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Submitted by Mr. Anonymous

Overheard government MPs today shouting from the mountaintop about the 5% salary increase and how it will give “breakfast before the long journey.”
Well, HALLELUJAH!!!!!

I just found out that because of the generous 5% salary increase graciously bestowed on me by my caring government that I will get an increment of $154. (I’m an extremely prosperous and affluent middle class worker at Z5 in the salary scale).

Finally I will be able to pay that minor $45 increase on my water bill without worry.

Clearly this will now let me pay that welcome 1% or ($52.80, Z5) in my Health Service Contribution starting October 1.

And yes! I am eternally thankful for the removal of $450 ($48/mth) in road tax. This means I can now fill my 42 litre tank 6 times a month at ONLY a MERE increase of $76.49 more than I would usually pay. (EY Budget Analysis page 10)

Again I say AMEN! My $154 increase COMFORTABLY takes care of my $45 water + $52.80 health + $76.49 gas increases. By the way, I applaud the conscientious and civic minded retailers for dropping their prices since the NSRL removal. My dollar is definitely stretching now!!!!

I have a colleague at the lower end of the scale who feels as good as me. After all, she’s now going to get $76 – $87 more a month to handle her business. Woo hooo!!!!

Lastly, all repects to Mr. MacDowall and Mrs. Moore. They have certainly served us well.

Why hold out for 15% or 23% with back pay when you can take 5% from April this year and 0% from before then???? Sweet!!!

Even sweeter is the fact that I get to keep my appointed job so I can console my temporary friends who are about to lose theirs with a scalpel rather than an axe. The scalpel will surely ease the pain.

My Prime Minister said it well – “We are not being profligate, but if you want people to embark on a long march then you have to make sure they don’t do it on an empty belly,” (Wigglesworth, R., June 5, 2018)

Brother Bob said it better though – “A belly full but them hungry” (Robert Nesta)

“A regular but anonymous blogger”

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103 responses to “Belly Full, Still Hungry”

  1. Bernard Codrington Avatar
    Bernard Codrington

    @ David BU at 11 :44 AM

    And you are right. In the recession phase one would expect a change of strategy to suit the new environment. Adjustments were made during the 15 years of the Arthur Era when necessary. Those were the years in which the fault lines appeared and he dealt with them competently. The results are there for all to see.

    Similarly, one would have expected a change in strategy in the period 2008 and 2018. Different issues financial meltdown in our main trading partners economies. Disappearance of a major beam in our tax revenue and foreign exchange platforms . Where were the measures to replace these?

    Here we are in the 2018 to 2023 period and we are in danger of entering another wasted period of blaming the last administration. That is not a sensible approach to managing the polity and economy of Barbados. Barbados is like a ship in a turbulent sea. We need brinkmanship not blame allocators and loud music to distract us from the difficult tasks at hand.

  2. Bush Tea Avatar
    Bush Tea

    @ David
    Owen is a PARTICULARLY bad example to use -precisely because he had the potential to be so GOOD a leader.
    He was decisive enough, intelligent enough and established enough (after the first term) to take us to the top of the heap – in terms of model developing countries.

    He got distracted with his own importance and PR, and ended up doing lots of shiite (like CSME), and throwing money around like it grew on trees.
    Instead of ACTUALLY solving problems, he created illusions – Public Sector Reform; productivity council, Social Partnership, Joining with Sir Cave Hilary to waste MILLIONS on having a mock graduate in every household…

    Worst of all, he paved the way for a bunch of retarded DLP jackasses to displace him by tolerating VECO, 3S and cheques from Trickidadian banks…..

    Then the DLP morons decided to outdo him at his game of borrowing and bribing …and the rest is history.

    Nobody knows this better than Bernard…..

