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National Meeting Hand

Submitted by Tee White

If it’s now going to be ‘national meeting hand’, then obviously the first principle would have to be that it’s voluntary. I have never heard of a meeting hand where you have to be in it even if you don’t want to. If individual public sector workers choose to accept the government bonds on that basis, then that’s their choice. If however, any individual is forced to be part of the ‘national meeting hand’, whether by the union leadership or government, then it’s not a meeting hand at all.

The government is persisting with this idea, claiming that its aim is to “carry as many Barbadians as possible”. But there’s a simpler and much fairer way to “carry as many Barbadians as possible”. That is that those who have benefited the most over the last 6 decades from turning the island from a sugar cane plantation into a one legged tourism economy must put their hands in their pockets and put some money on the table now that the wheels have come off the donkey cart that they, and the politicians they paid for, built to serve their own interests and which has now got the entire country in a predicament. They’ve become multi-millionaires and billionaires by changing agricultural land into residential land and selling it to developers, by signing lucrative contracts with the government to manage government owned hotels, by linking up with foreign tour operators and in a million other ways. They have full their belly for the last 60 years and now the bill has arrived, they want to pass it to the workers to pay. No way!

A special Covid 19 tax on those with deep pockets should provide the government with all the funds it needs. Remember if you tax a billionaire at 99% of their wealth, they would still be a multi-millionaire at the end of it. They still wouldn’t have to worry about where their next meal is coming from, how to pay their rent or  water or electricity bill.  That’s the way to “carry as many Barbadians as possible”.

https://barbadostoday.bb/2020/05/26/govt-signals-shift-from-forced-to-cooperative-savings/?unapproved=673434&moderation-hash=7f0f8d4337e5dcb6d1bf4a53d7a8055c#comment-673434

401 responses to “National Meeting Hand”

  1. Bajan in NY Avatar
    Bajan in NY

    @Tee White
    A special Covid 19 tax on those with deep pockets should provide the government with all the funds it needs.

    How will you decide who in Bim have deep pockets? The wealth of most people with deep pockets is tied up in corporations and will be difficult for government to tax. The workers will advise the unions leadership on what action to take, and my guess is the go ahead will be reluctantly given.
    The problem I have is the proposed 5% interest offered on the bonds in the present economic climate. It reminds me of the savings bonds Dr. Worrell sold some years ago. The economy would have to make a miraculous recovery for Mia’s government to be in a position to buy back those bonds in such a short time frame.

  2. Cuhdear Bajan Avatar
    Cuhdear Bajan

    The correct Bajan term is “meeting turn” in other islands “box-hand” is used, but I have never heard that term used in Barbados. Other terms used regionally are “su-su” and “esu-esu”

  3. Heather Avatar
    Heather

    The government should change the name. It does not fit the definition of a meeting turn. It comes over as garnishing wages. Tee White is correct. A Meeting Turn is a voluntary system. It also uses cash which is readily available in a matter of weeks. It is a short term loan facility for each weeks reciever. The receiver can change when he wants to receive his turn. The length of the term is finite.

    Perhaps what government means is a deferment system which should pay interest accrued on the sum of what is owed each person. No bonds are even acquired as it only complicates the matter as persons would be receiving the salary that is owed to them. They are not purchasing the bonds.

  4. Cuhdear Bajan Avatar
    Cuhdear Bajan

    I remember discussing at length the foolishness done by a previous BLP government which went ahead and passed a law which said that government should never be able again to cut government worker’s salaries. I wondered out loud at the time how any government could promise any such thing. I wondered what if something really bad happened how would any government honour that promise, and I wondered why any government would have chosen to so box itself in.

    But politicians it seems are eternal optimists.

    I expect that the worker’s will reluctantly accept that half a bread is better than no loaf.

    But it is time that those who have more, in some cases a lot more, don’t we hear of millionaires, multi-millionaires,and billionaires step up and pay more, such people need to dig into their deep pockets and do more to support the civil servants who look after their security [a police vehicle passed quietly in my gap just half an hour ago while most of my neighbors sleep], who look after their sanitation, who immunize and teach their children and who deliver health care to the wealthy and who keep the employees of the wealthy in good health.

