The Upper House is currently debating the Estimates 2020 – 2021. Debating is a strange word given the fact the Barbados Labour Party won all the seats in parliament 30 to 0. A wart of the government system.
The 2020 -2021 Draft Estimates document
Follow the debate from 10AM of Parliament TV.
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What we need to do is to increase our food production NOW. But how do we do that at the beginning of a 3 or 4 month long very, very dry season?
Other thing can wait. But people always need food now.
For those people who think that agriculture i Barbados is nothing, and that we should import all of our food from foreign places, what happens when we can’t let the ships into our port?
@Baje February 28, 2020 3:24 PM “USA, CANADA, UK ARE FIRST WORLD COUNTRIES. NONE OF THOSE COUNTRIES COME BEGGING TO BARBADOS GOVERNMENT TO FIND THEIR PEOPLE JOBS OR HANDOUTS.”
United States’ population density:87 people per square mile.
Canada’s population density: 10.2 per square mile
United Kingdom’s population density: 701.1 per square mile
Barbados: 1709.4 per square mile
United States’ birth rate:1.80 births per woman
Canada’s birth rate: 1.60 births per woman
United Kingdom’s birth rate: 1.80 births per woman
Barbados’ birth rate: 1.80 births per woman
I guarantee you that if the United States, Canada, or the United Kingdom had a population density of 1709.4 per square mile, we would already have had World War 3, perhaps World War 4, and very likely Armageddon.
What do you want us to do because “yes” we are over populated. Kill our children? siblings? spouses? grandparents? grandchildren?
Tell me what you think that we should do?
@ Hal
As of today no revenue adjustments have been made since the estimates have been laid.
If any of those countries had a population density like Barbados i guarantee you that NONE OF YOU would have been permitted to migrate to those countries. Don’t care how hard you begged, you would not have been let in.
@Baje “A THIRD WORLD ISLAND BEGGING FOR ASSISTANCE”
And please explain to me real-real slow because you know i have the Bajan Condition and learnt by rote (in a first class first world university too, but I took my Bajan Condition there with me) explain to me the difference between Barbados “begging for assistance” and you down in the first world people’s country begging fah a lil pick?
@ Hal
Like you I believe that because of the virus a provision against the tourism estimate would be a good move.
@ John A
Estimates are just that, estimates. If circumstances change, then the estimates must change – or at least an explanation given. Passenger numbers down on BA. People do not want to travel. Most travel is discretionary. Travel show in Berlin canceled.
Growth must therefore be endogenous, what are the master plans?
Austin the president as you call her led in this very critcal time from the front unlike the last PM who led from the back.In my view had Mr Stuart been PM still bajans would be speculating and panicking with no leadership to comfort us.This is call leadership maybe you should look up the meaning.Ms Mottley is following in the footsteps of Mr Barrow, Mr Adams, and Mr Arthur who all did the samre thing.Therefore well dpne to the government and Ms Mottley and the heath profesionals.
A point was made earlier about when Stinking Liar Sinckler made financial boo boos he was torn apart
Suddenly the official apologist ran in to say
“… David February 28, 2020 12:54 PM
Hence the reason Dr. Mascoll appeared on VOB after Straughn a couple weeks ago…”
It is as if, with every shortfall of this administration, the damage control team is summoned
And, true to form, the apologist chooses words that show his bias by using the word “hence”
“…Hence definition, as an inference from this fact; for this reason; therefore…”
And does not even entertain the logical follow on that would strongly suggest that Straughn has misled the people AND SHOULD AT LEAST APOLOGIZE!
Some would hope that he resign but that is wishful thinking heheheheh
But this only underscores the fact that while cussing the Democratic Labour Party is permissible and actively promoted, THE BLP CAN DO NO WRONG!
@ Hal
travel out the USA is also trending down around 11% projected for the next quarter. I think we will have a challenging summer, because as you know we depend heavily on those European package tours to fill rooms then.
@ John A
Why is the president, the minister of finance, not saying anything about the economy? Why the silence? She is now a public health expert. Her fan base loves it…more speeches, more speeches, more hand waving, more speeches…more pictures. I am world class, I punch above my weight..