  3. Bush Tea Avatar
    Bush Tea

    We need brinkmanship not blame allocators
    +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
    Wrong….
    Unless be come to understand where we went wrong, you can DEPEND on brass bowls to create deja vows all over again…

    Salvation REQUIRES repentance FIRST, forgiveness SECOND, and then a NEW path.
    If you NEVER take step 1 then we are dead….

  4. David Avatar
    David

    @Bush Tea

    Under Owen we had the rotten mains of the BWA. We had the degree in every home that was unsustainable we know, there was the rise of the SOEs and you can list more to be sure.

    He flew too many kites!

    Not the hallmark of a good leader. Leaders lead.

  5. David Avatar
    David

    @Bernard

    We can agree to disagree.

    Besides embarking on a strategy of pursuing a service based economy to the neglect of all other sectors what was his strategy?

  6. Redguard Avatar
    Redguard

    According to T. Inniss drastic measures were taken, like the PM no longer flying commercial but Private.

    Anyway back to the present. I am curious as to how much of an effect the survey results will have on the decisions to be made. Why is a survey needed to decide what to do with the likes of NISE, the Productivity council and Invest Barbados.

    Decisions should be based on evidence, past performance and importance to national development. Percy the pig was a failure, government workers are still unmannerly, the Productivity council never focused on the most unproductive group, the Civil service and Invest Barbados has nothing to show for the last 10 years.

    No scalpel need, a big ax will do just fine

    What happens if the survey results show Bajans see NISE as important, what then, it stays and Kim Tudor keeps her job and creates another stupid character maybe Donville the Donkey

    Make a decision, explain the process that led to this decision, provide supporting evidence and move on.

  7. Bernard Codrington Avatar
    Bernard Codrington

    @ David BU

    The economic models for Barbados and the rest of the world are changed when they are irrelevant to the tasks at hand. They are like tools in a carpenter’s tool box. One chooses the model fit for purpose. The world is dynamic.

  8. David Avatar
    David

    The survey was explained severally times on the blog. An important tactic implementing austerity measures is to find ways to coopt the support of the general public. It must appear to be participatory. Having a mandate in only one variable in the equation.

  9. Tron Avatar
    Tron

    Bush Tea,

    “productivity council”? Was that about assembling paper planes?

    Do not worry. The future is bright. I see light at the end of the tunnel. The magic formula called “devaluation” will soon increase productivity. Just watch how they work in Jamaica and Guyana. Barbadians will also start to work from 6 AM to 6 PM and will get acustomed to ride donkeys very soon.

  10. Bush Tea Avatar
    Bush Tea

    ….Kim Tudor keeps her job and creates another stupid character maybe Donville the Donkey
    ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
    That is a bit low RedG…. ouch!!!

    There is actually nothing wrong with having a proactive, consultative process as an INTEGRAL part of change management.
    In fact, it is text-book-correct…. and clinically sharp.
    This way, all the naysayers who would have come along AFTERWARDS with ‘better options’ are now challenged to bring them UP FRONT or to shut up…
    …ands if they come with brilliant (and better) ideas up front, then the government simply adopt THOSE ideas…. Win Win…

    When the fan is turned on, and the South Coast Stuff starts to fly, not a boy will be able to say jack shit…
    The ONLY remaining question now is if Motley has a BigAss (c) fan (like the one at Foundation School)
    …. or a powder puff – like she had in the old days….

  11. Bernard Codrington Avatar
    Bernard Codrington

    @ Bush Tea

    You wrote: “Nobody knows this better than Bernard”.

    And you are so right and from many angles. So I do not intend to disagree. I admire competence . I do not expect perfection from my political and religious leaders.

  12. Artaxerxes Avatar
    Artaxerxes

    “Worst of all, he paved the way for a bunch of retarded DLP jackasses to displace him by tolerating VECO, 3S and cheques from Trickidadian banks…..

    Then the DLP morons decided to outdo him at his game of borrowing and bribing …and the rest is history.”

    Bush Tea

    Your 11:05 AM received an overwhelming “round of applause from T. Inniss.

