Pandemic Levy Misery

Prime Minister Mia Mottley announced in the recent budget that a 15% pandemic contribution levy will be charged to companies deemed resilient that earned net income greater than 5 million dollars in 2020 ad 2021. Companies operating in telecommunications, retail sale of petroleum products by dealers, commercial banks, general and life insurance were targeted. The years 2020 and 2021 as we know were the pandemic that wreckrd havoc on global economies, some more than others. 

The blogmaster understands the challenging job the government has to manage a fragile economy, one that was in a precarious state before Covid 19 pandemic. Not to forget Hurricane Elsa, Soufriere volcano ash and of recent the effect the ongoing Russia-Ukraine war. Managing an open economy cannot be easy EXCEPT to armchair pundits.

Understandably spokespersons from the business community effected by the levy are not pleased. Coming relative soon after the debt restructure in 2018 when many of the companies effected by the pandemic levy had to take haircuts, the recent decision will not help to improve confidence level of doing business in Barbados. What other options did the government have to shore up finances?

There is the saying if you [WE] made your [OUR] bed, you [WE] have to lie in it.

Listen to Prime Minister Mia Mottley explain the Pandemic Levy:-

https://www.erienewsnow.com/clip/15304122/prime-minister-mia-mottley-announces-pandemic-contribution-levy

110 thoughts on “Pandemic Levy Misery


  1. Government BROKE AND FINANCES HAVE COLLAPSED. Beggars of LAST RESORT now extremely reluctant to advance additional financings. Government now borrowing from some very dubious sources, results will be disastrous.

    Government has for 50+ years stumbled along financially, now a whole host of issues have come on their finances all at once and there is NO SUSTAINABLE RECOVERY PLAN, that is other than raise taxes, bring in levies etc which are all non starters. Good thing is that BARBADOS can feed itself, he, ha.


  2. Barbados is sitting on a powder cake of division and confusion
    Won’t be long before the whole thing explodes


    • The division may have its genesis at George Street. The other member of the duopoly looking in from the outside now begging for two Senate seats.


  3. News release
    March 17, 2022 | Ottawa, ON | Public Health Agency of Canada

    Today, the Government of Canada announced that effective April 1, 2022 at 12:01 AM EDT, fully vaccinated travellers will no longer need to provide a pre-entry COVID-19 test result to enter Canada by air, land or water. Fully vaccinated travellers seeking to arrive in Canada before April 1, 2022, must still have a valid pre-entry test.

    As a reminder, travellers arriving to Canada from any country, who qualify as fully vaccinated, may need to take a COVID-19 molecular test on arrival if selected for mandatory random testing. Travellers selected for mandatory random testing are not required to quarantine while awaiting their test result.

    For partially or unvaccinated travelers who are currently allowed to travel to Canada, pre-entry testing requirements are not changing. Unless otherwise exempt, all travellers 5 years of age or older who do not qualify as fully vaccinated must continue to provide proof of an accepted type of pre-entry COVID-19 test result:

    a valid, negative antigen test, administered or observed by an accredited lab or testing provider, taken outside of Canada no more than one day before their initially scheduled flight departure time or their arrival at the land border or marine port of entry; or
    a valid negative molecular test taken no more than 72 hours before their initially scheduled flight departure time or their arrival at the land border or marine port of entry; or
    a previous positive molecular test taken at least 10 calendar days and no more than 180 calendar days before their initially scheduled flight departure time or their arrival at the land border or marine port of entry. It is important to note that positive antigen test results will not be accepted.
    All travellers continue to be required to submit their mandatory information in ArriveCAN (free mobile app or website) before their arrival in Canada. Travellers who arrive without completing their ArriveCAN submission may have to test on arrival and quarantine for 14 days, regardless of their vaccination status. Travellers taking a cruise or a plane must submit their information in ArriveCAN within 72 hours before boarding.

    Quotes
    “Adjustments to Canada’s border measures are made possible by a number of factors, including Canada’s high vaccination rate, the increasing availability and use of rapid tests to detect infection, decreasing hospitalizations and growing domestic availability of treatments for COVID-19. As vaccination levels and healthcare system capacity improve, we will continue to consider further easing of measures at the borders-and when to adjust those measures-to keep the people in Canada safe.”

    The Honourable Jean-Yves Duclos
    Minister of Health


  4. HantsMarch 27, 2022 8:22 AM

    News release
    March 17, 2022 | Ottawa, ON | Public Health Agency of Canada

    Today, the Government of Canada announced that effective April 1, 2022 at 12:01 AM EDT, fully vaccinated travellers will no longer need to provide a pre-entry COVID-19 test result to enter Canada by air, land or water. Fully vaccinated travellers seeking to arrive in Canada before April 1, 2022, must still have a valid pre-entry test

    +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

    That means the number of tests here will fall but I suspect our positives will continue where they are for a while.


  5. Wily CoyoteMarch 27, 2022 7:01 AM

    Government BROKE AND FINANCES HAVE COLLAPSED. Beggars of LAST RESORT now extremely reluctant to advance additional financings. Government now borrowing from some very dubious sources, results will be disastrous.

    Government has for 50+ years stumbled along financially, now a whole host of issues have come on their finances all at once and there is NO SUSTAINABLE RECOVERY PLAN, that is other than raise taxes, bring in levies etc which are all non starters. Good thing is that BARBADOS can feed itself, he, ha.

    ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

    All Ms. Mockley has to do is to invoke the constitution and declare Parliament has been unconstitutional since 2018 and all agreements to repay are null and void!!

    Resign and ride off into the sunset.


  6. Cultural transformation

    There is a major difficulty any Government of Barbados will face. Any leadership of any organisation in Barbados, for that matter, will face it. It is the difficulty of the transformation of culture. This is not only because culture is hard to transform anywhere in the world. It is particularly difficult for the Caribbean.
    It is because Caribbean culture is a culture born of cultural genocide. Caribbean culture is a culture risen from African ashes.
    This phoenix is not yet fully formed, but it has been forced to take flight, with the weight of the shackles in which it was burnt still hanging from its wings.
    The phoenix is a creature from Greek mythology. It is a bird that would burn itself up in a selfmade fire, only to be born
    again and fly out of the same fire. The myth is believed to have been adopted, like much of Greek culture, from Egypt. Egypt is what the Greeks called the land of Khemet in Northern Africa. In Khemet, the Bennu bird would, similarly, fly out the fire of its own demise to be born again. It is said to live for 500 years until the cycle of death and rebirth comes again.
    Caribbean culture is a mixture of African, European and Asian cultures, thrown together in a pile due to transatlantic slavery and colonisation. In this pile, African culture was burnt to fuel European colonial expansion.
    Asian culture was added later to the mix to keep it burning. By the time the colonial era had burnt itself out, many believed that all traces of Africa except for the sun burnt skin of the people had been spent. However, out of the ashes of the British Empire nations like Barbados arose. We wish we could say that it was in a blaze of glory. No. It was more like a spark or promise. That spark has grown, though.
    The African complexion of the culture that emerged from the hearts of Caribbean people, burning with desire for independence, is now undeniable. It is like a child initially denied by its father but betraying its ancestry with familiar features.
    Fewer and fewer Barbadians are denying their African ancestry.
    However, though undeniable, the African nature of Barbadian society is not beyond disavowal.
    Disavowal is not denial. It is deeper.
    In pyschoanalytic theory, disavowal is the avoidance of an obvious truth because to fully embrace it would be too psychologically or mentally difficult.
    Accepting reality
    Fully embracing African ancestry and roots would mean fully questioning the elements of the plantation and colonialism that we hold dear or hold on to for dear life.
    It would mean accepting that much of the culture which we embrace as Caribbean or Barbadian was designed to fuel slavery, colonisation and the plantation. It would mean accepting that a full cultural transformation is necessary rather than convenient tweaks in policies
    or slightly new programmes and approaches.
    We emerged from the fire, not unscathed, and not unburdened.
    Chains don’t burn easily. Especially not mental and cultural ones. We have to vigorously shake them off.
    The Bennu was never supposed to fly again in the Caribbean. Any national bird that flew through this region was supposed to be fully European forever. The attempted cultural genocide failed. Africa is resurrected in the Caribbean Sea.
    What remains to be seen is if the chains that survived the ordeal of the rebirth can be let go so the bird can fly as high as possible. Despite its European and Asian aspects, the future of the Caribbean lies in its ability to give birth to a new African element. That is, to transform its culture through a self-made fire and rise again in the form of a new culture. It’s been about 500 years since Europe set fire to the region, ushering in the colonial era.

