tea

    @ Sargeant , to whom Hal says…
    Sargeant,….You are an idiot.
    +++++++++++++++++++++++++
    Does the man not have a point here…?

    After YEARS of warning from Bushie about Hal’s limitations – which he endured from childhood, …and which seems to have worsened with age (and the cold)… You continue to engage the fella with logic…. ??!!

    Are we seeing “like feathers” flocking together here boss….?
    LOL
    ha ha ha

  3. Bush Tea Avatar
    Bush Tea

    @ Tron
    Don’t know what ‘perpetua mobilia” you want to see…. but the problem is not the number of public servants on staff or even how hard they work…. (after all they are our ‘FAMILIES’ – and they are what they are…even Simple Simon 🙂 )
    The PROBLEM is compensating them BEYOND their real value.

    The PROACTIVE way to deal with this is to establish a MERITOCRATIC system of management and let the chips fall where they may…
    The unions (a collection of the head brass bowls) would fight tooth and nail against such a system that required ‘evaluations’ and performance reports- and paid salaries based on performance.)

    …so the POLITICAL solution is to:
    1 – GIVE the unions a pay raise (the brass bowls will never realise it is an illusion anyway ..)
    2 – Slip in the FACT that there will be no deficit spending in future (most don’t even know what that means ..)
    3 – Force them to adhere to the ‘agreement’ which they all willingly signed…. (they only saw the 5%
    4 – Wait a few months until reality kicks in…

    The advantage of THIS approach over yours (and DeLiar’s ) is that while you assume that all are brass bowls and you just throw 15,000 overboard, The PM’s approach makes room for a few ‘pearls’ to demonstrate that they are golden vessels who CAN be productive and creative.

    These golden vessels will then throw the brass bowls overboard…. and the PM comes out smelling like a rose…
    Perhaps only 14,000 will then fall overboard…
    It is actually quite brilliant.

  4. Piece Uh De Rock Yeah Right Avatar
    Piece Uh De Rock Yeah Right

    @ Well Well & Consequences

    I am afraid that safeguarding one’s IP is not as simple as you said and I quote “…those in the society offering up ideas should know they should print a copy of their email, save the original…and monitor how and by whom their ideas are being used…and expose any abuse…”

    THat concept of the poor man’s patent is seriously lacking as a tool to gainsay authorship and more importantly the date of authorship.

    Let me simplify this for you (and other readers who even give a…).

    You know how sometimes you turn on your computer and you see a date and time stamp that is incorrect?

    It is possible for an individual to change that date stamp manually and then, as part of a fraudulent exercise, write said document(s) on the computer with the older date, and claim a priority date that proceeds its filing date (dont worry about that jargon, all it means is that they seek to defraud the date of authorship)

    So that Poor Man’s Patent DOES NOT WORK particularly as it relates to Patents that originate in the West Indies and other 3rd World Countries

    I would caution all Ideas4Barbados applicants to stay away UNLESS OR UNTIL THEY HAVE RECEIVED SUCH WRITTEN INCONTROVERTIBLE (NOTARIZED) DOCUMENTS that gives the submitter defensible IP status for their submissions.

  5. Artax Avatar
    Artax

    “Let me warn you – posts like that of BLP hitman Artax is what you will get if you post anything that does not say: ‘How great thou art Mia””

    T. Inniss

    You are a LIAR……..

    ………..and I CHALLENGE you, once again, to INDICATE where in any of my contributions I praise Mottley or that could be justifiably construed as “How great thou art Mia.”

    And the records will show that the only people I “hit” are you DLP yard-fowls, especially those like you that are deceitful in pretending to be neutral and have a specific agenda.

    You always present false information to mislead the forum and could never present any supporting evidence to substantiate the nonsense you contribute. When your shortcomings are identified, you retreat for a few hours or days, returning to spew more propaganda.

    Your style is reminiscent of the “Trinidadian Woman” of the call-in-program fame.