@ silly woman
You said and I quote
“…For those people who think that agriculture i Barbados is nothing, and that we should import all of our food from foreign places, what happens when we can’t let the ships into our port? …”
Go to Fedex.com and you will see that, until further notice, all flights to China and Hong Kong have been suspended
Lives matter more to these companies than money?
Ask the talkative Mugabe Mottley
@ Pieces
Good point and that is why I have said from day one a true recovery plan should have included agriculture. That way if we lost FX from tourism a vibrant agricultural sector would of reduced our food import bill.
I guess it ain’t as glossy and fancy as hotels from hither to thither.
What is actually happening to this fata morgana called Sam Lord’s Castle? The project was supposed to turn the tide and bring us lasting great economic growth. I suppose with the calamities in China, it’s not going to happen.
Will all Chinese workers who are to complete the project be tested for the new form of lung plague in Barbados at all? After all, native workers can hardly complete the project in the scheduled time because they sleep, eat and babble more than they work on the construction site.
Unfortunately the Duopoly that has failed to engineer any progressive agriculture plan in fifty three years will scarcely be competent to do so in six weeks.
Remember: The buzz word used to be International Business…….
BTW Agriculture was not only dead. The Duopoly made sure they killed it.
Oh , and our wonderful private sector prefer fast food franchises etc.
Sir Kevin ; he invested in agriculture but in Guyana.
Hope we get the picture.
Please stop the crocodile tears and embarrassing apologies. They are getting old. Very old.
Just hope that the iron birds keep coming…………
@piece
Your pdp at work.
https://barbadostoday.bb/2020/02/28/opposition-wants-stiffer-penalties-for-crimes-against-tourists/
Silent at the death of many, crying in agony at the shooting of one.
Austin i have just seen on my tv , Ms Mottley being loudly applauded for her efforts with a cruise ship with apparent heslth issues along with health officials despite your sarcasm.Tell us what or who have you ever led in anything other than misleading the blog on issues and when challenged shifting the goalposts rather than admit you did not know what the hell you were speaking about.By the way where is your sparring partner Mariposa has she been fired by the Dems as their spokesperson on this blog?
Has Charles Jong already been tested on Corona? I’m not talking about the beer. I’m talking about that killer lung bug.
He’s been so remarkably quiet lately. Did he visit relatives in China on any occasion?
We must protect our beloved Prime Minister at all costs. She’s the only person standing between total crash back to the raging savages and civilization. I am firmly convinced that, like last year with the hurricane, she will intuitively do exactly the right thing. She should definitely put Charles Jong in quarantine for a month.
We have people on the blog whose aching daily objective is to search for every negative there is about Barbados, then amplify it.
@Tron February 28, 2020 7:32 PM “Has Charles Jong already been tested on Corona?”
But Tron. I’ve always assumed that you were Charlie.
The situation in China is even worse than you think, says this analyst with a history of accurate calls
If this weekend’s Chinese economic data isn’t ‘worse than 2008,’ the government is ‘lying,’ Miller said
Global stock markets are seeing their worst week since the 2008 financial crisis as the reality of the unprecedented COVID-19 epidemic finally kicks in for investors, but one analyst thinks markets may still not be adequately prepared for the worst.
Leland Miller is CEO of the China Beige Book, a research firm that collects data from surveys of thousands of Chinese companies and industry participants to construct a report on the economy that’s more granular — and possibly more candid — than the notoriously opaque Chinese government data.
China Beige Book just released to clients a “flash,” or preliminary, set of data for the first quarter this year, documenting the first effects of the COVID-19 epidemic, and Miller spoke with MarketWatch about what they’ve learned.
“The situation on the ground is materially worse than what has come out in the media,” he said in an interview.
For some sense of whether China Beige Book data is a more reliable source than “what has come out in the media,” here’s an earlier MarketWatch profile of Miller. Throughout the winter of 2017-2018, his firm’s data told a very clear story: contrary to what the government was telling the media about transitioning its economy to a services focus, steel production was ramping into high gear. Some months later, the Trump administration made steel production a hot-button political issue and suddenly the world took note of what Miller had been saying for months.
