Pension Reform for Public Officer a Priority (including Members of Parliament a Priority)
The blogmaster found the comment posted by Critical Analyzer interesting even if provocative. What we can agree is that pension form in the public service- including for members of parliament – must be given a priority. The issue is compounded with the state of the National Insurance Fund that we are left to speculate.
Pension Reform as the world tries to do it now is only kicking the can down the road with the warmed over soup gimmicks of every few years increasing the retirement age, changing pension formulas and raising contributions rates while government borrowing from the pension funds for their projects.
Our pension reform needs to completely break the mold
1) For every person currently 50 years or less, change their pension age back tot 65 and have NIS pay an across the board universal basic pension (UBP) calculated based on the cost to cover a one bedroom rental, utilities and food for a single pensioner living alone. Anyone wanting more pension at retirement should seek private pension plans and other investment opportunities during their working years if they desire a higher standard of living.
2) Persons 51 and older would remain under the current arrangements with any shortfalls for the year covered by an unfunded pensions tax. This pension tax would eventually reduce and go away as the numbers under the old arrangement die out.
3) Since healthcare is the biggest money problem for pensioners, work on improving the quality and turnaround time for our taxpayer funded healthcare while bending healthcare costs down through novel approaches e.g. a requirement for medical license renewal could be a minimum amount of pro bono work at government medical facilities or referrals for free outpatient surgical procedures.
Critical Analyzer
Barbados Underground 
We should rename the days of the week to typoday 1, typoday 2’….. Or auto correct day 1 ….
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@ Artax
We seem to be confusing each other! You are saying that Moore has not been allowed or has not yet demonstrated her mastery of trade unionism. I am saying she has none. Period.
You introduced Comrade Trotman’s consultancy at BWU. I said that’s how the Duopoly operates. Sir Roy is a Duopoly power player. I said you did not mention he was on the BLP’s platform. Mascoll seems to be one as well.
That strengthened my argument about the Duopoly.
In my opinion, every time Mia’s does shit ; we seem very accommodating. And this is about her fifth foul up.
I am standing firm : I am not and will not ever be impressed by the pot calling the kettle black.
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@William Skinner March 20, 2022 9:29 AM “…he has now suffered an unnecessary embarrassment…”
I repeat. Mr. Kothdiwala has no reason to be embarrassed since he has done nothing wrong.
Only wrong doers ever need to be embarrassed.
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@Vincent
Who is recommending a 401k for Barbados? One comment and you are prepared to go down the rabbit hole?
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@William
Has Trotman given himself a consultancy with BWU?
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I would be the first to confess that I do not have any answers.
The only thing that keeps me going is that I am convinced that others are just a clueless as I am and others even more so.
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@David
After Moore was elected Leroy was on staff as a Consultant and kept his old Office. Whether he still is a consultant advising the Moore person, I do not know, but his health is not good, so I doubt it very much.
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@Dame
He is still consulting.
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@ David Bu
401 K was mentioned in TheO ‘s intervention. I was responding to it. Your article is about Pension Reform. Do I not have free choice as to which rabbit hole I go down?
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@Vincent
It was a reminder 491k cannot be a Barbados investment instrument for obvious reasons. Does the blogmaster have license to do same?
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David BU
It is a system of Pension management. Not an instrument. Of course it is not available . But Private Corporations employ a similar system for their pensioners.
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@Vincent
If you say so, thought it was a defined contribution plan supported by US employers but the blogmaster pleads ignorance. Will defer to you.
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A next personal attack
Last time I was lumped with AC
This time I am lumped with John (🐇)
I seem to recall Hants said I was replacing 555 when I was posting music
If these personal attacks continue, I may be forced to run 🙂
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@ TheOGazerts,
you accusing me of accusing you ? If I so did I apologise. lol
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@Cuhdear BajanMarch 20, 2022 11:22 AM
Read properly: “Old” Barbadians = current population, NOT “old” people.
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When all is said and done, most of us will agree that there are enormous problems confronting our country.
Some on one side of the political divide would paper over the issues and some on the other side would magnify these problems. To both, it is not a half empty/half full glass but rather that it is overflowing or empty.
The problems are real and no wordsmith can change that fact. The solutions must also be real and not be a public relation stunt or be seen as an opportunity for skullduggery.