  6. Sargeant Avatar
    Sargeant

    @Hal A
    You seem to be perpetually engaged in arguments with others on the blog which ends with you or both exchanging insults. I was tempted to respond in kind but my better instincts kicked in and I’ll desist.

    Instead of trying to shift the goalpost I’ll get back to the genesis of this inconsequential back and forth. You defended Ms. Wiggins alleged use of intemperate language to her boss in front of her subordinates by writing ““Swearing and foul-mouthed language is part of popular Barbadian culture”. (Is that what you tell your friends in London?) I objected to that statement I never said anything about Ms. Wiggins’ suitability for the Senate as you implied.

    Now you go on about the Govt’s appointment of the majority of Senators please note that Ms. Wiggins is one of the GG’s appointees, it was always intended that the Gov’t have a majority of the seats in an unelected Senate otherwise the Senate could thwart the will of the elected House, this is not the USA where an elected Senate could thwart the will of the Congress and a popular elected President.

    Could you tell this idiot how you arrived at your conclusion that Solutions Barbados and UPP should have the majority of the seats in the Senate?

  7. Hal Austin Avatar
    Hal Austin

    Sargeant,

    Here you go again. I am not defending Ms Wiggins. I am saying that the alleged confrontation with her line manager is not a good enough reason to exclude her from the senate. There is a difference.
    And yes, vulgarity is part of Barbadian popular culture. You can object until the cows come home. Read my post again, typos and all.
    I am out of any further discussion on this issue.

  8. Enuff Avatar
    Enuff

    This blog does got me bawling. 🤣🤣 A whole setta new names popping up post May 24 pontificating on everything.
    Who says Guy is the woman boss? #washedincuss

  9. Artax Avatar
    Artax

    Enuff

    Yuh mean new names like T. Inniss?

    Hahahahaha

  10. Artax Avatar
    Artax

    “You seem to be perpetually engaged in arguments with others on the blog which ends with you or both exchanging insults. I was tempted to respond in kind but my better instincts kicked in and I’ll desist.”

    Sargeant

    Take heart…….ole Hal calling you an idiot isn’t that bad………..

    ………….at least he did not describe you as being “appallingly ignorant.”

    Hahahaha

  11. Hants Avatar
    Hants

    Deputy High Commissioner is supposed to be as qualified as the High Commissioner .

    Maybe there was a lot more to the confrontation than we know.

    Doesn’t matter now. Expect the usual replacement of Diplomats some of whom many have to

    reenter the civil service in Barbados.

  12. Sargeant Avatar
    Sargeant

    Atherley is replying to the Budget

  13. Sargeant Avatar
    Sargeant

    Just tuned in to watch Atherley and he is criticizing the previous Gov’t.

  14. Enuff Avatar
    Enuff

    Artax
    And one with many degrees, including a masters. PIMRHP do.🤣🤣

  15. millertheanunnaki Avatar
    millertheanunnaki

    @ David June 12, 2018 5:00 AM

    “Prodigal Son
    The respect you have for Professor Howard comes from where? You cannot respect the man and then question his motives. To be fair to Howard he has never been bashful about putting pen to paper to share a view over the years. The archive is there to support.”

    Has the same Prof. Howard (an old schoolmate of Bushie) ever expressed his objection to the imposition of tuition fees under the last administration?

    Has he expressed a view on the plan by the Mottley’s administration to remove such an imposition?

    Prof. Howard should cogitate long before showing any objection to the removal of tuition fees on undergraduate students at the UWI.

    He should not come across as wishing to kick down any ladder on which he benefited; not only as a ‘high-flying’ student but also as a career-long employee of the same teaching institution.

    For the professor emeritus knows full well that the Cave Hill campus cannot continue as a viable institution (especially the school of business and his former special class of the dismal science of economics) without a relatively large cohort of students passing through (throughput) at a ‘massively’ subsidized cost by the government.