    The government has so far handled this Covid19 thing quite well. Private sector firms have not lost many employees, government did not call on private sector companies to pay for the quarantine or isolation of their employees. Surely taking such good care of the work force must be worth something to the capitalists?

    I would like to think of our wealthy as loyal sons and daughters, not as merchants who have no country, who the mere spot they stand on does not constitute so strong an attachment as that from which they draw their gains.

  5. David Avatar
    David

    The capitalists as you call them is interested in making money. Creating value for shareholders and that is all. In the covid environment there is no money to be made.

  6. Wily Coyote Avatar
    Wily Coyote

    FAILED STATE continues down the FAILURE ROAD, same old same old. All we hear is TALK and NO ACTION, other than let’s RAISE TAXES and Garnishee some wages on a mythical promise.

    The sad thing is that the Government, Politicians and the majority of the populace is buying this CRAP.

  7. David Avatar
    David

    @Tee White

    The size and relevance of the public sector is determined by the size and demand of the economy? If the size of the economy and demand for services/product is contracting where will the government get the money to sustain public sector workforce? Taxing the rich is not sustainable because the money some rich people may have onshore is related to a buoyant domestic economy which is non existent at this time.

    The predicament the government finds itself if it were to continue to pay salaries at the current level is similar to Fruendel Stuart printing money to do same. We know where that led.

  8. Cuhdear Bajan Avatar
    Cuhdear Bajan

    @Wily Coyote May 27, 2020 5:13 AM “FAILED STATE continues down the FAILURE ROAD, same old same old. All we hear is TALK and NO ACTION, other than let’s RAISE TAXES and Garnishee some wages on a mythical promise. The sad thing is that the Government, Politicians and the majority of the populace is buying this CRAP.”

    Ok Wily. So let’s hear your bright ideas. Thanks.

  9. Greene Avatar
    Greene

    what happened to the ‘Forced Savings’? is this new ‘National Meeting Turn’ a different animal?

  10. Dullard Avatar
    Dullard

    what happened to the ‘Forced Savings’? is this new ‘National Meeting Turn’ a different animal?

    Not al all. Just given a different name and marketed differently (and dishonestly) with the aim of bamboozling the financially illiterate Bajan hoi polloi. By the looks of it so far, this latest gimmick seems to be gaining traction.

  11. GreenMonkey Avatar
    GreenMonkey

    FYI: The CDC in a recently released report titled COVID-19 Pandemic Planning Scenarios indicates they believe that the WHO estimates for Covid-19 death rates were too high by a significant margin.

    The CDC confirms remarkably low coronavirus death rate. Where is the media?

    Written by Daniel Horowitz
    Sunday May 24, 2020

    The CDC just came out with a report that should be earth-shattering to the narrative of the political class, yet it will go into the thick pile of vital data and information about the virus that is not getting out to the public. For the first time, the CDC has attempted to offer a real estimate of the overall death rate for COVID-19, and under its most likely scenario, the number is 0.26 percent. Officials estimate a 0.4 percent fatality rate among those who are symptomatic and project a 35 percent rate of asymptomatic cases among those infected, which drops the overall infection fatality rate (IFR) to just 0.26 percent — almost exactly where Stanford researchers pegged it a month ago.

    (Snipped the excerpt of the report’s death rate table showing a 0.4% death rate for those who are symptomatic)

    Until now, we have been ridiculed for thinking the death rate was that low, as opposed to the 3.4 percent estimate of the World Health Organization, which helped drive the panic and the lockdowns. Now the CDC is agreeing to the lower rate in plain ink.

    More with a hyperlink to the CDC report: http://ronpaulinstitute.org/archives/featured-articles/2020/may/24/the-cdc-confirms-remarkably-low-coronavirus-death-rate-where-is-the-media/?fbclid=IwAR2jBFdpuJTk0CgXeIYSYe9ozooyPy3_YJM1fU1Su4AFNCClQ8-W2g-pSFU

  12. Miller Avatar
    Miller

    @ David May 27, 2020 5:36 AM
    “The predicament the government finds itself if it were to continue to pay salaries at the current level is similar to Fruendel Stuart printing money to do same. We know where that led.”
    ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

    Isn’t that option of printing Mickey mouse money being proposed by some bright sparks living in the world of academia and used to making ‘make-believe’ fiscal and financial management decisions?