    Adrian Green is a communications specialist. Email: Adriangreen14 @gmail.com


    Source: Nation


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  8. DavidMarch 27, 2022 8:19 AM

    The division may have its genesis at George Street. The other member of the duopoly looking in from the outside now begging for two Senate seats.

    Xxxxx
    When is seeking clarification equates to begging
    Bet you don’t even understand the ramifications of Mottley intervening in those things for which she had no business in sticking her nose
    As yet Four months later and Barbados does not have a Republic Constitution to call its own
    Still relying on the colonial Constitution and govt lack of understanding of law struggles to get the law right
    The Dlp is absolutely right in asking for clarification especially while heading to court
    Govt back is being squeeze against the wall
    Parliament is unhinged from law left is right and right is left
    Law no longer matters


  9. DavidMarch 27, 2022 8:37 AM

    Cultural transformation

    There is a major difficulty any Government of Barbados will face. Any leadership of any organisation in Barbados, for that matter, will face it. It is the difficulty of the transformation of culture. This is not only because culture is hard to transform anywhere in the world. It is particularly difficult for the Caribbean.
    It is because Caribbean culture is a culture born of cultural genocide. Caribbean culture is a culture risen from African ashes.

    +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

    This is rubbish.

    You mean it it difficult to transform because it has been transformed already?

    Why was it so easy the transform the first time?

    Bajans are more American than many Americans and that transformation happened pretty easily.


  10. “The attempted cultural genocide failed. Africa is resurrected in the Caribbean Sea.”

    not without a massive push back from comfortable Slaves, but the tide is turning for the determined, Slaves are now falling into the category of insignificant minority…

    …my next Kush Quarterly Magazine due out in days, touches on this topic as well…


  11. @ 🐇/🐰
    “This is rubbish.

    You mean it it difficult to transform because it has been transformed already?

    Why was it so easy the transform the first time?

    Bajans are more American than many Americans and that transformation happened pretty easily.”
    ——x—–
    That is rubbish.
    You do not understand the word transformation. Yes our society has evolved and made some changes over the years, but , I would argue, we have never undergone transformation.

    Please reread AG again. I have been very critical of him in the past, but he delivered today

    “Accepting reality
    Fully embracing African ancestry and roots would mean fully questioning the elements of the plantation and colonialism that we hold dear or hold on to for dear life.
    It would mean accepting that much of the culture which we embrace as Caribbean or Barbadian was designed to fuel slavery, colonisation and the plantation. It would mean accepting that a full cultural transformation is necessary rather than convenient tweaks in policies
    or slightly new programmes and approaches.”


  12. 🐇/🐰
    Did you read the phrase “rather than convenient tweaks in policies”

    Some say that I overuse the word, but that phrase alone is a summary of all he wrote. Brilliant.

    Brilliant. He summarized the history of Barbados in just 6 words. I would add that these tweaks were not geared towards making things better but rather to make certain that the old system works with just the minimum of changes. We have been tweaked, not transformed.

    Two pleasant surprises for today…
    EA discards his self promotion notes
    AG discard his formulaic writing


  13. Gotta go…
    I have been tweaked so much I was transformed.
    Wife whispers, I jump. Looked into the mirror and could not recognize myself.


  14. “Brilliant. He summarized the history of Barbados in just 6 words. I would add that these tweaks were not geared towards making things better but rather to make certain that the old system works with just the minimum of changes. We have been tweaked, not transformed.”

    the islands have to arrive at a place with INPUT from Afrikan descendants on a WAY FORWARD to arrive at a REAL TRASFORMATION….outside of the colonial stench….that is all they have always known…..the colonial minded cannot be a part of this,….they would revolute into the same old again…..minds are too weak….


  15. correction: TRANSFORMATION…

    Theo…there will be push back and fight back, not unlike what i experience on BU>…but they are easy to CRUSH……while moving forward….just roll RIGHT OVER THEM…

    Slaves are awful creatures when they want to remain Slaves…Harriet Tubman said it best….she would have saved more Slaves in her underground, if only they knew they were Slaves…am not that diplomatic, a steamroller works best…

  16. Like Magnificent a.k.a Magno – Yu Heard Formula: C₂₁H₃₀O₂ IUPAC ID: (−)-(6aR,10aR)-6,6,9-trimethyl- 3-pentyl-6a,7,8,10a-tetrahydro- 6H-benzo[c]chromen-1-ol on said:

    Pandemic Life Misery
    Pandemic Levy Misery

    Ozen Dynamic Meditation 2.0
    STAGE 1
    CHAOTIC BREATH

    STAGE 2
    CATHARSIS

    STAGE 3
    HOO HOO HOO

    STAGE 4
    STOP!

    STAGE 5
    CELEBRATE

    Celebrating Life
    Make the most of your pandemic time / life / health / wellness / being
    with dynamic meditation


    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CpY3AWNLzbg


  17. TheOGazertsMarch 27, 2022 9:43 AM

    @ 🐇/🐰
    “This is rubbish.

    You mean it it difficult to transform because it has been transformed already?

    Why was it so easy the transform the first time?

    Bajans are more American than many Americans and that transformation happened pretty easily.”
    ——x—–
    That is rubbish.
    You do not understand the word transformation.

    +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

    Laplace or Fourrier?


  18. The new republic has decided on transformation ,, when going to the lenders and benefactors palm up they will in future use their left hand instead of the right


  19. TheOGazertsMarch 27, 2022 9:54 AM

    Please reread AG again. I have been very critical of him in the past, but he delivered today

    “Accepting reality
    Fully embracing African ancestry and roots would mean fully questioning the elements of the plantation and colonialism that we hold dear or hold on to for dear life.
    It would mean accepting that much of the culture which we embrace as Caribbean or Barbadian was designed to fuel slavery, colonisation and the plantation. It would mean accepting that a full cultural transformation is necessary rather than convenient tweaks in policies
    or slightly new programmes and approaches.”

    +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

    These are the bare statistics.

    In 1817 there were over 6,000 slave owners in Barbados and less than 300 plantations in Barbados.

