In her recent address to the nation Prime Minister Mia Mottley indicated a real discussion will take place next week between the government and social partnership as it pertains to how the country will have to support workers displaced in a post COVID period. The idea of pandemic bonds has been floated.
Commonsense Barbadians understand the pandemic will force a change to the way WE have to do business today, tomorrow and in the future. It is important to define WE – it means all actors operating in civil society INCLUDING the government.
Leadership is about leading by example. There is no better time than to illustrate the idea of leading from the front than for the Prime Minister and her very large Cabinet to take a salary cut.
The blogmaster joins with many looking forward to participate in a sensible national discussion about the best way forward in a COVID world. It makes no sense ordinary people asked to make a sacrifice and OTHERS are allowed to operate business as usual.
Cutting salaries will not result in a significant savings in the context of the national budget BUT it is not about that is it.
Forced savings discussion could help save jobs
In an effort to keep job losses to a minimum, Prime Minister Mia Amor Mottley will next week start a dialogue with her financial advisors regarding the possibility of introducing forced savings for public officers.
The Prime Minister said the new measure, through which some public officers would have part of their salary kept in the form of bonds, would play a significant role in helping provide Government with more fiscal space as it continued to deal with the debilitating economic effects of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Speaking on Thursday night after consultations with the Social Partnership at the Lloyd Erskine Sandiford Centre, Mottley said forced savings could lead to hundreds of public servants keeping their jobs, even though there was no plan to start sending home any.
“If we have to look to avoid forced layoffs in Government, then we can look at a form of forced savings. We will have that conversation next week, as we want to give everyone an opportunity. We have to cut expenditure, even in spite of the fiscal space we have. We are in a comfortable position, but we want to ensure we have safe work for safe people.”
Mottley said the International Monetary Fund had recommended to its board in early June that Barbados be allowed to move from a six per cent primary surplus to one per cent.“It will give us at least $550 million in elbow room,” she told the media.
She said Government’s main aim was to slowly get the country back to a state of normalcy. (BA)
First CUT:
As from next month all ministers salaries will be reduce back to the salaries of MPs only, for a period of one year. We are all in this together and the leaders will lead from front. All will still perform the duties as ministers, including the PM.
When they ware voted in / at the pleasure of the PM the only salary one would have gotten would have been that of an MP.
Those that want to give up their ministry would be free to do so ( let us know where the stand).
On top of that, they will also take a 10 % cut in salaries.
All advisors will also take a 10 % cut or seek other employment.
Then we can start talking with the unions about “returning” the 5% raise by the BLP.
At the end of one year this can be reviewed/extended .
Second CUT. Chris policies 🙁
FOR TWO years – suspend almost all (new) government paid tertiary education.( can be modified).
Return of NRSL (25%?) to reduce imports / save FX.
Since bajans that can afford will keep on buying, this will bring in some needed revenue from the lost of departure, hotel etc taxes.
The %age can be reduce as the economy / tourism start coming back.
A %age of NRSL will go towards subsidizing agriculture production to keep the price low and affordable to (especially) the poor – start campaign of going back to eating what we grow.
I am not at this time willing to send home government workers but I can see how some would take this opportunity to reduce /reset government wages/salary bill.
@Artax
I agree with you and have made comments mirroring yours on several occasions.
You ever notice when they speak about restructuring government they always speak of cutting jobs? How many times have you heard any minister say that we will keep our workers but give each entity a mandate to increase productivity and revenue collection?
It’s the pre covid mindset that worries me going forward and as I have said, I have not seen any proof that things will be different up to this point. I guess the reality will come home to them when they look at their April to May Vat receipts.
@ John A May 17, 2020 5:39 PM
We must indeed restructure the state sector. Unfortunately, this is not enough. It is the great lie of this society that a large state sector can be made efficient. It cannot. Even our moderator adheres to this misconception.
There is a certain connection between the size of an organisation and productivity. MANY studies have been done on this relationship. They show that African and communist administrations in particular are far too large in relation to gross national product and population size. Above a certain size, the administration tends towards self-employment and strangles the private sector. That’s how it is in Barbados.
OSA tried to dump the population surplus into the civil service at the expense of the private sector. Now we have there mainly those who are incapable of working.
@ john2 May 17, 2020 5:29 PM
You’re on the right track. However:
The NRSL was an idiotic tax as it made not only imports but also exports more expensive. Only Chris Sinckler could come up with such a crackpot idea. Ask the business community what they think of Sinckler. They tell you that Sinckler has strangled the export industry. Sinckler even tried to tax IBCs secretly. An increase in VAT would be far more targeted, since no VAT is charged on exports.
Mere cosmetics with a slight drop in salary is not enough. We need to remove the human overhead in the state sector. In order to make it socially acceptable, early retirement at 55 or 60 years and a recruitment freeze for 10 years would be a good idea.
Young people should look for a job elsewhere. As you know, Greater Guyana is currently experiencing an incredible boom with 50 percent growth for 2020. There are plenty of jobs there. The native masses on the island would only have to get off their butts and look for work there. It is not the job of our government to guarantee everybody a carefree life in Barbados itself.