    If the current administration can resuscitate Saint Christopher the leader of the economic demolition crew under the previous administration what’s wrong in recalling another blast from the past to mine the well of knowledge and experience of Delisle Worrell, a previous boss printer who turned out to be the Dems devil.

    Both you and a few enlightened bloggers know where this pay-cut matter is constitutionally headed: 1991/1992 déjà vu with IMF overseeing things.

  13. David Avatar
    David

    @Miller

    The pragmatic position is simple, if the government is unable to pay public sector wages the next discussion will be retrenchment. We do not want to go there.

  14. Miller Avatar
    Miller

    @ David May 27, 2020 8:03 AM

    Why ride the retrenchment horse?

    How about a meaningful across-the-board cut to achieve the fiscal objective of payroll cost reduction?

    Isn’t 70 % of loaf of pay better than no loaf at all?

    Of course there is a case to be made out for ring-fencing a basic or minimum level of income to insulate it from the pandemic reaper’s sickle and to protect the very low wage earners from the conspicuous consumption virus as prices of basic commodities are expected to rise.

  15. Tee White Avatar
    Tee White

    The problem is that there’s understanding for the government (what you want them to do, print money like Freundel?), understanding for the rich (because the money some rich people may have onshore is related to a buoyant domestic economy which is non existent at this time) but no understanding for the workers. Don’t the workers rely on the same economy as the governmentt and the rich? If the government can’t afford the current situation and the rich can’t, why do you think the workers can?

    I clearly hear the government’s demand on what the public sector workers must do to “carry as many Barbadians as possible” but what I can’t hear is what the government is demanding of the millionaires, multi-millionaires and billionaires. Is that because these are the paymasters of the politicians?

    Maybe, it’s just the same old same old in Buhbadus. The minority get all the priveleges while the majority pay for them.

  16. FearPlay Avatar
    FearPlay

    A rose is a rose by any other name so, let’s call this what it really is, ”Another Compulsory Loan to Government (ACLG)”.

    What are some other CL’sG? When PAYE is deducted from your salary and you file for a refund at the end of year? That’s a loan to the government until you are refunded. You’ve paid your VAT and are awaiting a refund? Government loan. Monthly NIS? ACLG!

    So, shut up and pay up as we are accostumed to doing. Just let’s make ACLG and be happy. Who knows, we may get our promised interest this time.

  17. Heather Avatar
    Heather

    @ Tee White, I wrote a proposal for National Meeting Turn a few years ago. I am waiting to see the details of this one.

  18. Cuhdear Bajan Avatar
    Cuhdear Bajan

    @Tee White May 27, 2020 8:48 AM “…what the government is demanding of the millionaires, multi-millionaires and billionaires. Is that because these are the paymasters of the politicians?”

    Let’s get real.

    It is not the millionaires, multi-millionaires and billionaires who are the paymasters.

    The labour of the tens of thousand of Bajan workers pays everybody.

    The political class

    The merchant class

    And lastly themselves.

    No workers. No money for anybody.

    That’s the reality

  19. Cuhdear Bajan Avatar
    Cuhdear Bajan

    The politicians don’t pay us.

    WE PAY THEM.

    The merchants don’t pay us.

    We go into their factories and fields and pay them with our labor. Then we go into their shops and pay them with our money.

    WE PAY THEM.

  20. Khaleel Kothdiwala Avatar
    Khaleel Kothdiwala

    I read Professor Howard on Sunday who penned a solid piece expounding economic theory. As we hurtle towards inevitable recession, we ought to pursue counter cyclical policy. Plainly cutting wages is quite pro cyclical. However, government revenues in this particular crisis is more or less non-existent. Therefore government faces an inevitable choice: layoffs or salary cut. Clearly layoffs which would be replicated in the private sector are far more pro cyclical. Salary cuts are the only way to go. And the National Meeting Turn represents a more humane alternative of payment in kind deferred. Legislation may have to be amended, but with regard to any constitutional ramifications, that question was settled by King v AG. A National Meeting Turn is clearly better than an across-the-board 8%. Government has no choice, barring allowing government to collapse. This is also the only way to ensure exchange rate stability.