    How many Bajan students who can afford to pay tuition fees with a snap of their parents’ fingers would not opt to attend a more internationally prestigious institution instead of that homegrown teaching and learning shop on the Hill, even with its panoramic view of the ‘Caribbean’ sea and salubrious surroundings?

    Why not view the announced removal of the tuition fees as a lifeline to the Cave Hill campus, and by extension, the continuing availability of opportunities to the ‘bright’ offspring of poor Bajans to fulfill their academic goals and intellectual dreams?

  16. NorthernObserver Avatar
    NorthernObserver

    Fair opening play.
    A little weak on expenses, maybe room for the IMF, guessing they will have demands, regardless of GoB’s actions. Revenue forecasts? I’d cut them by 33%.
    What I await is actions to investigate and prosecute occurrences in recent years. Then and only then will I know this GoB is serious and wants International investment.

  17. Well Well & Cut N' Paste At Your Service Avatar
    Well Well & Cut N’ Paste At Your Service

    Piece….or better yet, post their ideas to the blogs so the world can see from whence those ideas came, but dont post any that can be stolen and used to financially disenfranchise the population.

    In other words, post only those ideas which can help the government successfully implement policies to help the population as a whole.

  18. David Avatar
    David

    @Miller

    What about the other side of the argument? The affordability factor for government. The two sides must mesh to determine a practical result?

  19. David Avatar
    David

    Many of the proposals being forwarded as a counter by the LoO have been socialized on BU pages.

  20. Well Well & Cut N' Paste At Your Service Avatar
    Well Well & Cut N’ Paste At Your Service

    “These golden vessels will then throw the brass bowls overboard…. and the PM comes out smelling like a rose…
    Perhaps only 14,000 will then fall overboard…
    It is actually quite brilliant.”

    Lol..that was actually a point of discussion this morning, a great conversation piece, lots of laughs.

  21. The Affordability Factor Avatar
    The Affordability Factor

    Dave, ah Dave. You haven’t read a book since you left school, have you?

  22. Piece Uh De Rock Yeah Right Avatar
    Piece Uh De Rock Yeah Right

    The Mini Budget that was submitted yesterday was woefully lacking in anything that would even start to promote growth and proactively stimulate the Bajan economy.

    Barbados is a “failing state” if not a failed state and we are really not far removed from Greece or Argentina or any country that has been and continues to be in this state.

    The facts are that a one cart horse we really don’t have mush to rely on.

    Our imports exceed our exports and AS PER THE IMF EDICT, the government is in a bind.

    The NEW ADMINISTRATION, LED BY MADAMOISELLE PRIME MINISTER MIA MOTTLEY, HAS to jump start the economy and other sectors of our country working and contributing to reducing/offsetting the national expenditure.

    I am not an economist (like Chris Decimal Bonds WAS NOT A MINISTER OF FINANCE) so I cannot understand all of these theories and ting.

    However what I did do was to search for “success after sovereign default” and use the multiple examples to review similarities AND more importantly, the ways that they indicate how they were able to rebound.

    Among these searches de ole man found this “After Argentina ended the peso’s peg to the dollar, its economy collapsed. Yet five years on it was booming. Could that crisis provide a role model for Greece?”

    Now let me first make this disclaimer.

    There is not panacea that can be used for all problems HOWEVER one thing obtains here.

    If you have to import merchandise, you have to pay for them, and payment comes from somewhere in this case exports.

    Again the ole man is going to Leif liberally from the internet to highlight that you MUST HAVE EXPORTS to meet national expenses/imports “…and the Greek economy is dominated by tourism and shipping…”

    And it is obvious to even the most in grunt Cajan (of whole there are many) if you do not have the means to pay you will ultimately default.

    Ensuingly, the Prime Minister HAS NO CHOICE BUT TO create an environment where it gets the private sector to invest in the rebuilding efforts.