I don’t think IMF will allow for early retirement at this stage but if government can persuade them then I can go for that..
@ Artax May 17, 2020 2:45 PM
”There are also several SOE’s that are over-staffed. For example, with a reduction in the services offered by the NAB, there are 4 clerical officers, 1 senior clerk and an accountant in the Accounts Section.
But, I can’t blame this administration for that occurrence, because it is something they inherited.”
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Have you managed to espy the contents of the Robinson report commissioned since January 2014 as the way forward for the SOE’s and other State-funded agencies?
Or was the BERT propaganda just another smoke and mirrors and playing for time game of hopscotch or ‘puss-puss catch a corner’?
The previous administration played a rather impressive game when it came to talking about the many projects in the pipeline for the economic resuscitation of the economy.
From the turning of the sod for the construction of the Pickerings mansions to Foul Bay to Harlequin Merricks to the Pierhead marina to the Cahill nuclear plant to the Sugar Point cruise ship terminal to the rebuilt Andrews sugar factory to the All Seasons restart to the Exmouth Housing project to Hyatt to the Wyndham Sam Lord’s redesigned Castle of Piracy.
If government is a continuum what has become of these projects many of which were supposed to have secured their financing?
What we want to know in the interest of good governance (accountability) and transparency is which entity is footing the bill for the PR smoke & mirrors game projected as the “preparatory ground work’ for the Hyatt erection.
Is it coming from the principal(s) behind the project bank account(s) or is it from the ‘Special Projects’ budget of another SOE called the BTII?
The miller is all for the Hyatt project as long as the financing of the expenditure is ‘backed’ by private sector entities and not taxpayers or NIS contributions without a majority ownership in the skin in the tourism investment gambling game.
@ john2 May 17, 2020 6:28 PM
The trick with early retirement is the deduction from the pension. Anyone who retires at 55 or 60 will of course have to accept a certain loss of earnings. That’s the point of the whole operation. But early retirement only pushes down costs if no new civil servants are hired for those who leave the service. Then we save a lot of money.
The IMF would be very happy about that. And we would elegantly circumvent the constitutional ban on wage cuts. Just call it “patriot pension” 😉
@ Artaxerxes the Superlative Archiver
You said and I quote
“…Under the current economic circumstances, I cannot understand why Mia Mottley is insisting on continuing with so many Cabinet ministers and consultants.
As I have mentioned in previous contributions, several of these ministers are being paid full time rates for ‘half day jobs…”
Some time last year de ole man prophesied that 6 of the BLP Ministers would cross the floor and quite recently the Rented Jackasses Hee Hee and Hee Haw referenced my prophecy
And many here did not understand what was the import of what I said nor its mechanics.
30 to 0 at the ballot box is not hard to do AS IS EVIDENCED BY THE BLP WIN HERE! (De ole man get curse by Many**** for that and de Rented ones and Robert the Rapist say dat I ent had nuttin to do with it).
It’s a one time thing.
But the real issue is to sustain 30 to 0! To keep 30 people in power for 5 years in a Covid environment is hard
Mugabe Amin Mottley CANNOT DO THAT at two levels.
The economy is in tatters and the people are unemployed.
To cut her 30 ministers would mean that she cuts some of the 30 ATM machines in these constituencies.
She therefore would be contributing to the “six” seats de ole man prophesied will cross the floor because she would be taking their jobs. And stunting the handouts to the electorate.
You understand what de ole man is saying?
This is about votes here, nothing else!
She has to maintain this lifeline.
And this is why she countenances importing 80 thousand immigrants
See why Tron elevate de ole man to Prophet? (Heheheheh dat gets dem real vex)
Tron
I keep away from you for a reason. this is my last response to you.
Only a fool would go into early retirement at a loss.
Who is talking about voluntariness? Not me.
Or has OSA also issued a ban on early retirement? Not that I know of.
I ask again. What will be the economic and social effects of cutting middle and low income salaries and wages? Does that make for stimulus of the economy?
@ Vincent Codrington May 17, 2020 7:27 PM
If we streamline the state apparatus, we can use tax cuts to boost the private sector.
It is the task of the state to provide services for its citizens, not – as in Barbados and as you believe – to take as many people as possible off the streets and let them give them fake jobs in the admin. Precisely because of this attitude that the state must replace private business, almost all developing countries fail.
@Tron
Is it not true to state that the public sector is large because the private sector is not creating the job opportunities ? Is it not true that the Private sector is dependent on GOB intervention before they engage in creating projects? Where are you living ?
Let us get real. I am sick and tired of this constant bashing of Go B by persons who should know better. Every major project always requires the GoB to give tax concessions, or to compulsory acquire private property to transfer to another private investor, and the transfer of public assets to the private sector. This cannot continue. We need a paradigm shift. COVID has provided the occasion but we are pursuing the same old development model. We will fail. We need to wake up.
The gremlin at work again. I stopping here.
@! Tron
Streamline the Private Sector apparatus and you will see that the public sector will shrink.