Skullduggery:
The procurement of vaccines during the ‘covid-19 crisis” became nothing more than a transfer of money into one person’s pocket. It would be folly to believe that these thieves are just getting money for themselves; they are nothing more than common bagmen posing as glorified business ‘maguffys’.
The second example was an attempt to jumpstart our tourism product by finding a new and inspiring slogan. It goes without saying that a better end product could have been delivered to the nation at a much cheaper cost. Here again, a moment of national need was seen as an opportunity to put money in someone’s pocket.
Here we have seen that national problems are seen as an opportunity to make money.
PR campaign
What about problems that do not exist that we just go out and create.
The KK debacle is such an example. Here we have an experience lawyer/politician not being satisfied with a 31-0 but reaching past the valid senatorial pool and into the cradle to find a next senator. Inventing a constitutional issue where there should be none.
Meanwhile, worthwhile issues such as
Integrity Legation,
Greater transparency
Justice reform and separating lawyers from their client’s money and
Repaying creditors with more than Barbados J-bonds
are given lip-service
The newest scam is now to focus on vacant lots. This will mainly affect folks in the Diaspora who are unable to pay close and immediate attention to their property.
Government should not be run like a scam or a PR stunt.
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Trying to hold back, but I cannot
Looks like the DLP set its alarm clock and went to bed.
I am coming to the conclusion that even now the party is bereft of ideas.
That they are lazy and election year driven
Perhaps they can generate some buzz by trying to draft KK as a senator 🙂
DMA raise your profile. The opportunity is there. Stop taking your cue from non-existent leaders,
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“The problems are real and no wordsmith can change that fact. The solutions must also be real and not be a public relation stunt or be seen as an opportunity for skullduggery.”
wordsmith…a word i used in my second book, looks like you been reading it before it’s published …lol
“Government should not be run like a scam or a PR stunt.”
it’s been like that from 1966…and before that…..with the cabal of crooks calling themselves elite…from 1940s..at least 80 years in all….while the backward and weak minded glorify, respect and look up to these pretenders like themselves…
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How was money transferred from government to someone’s pocket?
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We have been reduced to dotting i’s and crossing t’s.
Passage of time and lack of transparency makes it impossible to produce evidence. I would bet a small sum that Maloney will be or was made whole in the vaccine scam.
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@ David
I don’t know. I figure that such an offer would have been the prerogative of the union/ general council.
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Source: Nation
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“I would bet a small sum that Maloney will be or was made whole in the vaccine scam.”
Theo….be careful the pretenders don’t start attacking you too or setting their” illiterati” channeling Piece, to do so..
..they only want to TALK and compliment each other on how they present pretty words/posts without any substance or power, about corruption and human rights abuses/massive THEFTS AGAINST Black people, but don’t actually want to see anything done about it…it’s been a thing for years…even people in other countries have noticed it…
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Harry Russel has long been a prophet whose message about the BNB has not only been ignored by Bajan brass, but we went on to sell even more of our children’s BIRTHRIGHTS to foreigners for a quick splurge of mendicancy.
To sell a birthright is to “exchange something of great, important, or fundamental value for some financial gain that proves to be of little, trivial, or no value but which appears to be attractive or valuable on first reckoning.”
So where exactly did the couple dollars ‘earned’ from the sale of BNB, BS&T,BLP etc go?
How are these pieces of silver contributing to our security and stability in 2022?
Apart from the albino-centric ‘greed-mongers’ among us (who will all die in misery and leave their millions hidden in useless accounts around the world), how has the country benefitted?
The mid-level facilitators (mostly public servants) who, in exchange for various bribes, trips overseas, appointments and other underhand incentives, sold out their children’s future to the greedy – must now find it hard to sleep at night…even with their senior posts.
The very lowest form of ‘traitor’ is the one that exchanges their children’s and grand children’s future for their own selfish, greedy, ends. This has been the national trend set by our shiite ‘leaders’ in Buhbados now for decades.
The chickens have been coming home to roost…..
Bushie awaits the response of the banks to the Covid tax …. and says a quiet word of prayer for those Bajans who hold loans and mortgages that they are having difficulties in servicing….
Where there is no vision, it is the PEOPLE who will suffer..
Note… (Not the shiite leaders… so we truly deserve the ‘leaders’ that we choose to follow)
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“Apart from the albino-centric ‘greed-mongers’ among us (who will all die in misery and leave their millions hidden in useless accounts around the world), how has the country benefitted?”
am so looking forward to THAT…hope it’s ALL FROZEN soon, while they are alive….MFs..