Those insights are worth keeping in mind as the first official Chinese government data to reflect the COVID-19 epidemic, the purchasing manager surveys for the manufacturing and service sectors, are due for release overnight Saturday. “I expect those to be worse than in 2008,” Miller said, “or else they’re lying.”
The interview that follows, about the impact of COVID-19 on China and what it means for the global economy and markets, is lightly edited for clarity.
I had a really bad cough about an hour ago.
Was it from the air conditioning or the fan?
We have people on the blog whose aching daily objective is to search for every negative there is about Barbados, then amplify it.
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
I BELIEVE YOU LIVE IN A TWISTED WORLD.
WHAT I BELIEVE WHAT MOST OF US WANT IS THAT OUR PEOPLE BECOME AWARE OF HOW THEY ARE USED AS PAWNS AND TO QUESTION AND RESEARCH ON THEIR OWN WITHOUT DRINKING THE DOCTORED KOOLAID.
@Piece the Legend February 28, 2020 5:38 PM “Go to Fedex.com and you will see that, until further notice, all flights to China and Hong Kong have been suspended. Lives matter more to these companies than money?”
But Piece.
You know that i am always on this blog talking about the importance of PEOPLE. When the big shots talking about politics and economics and other hifaluting tings that are beyond my understanding i always talk people.
So why would anybody need Fedex except something is being sent to some person, or some company which is after al only a group of people. And that something might be a common pin, or a jet. But there is no use for common pins nor jets unless we have people.
No people. No need for Fedex.
All of us, when all is said and done, all of us, all of or lives, our work is in service of people.
No people. No work. No stock market either.
People matter.
@Tron February 28, 2020 8:00 PM “I had a really bad cough about an hour ago. Was it from the air conditioning or the fan?”
I visited a friend once who said that she did not know that you are supposed to clean your fan.
Unplug the thing. Take off the guard. Use a damp cloth to remove all the dust build up.
Return the guard. Plug in the fan. Turn it on.
See what a wonderful difference. Do this at least once a week. Your lungs will be healthier.
And give up the smoking do.
For the air conditioning, get a professional to clean it for you at least once every ten week or as instructed by the manufacturer.
@John A February 28, 2020 5:48 PM “Good point and that is why I have said from day one a true recovery plan should have included agriculture.”
Yeah.
But some of the fancy political scientists and political analysts, especially those raised in “town”, like to talk influential shite about the uselessness of Barbadian agriculture
Of course those same people can get on a plane anytime and go somewhere else.
But what about the rest ‘o we?
I guarantee you that my parents woud not have been able to raise a large family without what aso many people now denigrate as petty agriculture.
But what if all of your children lived to be over 65 because they were fed well directly from the land?
That has made a believer out of me. I beleive in agriculture, and I practice it almost every day.
i don’t care who sees it as a useless activity. They haven’t raised almost a dozen children all of whom have lived to be over 65, have they? So what do they know.
Damn theorists.
@ Tron February 28, 2020 5:55 PM
“What is actually happening to this fata morgana called Sam Lord’s Castle? The project was supposed to turn the tide and bring us lasting great economic growth. I suppose with the calamities in China, it’s not going to happen.
Will all Chinese workers who are to complete the project be tested for the new form of lung plague in Barbados at all? After all, native workers can hardly complete the project in the scheduled time because they sleep, eat and babble more than they work on the construction site.”
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
You are omitting the fact that Barbados has been sourcing much of its food from China; from tilapia to garlic.
Can you imagine a country- which just only 60 years ago under Mao couldn’t even produce so sufficient food to feed its self and to stop the dying of millions from starvation- can now export ‘stale’ food in large quantities to stupid black places like Barbados?
Chinese working overseas on construction sites are known not only to make their workplace their living and sleeping quarters but also to use the same site to be self-sufficient when it comes growing their own vegetables using their own bodily-produced manure in the great recycling from the earth to the body and back.
They also have the ‘guts’ to peddle any excesses to the gluttonously gullible local black population.