@ dpD
Why do you not grow up? When management of the affairs of this country is not a blood sport ,it is a game of one- up- manship. You are encouraging lawlessness.
You grudgingly admit that MIA’s forte is crisis management ,but are quick to admire some perceived political brinkmanship. You want banning from this blog.
VC
Government needs to maintain and create as many jobs (even temporary/lower end) as possible while keeping check on it expenses.
I am sure you can see both the economic and social benefits of a small pay cut to achieve this as against the laying off of a few more thousands which will have the opposite effect both economically / socially).
Pay cut would be for one year period if agreed to by the unions and be repaid at a later date.( covid bond ?)
There is no need for a pay cut. The spending of these workers create and maintain jobs in the businesses that they patronize.They pay taxes directly and indirectly through the jobs their expenditures maintain and create. This is the circular flow of income I spoke of earlier.
Agreed. BUT government still need to balance it book as much as possible. It is not just a wages cut only. I also advocated for government to hire more (even if only temporary). this will keep the money circulating and maintain the jobs in the business as you mentioned.
Socially you will have less idle hands and more people/ family getting a little “bread”.
The other choice then would be to raise revenue/ tax.
Maybe the gas tax as oil prices dropped. higher oil price may also help with keep some at home more BUT it will also raise prices.
I would go for the temporary pay cut and temporary hiring .
@ Vincent Codrington May 17, 2020 8:27 PM
You’re making a very, very important point here. Thank you very much.
If we are already shrinking the public sector, we must of course also cut unnecessary contracts or subsidies for private building contractors and hotel operators. So we must also transform the private sector. At present, the private sector in Barbados is in fact dependent on the state, just as the drug addict depends on heroin.
The state should continue to finance infrastructure projects, but no more hotels. That is the task of the private sector. If a hotel or gated community is not profitable without tax subsidies or NIS money, we don’t want the project.
I could also imagine depriving people who have gone bankrupt of the right to vote for a certain time. The duration depends on the amount of the bankruptcy. So when I think of Apes Hill Plantation, COW will not get his voting rights back until the fourth millennium.
@ John 2
You are not thinking clearly at all. GoB a few months ago sent home temporary workers, put stress on the funds managed by NIS and you are recommending rehiring of temporary workers? You are going around in circles. What would make that measure work this time around? What has changed.? If I was a conspiracist I would swear somebody somewhere is conspiring to destroy the economic progress we have made over the last 60 years.
Carry on smartly with these hair brained ideas, my brother.
What we want to know in the interest of good governance (accountability) and transparency is which entity is footing the bill for the PR smoke & mirrors game projected as the “preparatory ground work’ for the Hyatt erection.
Is it coming from the principal(s) behind the project bank account(s) or is it from the ‘Special Projects’ budget of another SOE called the BTII?
The miller is all for the Hyatt project as long as the financing of the expenditure is ‘backed’ by private sector entities and not taxpayers or NIS contributions without a majority ownership in the skin in the tourism investment gambling game.
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He also disclosed that the public of Barbados will be afforded the opportunity to invest in the hotel project.
“Twenty per cent of the project will be open for investment from the public and we are working through the details of that now. A portion of that will be open during the process right now so that people can come in earlier for less; and when the project is finished and the risk side is out of it and the construction is up then they will come in for more at that stage. The mechanics and details are being worked out right now,” Maloney added.
https://barbadostoday.bb/2020/05/16/demolition-to-make-way-for-hyatt-ziva/
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@ Miller
THE BLP BOSOM BUDDY CROOK MARK MALONEY OF MIA’S POLITICAL PLATFORM RED BAG OF CORRUPTION AND NOW KNIGHT IN SHINING ARMOUR IS SEEKING TO GET MONEY FROM YOU AND OTHER GULLIBLE BAJANS FOR HYATT’S HOTEL CONSTRUCTION.
VC
What changed? 30000+ more unemployed in the last two month – I don’t know if that include the self employed.
The lost of revenue (circulation) from the tourist industry, crop over, sports etc. How much money circulation do you think is being reduced by all of these unemployed and how much strain do you think they are putting on the NIS?
Or do you think it is only the government workers spending that keep the other business opened?
The more the money is circulating the more government will get back. the more people working the better for the economy.
What benefit i economically and socially if we have (let say) another 1000 persons unemployed for the next year?
Not rehiring of temporary workers – hiring workers temporary (part time/contract workers) will not put any further strain on NIS.
You may be thinking long term measures. My pay cut and Temporary hires is for a one year period to get us through the economic shock. In a year time government should have a better picture and be in a better position to budget.
if you don’t want to go the route of hiring temporary workers then you can look at something like putting the money in that loan funds that allow persons to start their own businesses . I am assuming that with the great lost of revenue to government that there is now not any funds to keep that going.
Have we become a country without labour laws? What is happening? Who will protect labour?
@ BAJE May 17, 2020 10:44 PM
How come this same public was not given the opportunity to invest in the Four Seasons project which clearly is a more viable investment opportunity?