    18,000 slaves lived in St. Michael, most in Bridgetown, more than all the slaves combined in St. Thomas, St. George and St. John, the agricultural parishes.

    In 1680 there were 40,000 slaves producing about 10K-15K tons of sugar.

    By 1817 the population had doubled but the output had remained the same.

    Anyone believing that all slaves in Barbados lived on some imaginary plantation cutting cane all day in the hot sun like in the movies can only write rubbish which is not worth reading.

    BTW, in case you did not realize, canes can be cut in only a few months of the year.

    They take a 14 months to mature after first planting.

    The majority of the land holdings in Barbados were small holdings like what the Ground Keeper’s parents bought almost 100 years ago I suspect when a larger plantation was subdivided back into the smaller lots that formerly existed.

    Holdings were consolidated into larger units once steam became established in the early 1900’s, long since slavery ended.

    So what do you think slaves did all day?


  20. “Anyone believing that all slaves in Barbados lived on some imaginary plantation cutting cane all day in the hot sun like in the movies can only write rubbish which is not worth reading.”

    ❤️ YES ❤️

    But, in the Western Slave Markets
    They were assets worth $1,000 ($75,000)
    Whites had more freedom than blacks
    is an understatement of the bleeding obvious
    They were OPP Other Peoples Property
    They were raped by perverts
    They were bred like animals
    Their children were robbed
    They were whipped
    They were mutilated
    They were hung
    They were worked
    with no pay

    freedom to be nobody!!!…

    https://www.ozenrajneesh.com/ozenrajneesh/downloads/GO-IN-GO-IN-GONE-osho.pdf


  21. What does cultural transformation have to do with the Pandemic Levy? Can a culture be transformed or does it evolve? Even if we could transform it, why do we need to? What are the benefits to this current generation? Can one really separate man from culture? What useful property does culture have? Just seeking clarity and the connection with the Pandemic Levy.


  22. 🐇/🐰
    “So what do you think slaves did all day?”

    Sadly, I seem to have lost my ability to recognize AC’s poetry, but the Good Lord has given me another gift… the ability to recognize your plea for help… My usual advice would have been to ask a person to Google but this is too great an opportunity to let pass.

    As you pointed out, the amount of work required to produce sugar varied throughout the year, but the down times should not be seen as a vacation. There was additional work to be done on the farm. Give a man a source of free labor to do wish as he pleases and see how creative he can become.

    There was also a division of labor where some worked on the land and some worked in the house. Some women were bred to produce more slaves and some were used by the slave masters (e.g. Thomas Jefferson) to bed whenever they please. Some may have acquired a skill so that they could help with the production of sugar or repair of the ‘farm’.

    Slavery is not the nice working arrangement that you seem to think it was. A quaker passing out hymnals to slaves (who could not read), Sunday meetings in their Sunday best and some singing, don;t worry be happy.
    Notice that I have not dealt with the barbaric treatment that was often handed out.


  23. I AM Dancehall Roots and Culture Murderer
    Blacks can dance their heartache for liberation of their souls
    and others can too with Jah Shaka in London Jamaica Africa
    Ultimate fragrance of music 🎶🎶🎶

    Anyway here is something else
    Nataraj Meditation

    Instructions: The meditation lasts 65 minutes and has three stages.
    First Stage: 40 minutes With eyes closed, dance as if possessed. Let your unconscious take over completely. Do not control your movements or be a witness to what is happening. Just be totally in the dance.
    Second Stage: 20 minutes Keeping your eyes closed, lie down immediately. Be silent and still.
    Third Stage: 5 minutes Dance in celebration and enjoy.

    Some suggestions from Osho for this meditation: “Forget the dancer, the center of the ego. Become the dance. That is the meditation. Dance so deeply that you completely forget that you are dancing and begin to feel that you are the dance. The division must disappear; then it becomes a meditation. If there is division, then it is an exercise: good, healthy, but it cannot be said to be spiritual. It is just a simple dance. Dance is good in itself. As far as it goes, it is good. After it, you will feel fresh, young. But it is not yet meditation. The dancer must go, until only the dance remains.

    “Don’t stand aside, don’t be an observer – participate!”

    “And be playful. Remember this word playful. With me, it is very basic.”

    “Dance is one of the deepest meditations possible, for the simple reason that when dance reaches to its climax the dancer disappears. There is only dance – there is nobody dancing.”

    “If you can dance in such a way that only the dance remains and the dancer disappears, one day suddenly you will see the dancing has also disappeared. And then there is an awareness that is not of the mind and not of the ego. In fact, that awareness cannot be practiced; something else has to be done as a preparation, and that awareness comes to you. You have just to become available for it.”


  24. .the colonial minded cannot be a part of this,….they would revolute into the same old again…..minds are too weak….


  25. We had to know something like this was coming?
    I had previously tossed out a levy on all those with a threshold minimum in cash, with progressive increases.
    They opted for the corporate only route, and selected sectors.
    A historical challenge elsewhere, has been the removal of these one-time charges. They had to get some extra revenue from somewhere. Yet, the maffematics suggests this levy may not be enough.
    We shall await pending decisions re the IMF Program. At least the lower, and slower, rate of interest increases elsewhere, plays to a borrower’s (B’dos) benefit.


    • @NO

      You give holders of government securities who are majority middle class and senior citizens, now you would expect a levy on same group who prefer to remain liquid due to debt restructure? A classic case of ‘double dipping’?


  26. TheO,

    Adrian has not changed. It justs takes you a while to read and digest.

    Don’t waste time with Rabbit’s holes! Nobody else does these days.

    Forget Lawson too! He has white man cataracts too.

    He cannot see that asking for backpay is different from borrowing.

    Those tired narratives are being exposed for the whole world to see.

    Only a pathetic fool clings on for dear life while monarchs are slapped with the truth in Jamaica!

    Apologies not accepted!


  27. “A classic case of ‘double dipping’?

    Xxxxx

    Double dip on this: Rihanna’s Fenty IPO ?

    On Monday, March 6, Fenty Beauty officially launched in Ulta stores nationwide. The recent expansion comes after the first brick-and-mortar stores of Rihanna’s Savage X Fenty brand opened their doors in Las Vegas, Los Angeles, and Houston. Stores in Philadelphia and Washington, D.C. are set to open in the coming months.
    Reports are now stating that Rih is working with a team of advisors on an initial public offering (IPO), which values the lingerie brand at $3 billion. Though Savage X hasn’t made a final decision on the IPO and its adjoining plans or confirmed these rumors, the company is reportedly working with Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley to make the listing available on the stock market later this year.

    In January 2022, the company raised $125 million in a funding round led by Neuberger Berman with participation from prior investors, L Catterton, Avenir Growth Capital, Sunley House Capital Management, and Jay-Z’s Marcy Venture Partners, as reported by Bloomberg.

    Rih’s other business ventures include the aforementioned, industry-shifting Fenty Beauty, Fenty Skin, and the former high-end luxury brand, FENTY, previously under fashion conglomerate, LVMH.

    Bajans, Get ready to invest from the ground up…

    My launch prediction is $34…..


  28. Vincent CodringtonMarch 27, 2022 11:35 AM #: “What does cultural transformation have to do with the Pandemic Levy? Just seeking clarity and the connection with the Pandemic Levy.”