Those whom you depend on to feed you will always have control over you.
BTW, Tron your reference to the “fata morgana called Sam Lord’s Castle” is indicative of a ‘man’ widely read.
Could a ‘similar’ analogy be employed to describe the ‘mirage’ reflecting the Hyatt Ziva as the ghost of the Bajan Succubus stalking the red light district of Bay street while its stagnant dark house of light flickers over the horizon looking for foreign johns to sail in and rescue her from the arms of the devil called ‘Money’?
@ Silly Woman February 28, 2020 4:25 PM
“I guarantee you that if the United States, Canada, or the United Kingdom had a population density of 1709.4 per square mile, we would already have had World War 3, perhaps World War 4, and very likely Armageddon.
What do you want us to do because “yes” we are over populated. Kill our children? siblings? spouses? grandparents? grandchildren?
Tell me what you think that we should do?”
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
@ Silly Woman February 28, 2020 4:35 PM
You ought to use your “Bajan condition” to recondition the thinking of your stupid Bajan policymakers who are pressing for a dramatic increase in the Barbados population from around 300,000 to close to an optimal million.
The economically-constrained country cannot even properly house, feed and employ a significant portion of the current population far less a tripling of its number.
What young Bajans ought to do- especially those who attended universities- are to stop washing their reproductive organs in the same narrow gene pool in order to press on with their genetic clothes and look outside this narrow incestuously dangerous gene pool to carry on the bloodline.
“We have people on the blog whose aching daily objective is to search for every negative there is about Barbados, then amplify it.”
There are two major approaches to issue confronting Barbados
Some believe in a full ventilation and exposure to sunlight of all issues would assist and encourage the island in its development. We suffer from the notion that corruption/cronyism/misdeeds cannot flourish in sunlight.
Others believe that we should do what was often done in the past. Stay silent on matters and keep things hidden. Some rush in to defend/deflect/mis-direct on every issue. Do you remember in the numerous shootings how someone suggested that we should move crime off of the front page of the newspaper. That is their idea of problem solving ‘hide it under a bushel’.
Not seeking to convert anyone or to be converted.
You must forgive me.
I saw the words “over-populated” or “over-population” twice this week and am now confused as hell. Weren’t we talking about a population of one million a few weeks in the past.
These nonsensical ideas are given life for a short period and then discarded like yesterday’s trash. I must stop here as the “Miller” has already made a nice flour from that grain.
@ Miller February 29, 2020 9:13 AM
The Hyatt is not a fake. I saw the plans with my own eyes.
The fundamental problem is whether international investors want to build more hotels on our island. This question arises regardless of local building regulations and the attitude of our population or the wishes of our government. Our hotels are very poorly booked in the summer. I have great doubts as to whether further large-scale projects in Barbados are economically viable.
But I have a great suggestion: How about a Corona recovery site for stressed Chinese people?
Let me state at the outset that this is not an attack on the use of Bajan dialect.
I was reading two Barbados Today articles and it struck me that the words of the criminals were written in Bajan dialect and it made me wonder:
When is Bajan dialect used in reporting a story?
Why is Bajan dialect used when reporting some stories?
How does the use of Bajan Dialect affect readers? Does it invoke sympathy or does it convince you that they are guilty?
Does the use of Bajan dialect tell you the social class of the “criminal”?
What subliminal signals are being sent out to the different groups in Barbados?
Happy reading..
“On Monday, during her Estimates presentation, Minister of Education Santia Bradshaw announced that this year might be the last for the Barbados Secondary Entrance Examination (BSSEE), also known as the 11-Plus.”.
Just thought I would give you a little glimpse into the future. This statement will be updated and reissued in 2025 and 2030 and the same discussion will be followed. A few here will miss that conversation, but you have seen the future,
“The blog is poorer for the erudite submissions missing on matters of this kind.”
There are some aspects of this BU blog that I do not understand. It seems as if we target some people for continuous attacks. If the gentleman were to reappear, I am quite certain the same madness would start up again. We lose when we try to silence others.
