Prime Minister Mia Mottley delivered a budget yesterday anchored to a transformation theme. The blogmaster agrees with Professor Justin Robinson’s summary of the budget with one addition. There was no serious mention of the plan to address the recapitalization of NIS.
See summary of Robinson’s budget review.
Robinson: Domestic market the target
GOVERNMENT IS SEEKING to woo the confidence of domestic investors once again, five years after the country underwent its debt restructuring exercise.
This was the takeaway of economics professor Dr Justin Robinson in his analysis of the 2023 Financial Statement And Budgetary Proposals delivered by Prime Minister Mia Amor Mottley in the House of Assembly yesterday.
Robinson, who was a panellist on the NATION’s State Of Our Nation’s post-Budget analysis, said Government’s announced $74.8 million partial repayment to 5 407 holders of Series B bonds, was in an effort to restore confidence in the domestic investment market.
During her four-hour presentation, Mottley said Series B bond holders who are on the register at March 31 will each receive $17 500 while 2 627 are being repaid in full.
Noting that the Prime Minister had not introduced new taxes to bridge the near $1 billion deficit, Robinson said it was evident that the plan is to finance the deficit through domestic investment and growth.
“Clearly the Government is deciding that it is going to go for growth and a lot of the initiatives seem focused along growth. Alongside growth, there were some measures and language that seem intended to encourage and entice domestic investors to provide the financing to close the gap.
“So there was no attempt to close the gap by new revenueraising measures or expenditure cuts. Instead, the Government has decided to financethe gap in this way by enticing the local investorsto come back because that’s where the uncertainty
in the financing is,” he said.
Robinson, the pro-vice chancellor of The University of the West Indies’ Board of Undergraduate Studies, said it is left to be seen whether the incentive will work.
“There was a whole section about reviving the domestic capital market. The repayment of the Series B bonds is one measure, and it is certainly feasible for the Government to make the payout. However, the unknown is whether that would be sufficient to induce investors to come back into the market in the quantity that they need in financing for the next financial year,” he said.
However, as it relates to Government’s growth strategy, he said it was lacking quite a bit of details.
“I was expecting some details on the reforms of the stateowned enterprises (SOEs), which was a central feature of the Barbados Economic Recovery and Transformation (BERT II) programme. In many ways those details were sadly lacking. We are not really significantly wiser about how that will play out. Additionally, because of the uncertainty with the domestic financing, I expected details on how Government was going to address this “The other issue was growth. How do we create some new growth catalyst to take the economy to a higher level? To her credit, the Prime Minister highlighted a number of possible areas that are new – stimulating a film industry, positioning Barbados as a logistics hub. The challenge I had is that they were quite short on details, they appear futuristic and we have to wait to hear the details,” he added.
Also expressing disappointment on the lack of details on the reform of the SOEs was general secretary of the National Union
of Public Workers Richard Green, who was also a panellist.
He said there was some indication that job losses were on the horizon.
“The Budget did not provide any specificities about the reform of those SOEs. Moving forward, it would be interesting from our end to see how that goes. Obviously, there is an indication in this Budget that there is high likelihood of some retrenchment in the SOEs. So there is more in this Budget that we need to see coming out within the new financial year,” Green said.
Nation Newspaper
Source: Nation
Source: Nation
Source: Nation
Source: Nation
Barbados is said to be one of the wealthiest and most developed countries in the Eastern Caribbean, but is it still part of the Third World or a Developing Country as it also displays economic, social, political, and environmental issues such as high poverty rates and harder living conditions
William…so wuh happen with the budget evabody so silent…normally ya would get the challenged jumping out boasting and attacking evabody, but the silence is loud and deafening.
Even heard two people complain they tried to listen to it but the yelling was unbearable, they had to shut off the noisemaker and wait for the printed version.
@ WURA
All I can say At this time, is that Cockroach has no right at Fowl Cock dance. So all I can say at this time is continue the good work,victory is certain,of that I have no doubt whatsoever.
Ase! Ase!
Best use of beachfront ?
“We are going to see the relocation of the civic centre in St James, which is now on the beach, to in there by Frederick Smith Secondary School”
https://barbadostoday.bb/2023/03/15/investment-coming-to-town/
There can be NO GREATER SHAME for young people than to find themselves growing up in a country led by a pack of international PARRO beggars, whose claim to fame is that they have been able to increase our indebtedness well beyond that which was incurred by the previous set of jack asses of very similar ilk.