    However, since you included characterisations such as “a bunch of retarded DLP jackasses” and “DLP morons” in your 12:30 PM contribution……..

    ………I don’t anticipate his/her to display a similar eagerness to “cluck”……… sorry, I meant……”clap” any time soon.

  13. Bush Tea Avatar
    Bush Tea

    LOL @ Bernard
    I do not expect perfection from my political and religious leaders.
    ++++++++++++++++
    That is not the root problem B.
    You are a peace-maker, and will probably inherit the Earth (whatever the albino-centrics leave of it…)

    But Bushie is a ‘whacker wielder’ –
    Bushmen are not here to bring peace – but a sword (or whacker when available…)
    LOL

  14. James Greene Avatar
    James Greene

    “In the context of a global shortage of skilled labour and double- and triple-dip recessions, cutting access to free tertiary academic education in Barbados isn’t necessarily a bad idea. The introduction of free secondary and tertiary education under the Honorable Errol Barrow was meant to create an educated and proficient postcolonial Barbados. The “one graduate per household” policy, later espoused by Sir Hilary Beckles and the Honorable Owen Arthur, is attached to the old hat practice of training professionals and technocrats for the civil service. With the universal understanding that economic growth and social security are not symbiotic processes, and that one must expand exponentially to support the other, it may be time for Beckles’ concept to move on.

    Why doesn’t it make sense?

    It costs too much, especially when compared to other options *

    According to this article, the Barbadian government spent US$271.6 million on higher education between 1999 and 2007, and US$318.15 million from 2008 to 2012. That is a shift in spending from US$24.69 million a year to US$79.54 million a year! While the recession may be a contributing factor to the upshot in cost, that is still an astronomical increase in cost. Spending per tertiary student as a percentage of GDP per capita is 50.39% as of 2010. Part time student enrolment has jumped 141% in 10 years, and the main area of concentration is the Faculty of Social Sciences [1] (admittedly, Cave Hill is heavy on Social Sciences).
    In sharp contrast, the budget of the Barbados Community College (BCC) has expanded from US$11 million to US$12 million between 2002 and 2010.”

    http://www.ccrtd.org/blog/2013/9/29/subsidized-educationand-then-what-why-the-barbadian-social-contract-no-longer-makes-sense#.WwlmH9Mvy4Q=

    time to means test, complete your degree in 3 years or repayment or free uni for certain degrees. we cannot continue like this

  15. James Greene Avatar
    James Greene

    BRIDGETOWN, Feb 13 1996 (IPS) – The government here might have decreed it the state’s responsibility to pay for students attending the local campus of the University of the West Indies (UWI), but the debate on the issue is far from over.

    Many taxpayers here are complaining that they do not see why they must continue to fund education for students, many of whom are failing dismally at their courses.

    Disgruntled taxpayers have a champion in educator Dr Leonard Shorey who headed a commission charged with providing recommendations for financing tertiary education.

    Shorey believes students should pay the full cost of their own tertiary education.

    The 12 member commission however, insisted that students pay 50 percent of the cost and that such payment be firmly linked to the establishment of adequate and well planned support provisions for the students.

    But the Owen Arthur administration has ignored both Shorey and the recommendations of the commission he headed. The government recently announced that it would pay the three million U.S. dollars it cost to educate 2,208 Barbadians annually at the UWI’s Cave Hill campus. This continues the tradition of state subsidised tertiary education.

    “There will simply be no tuition fees,” said Education Minister Mia Mottley.

    “We have determined that in the same way we can bring about fiscal incentives and subsidies for inputs pertaining to the economic sectors, whether duty-free for manufacturing or tourism, the government will treat the question of students’ fees as an economic cost that we are committed to pay,” she added.

    “It was in a defining philosophical moment that the Cabinet decided to treat education as an economic sector with the full realisation that on a growth path of knowledge-based and skill- intensive industries, the major input of that sector was human resource development.”