Bajans will be better off investing their money in the 4 S project than putting their money in a rat nest for a hotel in a run down commercially dying Bridgetown.
@ john 2
You have underestimated the magnitude of the problem, your solution is like applying antiseptic to a very deep wound. I hope your realize that your last submission is a repeat of the argument I have been making for weeks.
VC
I have to desire to fix the problem. was just throwing some ideas out there. 2 suggestions should not be taken as a solution to the problem.
An untrained person presented with a deep wound, applying antiseptic to that wound maybe the best thing toward the treatment of that wound by that person.
The further necessary treatment of that wound is best left to the professionals
Basically I am agreeing with you that money need to be circulating.
As I stated in another blog I don’t expect the private sector to take up the slack so it up to government to put some money in a few more pockets for the immediate future.
They are just SUGGESTIONS and can be adjusted if they are considered any part of any solution.
THE HURRICANE SEASON IS UPON US AND CAN PUT ANOTHER SPOKE IN OUR WHEEL.
If the NIS had invested its assets into shares like Norway and not into some local stinky projects, we would now be rich like the mighty Guyanese.
Think about that!
@ BAJE May 17, 2020 10:44 PM
How come this same public was not given the opportunity to invest in the Four Seasons project which clearly is a more viable investment opportunity?
Bajans will be better off investing their money in the 4 S project than putting their money in a rat nest for a hotel in a run down commercially dying Bridgetown.
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@ Miller
YOU ASKED THE MULTIMILLION $$$ KICKBACK QUESTION WITH A DIFFERENT ACTOR AT THE TOP OF THE PILE BETWEEN THE 2 PROJECTS.
MARK MALONEY DLP KICKBACK KINGPIN WAS NOT INVOLVED IN 4 SEASONS HOWEVER HE IS NOW THE RE-BRANDED CAN DO NO WRONG ANY LONGER CURRENTLY THE KICKBACK KINGPIN TO THE BLP MINISTERS/GOVERNMENT.
I REALLY BELIEVE THE HEAD MISTRESS FAMOUS FOR WAVING THE RED BAG OF EVIDENCE INCLUDING MARK MALONEY KICKBACKS AND CRIMINALITY ALONG WITH DLP FORMER GOVERNMENT MINISTERS THINKS EVERYONE IS A FOOL.
OWEN ARTHUR WAS RIGHT UNFORTUNATELY WHEN HE CALLED MIA MOTTLEY THE HEAD MISTRESS OF FOOLING PEOPLE A DESPOT.
Calm
I like how yuh unmasked the already unmasked Mr.3 Degrees.🤣🤣🤣
Calm
I like how yuh unmasked the already unmasked Mr.3 Degrees.
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SOMEONE CAN UNMASK ME JACKASS WHEN SPEAKING THE TRUTH.
TRY UNMASKING THE 2 WHITE MEN THAT YOU CLAIM TO BE CHAIRING MEETINGS REGULARLY IN NEW YORK AS THE HIGHLIGHT OF YOUR CAREER.
I got 4 such meetings next month. Watch muh!
“How come this same public was not given the opportunity to invest in the Four Seasons project which clearly is a more viable investment opportunity?”
they will get ROBBED AGAIN…the first 4 seasons scam…..pension fund lost 60 million US that dumb ass David Thompson took and used as collateral for a loan for the scam, like if it was his money……with the usual minority crooks running said scam, many said Mia was the lawyer fo the crooks..
… next thing ya know big lawsuits, Andrew Lloyd Webber, Simon Cowell, this millioniare, that billionaire, all took a bath from thise crooks for hundreds of milliions claiming they selling villas but trying to milk the treasury and pension fund to finish the project.
…..next thing ya know, the rusty steel and decrepit property all 16 plus acres got offshored by the same crooks, Sinkler claimed he sold the property to them, but no one TO THIS DAY CAN FIND THE MONEY that he claimed he got, the big red bag of evidence was supposed to tell us about that too..
only crooks and thieves…all connected to government…..
Can’t put any of ya hard earned money into any of their scams, you will lose it and everything else you own…
The EVIL, wannbe slavemasters in Barbados are ILLEGALLY CUTTING EMPLOYEES SALARIES…do not let them do that…it is ILLEGAL…EXPOSE THEM..you are NOT SLAVES…they will not want to give you back your money, they are LOWLIFES…SHUT THEIR BUSINESSES DOWN…you will be able to survive…without being slaves to teifing scum…
This is the BEST opportunity the Black population has ever had to SHUT THESE GREEDY BITCHES for employers DOWN…don’t waste it, time for the populi to take control and create their own businesses on the island….stop being dependent on thieves and wannabe slavemasters…
Digicel gives students, teachers free access to Govt’s eLearning sites
https://www.nationnews.com/nationnews/news/245620/digicel-files-bankruptcy-bermuda-courts
Bajans need to take their country back from these greedy savages…no one cares about their problems…stop living under thieves who only know how to rob the people….your SURVIVAL MODE is to SHUT THEM DOWN….it’s that time..