No wonder the youth are hesitant about reproducing… who the hell wants to be the parents of future maids, porters, guards, beggars and Parros?
So rather that INSPIRE the youth with creative, futuristic, nationalistic visions for future generations, all we hear is a lotta emotional talk about bringing more materialistic albinos to take control of the local assets that have been moving further and further from the reach of the locals – except for those who are watchmen and porters.
What a CURSED place in which to be born in 2023….
Waru
Have you considered that the ritualist budget is no different than the evening news on CBC or for that matter most of the countries they micmick?
You could not have watched these rituals for decades and missed nothing at all. Having not so listened or read anything about it, not even anything on this thread, excepts yours, this writer chooses to ignore the tired, meaningless claims and counter claims.
Make assumptions that this one toooo is a sameness of a sameness!
The nonsense of Mia Mottley showing up to receive a floral arrangement. Then performing the ritual of have some special message in a proverbial Black box. And proceeding to talk shiite for four hours as if she had something say. Before a parliament which could have been exactly so constututed were it convined at BLP headquarters is a pappyshow, a mockery as rotuals go.
Its fairy tale to have a DLP titular leader, who has no standing, go through the pretense that he is in some position to counter the dictator-in-chief, these enactions go beyond the ritualistic and borders on the absurd.
“You could not have watched these rituals for decades and missed nothing at all. Having not so listened or read anything about it, not even anything on this thread, excepts yours, this writer chooses to ignore the tired, meaningless claims and counter claims.”
Exactly, would never waste energy time and space to listen to slick talking diatribe, when ALL the evidence and reality are staring us in the face, for those who make an effort to see….playing for the peanut gallery packed with a pappyshow- loving crowd…..seems like the weak in mind can withstand another 100 years of the same old, just as they deserve and are entitled…
The laughable part with bad news all around every inch of the earth, is the opening statement i read……”the good news is, there is no bad news.”
Ah guess that can only be found in their make believe world of gigantic lies and sleight of hand..nowhere else….while people on the island suffer every day for a cup of tea and a bread…cant feed themselves or their children.
A dictator wannabe should at least be able to feed the masses…all the glitter and the glamor they CONVINCED themselves was real…is coming TO AN END.
Increase in allowance to pensioners means more money will sit in the banks doing nothing. Smart to pay back the bonds but I doubt they will reinvest.
I assume Dodridge and Wellington on the growth and fiscal councils is to encourage the big financial institutions to trust government bonds again.
No responsible investor is buying government bonds until they prove they can start an actual money earning project.
@Redguard
You have highlighted the challenge. Unless the government can turn around investor confidence to finance the deficit we will not advance.
The homo-phobes too like homo-geneity. What a ting! Killing the blog dead, dead. Keep it up.
Tannis is always intelligent in her responses.
Source: Nation
Bushie was wondering which rock to look under…. LOL
Looks like we have now done Enuff digging …
Murduh!!
Bushie
The tagline is “watch muh”. There is therefore no need to waste time here talking. Get up good.
Wuh i dint know a blog was dependent on pro-homo lovers to stay in cyberspace, where and WHO did this distracting topic come from….and who got the time to waste caring about other people’s sex lives, except for the usual suspects.
or is it now resoundingly clear that the 3-degrees of separation was ABRUPTLY and UNEXPECTEDLY SEVERED, so no imps, pimps, fowls or slaves can jump/fly out and present themselves as a buffer for the cowardly…whom it’s said are afraid of any ONE- on- ONE ..
just my kind of to do….one-on-one for the whole duration.
Anyone care to help out with details…Bushman…i thought this was about a budget or lack of..
Bushman…here is where you can find no end of details, i know it’s a topic that has now become the usual suspect’s bete noire….they now WISH it will all go away…..NOT
A CHANCE ..but these spent YEARS boasting right in front my face about what they have done, while i remained in the dark all that time…..they thought they had it in the bag lock, stock and barrel.
.. with no clue that what they cooked up over the decades was a recipe for their downfall….ah want them to confess to their BU family WHAT and WHY….