    So as far as this simple ole man sees that can be through (1) reducing the government’s spending in public works or salaries AS PER THE IMF Instructions (b) using a combination of smart incentives to get the private sector involved in supporting FOREX generating economic activities (that hopefully generate taxes and create new jobs) or (ii) promote the aggressive diversification of our economy into viable avenues

    The BLP IS GOING TO HAVE TO RESIZE THE SNIVEL SERVANTS ARMY OF OCCUPATION. Fullstop.

    So that address part of the #1 solution and irrespective of all the Campaign Promises THAT IS GOING TO BE THE OUTCOME.

    But here is where the rubber hits the road.

    There is very little in the way of smart incentives that seems to be on the table as incentives for the private sector.

    In fact, they are going to be taxes more!! And that is a disincentive right of the bat.

    And finally, what is the aggressive diversification strategy that is evident in this onerous Mini Budget?

    Me fears none, nada, not a one…

    It is as bland as what Chris Decimal Bonds has promoted for 10 years notwithstanding all three stages that it so eloquently declared…

  23. The Affordability Factor Avatar
    The Affordability Factor

    I have thick skin. I’m OK with commentators like Negroman and Hopi, et al, expressing what they really believe

  24. Mariposa Avatar
    Mariposa

    The signals are being sent from the White House that there will not be business as usual. The trade war has begun which is an external factor in barbados economy which would most likely contrbute to rise in prices as well the prices in airline industry upon which our tourism industry is dependable
    Those who sat at the table to create this budget obviuosly head their heads buried in the sand for the realities of how our economy is influenced by a global network drivers and all external must be incorporated for sustainable planning was omitted

  25. Enuff Avatar
    Enuff

    Mariposa
    What?

  26. Piece Uh De Rock Yeah Right Avatar
    Piece Uh De Rock Yeah Right

    @ Well Well and Consequences

    Conversely, DO NOT POST AT ALL, to anywhere on any internet. (and make sure to protect your port 9010 against security incursions, trojans and external applications) You would not know about these things but this is the domain that the Honourable Blogmaster has to guard against every day

    You have to adopt an attitude of “he who steals my purse steals trash” and be protective of your ideas.

    Here is another item de ole man just teifed from the internet “…The world’s largest innovators, including Google, Microsoft and Apple, seem to agree.

    During the past six months, these companies have spent more than $18 billion on intellectual property in the voice space alone.

    They’re investing top dollar to ensure that their corporate IP portfolios are diverse, rich in innovation, and allow them to hedge against many possible futures…”

    When your look at this statement of $18 billion something should go off in your head Well Well.

    Here you have white people MAKING SERIOUS INVESTMENTS in the IP portfolios independent of their actual investments in the solutions themselves!!

    Does the rationale of that action sink in for you?

    And the thing is that IT DOES NOT RESONATE WITH ANY OF THE SO CALLED Enterprise Growth Fund or Fund Access agencies which exist in this backwoods Bayou.

    Yet these are the people who are tasked to invest in innovations.

  27. Piece Uh De Rock Yeah Right Avatar
    Piece Uh De Rock Yeah Right

    @ THe Honourable Blogmaster

    Your assistance please with another item… in suspense

  28. Bushie and Isly gotma, er, bawlinnn Avatar
    Bushie and Isly gotma, er, bawlinnn

    Idiot who quite obviously has not read a book for more than forty years hasan opinion. Here dat pinyun …

    “What about the other side of the argument? The affordability factor for government. The two sides must mesh to determine a practical result?”

    Davy ya gotma … baw … linn. What lil hebrew boy what?

  29. millertheanunnaki Avatar
    millertheanunnaki

    @ David June 12, 2018 12:26 PM

    Here is the other side of the affordability argument:

    For every potential (and academically eligible) Bajan student who fails to enroll at the Cave Hill campus the unit cost of operations for those students who can afford to pay tuition fees rises significantly.

    Low or reduced enrolment numbers result in reduced amounts of economic costs contributed by the GoB to the overall revenue pool of the Campus.