    @ Mr. Codrington

    I thought by now you would’ve realized how CERTAIN contributions use EVERY blog as an OPPORTUNITY to ‘push’ their PARTICULAR AGENDAS on BU, while attempting to ‘force them down the throats’ of other contributors.

    Perhaps it’s best to SCROLL PASS the claptrap they often peddle in this forum…… and ‘stick’ to the substantive topic.


  29. @ SCROLL PASS

    “I thought by now you would’ve realized how CERTAIN contributions use EVERY blog as an OPPORTUNITY to ‘push’ their PARTICULAR AGENDAS on BU, while attempting to ‘force them down the throats’ of other contributors.”
    Xxxxx

    Spouge, Soca & Calypso Wee Culture.

    BU Community subject to Jamaican “dub reggae”..Daily???

    No…


  30. It is time for our masses to finally tighten their belts instead of always living at the expense of our honourable ministers and our businessmen.

    Since 1966, they have had a sweet life of singing, dancing and plenty of sleep. Good to know that now our Supreme Leader is ruling the island with a hard hand to drive out the laziness of the masses.

    I therefore back the plan to go into the next IMF programme without reservation. If necessary, an IMF programme until doomsday. Our masses must finally understand that our island is as financially dependent on foreign aid as a drug addict is on drugs.


    • Will the decision to effect a pandemic levy negatively impact the investment climate in Barbados?


  31. No, because all states have to raise taxes because of the pandemic. We are losing competitiveness in absolute terms, but not relative to other states.

    Of course, austerity must not be limited to companies. Our honourable government should finally cut social spending, wages and pensions. The wage increase of 5 per cent for civil servants four years ago was total insanity from an economic point of view. We should not only reverse it, but permanently reduce civil servants’ salaries by 5+0 per cent, i.e. by 50 per cent.


  32. @David
    Direct hits are the last resort.
    When public wealth funds, or large companies are ‘special taxed’ or forced to write down, individuals suffer loss indirectly. Dividends in which they or public funds are invested may be reduced, or employment (costs) may be altered, without drawing a direct link.


  33. @ David
    “…close the revenue gap”. LOL ha ha ha !!!
    ~~~~~~~~
    Boss, exactly what did you expect our donkeys being dragged through the grass to look like?
    Even many countries where the people have ACTUALLY been trying earnestly and diligently to be productive, resourceful, to sacrifice for the common good, and to put their heads together for better times …have been seeing Hell…

    What is your honest expectation in a situation…
    …where even though we have been spared ANY serious trauma for three generations now…
    …where we have been blessed with natural climatic and topographical attributes that are unmatched,
    …where we probably had a GLOBAL head start in mass educational reform
    YET…
    we have somehow managed to become mendicant beggars, whose main ’selling’ point now is that some rich benefactors are still willing to lend us their hard-earned money…. knowing we cannot pay them back…(at least not in cash, we are actually selling our grandchildren into financial slavery )

    Shiite Boss…
    We can’t even feed ourselves with the SAME ‘fields and hills’ that made the old Colonialists wealthy to this day.

    You realize of course that this is just the beginning don’t you?
    It is only OBVIOUS…..


  34. TheOGazerts March 27, 2022 7:23 PM

    @Tony
    Why $35?

    Xxxxx

    Rihanna’s Savage X Fenty a game changer with the times.

    Victoria’s Secret’s revenue was $6.79 billion last year, while Savage X Fenty’s revenue is presumably in the low hundred millions. The potential IPO valuation of Savage X Fenty brings it to a similar market cap as Victoria’s Secret, which is currently valued at $4.22 billion. “Savage X Fenty’s ability to continue growth will hinge on its ability to live on beyond the celebrity and grow upon its operational successes, and that’s hard for any brand,”

    I’m simply doubling VSCO’S initial public offering of $17.00 per share October 1995
    That’s my take..


  35. “We can’t even feed ourselves with the SAME ‘fields and hills’ that made the old Colonialists wealthy to this day”

    and they are very proud of that fact, so try not to take that away from them…


  36. A time for goodwill
    BARBADOS IS IN a severe fiscal bind after two unprecedented years – 2020 and 2021 – caused by the coronavirus pandemic.
    Such is the plight of many other countries which have also been pounded by the virus.
    How to recover from such difficult circumstances has therefore captured the attention and imagination of economists, financial gurus and politicians. The decision by the Mia Amor Mottley administration to introduce a retroactive 15 per cent Pandemic Contribution Levy during this month’s Budget is the type of measure that needed careful consideration before implementation. The expected income gains could well turn out to be long-term economic and development pains.
    While there may be little sympathy for the commercial banks, insurance companies and telecommunications providers, the understood and accepted practice is that these private sector companies are in business to make a profit. It is accepted that profits give a return to investors, pay corporation taxes, give to charitable causes and most importantly, reinvest in expansion and even new projects. In some cases, dividends have to be paid overseas that are not always promptly settled because of foreign exchange issues.
    We must not overlook the practical assistance from the telecommunications companies to students in the form of tablets and the upgrade and expansion of network capacity to allow commerce, education and many aspects of the public sector to operate remotely. Thankfully, we did not hear of these same companies
    sending home any of their workers during the height of the pandemic.
    Flow and Digicel, as the two key telecoms providers in our market, are capable of defending their interests but we cannot ignore how they have agreed to cut roaming charges across CARICOM since many customers need such services which go beyond often unreliable WhatsApp service.
    We imagine the Government would have sought the guidance of tax and legal experts on this COVID-19 financial measure and what it will cost businesses that have already completed their previous year’s audits and financial allocations.
    Barbados cannot afford a situation where businesses affected by this tax measure decide against new upgrades and expansions or to lay off staff. At a time when there is an urgent need for new investments to spur economic activity, these companies are all critical to the country’s recovery.
    The banks are still the main lending agencies for commercial activity and driving innovations in the fin-tech sector, while the telecommunications operators are required to invest in new projects to ensure greater connectivity and support the ease of doing business nationwide.
    The Government by its action will create uneasiness with the business community, but this is a time when there is a need for cooperation and goodwill.
    Barbados cannot afford a situation where businesses affected by this tax measure decide against new upgrades and expansions or to lay off staff.

    Source: Nation


  37. What a display of all-round mendicancy…..

    Firstly. If those companies which did exceptionally well during the last two years of economic idiocy (led by The WHO and articulated by the government) had ANY sense of fairness, compassion or community well-being, they would have INITIATED some kind of community relief sponsorship program – probably even on a greater scale than that contemplated by the Budget measure.
    These damn people were allowed to remain open when small operators were FORCED to shut their businesses.
    Such an initiative could have been PRIVATELY executed, and hence have some chance of success – as opposed to putting the money in the damn ‘Consolidated Fund’ where it will just disappear into the graft abyss.

    Secondly
    A wise leadership would have sat down PRIVATELY with those businesses and explained the facts of life… AND then let the companies EXECUTE the program as altruistic initiatives to assist small businesses. (Which were hugly UNFAIRED during the PLandemic.)
    Instead we have had the usual ‘bull in a China Shop’ approach…

    Thirdly
    What a bunch of CRAP from the Nation. Talking about how ‘kind’ the telecoms companies are to reduce roaming rates and give away obsolete tablets… and should be therefore allowed to send their PLandemic profits overseas..
    WhatsApp, Zoom, Teams and dozens of other options are out there FORCING the crooks to rethink their models. Only a clown would conclude that these roaming reductions are altruistic in nature…

    But then again, the foreign OCM /Nation should have been one of those made to contribute…..