    The ruling appears to be a bitter pill for many Barbadians to swallow.

    Critics of the decision point to data which show that students are failing their courses at an alarming rate. An investigation is soon to start on the high failure rate.

    According to data from university departmental reports covering the years 1991 to 1994, as much as 50 percent of those enrolled in certain courses at the institution’s Natural and Social Sciences faculties are failing these subjects.

    “This situation is a very disturbing one,” wrote the Shorey Commission on the issue. “It indicates a considerable waste of resources which the country can ill-afford and to which the campus must necessarily be called upon to give serious attention.”

    recommendation of the commission set up by Arthur nixed by MAM

    http://www.ipsnews.net/1996/02/barbados-education-to-pay-or-not-to-pay/

  16. James Greene Avatar
    James Greene

    “From next year, Barbadians pursuing studies at the campuses of the University of the West Indies will be required to pay tuition fees, while Government continues to foot the economic costs. This was one of the measures in today’s Budget presented by Minister of Finance Chris Sinckler who said this policy would reduce the transfer to UWI by an estimated $42 million a year.

    He said: “According to the most recent scale of fees, tuition fees for students in the Faculties of Humanities and Education, Social Sciences and Science & Technology tuition fees are $5 625 for a full time student (half for part-time and economic cost is $28 125. For the Faculty of Law tuition fees are $8,808 and economic cost $44,040, while for the Faculty of Medical Sciences – Clinical tuition fees are $16,618 and economic cost $83,090, and for Medical Sciences – Pre-Clinical tuition fees are $65 000”. Sinckler said Government recognized that access to education at all levels was a key factor in the success of Barbados as a society and an economy.

    “The DLP remains committed to, and fully supportive of, the continued growth and development of UWI Cave Hill and increased access to tertiary education for Barbadians,” he said. Sinckler said the expansion at the Cave Hill Campus had resulted in major increases in the Government’s contribution to UWI. “In about 2003/2004 the Cave Hill Campus began a major expansion in terms of the numbers of students and the amenities offered.

    In 1999 for example, there were around 3 568 undergraduate students at the Cave Hill and by 2007 this number had increased to around 6 718 and currently stands at around 7 200 students. The expansion has meant major increases in the Government of Barbados’ contribution to UWI. “For example, in 2007, the financial contribution of the Barbados government to UWI Cave Hill was $79.3 million dollars, a $28.3 million over the $51 million required in 1999. However, between 2007 and 2008 the annual contribution required from the Government of Barbados increased from $79.3 million to $120.5 million.

    To put things in context, for the entire period 1999 to 2007 combined, the total contribution required from the Government of Barbados to the Cave Hill Campus was $543.2 million, compared to the $636.3 million dollar contribution required for the 2008 to 2012 period. The reality is that the amount required in the last five years was $93 million greater than the previous nine years combined”.

    Sinckler said the stark reality was that since around 2006, the total contribution by the Government of Barbados to UWI had exceeded the combined contribution to all nursery schools, primary schools, secondary schools, Barbados Community College and the Samuel Jackman Prescod Polytechnic. “While remaining committed to providing continued access to university education, the Government cannot continue to preside over a situation where the growth and development of the non-university component education system is severely retarded. The country needs to be able to build capacity at all levels”.

    http://www.nationnews.com/nationnews/news/51145/bajans-pay-tuition-fees-uwi-2014

  17. Redguard Avatar
    Redguard

    There is actually nothing wrong with having a proactive, consultative process as an INTEGRAL part of change management.
    In fact, it is text-book-correct…. and clinically sharp

    Agreed Bush Tea, but this works best when one knows where one wants to go or one’s intentions are genuine. Can we say that about Mia.

    We’ve been given breakfast and told we are going on a long journey. But is it a long journey to the promise land or will we wander around in the wilderness for years.

  18. Bernard Codrington Avatar
    Bernard Codrington

    @ David BU

    re BWA broken mains.