Silly Woman,
A place is being prepared for my kitchen garden as I type. Hearing you brag lit a fire under my dragging feet. Starting small with the herbs until my feet are wait. I am so excited I can hardly wait! I cannot continue to feel stupid buying things that spoil before I get to use them all when i have so much time on my hands and so much arable land available. Imagine that I can cut my exercise walking time in half and simply work in the garden with healthy pesticide free food at the end of it!
Sweet!
What am I hearing in this debate? A person demanding wage increases in the private sector? The argument is that the state has also increased civil servants’ salaries by 5%.
Our Most Honourable Prime Minister should hold said figure responsible for this nonsense. Firstly, the wage increase in the public sector was unjustified, due only to a false and childish sense of national honour and no rational consideration. Secondly, the private sector is dead because it is being sucked dry by the sluggish domestic masses who sleep in offices all their lives as civil servants. How is the profit to be made there to pay the private workers better?
Truly, there are few countries with such whiny public servants as Barbados. They don’t want to work, but they demand annual pay rises for sleeping. It would be better if they all slept at home instead of obstructing the private sector.
You people did hear about talk of building island/s off the coast of Barbados?
For those that worry about the list of FX. – havent y heard that the same fear of a corona recession is also pysyi g the price of Oil lower?
There us no needcto change the estimates
It thing get to bad then there is room for a mini budget or adjustments
If Barbados with 166 square miles and 300,000 is over-populated, can you tell me how big these new islands would need to be to hold an additional 700,00 people?
And if water Barbados is water scarce, why do you think these new islands would have an abundance of water?
Just say the idea needs further thought and avoid going down the rabbit .
——————————————————————xx—————————————————
The idea of one of these new islands attacking, occupying the’ homeland’, moving the capital and changing the flag amuses me somewhat
@ Theo
The kind of money required to buy a spot on one of these islands will be out of the reach of Bajans.
In other words the Mustique approach.
@ Tron February 29, 2020 10:27 AM
“The Hyatt is not a fake. I saw the plans with my own eyes.”
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
So too were those concocted by David Ames & his business cronies with their convincingly attractive Harlequin investment projects.
Tron, all ‘construction’ plans are nothing but ‘fake’ projects (images or unapproved sketches of people’s imaginations) until they are realized by conversion into physical structures employing capital, land and labour.
The Hyatt project has both the land and labour at its disposal.
Now you can fill in the blank of the puzzle which has been in the public domain for the last 5 years.
Why not enquire of the principal(s) behind the project about its sources of financing especially in the current light exposing the vagaries of tourism based on international travel and high-rise hotels?
Don’t get the miller wrong. He is all for the physical, environmental and economic resurrection of the dying Bridgetown.
But he is not like the Judas but more like the doubting Thomas who is demanding evidence of sources of funds equivalent to the stigmata of real money before offering 100% support.
The current MoT had promised, a few months ago, that the Lighthouse on the Carlisle Bay would, by February2020, be turned into an early signal (flashes of light of reality) to the presence of a lighthouse type beacon of economic hope for the nation already overburdened with your welfare-dependent parasites and looking for some type of ‘working’ light at the end of the tunnel other than a freedom park of a 1940’s dream of recreation and relaxation.
@Donna February 29, 2020 11:48 AM “Silly Woman, A place is being prepared for my kitchen garden as I type. Hearing you brag lit a fire under my dragging feet.”
Thanks Donna. Best compliment i’ve ever received on BU, because as you know the BU people ain’t easy
Best wishes. And pray for enough rain at the right times.
I recently planted about 50 holes of cassava, because cassava is an indigenous crop is is extremely drought resistant as well as being resistant to pests. All being well I’ll plant about another 100 holes as the rains come in. 150 plantings x by a minimum of 5 pounds each yeilds about 750 pounds of good quality complex carbohydrate.
Our old people understood that in hard times a belly full of pone is just as good as a belly full of pudding.
Will plant some sweet potatoes and okras once the rain starts and will plant some yams in early May.
A friend just brought me a weeks worth of chives and greenbeans whic she grew at home in raised garden beds, that is the blue bins cut in half lengthwise.