    My only concern is that lowering salaries subtracts from the supply of money in the economy, resulting in interest rates increasing. One school of thought says that that will also negatively impact on investment. However, Keynes says that expectations, not interest rates, are the main determinant of firms’ willingness to invest. So that if they are confident enough then they will invest even if interest rates rise.

    In the short term, construction might be enough to allow us to survive hence why government must drive capital works projects. Hence they need the pecuniary latitude to so do. Additionally, if investor confidence can be stimulated to invest in these capital works as is being done presently then we can ride out the period.

    On all fronts, it’s an uncomfortable reality but one that has to be faced frontally.

  21. Khaleel Kothdiwala Avatar
    Khaleel Kothdiwala

    A note about taxing the wealthy “excessively”:

    I’ve always bought into the idea of noblesse oblige, even if it has to be forced on them. So they ought to pay their “fair share” which translates to far higher rates for personal, corporate, capital gains etc. However, because the wealthy are more mobile it is rather simple for them to “avoid” or relocate etc. which results in us losing more from the tax base than we would gain by taxing them so heavily. It is a tightrope that has to be walked.

  22. William Skinner Avatar
    William Skinner

    This is what happens when we get into cliches and newspeak, political optics and needless pandering to a unpatriotic private sector.
    The PM is well intentioned but unfortunately she is making the classic mistake of trying to be all things to all people. It’s obvious that her well paid consultants have no new progressive ideas and we need basic common sense.
    Public sector wages should not increase for the next five years; outstanding taxes in any form owed to the government must be paid in full in six months or the businesses should be put on the auction block; unions should negotiate for the continued employment of its members with no salary increase for three years and a progressive form of productivity and rewards should be an act of parliament and passed immediately; employers who have not paid in deducted national insurance should be given six months to do so or face ten years imprisonment; all self employed people by law should be paying national insurance or their businesses closed down; all economic activity from construction to making and selling food including sweet bread and pudding in souse as would be registered to meet basic health standards and bd taxed.
    The days of “ just making a dollar” must now end. A new business culture must emerge. Business is business.
    All companies grossing more than five million per year must deposit two million dollar security in the treasury to protect their workers When they just close down. Re: recent sudden closure of popular restaurants.
    All tourism workers must be given at least at least a two percent share in their work places and all parliamentarian salary increases should remain at present levels for fifteen years; a stipend of forty dollars per month should replace any renumeration senators now receive.
    The PM must use her political capital and move swiftly to level the playing field. The ball is in her court. We did not elect Mascoll and Persuad to run this country.

  23. Miller Avatar
    Miller

    @ Heather May 27, 2020 9:09 AM

    You will never see appended to that reborn NMT proposal any reference to the ‘real’ source of that idea far less a “thank you” to any ‘Heather Cole’.

  24. Vincent Codrington Avatar
    Vincent Codrington

    A rose by any other name is still a rose. And a marigold is still a Stinker Missy. Changing a name or the packaging does not change the nature. I think some public relations advisers’ stipend should be cut by 50%.

  25. Vincent Codrington Avatar
    Vincent Codrington

    @ David Bu

    In order to maintain focus, can you remind bloggers what social ,public finance or economic problem this national Sou Sou is designed to solve.

  26. Vincent Codrington Avatar
    Vincent Codrington

    @ KK

    May I suggest that you try to deal with the issues raised in the submission. You have a tendency to introduce and discuss issues that are not on the table. I believe this moot is about a National Meeting Turn. Do you know what that is? And how it works? Will it solve the perceived problem/ non problem/ red herring?

  27. Khaleel Kothdiwala Avatar
    Khaleel Kothdiwala

    In my view, nomenclature matters little at the present. Forced savings, cooperative savings, national meeting turn, garnishing wages, deferred payment, what does it matter. The central idea remains that public sector employees will take a hit and that that would be done in a graded way. No matter what you settle on calling it, the imperative remains.

  28. Vincent Codrington Avatar
    Vincent Codrington

    @ KK

    Will that hit not aggravate the problem? Surely some hits or no hit at all is less harmful and may be more curative?

  29. Heather Avatar
    Heather

    Part of my solution would be to use the public servants salary withholdings to carve out a stake for them in the medical marijuana industry.