Their evil actions…their story to tell.
Canada
” The Honourable Chrystia Freeland, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Finance, announced today that the government will table its 2023 budget on March 28, 2023, in the House of Commons, at approximately 4:00 p.m. ET
Just listened to Liz Thompson a member of PMMIA’s dream team spinning on Brasstacks.
Chrystia Freeland is also a Ukrainian genetic fascist!
Bushman…doan look like they want to share any details with you bosie…….maybe Miller will be luckier….
…those are the details everyone on the island needs to hear…it’s not only about my family and i, but about EVERYONE ELSE of African descent…in one way or another…
…no 2 stories are likely to be alike…in any or every instance….but they all lead the same place, thefts, and disenfranchisement from the HIGHLY immoral and WHOLLY unethical….who got nuff, nuff explaining to do….no…it will NEVER GO AWAY in my case…and if they ever try to use any of the knowledge they kept from me to cash in, i will fcuking CRUSH THEM..
If everyone remembers the very first time i was called Salemite, i was told ” you won’t know anything about that” with a lol….it’s archived, wuh if i dint know, it would mean others under different cicumstances re their history, dint either..
Pacha…seems it’s spreading like wildfire. The collapse is definitely in full force.
I posted on the Confused thread about the banking changes with the bigger players closing branches.
Waru
Anybody so wilfully blind deserves the death which must come.
Wilful blindness or arrogantly doubling down on wokeism, pragmatic nationalism, financial slavery, and wholly descriptive of Mia Mottley and this dictatorship amounting to death.
Yes, we see contagion, now reaching Europe, has legs.
Waru! It now takes only a feather to break this camel’s back for a financialized empire.
So when Bajan politicians and their foolish followers right here on BU keep doubling down on their ignorance, they shall be very soon found wanting.
And even when these assholes are so found, don’t expect contrition. Don’t expect apologetics. Only rinsing and repeating. These are why we would much prefer the mushroom-headed phallus in them.
@ Enuff
You don’t know how much Bushie missed you….
Good to hear that you are still getting watched…
You walk good too…
“And even when these assholes are so found, don’t expect contrition. Don’t expect apologetics. Only rinsing and repeating. ‘
we know the mindsets very well, weeee watched them for years, they will sit their asses down and try to justify these layers of pure evil coming from a gang of thieves, and still crave to be Slaves..
…what i got pon dem the reason they will not escape my wrath….is that barring a few instances, i remember everything from the year DOT….and even from times outside my current existence, familiar places etc that happens to many…so they did not stand a chance of winning any of this..no matter how hard they tried to stop me from finding out, working overtime to attack and discredit me. Like that could win the dummy nigas something. While boasting and bragging about my not knowing any of it….white world dummies forgot one very critical thing….I HAVE WHAT THEY DON’T.
The criminal CRABS. .certainly will not get away with what they did…am not the type to forgive generational crimes directed at my family and future generations from traitors who look just like us…and wont rest….until….
.but the weak-willed sheeple, fowls slaves and others, would do well to learn from my experience, unlike what they would do, i did not hide that there is an issue abd peoole should do their own research.
…it’s just too private to make public, and will never happen in my case.
The nerve of these SNAKES trying to cash in on these types of circumstances without the PERMISSION or KNOWLEDGE of African DESCENTS. Everyone should watch their backs, not only in Barbados but across the wider Caribbean…cause we know misleaders all carry the same low class subterranean mindsets.
Steuspe
It’s not looking good for Credit Suisse. They should have hung on to their black CEO.
https://www.theguardian.com/business/2023/mar/15/credit-suisse-what-is-happening-at-swiss-bank-and-should-we-be-worried
TLSN…it’s a situation many of us saw coming YEARS OFF..there could have should have been better preparation, but when ya have to read from and follow someone else’s script because ya too foolish and full of yaself to know otherwise…this is the result…
We were ridiculed, but guess what..it’s happening right in front our faces…just as seen over a decade ago, you can ask some on here, they will tell you the same thing.
The ridicule lies with those who refuse to denounce the quasi madness emanating from Mia the great, and the PR machine that she has put in place to overpower the voices of reason and common sense. Rome, under the madness of the emperor Nero, went into terminal decline due to the inability of their senators to challenge Nero.