    Less students enrolling at Cave Hill will result in sharp and, most likely, unaffordable increases in operating cost per student, given the massive overheads/fixed costs existing at that rapidly expanded behemoth with its unproductive erection(s)dedicated to the screwing of the Bajan taxpayers by Bushie’s main man Sir Hilary B.

    Many of the courses/programmes offered by the Cave Hill campus are not commercially self-financing and, therefore, must rely heavily on high enrolment numbers to justify their presence to attract funding from the local taxpayers’ coffers.

    How else can Cave Hill survive as teaching institution unless the local taxpayers can be convinced that it is a worthwhile investment in the country’s youth?

    So the equation remains the same: No government subsidies with fewer student enrolling equals NO Cave Hill in the medium to long-term.

  30. William Skinner Avatar
    William Skinner

    @ Hal

    Double standards all around. We have a blogmaster that calls anybody disagreeing with him a Jack Ass. One regular contributor cuss everybody on this blog as we say: “black as white”; we have a white QC who skin his backside at a black female judicial officer. Now all of a sudden we playing because a woman and she boss had a little flare up with a cuss word , she must be banished form the Senate. Dont worry with them Hal -they are a bundle of pathetic hypocrites.

  31. Hal Austin Avatar
    Hal Austin

    William,

    I can more than handle that. It is child’s play to me.

  32. Piece Uh De Rock Yeah RIght Avatar
    Piece Uh De Rock Yeah RIght

    @ The Honourable Blogmaster

    @ 12.29 today you commented that it appeared to you that the LoO was in fact repeating what is mentioned at length here on BU.

    Certainly, as the man who sees ALL THE HITS OF THIS WEBSITE you were saying that to elicit the usual responses and the ole man shall oblige you.

    I fact de ole man shall do a bit better than oblige I shall use de key points from de nation to mek a few responses that the said puppet installation of the LoO might incorporate in his upcoming dialogue to at lease APPEAR TO BE AN OPPOSITION

    “…1.i. Effective July 1, 2018 the National Social Responsibility Levy (NSRL) will be repealed. The Fair Trading Commission will be asked to monitor developments to ensure that retailers reduce their prices appropriately; The Leader of the BLP is tasking one of the most inept organisations in Barbados , THE FTC, an entity which cannot even determine if LIME overcharges the average citizen for its 2 free calls for Directory Assistance, when during a call they purposely provide callers with fax numbers or incorrect numbers, and then levy a fee for the correct number after you exceed the 2 call allowance.

    Madamoiselle Prime Minister Mottley cannot be serious when in two weeks, the FTC, unlike the Office for Public Counsel, is expected to be proactively monitoring for price gouging, when these FTC fellows, under Sandra Layne DONT EVEN WANT TO LEAVE THE AIRCONDITIONED COMFORT OF Green Hill.

    ii. Effective July 1, 2018 the road tax will be abolished and replaced with a Fuel Tax. The Fuel Tax will be levied at a rate of 40 cents per litre of petrol and diesel and 5 cents per litre on kerosene effective July 1, 2018; So de ole man would ask this question, by what means will the GoB be able to reconcile the monies collected, said 40 cents per litre with the monies that the owners of the Fuel Outlets? so if Esso say dat dem only sell 100 liters at $1 a litre yet dem declare dat dem only sell 50 litres HOW DE EFF dis vodoo mechanism going wuk?

    Or is this jes a way to mek sure dat de fellers who ent get to teif BNOTCL in the OPEN LIGHT OF DAY can continue to teif by night?