  30. Miller Avatar
    Miller

    @ Khaleel Kothdiwala May 27, 2020 9:33 AM
    “A note about taxing the wealthy “excessively”:
    I’ve always bought into the idea of noblesse oblige, even if it has to be forced on them.”
    +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

    Isn’t that statement a contradiction of the highest order?

    ‘Noblesse oblige’ is the anthem of those altruistic members from the real aristocracy of life who subscribe to that biblical invocation of: “To whom much is given, much is expected”.

    You cannot force such a principle of ‘genuine charity’ down the financial throats people with upright moral standards.

    The problem in Bim is not one of any inappropriate tax rates or the range of taxes but in the collection of those tax debts owed to the Treasury due mainly to the incestuous interference by members of the political class from both sides of the imaginary divide.

    We are sure that large amount of VAT billed to the BWA on a VAT non-compliant invoice would go a long way in keeping on the payroll a few civil servants at the lower end of the pay scales for a longer period of time with a greater multiplier effect in the buy and sell economy.

  31. WURA-War-on-U Avatar
    WURA-War-on-U

    Ha!!!

    “But there’s a simpler and much fairer way to “carry as many Barbadians as possible”. That is that those who have benefited the most over the last 6 decades from turning the island from a sugar cane plantation into a one legged tourism economy must put their hands in their pockets and put some money on the table now that the wheels have come off the donkey cart that they, and the politicians they paid for, built to serve their own interests and which has now got the entire country in a predicament.”

  32. Miller Avatar
    Miller

    @ Khaleel Kothdiwala May 27, 2020 11:06 AM
    “The central idea remains that public sector employees will take a hit and that that would be done in a graded way. No matter what you settle on calling it, the imperative remains.”
    +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

    You have now taken off your deep-red chef cap and don the ‘white’ apron of an objective cook in the BU hot kitchen.

    And by what % would this “hit” take on your payroll grading scale?

  33. WURA-War-on-U Avatar
    WURA-War-on-U

    1 BILLION DOLLARS written OFF for the THIEVES who stole the VAT in the last 3 or 4 decades, like if it was her and their money and another 500,000 written off for tax evading family and friends like if it was her and their money…but running off to CNN and BBC crying….failed to mention any of that to any of them though…

    and we won’t even talk about all the bad contracts over the last 40 years that RIPPED OFF both the treasury and pension fund and borrowed money….to the tune of billions of dollars NOW NEEDED…tief not, want not..

    .who else to run off crying to ABC, NBC, not many more left….Ha!!!

    “The problem in Bim is not one of any inappropriate tax rates or the range of taxes but in the collection of those tax debts owed to the Treasury due mainly to the incestuous interference by members of the political class from both sides of the imaginary divide.

  34. Vincent Codrington Avatar
    Vincent Codrington

    @ Heather

    So the managers of this Sou Sou can make better investment decisions for public servants? On what evidence have you come to this conclusion?

  35. David Avatar
    David

    @Vincent

    We know this is not a binary problem to solve. Given your learning and experience what is anti piracy to occur if the squeeze is put on ‘rich’ people?

  36. Donna Avatar
    Donna

    Only one thing to do – protect the workers at the bottom and everybody else take a hit according to a sliding scale, including the wealthy. Banks should refinance mortgages but we all have to give up something. This is a great opportunity to separate our wants from our needs. A small kitchen garden in pots will lower one’s grocery bill if need be. And many of us, including myself can eat less. Especially less imported junk in cans and packages. Most of us can find ways to reduce our water and electricity bills. Trim the fat! Live within one’s means. Settle into our real slot and stop trying to compete with the big guns. We are a tiny island with no real natural resources.

    That means that nobody is fighting over us. That is a good thing in my book. We could live simply and in peace if we so desired.

  37. Vincent Codrington Avatar
    Vincent Codrington

    @ David BU

    I may miss the import of your question by a wide margin. But here I go. John and OSA some time ago made the point that an entity can be asset rich but liquidity poor. I think at this point in time the GoB needs the liquidity. On the other hand, GoB has plenty of land assets that are idle. Why is it not using these lands to reduce the food import bills and solving the unemployment problem? Surely we have an oversupply of labour and are encouraging higher unemployment by layoffs and subventions to the temporarily unemployed.

  38. Donna Avatar
    Donna

    in other words most of our problems are created in our own minds. Most of us can cover our needs. The problem is our wants.