    I think you need to research when the BWA mains were identified as a source of leakage of revenue and water supply.
    You may also need to identify when money was laid aside to fix these leakages
    You may want to ask when those funds were vired for other purposes.
    Having done this, you will need to correct your assertion.

  19. NorthernObserver Avatar
    NorthernObserver

    For 12 years I have been a volunteer at a local credit counselling service. I am no longer ‘sweet and understanding’ because it takes too long to extract the TRUTH, which I already know, because 90% of all cases are the same. The person on the other side of the table has a problem, but until I can get them to accept THEY HAVE a problem, all they want are “solutions” which do not affect them in any meaningful way. Some will tell me “I hear you have a way to make credit card debt go away”, in other words, get them in a better position without any pain. They will blame an employer, an ex, a deal gone bad, a family member, an illness, anything which places responsibility anywhere, but on THEIR decisions.
    On this @BC is correct, trying to attach blame doesn’t solve anything. @BT, understanding takes time and a desire. You cannot expect all those with an agenda of making one group out to be worse than any other group, to change? (repent). Yet, BARBADOS needs to make decisions, and we know beforehand they will be politicized.

  20. James Greene Avatar
    James Greene

    Govts are in the business of getting elected and reelected. Blaming the other side helps win election and absolving your side from some if not all blame. So it will not stop any time soon.

  21. Tron Avatar
    Tron

    The civil servants talk about a salary hike and that they need more money when at the same time the island needs a grand purge in the civil service and cutting the cost of labour by at least 30 %. What a disaster.

  22. Bernard Codrington Avatar
    Bernard Codrington

    @ James Greene at1 :49 PM

    Those of us who went to the polling stations on 24 May 2018 voted for a party to form the GoB to manage our affairs efficiently and effectively. We already knew who caused what. We are no longer interested in allocating blame we want and expect proper management of the affairs of Barbados. This is not a sports match. There are no losers and no winners. We are not about that.

  23. James Greene Avatar
    James Greene

    that is why they should have taken up the DLP offer of a one time payment of 49mil plus other incentives.

    instead they agitated to get rid of the DLP and having done so within a week of the new govt accepted an offer of 5%. and convinced their members that this was a better offer than the 23% they were demanding from the DLP.

  24. Tron Avatar
    Tron

    James,

    For your relief: Devaluation will not distinguish between DLP and BLP. DLP-ex-Ministers and present BLP-Ministers alike will get their pay reduced by 50 to 75 %.

    The international financial market also does not care about DLP or BLP. They want their money back.

  25. Mariposa Avatar
    Mariposa

    Wuh loss look wuh happening in broke bubadus
    The miniters getting their spoils
    Great going Prescod
    Ministers get pay raises

  26. Mariposa Avatar
    Mariposa

    Can some one explain this vodoo economics for me. 5000 public servants going home and the ministers including all the additions getting pay hikes
    What is Wrong with this picture

  27. Mariposa Avatar
    Mariposa

    David why havent u posted all this breaking news about Mia policies the headlines screaming
    From default! To ministers pay increases and 5000 public workers lay off.
    David stop trying so hard to be a cover up agent for this govt.You can do better

  28. Guest Avatar
    Guest

    Bernard Codrington August 15, 2018 2:12 PM/”…There are no losers and no winners…”

    I disagree where tax defaulters receive waivers and investors in GoB debt receive reduced interest or other reduction in their investment.

  29. Guest Avatar
    Guest

    To the revenue commissioner – every company in Barbados files a document with corporate affairs called a notice of directors. Cross reference the names of the directors on those documents to directors fees declared as taxable income and investigate the ones that are not congruent and ease off the investors in the process.