    Ohhhhhh de ole man sorry causing Madamoiselle Prime Minister Mottley did in fact say “You can hide and buy land BUT YOU CANNOT HIDE AND WUK UM”

    I dun comment pun de onerous corporation taxes as being an enemy to encouraging the private sector to assist in the growth of the economy other than to repeat that for any corporation which shows definitively that it has employed new workers continuously for a period of one year proceeding the year being claimed (PAYE and NIS will confirm such) said parties will be entitled to X% direct offset to said percentage increase on corporate taxes

    WITH A SPECIAL ACCOMMODATION RATHER INCENTIVES being accorded companies that are involved in and promote sustainable diversification initiatives

    viii. Effective October 1, 2018 an Airline Travel and Tourism Development tax paid by passengers flying outside of CARICOM of USD$70. Passengers flying within CARICOM will pay US $35. The revenue gain from this measure is $95M, with $75M going to BTMI and BTPI and the remaining $20 million to central Government ; This is bare SHY&&E! This is being punitive to bajans and show the total lack of foresight that this government has as it relates to marketing barbados

    But it also shows how the tourism sector has been cut up for the financial benefit of colleagues of Kerrie Simmonds Oblong Head and his colleagues OF WHO WE CAN BE ASSURED THAT MAM is NOT one, to the tune of $95 million dollars.

    EVEN before he and the rest of them, has/have received his/their first “Minister in the Office of the Minister…” cheques

    You know something though?

    In the face of all the COVENANTED Transparency and Freedom of Information talk this is already panning out to be a major fancy refashioning of the DLP regime that preceded this lot.

    It is not the presence of so called new ideas that are being espoused all over the media withing the last 2 weeks BUT IT IS THE ABSENCE OF SERIOUS DIVERSIFICATION alternatives that start to show how Madamoiselle Prime Minister Mottley has surrounded herself with the same Brass Bowls of impotent thought

    Steupseee

    I really ent got time to go through all the rest of these Bullshy$e proposals cause it is obvious why the IMF has repeated what it said to the last lot.

    @ the Honourable Prime Minister Mia Mottley…if you stay on this road YOU WILL BE A 5 year Prime Minister

  33. Enuff Avatar
    Enuff

    Instead of talking based on feelings. I would like one of the affordability proponents, to gather some info on the changes to the student body since the implementation of UWI tuition fees. Who it affected most, their socio-economic backgrounds etc and what alternatives were available. Public policy is based on feelings.

  34. Enuff Avatar
    Enuff

    Is not based on feelings.

  35. Youth ain't all bad. Avatar
    Youth ain’t all bad.

    Enuff the university I believe or maybe the guild was supposed to have been attempting to gather that data. Whether or not it was actually done or just not made public I do not know. Also the dems are live streaming a response to the budget if anyone needs a laugh.

  36. T.Inniss Avatar
    T.Inniss

    William Skinner good to see you back on.I would really like to see more of your contributions on this site as opposed to the postings from a few fowl pooch in here (if the cap fit then draw the string).

    Did you do a post on the elections result and its implications? That would be an interesting take.

  37. T.Inniss Avatar
    T.Inniss

    Tron

    I agree with your position @ 7:11 a.m. I too believe that the government should have started reducing the public sector as soon as they got in,late 2008 or early 2009.

    Remember Sandie did it during his time and Owen sent it right back up.So there should be some manpower study done as to the optimum size of the civil service and have the right skills fit to jobs.

  38. Sargeant Avatar
    Sargeant

    @Enuff

    If you have data to support your position you should share it, the point is this was the position of the Opposition Party now Gov’t from the time it was announced and the PM said the date was indelibly stuck in her head. It was also in its manifesto, now if you wrote that they are fulfilling a manifesto promise that’s one thing but to hint at evidence showing that numbers of certain socio- economic groups have declined since its implementation and leave us hanging does no justice to your position.

    BTW wouldn’t a needs- based assessment program help those who were maginalised by the decision to eliminate the fees?

  39. Anne Avatar
    Anne

    I am glad for the pensioners who will receive an extra $75,00 but my concern is if $1.50 per day is to be added to their water bill it means that for one week this will be $10.50 or $45.00 per month. So 45 from 75. This leaves them with 30 dollars. This tax which I have to pay is more than my present water bill.. Looking to Part 2.