  39. Khaleel Kothdiwala Avatar
    Khaleel Kothdiwala

    @ VC May 27, 2020 11:17 AM

    I’ve pointed out not only why the hit is necessary but what it allows government to do in the short term to keep the country afloat.
    +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

    @ Miller May 27, 2020 11:23 AM

    For the first time probably, we agree somewhat. While persons ought to feel altruistic, the reality is that in situations such as these, government sometimes has to use its power of “sovereign authority” to “compel altruism”, which is yes deliciously paradoxical, but in our present reality the outlandish becomes the necessary.

    If I read through your lines correctly, that one VAT payment would not have the far reaching effect that you propose. However, I too would like to see it returned.
    ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

    @ Miller May 27, 2020 11:34 AM

    I’m not a financial planner and I don’t have access to the necessary data so I can’t really say the nature of the grading itself. What I think is just intuitive though is that is should be an increasing scale. Perhaps up to Z35 or maybe even 30 could be immunised (I think realistically only up to 35). And then go from there. S scales particularly 1-5 ought to feel it heavily (but that’s in my utopian world lol)
    +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

    @ WARU May 27, 2020 11:35 AM

    Valid points, but as you mentioned all that is passed now and can’t be recouped. It’s essentially crying out about the past, which definitely ought to be done to see if there can be a way to ensure no repetition, but in times of crisis we don’t have the luxury of ruminating about things past.

  40. Vincent Codrington Avatar
    Vincent Codrington

    @ KK at 12:03 PM

    The necessity of the hit is based on an axiom or axiomated construct that makes no contact with reality. That is the main reason I asked you to revisit the statement of your/the perceived problem. The long run is not a summation of a series of short run solutions. Your short run solution has the potential to imperil the recovery and sustainability of the Barbados economy.

  41. Donna Avatar
    Donna

    Good job, Koochie Koo!

  42. Sargeant Avatar
    Sargeant

    Ahahaha…. In the BLP’s most recent manifesto there is a proposal to establish “The Barbados Sovereign Wealth Fund”. In most countries the assets of these funds are made up of royalties and other earnings from the country’s natural resources but apart from “sea water and sand” Barbados’ natural resources are its people.

    A meeting turn is much too commonplace think of the forced savings from the populace (a natural resource) as a contribution to the country’s “Sovereign Wealth Fund”.

    Now all the Gov’t has to do is get competent management to manage the assets and ensure there is long term growth of this fund, is the PM/Arthur or Sinckler available?

    I hope that I have cleared up the mystery of “forced savings” and resolved the angst that many are experiencing during these times.

  43. WURA-War-on-U Avatar
    WURA-War-on-U

    You can be forgiven for not knowing as a little Koochie Koo that those who FORGET the past are DOOMED to REPEAT IT…these have been repeating and repeating and repeating it longer than you have been alive…

    so we have to keep reminding and reminding and reminding them…because of their short memory syndrome..

  44. Miller Avatar
    Miller

    @ Khaleel Kothdiwala May 27, 2020 12:03 PM
    “For the first time probably, we agree somewhat. While persons ought to feel altruistic, the reality is that in situations such as these, government sometimes has to use its power of “sovereign authority” to “compel altruism”, which is yes deliciously paradoxical, but in our present reality the outlandish becomes the necessary.
    If I read through your lines correctly, that one VAT payment would not have the far reaching effect that you propose. However, I too would like to see it returned.”
    +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

    That’s just one of the many long outstanding VAT matter with the strong stench of evasion. Would you like to see them (those heists) return to the taxpayers’ Treasury or are the evidence surrounding them going to remain in the big red bag?

    Sorry for stepping on your little red political baby toes.

    The way to achieve your version of noblesse oblige is to ‘force’ those who owe Caesar to pay up and meet their tax obligations to Caesar.

    They are other issues which you and the miller have agreed on, even if inadvertently, but which are not relevant to this very serious blog.

    A blog which is highlighting a very serious decision to be made on whether the public sector- at its current manpower level(s)- will either swim or sink as a result of the ravaging economic effects of the current pandemic.

    PS: It’s good to see you have moved a bit further to the front of the BU classroom to allow your ‘hard’ ears to take in the lessons of life.