  30. TheOGazerts Avatar
    TheOGazerts

    The last set of posts to BU see,m to be a rehash of earlier stuff. Just that those on the left seem to be on the right and those that were on the right seem to be on the left.
    Orwellian?
    Alice in Wonderland?
    Piece seem to think it will be 1984

  31. Guest Avatar
    Guest

    Many of the investors are pensioners that invested in the GoB debt to supplement their monthly pension.

  32. Wily Coyote Avatar
    Wily Coyote

    @Guest

    “Many of the investors are pensioners that invested in the GoB debt to supplement their monthly pension.”

    FOOLS AND THEIR MONEY ARE EASILY SEPARATED.

  33. Guest Avatar
    Guest

    Wily Coyote August 15, 2018 7:51 PM/”…FOOLS AND THEIR MONEY ARE EASILY SEPARATED.”

    Yes, I agree, by crooked political yardfowls.

  34. TheOGazerts Avatar
    TheOGazerts

    Saw this post about a woman, her land and some BLPites.
    Not one blogger commented.
    Reminded me of when the Herbert story first broke; couldn’t even find it on FB.
    Had to go to the naked woman.
    Scared of their own shadows and will fix a country

  35. Tron Avatar
    Tron

    @Mariposa August 15, 2018 5:51 PM

    5,000? You are joking. We all know that Barbadians are unable to improve productivity.

    Uncle IMF won´t be so easily fooled like Credit Suisse in 2013. The old gov sent home 3,000 initially and rehired most before last elections. So expect if the IMF demands to kick out 5,000 and there is no substantial improvement as in 2013-2015, the IMF will demand an even bigger purge with 10,000 and/or devaluation in 2020.

    The IMF won´t waive any debts to enable “educated” Barbadians to play gov in their silver E 250 toys. Barbados is not yet amongst the least developed countries. Not yet.

  36. Guest Avatar
    Guest

    With a 29-1 majority that the last administration did not have the GoB should consider a law to adopt ES’ solution and reduce salaries across the public service by the desired percentage. This way everybody eats, everybody hurts

  37. Bush Tea Avatar
    Bush Tea

    @ Guest
    the GoB should consider a law to adopt ES’ solution and reduce salaries across the public service by the desired percentage.
    ++++++++++++++++++
    This will never happen. Brass bowls do not operate with such common sense.
    It is too obvious and too comprehensive a solution.

  38. Tron Avatar
    Tron

    At least the 5% salary increase will accelerate devaluation and serves a higher purpose at the very end.

    Ceterum censeo BBD esse devaluendam.

  39. Guest Avatar
    Guest

    Every man should hear this from at least one woman in his lifetime

  40. 45govt Avatar
    45govt

    Great record Mr Guest! Thanks for the memory! How about this one…

  41. Dr Ian A Marshall Avatar
    Dr Ian A Marshall

    Mr Anonymous very very well said. This fiasco reminds me of Animal Farm. The hurtful thing is that the majority of bajans are behaving like Boxer and we all know the fate he suffered. I wonder who owns the glue factory

  42. David Avatar
    David

    The situation unfolding in Barbados is reminiscent of Greece. We want to live as there is no problem. Some MPs and Senators want increase renumeration. The unionists want pa hikes. We want every brand of cornflakes on the supermarket shelves. We want the latest ride etc etc etc.

  43. Tron Avatar
    Tron

    There is no need for any adjustment in the public sector nor for any salary cut. Just devalue the Barbados Dollar to 1:10 and gov can easily raise the salaries by 20 % per year.

    We will have less SUVs and Mercedes on the road, but more donkeys, slimmer people and less fast-food.

  44. Bush Tea Avatar
    Bush Tea

    The most amazing aspect of our predicament is the extent to which most people are COMPLETELY ignorant of the basic genesis of the problem.

    Wuh if we spent so much time, money, resources and effort on ‘EDUCATION’ over the last two generations; and have now arrived at a point where we need assistance from countries that basically left such ‘education’ to the private sector and to the ability of parents to pay… What does this say about what we are learning….?