And of course the sunshine and exercise is an invaluable side benefit.
@Miller February 29, 2020 9:13 AM “…food from China; from tilapia to garlic.”
No need to import garlic. Garlic grows easily, is drought resistant, and resistant to many pests. I grown mine in a pot and re-pot once each year. The plant flowers and self propagates, so be careful that you don’t end up with far more that you wish to have. I chop the leaves and add to most of my meat dishes. The leaves are milder than the cloves, really great added to a ground beef sauce with tomatoes, sweet basil and parsley. A little pasta and you are good. Cheap, tasty, filling, nutritious.
Basil grows very easily too. Grow it in a corner or a pot or it might try to take over all of your space.
Silly Woman,
Will rely on you for tips as i go along.
@ Baje
De more you post, de more de ole man getting to like you!
You said, while responding to the Honourable Blogmaster, and de ole man quotes
“…I BELIEVE YOU LIVE IN A TWISTED WORLD.
WHAT I BELIEVE WHAT MOST OF US WANT IS THAT OUR PEOPLE BECOME AWARE OF HOW THEY ARE USED AS PAWNS AND TO QUESTION AND RESEARCH ON THEIR OWN WITHOUT DRINKING THE DOCTORED KOOLAID…”
You, and many newcomers here, have all come to the understanding that, AS LONG AS WUNNA IS SINGING FROM The Mugabe Canticles, wunna is unpatriotic and treasonous!
The process of repeatedly telly people “it is okay to have a different opinion AND TO VOICE IT, in Barbados, HAS BEEN A HARD ONE!
Can you imagine if my 115 year old mother, 30 years older dan de ole man (wunna behave wunnaselves) was to come back from she grave in Westbury HOW MANY LIKS I WAS GINE GET FOR ALL DE RHs de ole man use heah pun Barbados Underground?
She was gine murderize de ole man for my nasty mouf.
But it is good to see dat over the course of time people starting to wake up and talk duh talk.
You will know it is at it’s best level when de Honourable Blogmaster say dat he gine close down BU!
But keep on Trucking Baje!
@ de Honourable Blogmaster
PLEASE BAN TRON!!!
HE MEK DE OLE MAN HAVE AN ACCIDENT!
IN ME BED!
IN ME CLOTHES!
Look how it happen!
“…We must protect our beloved Prime Minister at all costs. She’s the only person standing between total crash back to the raging savages and civilization.
I am firmly convinced that, like last year with the hurricane, she will intuitively do exactly the right thing.
She should definitely put Charles Jong in quarantine for a month…”
Tron write dat shy$e and de ole man read um, bust out laughing UNCONTROLLABLY, and mess me pants! (Not Hants)
I come pun me suddenly Honourable Blogmaster as man!
Tron does talk pure undistilled shy$e without blinking! Seriously!!
All de time!!!
I mean dem got men who does come heah an give a little comedy some of de time……but Tron does talk ingrunce all de time!
He is a master of sarcasm and tongue in cheek!
Dis sort of ting is not good for ole menses my age good ting de reflux was solid OR I WAS GINE GOT TO BUY A NEW MATTRESS!
Newsbreak:
Legendary Social activist of World repute Piece the Legend (dat introduction got dem vex enough) today passed away most ignominiously!
The social commentator whom the Pair of Rented Jackasses, said was a shy$e talked proved the two confirmed poochlickers to be true!
He was found in a pile of shy$e with his samsung tablet covered in excrement!
The website on the tablet was on Barbados Underground
No foul play is suspected even though the room smelt foul!
TheO
You went down the ravit while with the one mill people
When that happen Mia will not be around and the will be no Or very little land for agriculture
I just throw in the islands cause that is something else that was three out there that you all dont run with only the milloin people
@ David
You owe me a dollar for the bet that a Tertiary sewage plant Would be buult on south coast by march
SW
U the BU carmeta
Why dont you push your thing other places if you can ?
@John2
You win some lose some.
@ the Honourable Blogmaster your assistance please with an item here for Tron
The blogmaster invites you to join and add value to the discussion.