When a Prime Minister announces to her parliament that she has only good news to announce then we can take this as madness. Note the international and domestic female praetorian guard that she has surrounding her. Note her Minister of Propaganda who propagates stories which are buffed and varnished and made to look like all is well in Barbados. Her name is Thompson. How in God’s name has she ended up under the wing and the protection of Mia.
Barbados is sick. I care not for our politicians. I care only for my black brothers and sisters who are disenfranchised and who have had their dignity removed. Rest assured, there will be nothing left for them to salvage within the next generation and a half.
“Rest assured, there will be nothing left for them to salvage within the next generation and a half.”
That’s why some of us spent our valuable time for the last decade, successfully trying to wake up many, we saw this happening, needed more info about the reparations scam, which is now available….but outside of warnings here and there, when situations like the above arise, they will get very little going forward, unless they read, since my focus and interests in that direction have largely shifted.
I am not a Harriet Tubman and not about to pretend am one, none of that energy and life waster interests me….so they better get their shit together, they got all the info at their fingertips that’s been around now for quarter century and more added daily, so the onus is on them to free themselves from the ego bloated wannabes, no one else can do it.
If the history of capitalism teaches us anything it is that it has always been unstable. Such instability guarantees a crisis every 4 to 7 years. These make it impossible for the development of poor or small countries.
Yes, Keynes and others made commendable efforts to temper such maladies with popular remedies, though few of their arguments were accepted. And even those accepted, like social security, have been hollowed out. So what we have today is a most perverse formation, worst than at any other historical moment in the history.of capitalism.
That Mia Mottley and a Barbados government, comprising people who were supposed to be brighter than previous generations, could mindlessly and monumentally continue to fail the country by asserting the preeminence of a dead-ended, bankrupt, economic order, must be the betrayal of all times.
There shall be a price to be paid.
Does anybody know the name of the president of Barbados? Should she not be stepping out of the shadow and challenging Mia. The president of Israel has spoken out. He could not maintain his silence any longer with Israel’s corrupt and fascist Prime Minister.
Barbados’ president, appears to be nothing more than a ceremonial dummy!
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2023/mar/15/israeli-president-civil-war-is-within-touching-distance
The price to pay is just around the corner.
TLSN…if they dont leave the colonial indoctrination behind, nothing will ever change. That blight is following them around and they are yet to shake it off. As i said over and over for years and years…if those who can see what’s happening right before their eyes, continue on this road to destruction minding, dizzy politicians that personally i would NEVER vote for, they will remain trapped indefinitely.
Pacha…popular opinion is FDIC don’t have the funds to continue bailouts for depositors…some are seeing it as ” a combination of hyperinflation colliding with the Great Depression.”
I take it the next few months will be the tell, when the transition takes hold.
Waru
No. The Fed can create as much money as it likes from thin air. That’s real easy.
That is not the problem.
The problem is that in continuing creating such fiat money the ills that you mentioned will be unavoidable.
This certainty is not merely a function internal to the Fed, the Americans. For there are externalities which, to writer’s view, are vastly more consequential within all calculations.
I see what you mean..
“Sri Lanka Recession Deepens As IMF Bailout Looms
Sri Lanka fell deeper into financial catastrophe in Q4 of 2022 as borrowing costs hit a two-decade high in a desperate bid to stave off inflation.”
More and more info being revealed as a food processing company domiciled in Jamaica is now tied to pfizer re digital IDs…a real looming mess…
Hope the pretenders and wannabes know that everyone including myself hold a certain position and will in no way be moved or deterred, they will now see the stern stuff our combined ancestors, from both sides of the divide, are made of.
Pacha..we can’t make this up…just saw a clip where the PM dude in UK was doubling down on giving illegal immigrants a laundry list of what they will not be able to do knce landed in UK…and one of it was, i quote:
“You will not be able to access the modern slavery system”
That is obviously based on who he was speaking to prior to that cockup that slipped out. There was no glitch in the video, it was clear as day..
Fools rush in
Where angels fear to tread
And so I come to you my love
My heart above my head
Though I see
The danger there
If there’s a chance for me
Then I don’t care
While people in 🇱🇰 Lanka the Land of Demons 😈 are looking to sell up and leave..