“As companies switch to survival mode during the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, the Barbados Workers’ Union (BWU) is calling on the Ministry of Labour to urgently address a disturbing increase in companies unilaterally slashing the salaries of workers.
The alarm was raised today by deputy general secretary and director of industrial relations, Dwaine Paul, who charged that some employers within the private sector were twisting the arms of their staff to take, in some cases, as much as 50 per cent cuts in salary.
“These employers are doing it as if there is no law and these workers have absolutely no rights. This is not only in unionised environments but also in environments that are not unionised. Let me be clear, the cutting of workers’ wages is not legal unless you can get a firm agreement from workers that they are going to participate in such an activity. Such an agreement cannot be one that is forced or in a scenario where the worker is intimidated. It simply is not binding unless it is totally voluntary,” said Paul. (CLM)”
” She noted that moral leadership would finally recognise that the use of historic per capita income to determine access to concessional or grant funds, or to determine fair access to the procurement of goods was unacceptable.”
@ WURA-War-on-U May 18, 2020 8:01 PM
Salaries have gone completely out of control over the past 30 years, far too high compared to the low productivity. Workers and trade unions have downright exploited the employers.
Thanks to COVID19 this is now over. I therefore very much hope that private companies will perpetuate the cuts in wages. We also need a law for a wage ceiling.
Remember my propositions 18 March 2020. The establishment of the social welfare deep state called me a slave driver and much more.
Now our Most Honourable Prime Minister and our Most Outstanding Private Buzinessmen pick up my plan step by step.
Wages are falling. The civil servants are worried about “patriotic” bonds. It’s time for a party at Sandy Lane.
Falling wages mean competitiveness and prosperity. Trade unions lead to poverty and mass unemployment
So what that gotta do with SHUTTING DOWN these greedy ass thieving minority employers and BLACK PEOPLE OPENING THEIR OWN BUSINESSES ON THE ISLAND and keeping the money in their OWN communities…ya sell out idiot…
On a very serious note, will the police arrest that piece of shit minister that had a gathering in a church and now there is an OUTBREAK that they are trying hard to cover up and fool the people that it’s not that serious..
….they can arrest young hardheaded people, give them big heavy fines and 6 month prison sentences…arrest that useless public nuisance for a minister…
@ WURA-War-on-U May 19, 2020 6:26 AM
You should go into a state of catatonic shock if you witness those obeah practitioners arrested for breaking the curfew.
All they have to do a threaten to put a hex on those who dare to practice justice in the two “Barbadoes”
To be fair, the claim is that due to lack of revenue and the slowdown, they cannot pay the employees the full wage.
Likewise, with business down, they clearly do not need the employees full time and so hours can be cut commensurate with the wages.
Fair? There really can be no argument against. A contract works both ways and an argument too.
Then employees can use their own time to plant crops and so on.
WARU,
Tron would like to see everyone working for one dollar and hour while the select few wine and dine in luxury. That is his mindset.
But, he has a point, wages are too high, just as the prices in the retail and groceries, which are multiples of what one pays in New York, a major city.
But Tron does not have an issue with that, he said so. Tron just misses his cork hat.
Miller….let’s see if they arrest that fraud for a church minister or play their usual games.
Most of those tiefing employers who love nothing better than to violate the rights of Black employees even in the best of times….WANT SHUTTING DOWN….let them haul their greedy asses and go WORK TGE LAND and stop for once in their lazy, useless lives living off the backs of the Black majority….time for the people to rid themselves of the useless parasites…nothing else would change the island for the better…THAN GETTING RID OF ALL OF THEM….as well as the useless shite in the parliament….posing as leaders but who are of absolutely no use to their own people..
Black people need to open THEIR OWN BUSINESSES…grow them and BUY BLACK keeping the MONEY IN THEIR COMMUNITY….as well as plant their kitchen gardens and grow their own food….get rid of the minority parasites out of their lives.
@ Jonathan Wood May 19, 2020 10:20 AM
NO, NO, NO.
I’m just trying to make my voice heard through rhetoric and slight exaggeration.
We don’t want starving wages, we want decent wages. Between 1995 and 2008, wage development was totally decoupled from productivity growth. Barbados is no longer competitive internationally, so we have had ZERO growth for 12 years. With the current very poor labour cost/profit ratio, we will soon be trailing behind in the Caribbean.
In return for lower wages, we must of course reduce the cost of living. A first step would be to abolish import duties, which are the main reason for the high prices. We have these tariffs only to protect the totally overvalued Barbados dollar. So we also need to reform the value of the Barbados dollar, for example by introducing a basket of currencies or adjusting it to the XCD.
The government is bringing up all types of distractions instead of cutting the bloated salaries of them and their ministers,, they want everyone except for them to make sacrifices…
29-0 in 2023…how is that for a neat sacrifice…
@ WURA-War-on-U May 19, 2020 12:59 PM
The reduction in ministerial salaries is pure populism that saves very little money. We must reach out to the lethargic masses. Only sharp cuts in the people’s salaries will bring the desired savings.