  38. “What a display of all-round mendicancy….”

    Black businesses can rise from these ashes…..it’s time for majority businesses to take over current, and finally add, progressive, and MORE sectors…

    ..instead of the narrow go nowhere, benefit the few shite models in place for over half century…controlled by local, regional and foreign crook brigades…

    let the greedy bottom feeding locusts on two legs.. aka parasites…. moan and groan…and attempt to tief more…they cannot stop any changes…


  39. “BU Community subject to Jamaican “dub reggae”..Daily???”

    Dub was Jamaica’s Gift to the Whole Wide World
    When you listen to the song lyrics it takes your soul to a higher level of liberation and freedom of the mind
    When you remove the words and flash it in a King Tubby’s dub plate stylee you internalise the message out of your head in your body and become the vibration meditation


  40. “@Tony
    Why $35?”

    grouptherapy Zen
    Fund Accounting depends on various legal rules and automated algorithms so that if a Company is valued in the Top 100 it will automatically be purchased for investment pension and institutional funds. Like Crowd Hysteria Hype the trends are magnified and Companies share values grow disproportionately based on market value not company turnover. Hip Hop has high numbers of billionaires in Business Movies Advertising etc. Don’t hate the player hate the game and charge it to the game. If you want to know more wisdom you will have to give me your credit card details


  41. grouptherapy. – ‘there goes the neighborhood.’
    grouptherapy.’s debut mixtape ‘there goes the neighborhood.’ is out now everywhere …


  42. It’s all about designer shit
    GROUPTHERAPY. RECORDS PRESENTS: LIGHT DAY CYPHER

    {verse: tjw}
    Hold up wait, hold up wait
    Gotta smell like ysl on the first date
    You like it i love it
    I’m stuntin a hunnid
    My standards so high can’t put nothing above it (by the way)
    The shot was a bucket
    Whether or not we was talking gymnastics you don’t need to wonder i stuck it
    Lately i been on my by any means
    Walk out the store with some shit like i don’t know what buying it means
    Mama like “why must you be so flamboyant?”
    I saw where i was and marie kondo told me to stop it if there ain’t no joy in it
    I see it, i like it, i want it, delivery
    I pick up the package, small talk with the neighbors, this weather is killin’ me
    My car so efficient its different they send me a check just to drive the shit
    The car’s automatic but every time baby get in it we drivin stick

    {hook: tjw}
    No flex, bowflex, light day
    Low tech, rolex, my way
    I got louis locked on my neck, i got louis locked on my neck
    No flex, bowflex, light day
    Low tech, rolex, my way
    I got louis locked on my neck, i got louis locked on my neck

    {verse: jadagrace}
    Fit too clean you can see it in my jeans don’t need 23 and me
    Drip mr. clean, keep my name out ya mouth like listerine
    Money so old can’t see, got a gold ass cataract
    If i make a call it’s a wrap, get blowed in the back from an old ass cadillac
    I want it, i cop it, it’s not that exciting
    Got style and money, i don’t need a stylist
    Spent like $400 on one of my eyelashes
    I need the diamonds don’t care bout the marriages
    557 horsepower my carriages
    Gold in my hair cuz there’s gold in my heritage
    I go to paris to look at the parishes
    Traffic at customs too busy declaring shit

    {hook: jadagrace}
    No flex, bowflex, light day
    Low tech, rolex, my way
    I got louis locked on my neck, i got louis locked on my neck
    No flex, bowflex, light day
    Low tech, rolex, my way
    I got louis locked on my neck, i got louis locked on my neck

    {verse: koi}
    Had a long talk on a long day
    Took a long walk, went a long way
    Made a u-turn, went the wrong way
    Niggas do earn like a small case with the ashes in it
    We evolving way past the scrimmage
    Steady robbin then i’m baskin in it
    This is not the dentist, i don’t have to spit it
    I could let em tell me “action!” go collect my cash and split it with a cast of niggas if i needed to
    She said “you working like it’s three of you” but it’s one of me
    Fuck a check i want a money tree
    Let it rain even under weather you could never reign
    My ego heavy, ima let it hang
    Let em talk, nigga let em’ sing
    All that money and don’t ever change, that’s crazy
    See when it comes to the cash niggas do the dash somethin like stacy all you niggas seem sure send you to the morgue and like tracy no mcgrady
    But my shot game too crazy
    All of this weight that i’m carrying niggas hilarious
    Look at my flows and the way that they varying
    Look at my shows in the way that i carry em’
    Fuck a comparison i want the crown don’t plan on sharing it
    Only my circle is getting a square of it
    Me and my niggas like horses and carriages
    We ride together
    She wanna pay for it, i never let her
    Weight of the world it feel light as a feather

    {hook: koi}
    No flex, bowflex, light day
    Low tech, rolex, my way
    I got louis locked on my neck aye, i got louis locked on my neck aye
    No flex, bowflex, light day
    Low tech, rolex, my way
    I got louis locked on my neck aye , i got louis locked on my neck aye


  43. Bush TeaMarch 28, 2022 7:10 AM

    These damn people were allowed to remain open when small operators were FORCED to shut their businesses.

    ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

    … and it did not work!!

    Had it worked, the GOB would be smelling like a rose but it was just one more failure and the failure rests squarely with the GOB.

    If anything, the GOB should repay the businesses it injured through its misguided policies.

    That would make it think twice before it runs headlong into half ass measures which can only cause harm.


  44. DavidMarch 28, 2022 6:14 AM

    A time for goodwill
    BARBADOS IS IN a severe fiscal bind after two unprecedented years – 2020 and 2021 – caused by the coronavirus pandemic.

    +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

    The bind is caused by half ass measures which many said would not work but the GOB insisted on pursuing.

    Take what you want and pay for it!!


  45. More Non-Dub Non-Reggae music
    *but still has influences and essence of MCing from the blunts
    Yikes
    crew came through nasty with this one damn this thang crazy and it bump in the whip too give it a try!
    ⁃grouptherapy.


  46. “Barbados is sitting on a powder cake of division and confusion
    Won’t be long before the whole thing explodes”

    are you talking about experiencing a mind and body orgasm

    when a party is defeated by 30 losses (out of 30) they should go out of business
    there is no point talking about politics again for 5 years / one term


  47. @ Bush Tea March 27, 2022 10:08 PM

    I see the situation as less desolate. We still have a resource in excess: people through overpopulation. We can export at least 10 years 10000 workers.

    100000 inhabitants on our small island are enough. The rest is a burden.


  48. “We can export at least 10 years 10000 workers.”

    If you still plan to import 80,000 with the goal of having a total population of 100,000 then you will have to export 25,000 for 10 years
    .
    Recalculate. Get busy.


  49. TronMarch 28, 2022 9:28 AM

    @ Bush Tea March 27, 2022 10:08 PM

    I see the situation as less desolate. We still have a resource in excess: people through overpopulation. We can export at least 10 years 10000 workers.

    100000 inhabitants on our small island are enough. The rest is a burden.

    ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

    What’s the population on islands of similar size to ours in the area?