.. I man am looking to do the reverse and buy a house by the beach with a pool on the cheap
Fools rush in
Where wise men never go
But wise men never fall in love
So how are they to know
Waru
These people like Sunak, and his equivalent in Barbados, are always seeking to impress the White establishment that they are even more reactionary than the Whites themselves. A hallmark of institutional racism writ large!
Pacha, William, TLSN…
A journalist friend of mine is laughing their ass off…but it’s very clear from the perspective of pretenders and wannabes in Slave Society Barbados, the entire plot revolved around, in my case, i can only speak for me and mine at this stage…TIEFING our entitlements and reparations, then ENSLAVING us in their modern slavery scam system…more of the same anti- Afrikan, antihuman crimes for centuries more to come….even though the present company of small island political scum will be long dead in a couple more decades or sooner..the traitor bloodlines..
.but MFs you will NOT get an opportunity to further disenfranchise my family and future generations without severe life altering repercussions…you can take that to the BANK..
Pacha…..Kush Quarterly March – June 2023….publishing by month end .has an excerpt from my book Collapse on those types like the UK dude and their damaged psyche..which now includes a delusion that they have finally taken full control of the white world as generational puppets…they have convinced themselves of that illusion…and nothing can change that…until a white wakeup call occurs.
Waru
Things, on all fronts, keep going from bad to worse. Besides this banking or economic crisis, we see that the IAEA cannot account for a large amount of uranium as stored in Libya, under their supervision, inspection, before the NATO invasion. Something is coming down the pike! Maybe as a distraction from the lost of global power. Nowhere in the histories of lost of empires can we find these levels of desperation, recklessness, to maintain. “These days are indeed funny nights”.
“Things, on all fronts, keep going from bad to worse.”
That’s what am seeing in every area…that’s why am picking my battles very carefully and only fighting those involving any threats to my family and I….Pacha…we gotta protect our own at all cost…as it’s now down to the wire.
..this is the true definition and an indication that everything has gone to HELL….and those who dont want to see it, that’s on them, just stay the fcuk away from me and mine and keep us out of your mouths and thoughts..
Only the small island fraudsters in the Barbados locale got “the good news is, there is no bad news” while the people starve because they can no longer feed themselves let alone bury their dead…. and die for one reason or the other with the lone hospital and morgue filled to overflowing.
But dont worry, their insignificant fowls and imps will tell ya, so what, it happens everywhere…and i glad fuh dem.
And as Karma would have it, it’s the same platform that the Sunak dude outted himself on boasting about midern slavery…with the odd looking, selfhating bobbleheaded Suella in the background nodding her head in agreement like it would fall off…apparently the dude broke the law…open secrets are not to be spoken about openly….lol
In his elevated billionaire world up in the clouds…he probably dont even know that slavery is illegal…hence the advertising /promotion of his modern slave system..to illegal immigrants.
“TikTok Banned on ALL 🇬🇧 Govt Devices with Immediate Effect – Reports
Days after PM Rishi Sunak was outed on the platform breaking the law, Westminster decided to outlaw use of the social media.”
@John (Rabbit)
https://barbadostoday.bb/2023/03/14/btcolumn-where-is-the-privatization-programme-for-the-sugar-industry/
In today’s epaper (3/15) there is a new article “Privatising the sugar industry” and I feel it would be good to hear your opinion on this matter. I value your opinion on these items…
TheO
As a former Min of Ag, and chair of BADMC, Mr.Wood needs to tell us where the $40M is actually expensed? Exactly where is that money spent.
Doubt I have ever seen so few comments on a Budget in Buhbaydus, which suggests there was little in it?
Years back, as Toronto sought entry to the filmmaking business, they built several professional studios. Shortly after opening, one got busted. The person tasked with identifying potential grow-ops, by their high electricity usage, had zoned in on a studio. That alone, given the cost of power in B’dos makes filmmaking an interesting choice.
The CBB once reported that >4000 Reslife customers has received Series B bonds. Hence, I’m unsure how a move to pay 5400 an avg of $13.5k ea represents a move to spur investment versus buying favour with said recipients.
No reason beyond the emotional to invest before the budget, less after. Less? Failure to address the revenue/expensive imbalance, or it’s funding.
@NO
It is the optics and how it feeds public perception?