“This has been the national trend set by our shiite ‘leaders’ in Buhbados now for decades.”
GOSPEL!!!!
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@Bush Tea
The blogmaster prefers to use the reference- strategic asset.
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William Skinner March 20, 2022 12:29 PM
“We definitely seem to be confusing each other!”
You believe Moore is incompetent. I “introduced Comrade Trotman’s consultancy at BWU” to support an ALTERNATIVE OPINION that it is ONE of the REASONS why she has not been allowed to function in her capacity as GS, without being ‘shadowed.’
‘Nothing more, nothing less.’
And, as I ‘said’ previously, I did not mention anything about Sir Roy being on the BLP and Moore’s platform, because I believed it was IRRELEVANT to your INITIAL DISCUSSION about the lady’s tenure at BWU.
So, I was trying to figure out how the discussion suddenly deviated from focusing on Toni Moore’s tenure as GS of BWU……to Clyde Mascoll, you wanting “to strengthen your argument about the Duopoly and not being impressed by the pot calling the kettle black?”
You guys often give the impression that there are a specific set of rules, regulations or guidelines that MUST be ADHERED TO when analyzing or criticizing Barbadian politics, political parties and politicians.
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@William
Source: Nation
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Source: Nation
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Source: Nation
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Source: Nation
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@MR article
If you can do basic addition and subtraction there is no need to read it.
For those of you are challenged, I have done it for you.
70-35=35 which is less than 40. (See below)
“The change in the qualification for pension will have more negative effects on older employees. Persons who are first hired in the Public Service during their mid- to late 30s are likely to reach the retirement age of 70 years before they meet the 40
years of service to qualify for maximum pension.”
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I am finish with this. for several reasons.There is a big gap in the information as to how the gap between the Private sector retirement age and the NIS commencement of pensions age is bridged. The NIS pension was never intended to be a livable income for the middle and upper income brackets. The Public sector needs to insist on a similar scheme for their employees.
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It is good to know that our honourable government is sympathetic to my proposal to raise the retirement age to 75. 70 years is a good start. I look forward to successive further increases.
I would not be surprised if our civil servants soon have to slave away until 80, provided their average age at death rises to 80 years and 1 month.
The best thing is to put the 80-year-old civil servants at customs at the airport or at the harbour. So that our citizens can import cars, planes, vehicle parts and prefabricated houses without paying customs duties. After all, at the age of 80, their eyesight is no longer supposed to be the best.
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@ Tron
I was wondering what was the rationale for these quantum leaps towards elderly abuse. Now I know.
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@Vincent
Any rough thoughts on a fit for purpose pension plan for the public service?
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@ David Bu
What is wrong with the current system? Why do previous and present administrations have difficulties in forwarding contributions to the NIS?I need basic information and reasons for the change/reform.
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@Vincent
Good question you ask. Could it be the consolidated fund in these perilous times has contracted a leak?
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@ David BU at 7:52 AM
“In these perilous times”,it is natural for economies to contract along with their components. The lock-downs, local and abroad ,shut down economies.(partially). If there is reduced economic activity,there will be reduced spending and incomes,that lead to low tax revenues. This is expected to be temporary. The purpose of borrowing was to assist in maintaining liquidity in the system and assisting those more severely affected by the contraction. If as you surmise that pensions could not be paid ,then you have a problem of financial management which could have worsened the problem. But I doubt it. I would need to see the data.It is a matter of priority.
My general response to the question posed at caption was to continue to pay pensions out of the Consolidated Fund. GoB needs to lead by example. Private Corporations pay their portion of agreed pensions out of income. Segregation of Funds into an investment portfolio ,hoping that the yields therefrom can pay pensions is a mathematical impossibility.Pension schemes are more effective in a “pay as you go system”. Some what similar to an Insurance Company. Current premia pay current insurance pay outs.
So hence my question: Are these reforms based on actuarial computations? What are the assumptions in the model used? Are they reasonable?
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Thanks Vincent, the issue of unfunded public service pension preceded Covid 19 didn’t it?