    Antigua – 99, 333
    Bermuda – 61,880
    Dominica – 72,296
    Grenada – 113,426
    St. Kitts, Nevis – 53,851
    St. Lucia – 185,080
    St. Vincent – 111,550

    … maybe 150K!!!


  50. @TheOGazertsMarch 28, 2022 9:55 AM

    The problem is not overpopulation per se, but the large number of welfare recipients, civil servants and other idlers who live at the taxpayer’s expense.

    Of course, our honourable government does not want to import another 80000 beggars, but rich people, high flyers and work serfs. In other words, people who will move us forward.


  51. TronMarch 28, 2022 11:43 AM

    @TheOGazertsMarch 28, 2022 9:55 AM

    The problem is not overpopulation per se, but the large number of welfare recipients, civil servants and other idlers who live at the taxpayer’s expense.

    Of course, our honourable government does not want to import another 80000 beggars, but rich people, high flyers and work serfs. In other words, people who will move us forward.

    ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

    Plenty high IQ Ukrainians and Russians to be had for a song!!


  52. @Hants
    @GP
    Are you following soccer by our National Team?
    8-1
    9-0
    I am here angry.

    Your love of WI cricket tells me you are gluttons for punishment.

    Recommending BNT soccer


  53. Wow Hants I didnt even know you had to license a mo-ped.
    Theo Canada just kicked some soccer ass, that will teach you southern guys not to come north to play in the cold.


  54. @Tony
    The IPO is to raise $$$$ via equity vs debt. The share price doesn’t really matter, it is the total shares sold at a price. What they likely wish to avoid, is recent IPO experience, of a huge initial spike followed by a larger crash. The profit accrues to the traders not the equity itself. Yet the stock gets pressure to perform with all those who are in at the higher price. Rivian and Beyond Meat being two of many examples.


  55. A tiny drop of bitterness: retirement at 70 is all well-and-good. But what is still missing is a moderate reduction in civil servants’ salaries by 30-50 per cent.

    I am confident, however, that we will manage this after the sixth or seventh IMF programme around 2030 at the latest. Anyone who believes that we will ever get rid of the IMF must either be an idiot or an outright liar.


  56. LawsonMarch 28, 2022 1:10 PM

    The problem john is every second person lives to 100

    +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

    Suspect the number of centenerians will fall as the first Chefette generation strives to hit 100.

    Those who were born in the good old days of the 1920’s and 1930’s may very well be the last generation of Bajans in which you will find many centenerians.

    I’ve seen two cousins born in the late 1940’s die under 70.


  57. @Bush Tea March 28, 2022 7:10 AM “Such an initiative could have been PRIVATELY executed…”

    But it wasn’t.

    So?


  58. John is incorrect. Canes arenot cut only for a few months each year. Up to the late 60’s or later the sugar cane harvest regularly lasted from january to June. By my count Januaty to June is more that a few months in the year.

    And what did the slaves do all day.

    They worked. Or maybe I should say they were worked.

    As well as cutting cane, the enslaved people cultivated the cane fields/dug cane holes, planted the cane, weeded the fields, applied animal fertilizer to the fields. They planted, weeded, fertilized and harvested food crops for themselves and the white master’s. Harvesting sweet potatoes, cassava, eddoes yams and other root crops without mechanical equipment is not easy work. The enslaved people raised livestock, cows, horses etc. they milked the cows, they made the butter. They loaded the stinky animal manure in large “down baskets” [you know down baskets John] and headed those baskets of manure to the fields. They harvested the material from which down baskets are made from the gullies and made those down baskets, using open flame wood fires they cooked the food in the plantation kitchens, they washed the clothes of the white people, they ironed those clothes, they scrubbed the floors, they cleaned the kitchens. They minded the children of their white masters, They breast fed the white babies. They reproduced the labor force, that is they were compelled into sex, child bearing and child rearing whether they wanted to or not. The enslaved people manufactured the sugar. Sugar is manufactured by boiling the juice of sugar cane. So the enslaved people worked in the sun, and others worked in the high heat of the processing mills. They manufactured the barrels in which the sugar was stored and shipped to England. One of my ancestors was a cooper/barrel maker at Rock Hall Plantation in St. Peter. The enslaved people looked after the enslaved children, the enslaved elderly, the enslaved disabled.

    They made the plantation economies work.

    They enriched England.

    And then they died as penniless as they had been born.


  59. Well this 5% will be the first attempt at patching the hole in the revenue bucket, as we wait for the see saw covid machine to make its next move. This will be our reality as long as we put all our eggs in the tourism basket.

    I was glad to hear though of the agricultural push with Guyana and only yesterday passed and saw the massive reservoir for the project at Lears well on its way to completion.


    • @John A

      Many of those tourism related projects stuck in the pipeline are legacy projects. Are you suggesting they should be abandoned?


  60. Should ask John what Black workers did on his family land all day long, before hanging out at lunch time on what his family termed the “nigga tree”.


  61. Cuhdear BajanMarch 28, 2022 9:02 PM

    John is incorrect. Canes arenot cut only for a few months each year. Up to the late 60’s or later the sugar cane harvest regularly lasted from january to June. By my count Januaty to June is more that a few months in the year.

    +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

    The simple point you miss is that in your day, there was no slavery.

    At the time there was slavery, output was about 10K tons per year vs 200K during the time you remember.

    January to June is 6 months, used to produce 200K tons of sugar.

    There is no comparison with the production of 10K tons..

    What you will find is that chemical and mechanical energy replaced manpower and horsepower and that was what made the 20 fold increase in output possible.

    Even animal dung was replaced by manufactured fertilizer from Germany and elsewhere, Ruhr Stikstoff AG (Rustiska in Bajan parlance) applied by tractor and fertilizer attachments and weed control was done by herbicides applied by mechanical equipment.

    https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ruhr-Stickstoff

    This investment of large amounts of capital in the process of producing sugar is what enabled a laid back approach in producing 10K to be replaced by a more modern output focused process.

    This capital is what changed the harsh economic conditions existing in Barbados after its position in world trade had been supplanted by …. steam and more efficient means of propulsion.

    Barbados has had a surplus of labor for most of its life because conditions were conducive to a growing population and the profits produced in its association with trade subsidized inefficient agricultural methods and fed its growing population.


  62. I have no doubt you played up in animal dung as a child and used dung baskets to apply it on the small area your family farmed.

    I have no doubt that there were several small farmers producing sugar cane as a cash crop for the factories that produced the 200K tons of sugar using animal dung.

    Your contribution was perhaps 10 % of the overall output and by itself could never justify the capital investment needed to produce the quantities of sugar required.

    I remember on larger landholdings which probably produced 90% of the sugar Barbados produced fertilizer was applied by this simple tractor implement and it was not animal dung.

    The need for extensive use of animals in agriculture had been removed after the war and hose power was supplied by the internal combustion engine.


  63. 15 acres in an hour!!!!!

    Sugar output in the days of slavery was peanuts, capped by the milling capacity of windmills and inefficient farming methods which worked, but were not geared for output.

    Here is what 100 horses is replaced by these days … and you have all sorts of choices.

    A small farmer who gets a tractor from Government to plough his/her land is subsidized because he/she cannot justify such a capital outlay on a small plot which may be all he/she can afford.

    There are many entrepreneurs who sell their equipment time to small farmers these days, some are involved in large scale farming, others do it for the love of their work and to put bread on the table.