    Some shiite is FUNDAMENTALLY wrong…..
    it does not take a brainiac to work this out….
    Yet, we continue spending more and more …doing the same shiite over and over …and expecting that results will be different.

    Who knows…?
    Perhaps next year we can top one million visitors …and we can have 100 Barbados Scholars…..

    Brass Bowls….!!! Them belly full – while we are hungry…
    In response to the problem, brass bowls tend to :

    ..forget their troubles and dance, forget their worries and dance…
    But when the cost of living get so high, that the rich and poor they start to cry..
    Then the weak must get strong …when the hungry mob becomes an angry mob…
    They say… OH what a tribulation

    Like it or not…
    ….eventually we are ALL going to dance to JAH music.

  45. Observing Avatar
    Observing

    @david 6:!7
    Therein lies the problem. As Bush Tea says ad nauseum, our issues are systemic and attitudinal
    We want everything the way it was, without sacrifice, without taxes and without austerity.

    The BLP deserves their honeymoon but until forex stops leaking, shite stops being pumped into the swamp, government expenses match revenue and we stop borrowing to make our statistics look good we will always be in ducks guts.

    re. OSA – that 2 billion forex came from sales of entities, international business and increased land prices
    re. DJT – attempted to keep things as they were in a depressed climate that never had a chance of recovering
    re. FJS – did nothing really.

    So here we are. Promises galore, plenty smoke and mirrors, press conferences grandmudda and then what…..

    Same sub cultures, same socioeconomic divide, same irrelevant education, same lacksadaisical public sector attitude, same low productivity, same square pegs in round holes, same political decisions rather than practical ones.

    Why? Because we like it so. Because the last bunch were so bad, that this bunch can now do wrong. Because if you applaud one, it means you are pulling down the other.

    The rhetoric is laudable, I await the results. NUPW and BWU for another thread.
    I’ll reserve comments on

    Just observing

  46. Redguard Avatar
    Redguard

    We are living in the IG age (not instagram but Instant Gratification).

    Bajans kicked out the DLP and they demand instant gratification so:
    They got a 5% pay increase
    Free UWI tuition restored
    NSRL removed
    Road tax removed
    New fancy ministries
    Ministers with Instagram accounts

    But instant gratification is fleeting, 5 minutes of joy followed by 55 minutes of misery. The 5 minutes are almost up.

  47. Bush Tea Avatar
    Bush Tea

    5 minutes of joy followed by 5 YEARS of misery…. is more like it….

  48. sirfuzzy (i was a sheep some years ago; not a sheep anymore) Avatar
    sirfuzzy (i was a sheep some years ago; not a sheep anymore)

    Since the senate is not an elected body actually a selected body. Mainly filled with “want to bees ” and “wash outers”.

    Why do we need to pay them; it should be a national privilege of unknown magnitude to be selected as a senator. We got 270,00 folks; about 180000 are adult age and can serve in the upper house. We chose a mere 21 for this role. Thus u and eye have a 0.011666667% chance of becoming a senator. The 0.011666667% sound like the rate of interest paid by bank on saving.

    They should do their national duty to the country/nation and serve free of cost or perks?

    Just asking

  49. Hants Avatar
    Hants

    Senator Franklyn cares about poor people.

    ““It is not fair to them. They waited ten years, five revisions… and in all those years you gave them basically half of one per cent, per year at the bottom… In this salary revision, people who need the money least of all [will be] getting a whopping sum; at the level of the permanent secretary he is going to get $616.36 and the Prime Minister is going to get $846.56. They don’t need it. The people at the bottom [are] who really need the money, the fellow that is getting the $96, who has children to send to school, who got a mortgage to pay, who in some instances getting in trouble for not coming to work, not because they don’t want to work, but because he ain’t got enough bus fare,” he said.”

  50. Mariposa Avatar
    Mariposa

    https://m.facebook.com/story.php?story_fbid=2197215560292762&id=100000130192859

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