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David Bu at 11: 21 AM
I am not too sure what you mean by unfunded. Is there not a line item in the Estimates of Revenue and Expenditure for the payment of projected pensions? Is there not a line item for GoB contributions to NIS?. I do not have recent copies of the Estimates and Expenditure but they should be recorded there in.
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@Vincent
Page 5 of the attached report should elucidate.
Click to access 47827915.pdf
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Another interesting link.
Unfair practices | Barbados Advocate
https://www.barbadosadvocate.com/news/unfair-practices
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@David
earlier @VC objected to my use of ‘unfunded’ and he is correct. They are budgeted annually, as a pay-as-you-go expense to the Consolidated account (fund). So they are funded annually vs unfunded. Unfunded as used, only implies there is no separate funding mechanism.
Naturally as people have lived longer, this means the cost of public pensions also grows. And led to the not-so-funny quip, when it was discovered the last GoB was directing NIS deductions from public employees, not to the NIS but to the public coffers, this was taking from one pension to pay another pension? Also why, no public service pensioner or soon to be pensioner, wants this liability (their benefit) rolled into the NIS. It is advantageous to keep it as a current annual liability, and separate from the NIS.
I will let @Tron explain the effects of a 25% cut in the size of the public service…
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@NO
Unfunded was used loosely to infer there is no segregated fund.
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We know supporters of the status quo will make the point that government is the bank account of last resort so what does it matter:
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Source: Nation
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There is a lot of merit in what is stated, but other groups may also present a persuasive argument. Have to be careful in carving out exceptions. I’m
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It seems to me that we already have exceptions in retirement ages in the Public Service. There are precedents outlined in the above post. If we are guided by the principle of Equity rather than equality, the police and any other GOB employee organization can put in proposals.
A society that cares about its members should give a willing ear and an open mind.
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@Vincent
You agree that considerations may change based on externalities (to borrow a word from the lexicon of your profession? Can the government afford the many pension plans? Is it a sustainable approach to take?
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@ NO at 2:28 PM
One does not simply cut the size of the Public Service by 25% across the board. We know why the Public Service expanded, If it did. Therefore we must examine the source of previous expansions to satisfy our selves that they are still fit for purpose. If the departments ,SOEs etc have outlived their purpose we should terminate them. We must do this systematically, not whimsically and on the bases of personalities or political connections. Those that can be absorbed elsewhere should be retained.. It is not a number game. It is about efficiency and effectiveness.
Can you explain to me why in a micro economy, like Barbados we need three Financial Regulatory Institutions.? Can you explain to me, If we have an excess of labour ,why are we seeking to institute capital intensive systems in the name of technological progress? Are all technological solutions an acceptable social objective OR a means to achieving desirable social objectives.
As Coyote is wont to say:” We are putting the cart before the jackass”.
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@Vincent
You saw this report.
—————-
Prime Minister Committed To Transforming Public Service | GIS
https://gisbarbados.gov.bb/blog/prime-minister-committed-to-transforming-public-service/
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@ David Bu at 9:57 AM
The short answer is YES. The number of pensioners will decrease through attrition and over time when I last examined the demographics. If all these Publicly sponsored Private sector projects get off the ground the released labour will be absorbed into the private sector at no cost . Their future pensions will be no concern of The Consolidated Fund. So yes it will be sustainable. If you need no policemen,no nurses, the dynamic efficient Private sector will provide these services. Are you getting the drift. But bear in mind, it is not what the noise makers say ,it is what we, the people, want that should exercise the mind of GoB. Talk is the only commodity in Barbados that does not suffer adversely from inflation. It cheap like ( expletive)/.
The GoB is expeced to put policies in place to ameliorate/ avoid the impact of externalities on the local Economy and Society. Please review their Job Descriptions. It helps when considering local political economic issues.
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@Vincent
Understand the point you are making, where we separate is that decisions about pension must be informed by actuarial plans.
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David Bu
Bottom line : It cannot be a political decision without the input of the technocrats. We need them.Yes. Pension schemes ,especially publicly administered ones. must be scientifically informed. This is not the age of guessing and trial and error. It is about using knowledge and technology in arriving at decisions in the public arena. NIS had on staff persons pursuing this discipline as well as external actuaries that made a triennial report of the sustainability of the Fund.
I believe it is this absence of information that leads some commenters to make unfounded statements.
It cannot simply be a political decision. We need to have the inputs of the technocrats. It is time you stop believing that most public servants are seat warmers.