  40. David Avatar
    David

    Didn™t the PM communicate that it is about all putting their shoulders to the plough?

  41. millertheanunnaki Avatar
    millertheanunnaki

    @ T.Inniss June 12, 2018 3:15 PM
    “William Skinner good to see you back on.I would really like to see more of your contributions on this site as opposed to the postings from a few fowl pooch in here (if the cap fit then draw the string).”

    All Willy Skinny can say at this time is that the people have spoken and that the voices of the people in unison in every one of the 30 constituency must be that of the total One Voice of his God.

    Even the people of St. John who were once pure-bred Bajan johnnies saw the Light of Wisdom and got rid of the Gordian knot of that despicable lying party from forming another government of destruction.

    The Bajan electorate was so pissed off with the goons who made up the electoral leadership face of the DLP that not even one man or one woman from that great party of EWB’s formation could solicit sufficient votes to be the face of the Opposition in Parliament.

    Come on T. Inniss, be truthful to yourself even if it galls you to the hilt.

    It wasn’t the BLP who brought total shame and abject scandal to your once dear loving party.

    It was the good People of Barbados who formed an army of righteousness to rise up against that dangerous lying party of pimps parading as the DLP.

    Aren’t you totally ashamed of what the people of Barbados and especially those go(o)dly people from the now enlightened parish of St. John have done to your once great and proud party just because a pure-bred ugly jackass was pulling the yellow and blue cart full of low-class goons and marked ‘Vote Against the People’s Army’?

  42. Artax Avatar
    Artax

    “Come on T. Inniss, be truthful to yourself even if it galls you to the hilt.”

    Miller

    Please behave yourself and cut T. Inniss some slack……..lest you’re deemed to be among the “few fowl pooch in here.”

  43. Enuff Avatar
    Enuff

    Sargeant

    I seldom do more than four-line contributions. I do recall the law and medical faculties holding, Soc. Sci however and others were hit hard. Draw your own conclusions. Can we afford not to have university graduates should be the question. Some of the naysayers, went to 3/4 universities and one even recently recommended a man to offer the government advice–a man that is a lawyer and went to university free. I just caaaant at times.

  44. Hal Austin Avatar
    Hal Austin

    Enuff,
    T|here are two important facts: first, a small developing nations needs to invest in the education of future generations; second, we just cannot afford to offer ‘free’ education to every student at an ever-expanding university.
    A better model will be to offer loans to every student who gains a place at university to be repaid on graduation and finding a graduate-type job. The money will then return to a pot to be used to fund future generations.
    Remember a university degree is a stepping home to higher wages and an improved lifestyle. It is unfair to use the taxes of ordinary working people, largely unskilled and non-graduates, to improve the lifestyles and opportunities for a few.
    What percentage of our school leavers go on to university? And of those, what percentage graduates and in what subjects?
    A graduate in each home is a perverse objective. Such a policy would devalue a university education.

  45. millertheanunnaki Avatar
    millertheanunnaki

    @ Anne June 12, 2018 3:47 PM
    “I am glad for the pensioners who will receive an extra $75,00 but my concern is if $1.50 per day is to be added to their water bill it means that for one week this will be $10.50 or $45.00 per month. So 45 from 75. This leaves them with 30 dollars. This tax which I have to pay is more than my present water bill.. Looking to Part 2.”

    You do have a good point there!

    A more imaginatively and creatively productive approach would have involved a combination of strategies aimed at penalizing the water wasters and the producers of garbage to help fund the BWA and SSA.

    Why not make it $0.50 per day while recovering the rest of the cost for the SSA from those consumers who create the excess garbage in the first place?

    Why not impose a tax on consumers of fast food who dispose of their ‘garbage’ all over the highways and byways?

    What about making pay upfront those who insist on the overuse of plastics and other unnecessary wrapping/packaging material which finds itself through irresponsible human activity despoiling the landscape?