    .https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DvCYljsOZDk


  64. Atherley seeking answers from this self made govt

    Seeking answers
    APP LEADER WANTS GOV’T TO PROVIDE DETAILS ON PROMISED PROJECTS
    By Shamar Blunt
    Former Opposition Leader Bishop Joseph Atherley wants more clarity about the capital works projects announced by Prime Minister Mia Mottley during her Budget speech earlier this month.
    He questioned the feasibility of the projects, given the country’s small workforce and the prevailing financial constraints, while addressing a meeting of his Alliance Party for Progress (APP) on Sunday.
    Saying the Mottley administration continued to boast about several projects but gave no clear indication on how they would be financed or other details, the APP leader said: “A lot of them have to do with tourism – so this hotel is going to go up there, and Sam Lord’s is going to start back and finish by this month, and Hyatt is going to come on stream. They are promising employment for Barbadians through this means, but they are not clear.
    “It will build a new Geriatric Hospital, it will do some additions to the Queen Elizabeth Hospital across the street, and they are saying they will do these things. You have to ask yourselves ‘where is the money going to come from, when will these things be done and how many jobs will really be generated?’ Do we have the capacity in terms of a labour force if the private sector really gets going with these capital projects? Do we have the adequate labour force to do it?” he questioned.
    While praising the national clean-up programme that currently has a predominately young workforce tasked with keeping the island’s roadways clean, Atherley emphasised the need for Government to be clearer on the future transitionary process into the construction sector which was promised to those workers but which has not yet borne fruit.
    “What construction work, where is it? You can’t fool people all of the time, not with the same story. A lot of the people I see out there earning an honest dollar working in the sun cleaning the roads . . . I salute them and I am glad that they have the opportunity for work, but . . . I believe – and I have to say so – a lot of those jobs were intended to ensure that when an election date came, those votes would go to the Barbados Labour Party.
    (SB)


  65. African Online Publishing Copyright ⓒ 2022. All Rights ReservedMarch 29, 2022 7:17 AM

    Should ask John what Black workers did on his family land all day long, before hanging out at lunch time on what his family termed the “nigga tree”.

    ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

    There were very few and the key ones were equipment operators.

    A ploughing tractor can work all day once fuel and oils are delivered, but that is only for a small period of time.

    During the out of crop period, other jobs were found for them that fitted their particular skills, carpentry, masonry, painting, welding, ploughing etc etc.

    Cane cutters were employed as needed.

    It was the few unskilled farmers, mostly women, who weeded where necessary and kept the lands inaccessible to tractors in order.

    Men got to drive tractors and women accepted it.

    Nowadays, that is not the case.


  66. There were some hot and thirsty to take in Ukranians…..let’s watch the difference..

    ““The world is watching how Barbados is treating this matter,” warned Dr Smith.

    “As guided by the United Nations Commission on Human Rights, in the case of the Haitians, Barbados should respect international law regarding the treatment of migrants under international human rights law,” she added.

    Dr Smith declared that the Geneva Convention, under the principle of non-refoulement, states that no one should be returned to a country where they would face torture, cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment.

    “This principle applies to all migrants at all times, irrespective of migration status,” said the migration specialist”


  67. ““Is it that we are not willing to accept our brothers or sisters who look like us? There is an unfounded and discriminatory fear of Haitians not only among communities, but officials in Barbados. Haitian people are just humans trying to escape terrible circumstances and should be treated with dignity and respect as they have suffered enough,” she added.”

    not only Haitians, Afrikans too, there is a very wicked colonial mindset where they believe they are higher up and better off than people with the same ancestry, when, if you look closely at DNA they are all varying levels of cousins, both close and distant…but lack of critical education = undereducation is now causing this major social embarrassment….


  68. How man Haitians are we speaking of?
    Are they more than 80,000?
    If 80,001 then we should report the 1.


  69. @David

    All these tourism projects like four seasons have been knocking around for years. My problem is we keep banking on what others can do for us and not what we can do for ourselves. So we talk about what Sandals will do and what the Hyatt will do etc, you never hear much about what we can do by ourselves. Talk about the alternative energy sector and the plan to be self sufficient say on basic food items by 2030. Lets have those goals instead, as opposed to the tourism pipe dreams where other puppet masters pull the strings.

    I keep saying Covid has taught us nothing nor it appears has the war in Ukraine. We are still the same dependant country we were 2 years ago on tourism and imported fuel to fund and operate the economy.


    • @John A

      There is some truth in your critique BUT it is the private sector that should be carving out opportunities as well?


  70. @ John A March 29, 2022 6:40 PM

    It would be best to demolish all the failed hotel projects and renaturalise the sites. The Four Seasons is a great shame. Where there used to be a beautiful beach, there is now a ruin infested with cockroaches and termites.

    In general, I would like to point out that we had much more direct beach access for individual tourists on the west coast. Once there was a Chefette directly on the beach of the Platinum Coast. Now there are hotel ruins or construction fences with wasteland blocking access to the beach.

    The west coast is definitely far worse than 30 years ago.


  71. @Tron
    The owners of Chefette sold the place in 2008 because in their words it was “underperforming”, the word on the street is that they received 40 million for the beachfront property


  72. @Tron
    But don’t the people of Barbados own Four Seasonings (©️ Hants). Didn’t the $124M your Supreme Leader agreed to write off sans explanation, provide as collateral the lands, which her recently repatriated sister is trying to sell.
    That demo is something your Supreme Leader could make happen.
    I think you need to up your game and get results.


  73. @NorthernObserverMarch 29, 2022 11:25 PM

    We should really instruct our Supreme Leader here.

    When I walk along the beach and see these lice-ridden, raggedy figures in Sandy Lane, I feel really sick. The working class should go to Cuba, please.


  74. I guess we are heading for another sovereign default. Our Supreme Leader is demanding reparations.

    There was once a time when we had something like honour and self-confidence. That was in 1966. Now we are beggars, begging our High White Masters from the North for a few seeds of bread.


  75. It’s what she wants to take the reparations money and do with it i got a problem with, none of it is slated to go to whom it rightfully belongs in their HANDS…and that’s what UK and EU have to take into consideration……

    ..that’s why any payments should go DIRECTLY TO AFRIKAN DESCENDANTS, definitely not through politicians, and not necessarily in this century….there is more important things to get moving and taken care of first that needs to be a PRIORITY…as my article outlines…


  76. @ David
    “There was once a time when we had something like honour and self-confidence. That was in 1966. Now we are beggars, begging our High White Masters from the North for a few seeds of bread.”
    ~~~~~~~~~~~
    Boss, this is from Tron …about his Supreme leader.
    Any comments from the Blogmaster?
    … or is it only Bushie who you see as an eternal pessimist and as a hopeless BB…?
    Even Tron is upset by the level of supreme mendicancy…


  77. Bushman….at least we know that reparations in piles of billions of paper, as they are salivating to get their hands on at the expense of descents, will have to take a back seat, cause cousin Boris is busy with cousin Vladimir and everyone got their own showtime going on right now, can’t be distracted by a bunch of pests…

    some will have to regroup, they know they have to make amends but i won’t hold my breath that it will be soon or they will be rushed by the heavy breathing rush and hurry CROWS…

    …….and not a fella ain’t letting go no billions at this stage unless they discover some kinda rare earth minerals on the island chain,…and Haiti is already choc-a-bloc miles deep under the earth…. and not even them ain’t getting nutten….not in this century anyway…

    don’t know what gets into these, these fools…


  78. @ Hants
    Was that you who asked why all lawyers’ Client accounts should not be audited annually?