@ Tron May 19, 2020 10:32 AM
“In return for lower wages, we must of course reduce the cost of living. A first step would be to abolish import duties, which are the main reason for the high prices. We have these tariffs only to protect the totally overvalued Barbados dollar. So we also need to reform the value of the Barbados dollar, for example by introducing a basket of currencies or adjusting it to the XCD.”
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Are you also going to propose to the bondholders to write off the useless monopoly play-play paper they recently renegotiated with White Oak?
How about telling White Oak to return 50% of the fees paid to help the country in its darkest hour of dire need?
With tourism in the ICU, the future forex earnings would not be enough to pay for imported processed foods, refined oil, dividends and management fees for the many foreign-owned corporations, Chinese-made trinkets and luxury vehicles and still meet the country’s foreign loan commitments (including the IMF loan-shark obligations).
@ Miller May 19, 2020 3:29 PM
We can only perform a new debt cut with local citizens. If we make another cut against commercial banks operating in Barbados, we will soon have no more banks in the country. For foreign investors with bonds in foreign currency, this is impossible anyway, as long as the papers are issued beyond local law.
There is no legal claim to demand a discount from White Oak. Renegotiation could work, however.
I may possibly point out that the first round of debt cutting in 2018 was mainly at the expense of banks and investors. With a new debt cut in 2020/21, it is time to unpack the knives and finally go after the assets of local savers. Since 1966, not the commercial banks and investors, but the citizens have elected governments that have proved to be financially illiterate. In accordance with the costs-by-cause principle, the person responsible must now finally suffer the blood-letting. The voter at the ballot box is responsible for the whole mess, not the banks or the investors. When a small child burns himself on the iron, he learns to avoid this mistake. When voters finally suffer financial losses, they will vote more carefully in the future.
@ Tron May 19, 2020 3:47 PM
“There is no legal claim to demand a discount from White Oak. Renegotiation could work, however.”
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Of course there is NO legal claim.
What you ought to appeal to is the moral conscience of those behind the W O heist.
Of course, the next easy target to receive a rude awakening are those sitting on their nest eggs of cash savings stashed away in their low interest-bearing accounts at the commercial banks and credit unions.
These ‘vulnerable’ patriots can find their financial properties ‘appropriated’ for the good of the survival of the nation state.
After all, the bloated civil service of parasites along with their top-class living grandees driving around in their big rides have to be kept in mint condition; Covid or no Covid.
PS: Tron now is the ‘timely’ opportunity for you to get rid of those millions sitting idle in your fixed deposits.
Why not offer the current owners of the Four Seasons unfinished villas (which must be going for a song) something which they can’t refuse.
These guys were waiting to make a killing but Covid is now forcing them to offload them at any price.
@ Miller May 19, 2020 5:27 PM
First, I am not naive enough to deposit assets in states that are financially dysfunctional, and second, I do not buy half-finished buildings with termites gnawing at their wooden parts.
However, your prediction may well be true that there will soon be a “patriotic levy” on bank assets. So one should only accumulate debts in Barbados. If they take something from you here, you will have less debt 😉
The announcement of “patriotic forced loans” for civil servants was certainly not the last word! I have a list of suggestions for our Most Honourable Prime Minister. Euphemisms included:
compulsory mortgage on debt-free properties: “patriotic property owners”
compulsory levy on BBD assets in domestic accounts: “patriotic bank clients”
compulsory exchange of all foreign currency in domestic accounts into BBD or government bonds: “patriotic money changers”
@ Tron
There is recent precedent for a struggling government seizing a portion bank depositors’ funds. Are you suggesting a Cyprus style ‘bail in’?
You jest but for a govt that has no ideas, no clue and a mandate to do whatever it pleases, nothing can be ruled out.
What i want CARICOM to do is to deplore the corruption that is a staple in many caricom member states, that should be addressed, many crimes against the people, the tax paying cittizes are being committed and have for years, where are your voice against that, it’s keeping the islands so affected from progressing, stagnaning economic growth and future development in the majority population generation after generation, yes, the same islands that are all over the place borrowing money because corruption has been DISRUPTING cash flow to the citizens for decades, their own money….deplore that…no matter who is sitting as Chairman.
https://www.nationnews.com/nationnews/news/245648/caricom-deplores-eu-blacklisting
“Bridgetown – The Caribbean Community (CARICOM) Tuesday said it “deplores the latest attack by the European Commission on the economic well-being of some of our member states” after they were named on the latest European Union list of countries with strategic Anti-Money Laundering/Combating the Financing of Terrorism (AML/CFT) deficiencies.”
“The reduction in ministerial salaries is pure populism that saves very little money. We must reach out to the lethargic masses. Only sharp cuts in the people’s salaries will bring the desired savings”
they would do better to pick up all the stolen properties from the cows and bizzys and grab all their bank accounts with the multimillions the two dirty governments also helped them steal from the people over the last 40 years….that is more than the majority population has combined..
People are asking questions yo…it’s their right.
I saw this post in an other section of this medium and felt the need to share it.