    What about those ‘heavy’ water users who, with financial impunity, like to consume much more than their fair and considered ‘reasonable share’ for the average household?

    Why not let them pay heavily as they waste water in an already water-scarce small island and facing the challenges of extended drought periods and those of man-made climate change?

  46. Well Well & Cut N' Paste At Your Service Avatar
    Well Well & Cut N’ Paste At Your Service

    Piece…got ya.

    They may or may not learn..as long as they got status and titles, nothing else is of any importance to them.

    As one in the know told me, first they sold each other out for glass and beads…then came the 1960s and “independence”a delusion in their minds only….and they sold it each out for status and title to cover up what they really did to their own people. ………then comes this era and…………………….I leave you to fill in the rest.

  47. millertheanunnaki Avatar
    millertheanunnaki

    @ T.Inniss June 12, 2018 3:24 PM
    “Tron I agree with your position @ 7:11 a.m. I too believe that the government should have started reducing the public sector as soon as they got in,late 2008 or early 2009.”

    But they did in the 2013-2014 fiscal period by terminating the services of thousands of public sector workers.

    We are sure you can remember at least some of the fiscal cannon fodder in the form of the NCC and Beautify Barbados crews who were decimated on political partisan grounds just to appease the god of fiscal mismanagement.

    In the same 2014 budget presentation didn’t Stinkliar say that approx. 4,500 additional public sector positions would have become ‘excess to requirements’ through a ‘planned process of attrition and a damper on future hiring?

    However, better late than never, wouldn’t you say despite the hiring of thousands in 2017 and 2018 period of pork-barreling?

    PS:
    A word to the wise:
    Tron, you are a man who is highly rated on BU.

    But we would strongly advise you to beware of those Greeks like T. Inniss bearing gifts in showers of praise of how great thou art.

    A month ago the same Inniss in the form of Fractured BLP or even the many pussy ac would have been cutting your throat for making similar observations under a deceitful lying pompous former administration now called the Dead Lying Party.

  48. Tron Avatar
    Tron

    I know Miller. Just for the protocoll:

    PM MAM has now to sort out 10 years of economic madness.

    The credit default and the latest downgrade are not her fault.

  49. Well, Well Avatar
    Well, Well

    Miller..pure jokes with the defunct DLPs answer to the budget, someone said at least Dumbville, Estwick, Lashley and Depeiza found 4 seats..lol

  50. Artax Avatar
    Artax

    Tron

    We are talking about a “bloated civil service,” yet, the RBPF remains short of 230 police officers and for several years, the Audit General has been asking for additional auditors.

    I support Lynette Eastmond’s policies for the civil service. The UPP believes there is a need to review the allocation of personnel across the Civil Service.

    On pages 5 & 6 of their manifesto, the UPP mentioned the following:

    “Barbados has already suffered a number of layoffs in the public sector and there has been a freeze on wages. Based on the information available the Progressive Party DOES NOT BELIEVE that there is a NEED for FURTHER MASSIVE LAYOFFS at this time. For many years now it has been recognised that there is a need to review the allocation of personnel across the Civil Service. There are Departments where the need for client services has shrunk but yet they retain the same staff complement, while there are others from which more is demanded but remain understaffed and under resourced.”

    The UPP outlined the following policy initiatives:

    a. review the ALLOCATION of personnel ACROSS the sector;

    b. take advantage of the NATURAL ATTRITION by leaving positions vacant where possible;

    c. engage in transfers from one equivalent post to another where departments are over staffed; and

    d. eliminate unnecessary consultancies while ensuring that any future consultancies are based on performance.

    Government should also look at merging SOE that provide similar services, such as NAB, NHC, RDC and UDC. It is interesting to note that NAB’s Housing Welfare Department was closed to facilitate the establishment of RDC and UDC.

    Unfortunately, however, a merger of these entities would obviously result in a retrenchment of staff at all levels……from senior management to line employees.

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