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@VC
Leaving it to @Tron, meant I wasn’t supporting/not supporting anything to do with size (that being a matter @Tron frequently puts forth).
As far as efficiency and effectiveness, I am in no position to determine that.
Neither do I have the facts to know the size of the public service over time, and those implications going forward.
For whatever reason “grants to individuals” has increased steadily over time. Will this continue? Are extraneous expenses being funneled through this heading? I have no idea, I don’t have the data set.
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https://www.caribbeannationalweekly.com/news/caribbean-news/dominica-regains-majority-ownership-of-domlec/#:~:text=The%20Dominica%20government%20says%20it,based%20energy%20company%2C%20Emera%20Incorporated.
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Source: Nation
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This Editorial, like some commentaries posted before,is based on the mistaken notion that pensions are a gift to the retired.employee. It is a condition of employment that attracts the job seeker to a particular employer. It is part of his/her emoluments. This notion is a hangover from the old mendicant attitudes to retired workers.
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Exactly, Vincent! And conditions of employment cannot be changed unilaterally after hiring.
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@ Donna at 1;33 PM
Correct. There is definitely a need for Civics to be put on the Time Tables in our Secoundary Schools.
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On the subject of civics it seems government’s decision to cap VAT on fuel was interpreted by many as to be a cap on the price of fuel.
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@ David BU at 3 :18 PM
So it would appear. Is the faulty teaching in Civics or Comprehension? I wonder if some commenters are not really deliberately mischievous.
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@Vincent
Agree this is more about comprehension than civics. Although a health interest in civics may have sharpened the comprehension skills in this regard…LOL
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@Vincent
Seriously where we are in Barbados is a large majority of people who are happy to breath their fire rage at anything.
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conditions of employment cannot be changed unilaterally after hiring….
Is this like Bond terms cannot be changed unilaterally after issuance?
Or taxes cannot be imposed after the tax year is over?
Or payments to entities owed $$ by GoB must be paid within X time in full, and not converted to Bonds or other longer term Promissory methods?
The new realities…?
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Discussion about pension reform. Listen to Minister Ryan Straughn talk about unfunded pension.
https://m.facebook.com/people/National-Union-of-Public-Workers-Barbados/100063838230238/
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On the subject of civics it seems government’s decision to cap VAT on fuel was interpreted by many as to be a cap on the price of fuel
~~~~~~~~~~
Perhaps our REAL problem is the the damn politicians themselves don’t know what the hell they are doing…
far less the BB sheeple.
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Source: Nation
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@ David Bu
So we are back to yet another discussion in semantics . I feel your pain.
You may be correct in your quests.What is surfacing is the abundance of ignorance in matters of Public Affairs ( Res Publicae.). Your work in Education will be rewarded. Continue the good work.
All things work out for the best. Truth is revealed every day. The paradigm shift is unfurling.
Now I see the Jonah moment I predicted and the need for it.
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@Vincent
You took note Minister Straughn refers to unfunded? Meaning we suppose public servants do not contribute?
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@ David BU
Yes . I have.Hence my intervention that followed your upload of a link.
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@ David BU at 10 :43 AM
May I ask who will be funding and managing these segregated funds? Is a portfolio of Public and Private Stocks and shares more sustainable than the revenues/ tax receipts of the Public and private sectors? What is the historical record of the performance of Segregated Funds?
Thanks for the overseas academic papers. They say nothing different from what I have stated over the last several months. It is a matter of choice and ones appetite for risks and collateral damage. If as you claim,the Surplus funds of NIB is being mismanaged and misused,how much more chaotic will the total collapse of the pension scheme will be.. No portfolio manager has been able to consistently outperform the market.
AND THIS CANNOT BE REFUTED.
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@Vincent
The blogmaster will leave that question to others schooled in this matter.
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@ David BU
I think you have just appealed that it is too dark to see the cricket ball. You are dodging. But that is OK.The substantial source is still Tthe Consolidated Fun/ Taxpayers. AND the probability of the Segregated Fund being managed or mismanaged will be higher. The uncertainty / anxieties WILL NOT BE REMOVED. They are the same players in the same game. We are just playing musical chairs with somebodies benefiting from the accompanying chaotic disturbances.
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@Vincent
The blogmaster quoted the minister. One interpretation is that he is using unfunded in context, we know what he means.
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Source: Nation Editorial
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