“With respect to the press release from the Ministry of Health about former Minister of Health and present Barbados Ambassador Henrietta Elizabeth Thompson being tested positive for COVID19, there are several pertinent questions that the authorities MUST answer without delay.
Who paid for this private jet travel from NYC to Barbados? It costs a minimum of US$30,000.00 to travel direct on a private jet from NYC to BGI. And that is one way travel. An Ambassador is paid approximately US$6,000 per month.
What is the name of the second passenger on board the said flight and what is the purpose of the person’s travel here?
What is the status of the crew on that flight?
According to memo issued by the Director of Civil Aviation on May 17, 2020, the GAIA is closed to all international passenger travel until June 30, 2020. Therefore, who authorized for that private jet to leave NYC and land in BGI?
What is the status of staff at the Barbados Embassy and Consulate at NYC who may have interacted with Amb Thompson prior to her departure from NYC? Obviously she brought the virus from NYC
Given the failing and frail health of her 95yr old mother why was Amb Thompson allowed to visit her mother before the COVID19 results on herself were determined?
Why are all other persons arriving in Barbados subject to a 14 day automatic quarantine and not Amb Liz Thompson?
Barbados is quickly becoming a land where there is one set of laws for the Medes and one for the Persians. Being a close confidante and political operative for the BLP should not grant special privileges to anyone, and certainly not in this pandemic.
Like you, I wait the answers. We must not depend on the traditional media to investigate. They too have sold their souls to the highest bidder”.
Can anyone answer me, why, why, why…do your halfassed leaders ALWAYS begrudge people who give service to the country their appointments and that is only when they are refusing to pay them their earned salaries on the regular and outright..
…..WHY…these same clowns do not even want to make a sacrifice of cutting their BLOATED SALARIES….for doing little and hiring consultants with taxpayer’s money to do everything for them, so why must they begrudge those who actually work without hiring consultants to do it……..IT’S THEIR DUE…
….wuh i remember as far back as the mid 2000s they would refuse to pay the nurses on time, there was no recession and all of the ministers back then were boasting about being millionaires…..and as recently as last year this was still happening, when they are not refusing to pay them they refuse to appoint them, both governments wear these crimes against workers as a badge of honor..
“health care workers received their long-awaited appointments yesterday.
This was revealed after Prime Minister Mia Amor Mottley, Minister of Health and Wellness Jeffrey Bostic, other ministry officials and acting general secretary of the National Union of Public Workers (NUPW), Delcia Burke, met at the Lloyd Erskine Sandiford Centre.
The meeting was held as nurses and other staff walked off the job at the Winston Scott Polyclinic in Jemmotts Lane and the Branford Taitt Polyclinic on Black Rock Main Road, and others staged a sickout at the Geriatric Hospital, Beckles Road, all in St Michael.
Burke, who outlined the issues, said environmental health officers and environmental health assistants who were finally appointed had in some cases been acting in those roles for up to 15 years. She could not at the time say how many were affected. (TG)”
Ah could swear a fowl was asking me about Dale, Payne and Mia’s UK friend just recently. Be careful what ya ask for.
https://m.facebook.com/story.php?story_fbid=1330213873854815&id=100005986451739&sfnsn=scwspwa&extid=SLgJZPAStk0JeurW&d=w&vh=i
WARU,
Your friend really needs medical attention.
First you only notice it yourself, then the others too, then only the others.
Your Youtuber is in her final stage.
Me thinks ya got that one wrong, the final stage is the shite BLP has been doing to the Black populi for decades….and it’s manifesting into their own ruination…reaping what they sowed….check out all the scandals one after the other and never ending, it seems every two days there is another one….scandals are about them and them only, don’t see anyone else being named…
Bajans from the 1800s have always funded the water works, so why are they still paying water bills and not getting any water in a lot of parishes…in the 21st century.
https://www.facebook.com/groups/269202760462518/permalink/545531806162944/
This is hogwash!
Straughn defends size of Cabinet
[caption id="" align="alignleft" width="227"]
Ryan Straughn, Minister in the Finance ministry [/caption]
A GOVERNMENT MINISTER says the performance of the Mia Amor Mottley administration over the last two years has justified her decision to put together a 26-member Cabinet along with several consultants when she took the reins of power.
Mottley continues to face criticisms for the size of the Cabinet that some argue is a strain on public coffers during very lean times for Barbados. Late last month, retired University of the West Indies economics lecturer, Professor Michael Howard, called for Mottley to trim it in the wake of stalled economic activities stemming from the coronavirus pandemic.
However, Minister in the Ministry of Finance Ryan Straughn has argued that the public needs to pay less attention to the numbers and focus more on the deliverables. He was speaking on CBC’s The People’s Business on Sunday night, the anniversary of the Barbados Labour Party’s second year in office following its May 2018 general election victory.
Results
“When one examines the results, I think one would understand that the approach we have been adopting has been working and therefore it is on that basis that we have to allow the work to continue. Obviously in a COVID-19 environment people are looking for things to cut, but the reality is that the workload is still there for Barbados and we still have to deploy people effectively in order to ensure that we can respond to the country’s needs.