    How yuh like the answer..?
    LOL
    ha ha ha
    Bajans are the ultimate BBs…

    She said it could not be done because ‘in the case of a new lawyer with only one client, the lawyer may not be able to afford the audit fee…’

    LOL
    Murda!!


  79. @ Bush Tea March 30, 2022 11:06 AM

    It is high statesmanship to gloss over even nonsensical political decisions and illuminate them in a rosy light. I am sure that our Supreme Leader did not come up with this herself, but incompetent advisors working for the DLP.

    There is not a leaf that fits between me and my Supreme Leader.


  80. STIFF PENALTY

    BRA warns of consequences if pandemic levy not paid
    By Shawn Cumberbatch
    shawncumberbatch@nationnews.com

    Companies and self-employed individuals may have to fork out more than the $115 million Government is banking on collecting from its one-off Pandemic Contribution Levy.
    The Barbados Revenue Authority (BRA) is putting affected tax payers on notice that they will face penalties and interest if the imposition is not fully paid by the time the measure expires on March 31 next year.
    And while the levies for companies and individuals are not tax deductible, firms and individuals will still be required to file tax returns in addition to their regular income tax filings.
    “In circumstances where a company [employer or self-employed individuals] fails to pay, or pays after the prescribed payment date, or fails to deliver the return, a penalty of $500 will be imposed in each instance,” the BRA said in a series of policy notes detailing what will be required of tax payers.
    It added that this penalty will be “in addition to interest at the rate of one per cent calculated for each month during which any part of that amount was not paid on the largest amount of levy and penalty that was due and unpaid at any time in that month”.
    The Pandemic Contribution Levy for companies and individuals was announced by Prime Minister and Minister of Finance Mia Amor Mottley in her recent Budget and is intended to help Government recoup some of the $1 billion spent fighting the COVID-19 pandemic.
    Some members of the business community and their representatives, as well as some financial analysts have criticised the tax, which has to be paid at a rate of 15 per cent, as burdensome and inequitable.
    The BRA said the tax is required to be submitted in eight equal payments between July 15 and February 15, 2023 and was applicable to telecommunications companies, life and general insurance companies, majors
    engaged in the sale of fuel, and commercial banks.
    These entities must have earned a profit above $5 million in 2020 and 2021.
    In the case of individuals, the revenue-collecting agency reminded that the Pandemic Contribution Levy “will be charged on individuals employed in Barbados with income of $6 250 or more per month during the period April 1, 2022 to March 31, 2023”.
    However, self-employed Barbadians will not escape the pandemic tax net. Just as employed individuals will have to pay the one per cent levy, the BRA said that “a Pandemic Contribution Levy will be charged on the income of self-employed individuals whose income in Barbados is $75 000 or over for the period April 1, 2022 to March 31, 2023”.
    For companies, whose monthly payments will be equivalent to 3.75 per cent of their net income in 2020 and 2021 the BRA said: “This levy is payable in addition to the company’s corporate tax obligations and is not deductible for tax purposes. The Barbados Revenue Authority is responsible for the collection of the levy and the administration and enforcement of any law enacted to facilitate same.”
    “The expiration of the levy does not nullify the obligation to pay and therefore sums subsisting thereafter continue as a liability until the amount due and owing is fully satisfied.”
    The state agency added that “companies will be required to file a return to be known as a Pandemic Contribution Levy Return [and] this return shall be filed on or before the prescribed payment dates between July 15, 2022 to February 15, 2023 inclusive”.
    Regarding individuals, the BRA said that “every employer or any person paying remuneration will be required to deduct or withhold from those payments the amount attributable to the levy. As such, employers will be required to remit the sums deducted or withheld on or before the 15th day of the following month for the previous month.”

    Source: Nation


  81. @Bush Tea

    This is for you.

    Be prepared for old age
    PEOPLE 60 YEARS and under still have a chance to be prepared for the debilitating stage of old age. You will know when it is there, as it has no camouflage. The latest prediction is that 30 per cent of people living now in Barbados will reach the magic age of 100 years. The daily newspapers are proving this right, and the President will soon need a deputy.
    Regardless of the present difficult circumstances, preparations should be made now for the likelihood of not being able to operate at maximum capacity. Try to understand what is going on around you. This applies to everyone except the five per cent of our people – the very rich.
    Today saving in a commercial bank is not worth what Paddy shot at, as the interest rate is not attractive and there are the ubiquitous fees; the saving depreciates daily. Investing in the stock market is iffy (except you were lucky to sell shares), as growth in businesses is not guaranteed for some years to come. Investing in Government paper with a slightly higher rate of interest may eventually reward you with medium-term bonds for repayment unless you are prepared to sell before maturity at a loss. However, we have seen bonds not being honoured.
    Lucky enough
    So what do we have left? We have our pension if we are lucky enough to work for an entity with longevity such as the Government; but with the Government the goal posts keep moving. For those of us who are already on pension, observe that it can be subject to more taxation and most times is not indexed to the cost of living. A further imposition is new taxes like the Solid Waste Tax, the Pandemic Contribution Levy and … taxes to come fair or unfair.
    Annuities for future payment offer some hope. One has to be careful as investing in CLICO has left a bitter taste. However, certain life insurance companies offer the best opportunities on the market right now. You may well ask why not the National Insurance Scheme (NIS). Well, when compared with the cost of health care and the prospects of an increase in the disbursements of NIS (considering its low investment options) that income will not go very far.
    Right now, some sort of insurance is the best option. If one has the means rental income is a good way to go although that too has some problems and depends on whether you have a reliable tenant or not. But an old Jew told me, “bricks and mortar never alter”. Even if the real estate market is weak at the moment, there is every hope that at some time it will recover. This article was started some time ago, but is more relevant today. One of the burning questions now is for the older people to understand the changing technology. Most companies are communicating with
    their clients online. Take for instance, the banks.
    There are no statements and banks are forcing customers to bank online.
    Even this is changing. Before an old geezer can get online, banks are talking about a cashless society. You are now required to have a wallet with a central organisation from which you can exchange information with someone with a wallet. In some countries it is said that the state controls how the wallet is used in as much as it dictates what is bought and sold.
    More concern
    Here in Barbados so far, they have mentioned wallets, but the Governor has been more concerned with longer lasting bank notes indicating that cash has some time to live.
    But some banks are penalising customers who bring cash to the bank. Customers whose business involves many cash transactions have to pay for depositing cash to the bank – soon notes. This is so because the bank earns nothing by keeping cash/notes and getting rid of it is at a cost both in terms of keeping it and sending it to the Central Bank or to other banks.
    Thus, it is imperative to be able to keep up to date with the changing times. Since we may be living longer, our children will be older as we enter our older years and by then have acquired their own burdens. You are on your own and dependent on your preparations.
    But all is not lost. Living longer means more time to enjoy life and gloat at the mistakes of the youth.
    So it is imperative to take care of the body that God has given to you as well as you can so that you can watch the world go by in your “golden years”.
    Harry Russell is a banker. Email quijote70@gmail.com

    Source: Nation

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