  45. Vincent Codrington Avatar
    Vincent Codrington

    @ Sergeant

    Have you joined up with Tron as a tag team of entertaining court jesters?
    It is not forced saving it is a reduction in the income of the public servants. It is kicking the can further down the street. This is an act,unintended,of taking expenditure out of circulation. It impacts the size of GDP. and the employed Labour Force.

  46. Tron Avatar
    Tron

    @ Wily Coyote May 27, 2020 5:13 AM

    The native masses must finally accept that Barbados is once again bankrupt two years after the last bankruptcy. There is nothing left to “spread the wealth”.

    Since 1966 the native masses have lived at the expense of the international capital market. This has been over since 2018. No private company lends more money to a society where sleeping at work has mutated into the number one national popular sport.

    Therefore I fully support the plans of our government to cut the salaries of civil servants. This is a very patriotic act, which requires a great deal of courage in view of the financial illiteracy and lack of understanding of the masses. I would like to congratulate Mia Mottley on this matter personally.

    Once the government implements this measure, the confidence of international investors will increase considerably. Well done!

  47. Sargeant Avatar
    Sargeant

    @VC

    Didn’t you release your inner Shakespeare by paraphrasing “A rose by any other name would smell just as sweet”? You call it a reduction in wages and I call it a contribution to the Sovereign Wealth Fund I am surprised that the deep thinkers in the BLP haven’t arrived at that conclusion yet

    Is the glass half empty or half full?

  48. Tron Avatar
    Tron

    One more note for our government: Our leader Mia Mottley and her team should not constantly seek consensus with unreasonable union leaders. Unions are very selfish and not committed to the common good. They would rather destroy the whole society than accept a pay cut for their members.

    Therefore, we must curtail the power of the trade unions, for example by banning industrial action during the COVID19 crisis.

    With unemployment at around 40 percent, our government can no longer allow itself to be held hostage by ideological and selfish individuals.

  49. Khaleel Kothdiwala Avatar
    Khaleel Kothdiwala

    @ Vincent May 27, 2020 12:21 PM

    I think the necessity of some hit somewhere is indeed axiomatic and by virtue of being axiomatic is intimately related to reality. In an environment where government revenue is through the floor, the industry accounting for 40% of GDP is comatose, unemployment is through the roof, and while most will return to work, the reality is some businesses simply won’t reopen to allow those to go back to work, and the plethora of other challenges we face, it is quite clear a hit is necessary. If governments inflows are down drastically, and its outflows on health and social protection are rising dramatically, clearly a problem results. If government is facing such a problem it must cut expenditure. It cannot cut health expenditure or Welfare or NIS for example. It must cut something. And the only thing available is the wage bill. So you either layoff thousands or you cut salaries. Meeting turn or whatever you call it, is a more creative way of doing that. Rather than slashing salaries it defers payment (I think at least, the details are sketchy but come the end of June more will be known). So it’s quite clear that that is the only choice. That seeks to create BoP and thus currency stability.

    Yes it takes expenditure out of circulation at a time when theory dictates the opposite. However, this event is slightly more cataclysmic than that allows for. Government simply doesn’t have the cash. See my earlier submission on the impact on interest rates and what Keynes has to say about that. The earlier submission speaks to the short term imperative and how this strategy combined with others can work.

    Someone said earlier, I think it was Silly Woman, that people can starve in 6 weeks. We must pay attention to the long run and govern for tomorrow as Mottley told BBC yesterday. However, in times of crisis, we must be equally focussed on the short term because it is in the short term that if the whole country collapses then there will be no long term to speak about.

  50. Khaleel Kothdiwala Avatar
    Khaleel Kothdiwala

    @ Miller May 27, 2020 12:32 PM

    I am becoming quite uncomfortable with agreeing with you so frequently lolol. Seriously however, I do agree that those instances need to be righted, i.e. returned to the taxpayer and maybe even a stay in St. Phillip. And in the spirit of agreement, yes that stuff ought to emerge from you all’s favourite fashion accessory. And as I always say I hope soon.

    However, I am equally aware that taking those kinds of things away from people doesn’t happen without a court fight and we all know how expeditious our courts are. As Silly Woman said, people starve in six weeks, so by all means address that and soon but right now we survive and that’s all we can do.

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