“I can tell you as a minister that even during this COVID-19 lockdown, we have all been working, and as a matter of fact, much harder than we were working before,” Straughn said.
In the April 26 SUNDAY SUN, Howard said Mottley had no choice but to cut the “fat” off what he considered an oversized Cabinet. He had described it as the largest and possibly “most duplicated” in the island’s history.
“It is bad if you have an oversized Cabinet in normal times where you have a lot of expenditure, but especially in times like these when economic growth is going to be negative – ten per cent drop in output – it means you have to look at that Cabinet and see how you can trim it,” he added.
Howard suggested some ministries be merged.
“There is a considerable overlap in the duties of the various people who are working . . . . A lot of the duties and work are not carried out by the minister; he designates work to parliamentary secretaries and other people in the ministry. I think, right now, you have three ministers in finance. Along with that, you have the consultants whose role is . . . to advise Government . . . . And it is arguable that what the consultants do, it might not necessarily need a Minister of Finance as well as a consultant out there advising also on taxation policy. All of that can fall under one minister.”
Straughn, a first-time minister, said while people had been calling for a trimming of the Cabinet as well as the cohort of consultants as a cost-saving measure during the economically crippling COVID-19 pandemic, such a move would be ill-advised. He argued that the magnitude of the work ahead was greater than ever and therefore the large team was still very much needed.
‘Boost in confidence’
“This is the reason that we have seen a lot of traction, a boost in confidence at the consumer and investment level over the course of the last two years. This is simply because we have deployed personnel, Barbadians by the way, to be able to ensure that we respond to the myriad of issues that the country would have faced when we took office. By reducing the complement of Cabinet ministers or consultants at this time will do a disservice in the context of being able to effectively carry the workload that the country faces.”
Straughn added there was a strong likelihood that a smaller team would have been overwhelmed by the magnitude of the task.
“We have put systems in place to ensure that we can respond to the myriad of needs that this country faces. If I may use the Ministry of Finance as an example, I focus primarily on the finance portfolio while Minister [in the Ministry of Economic Affairs Marsha] Caddle focuses on the economic affairs and investment portfolio. I can say to you that over the last two years, given the workload that I have been under, I don’t see how we could have credibly been able to engage the multilateral agencies and get the type of traction for the economy to turn around with one minister.
“The Cabinet is structured in the way that it is because it must be able to respond and focus,” he said, noting that it
was also a case of picking horses for courses.
“The number of consultants that we have brought on board is to ensure that we have the best possible expertise available because the world has evolved and we need to ensure that we have specialists who know the issues and who know the players, so that we can engage because we are no longer [just] engaging with people in Barbados.” (CLM)
Hogwash indeed.
Self praise is no praise at all.
Hubristic waffling is not a substitute for good governance.
Straughn defends size of Cabinet
++++++++++++++
So what was anyone expecting him to say?
In other news , dog bites man and water is wet.
I would steupse but someone else has the monopoly on that, so lets say I’m kissing my “teet”
This hubristic lot are showing their true colours very early in their term of holding office.
They think that the people can’t see that they are only there to serve their own self-interest and the people must take the devil’s hindmost.
What a breach of that covenant of hope in which management of the people’s affairs was a promise which will be characterised by leadership by example.
Where do these overeducated nutters really believe tax revenues- needed to pay their salaries and the fees of the surfeit of consultants and tsars- come from?
A shaking of a fairy’s wand stored in the back pocket of Peter Pan?
If the country’s main industry tourism is currently disabled and in the ICU with private sector businesses all under severe stress resulting in a significant drop in GDP (even before the full effects of the pandemic is felt) how can the public sector players -especially those at the top of pyramid of parasites- expect to insulate themselves in a cocoon of privilege?
The private sector is being forced to reduce manpower numbers and trim the fat especially at the top.
The government better get with the real programme and amend the Constitution accordingly to ‘force’ the country to start living within its economic and financial means.
The days of sweet life are over. Karma in the form of Shylock is demanding her pound of flesh to pay the price of the conspicuous consumption and a bloated bureaucracy over the Arthur & Co years.
According to Sandie: ‘Wunna could like it or lump it’.
John 2 i agree with you as usual.This guy John A tries to portray he is heutral but when one looks at his contributions he is always quick to nitpick any decisions made by this government.You pointed out what Ms Mottley said about the ABC topic and you know he still insisting the decision was already made.As you said if the government gpes left he and others will say they should have gone right amd visa versa .As for Mariposa you were shouting to close the bordrrs tell us if the borders close and as a result businesses close and pekople lose their jobs and cannot feefd their families what do you believe will happen next?Obviously crime will spiral or is that what you wsnt? Then pretending ypu care about the poor black man.You ever heard the saying a hungry man is an angry man?How will the hospital receive medicines ete? As Enuff stated you have to balance lives with livelyhoods.It is alright for you and the gloers to run their mouths nobody voted for you to look after their affairs.In closing let me thank all the frontline workers fpr the hard work they are doing most bajans appteciate it and are behind them 100% percent.We will overcome this in the name of the lord.