Barbadians are tired of the politics. Like elsewhere there is increasing apathy and cynicism. Check parliament YouTube channel at the moment, less than 70 tuned in.
After hearing the senior clown Kerrie Symmonds last night, who in their right mind would waste their time listening to the junior jokers?
What a waste of time and resources!!!
BTW
Mia simply read her last Manifesto aloud last night…
We all should know that like EVERYTHING else she has proclaimed, these too shall come to nought….
David
I’m not spending hours to listen to MAM. So possibly it impacted optics and perception.
The acolytes still seem 5 yrs later to buy into ‘watch muh’.
@David, yes it’s the “optics” thus when you also say that “Barbadians are tired of the politics… [and] increasing to the 1) saturation of available political news and 2) that saturation providing the realization that in fact the ’emperor’ really is quite naked!
We are cynical because we can now more readily understand the repetitive political ploys and speeches and see exactly how effectively ineffective the actors aim to be. We can can review prior actions and compare current acts so easily with social media.
Folks can’t hide from their lies these days yet it’s just as stunning how they so gallantly parade …
An amusing case in point of how easily we can see through the political BS is the post from @Theo (who I imagine is being more than a bit facetious)…. He said that opposition leader Ronnie Yearwood was speechifying with “precision” where “one can listen without feeling threatened” and be ‘gentle persuaded’ with ‘sweet seduction’.
All of that is likely perfectly accurate but I laughed nonetheless at the irony when he also said that “Ronnie O” said: “Last night, my team and I in preparing for this budget read the previous budgets and recognised that the Prime Minister and the (Junior) Minister of Finance have added about 30 new taxes to Barbadians over the last two terms of this government.”
Is this the supposed shadow government leader implying that ONLY NOW his economic team realizes his country has been soaked with THIRTY new taxes!!!
Just now… you suggest … is that a joke or what!
No wonder the PM can brag “no new taxes” … clearly (it seems) she had no one showing up and discussing her many OLD taxes!
So yes millions worldwide are quite cynical of the big shot politicians on all sides with their eloquent BS!
@Dee Word
Some on the blog believe it is constructive to offer a dissenting view for the sake of it. It makes defeats the purpose doesn’t it.
Oops .. a correction to an omission in that first paragraph above. It should read:
@David, yes it’s the “optics” thus when you also say that “Barbadians are tired of the politics…[and] there is increasing apathy and cynicism…” I suggest to you that is due to the 1) saturation of available political news and 2) that saturation providing the realization that in fact the ’emperor’ really is quite naked!
Peace.
TikTok is banned (on government phones) due the twisted nasty MPs in Parliement who are Chinese Haters.
White Spies are biggest Hypocrites in the whole wide world as they spy on what people say and control the internet .
When it comes to economic matters I consider myself a flyweight, though I often punch in the heavyweight class. 😄 I think punching above one’s weight is a national trait 😄.
Thank God for the clarity of the analysis provide by the Great Ronnie O. It is a pleasure to read what this man has to say. His statement are at a level that even I can understand. It is interesting to contrast his style with that of Mia.
Mia is like a B5 bomber dropping heavy bombs on a target; you don’t know if to run or to continue listen. Her goal is not to persuade but to overwhelm; in fact, she lacks the art of gentle persuasion as she tries to bully her audience. Ronnie O is a bomber whose words are dropped with precision, there is no need to run; one can listen without feeling threatened. Gentle persuasion; sweet seduction.
Snippets from Ronnie O (I encourage you to tell me where he is wrong.
1) “The Prime Minister claimed gloriously that there were no tax raises in this budget but in effect, there were no tax cuts in this budget either and that is what Barbadians have been calling for and what they require as we try to address the cost of living. Last night, my team and I in preparing for this budget read the previous budgets and recognised that the Prime Minister and the (Junior) Minister of Finance have added about 30 new taxes to Barbadians over the last two terms of this government. So the Prime Minister bragging that there are no new taxes while not reducing any of the 30 taxes is not a victory for Barbadians,”
** Can you imagine that, 30 new taxes in 5 years. I am here praying that she does not find a way to tax the air we breathe.
2) “The last two terms have seen this government borrow $4 billion in total and this includes the almost $1 billion that they are borrowing this year and you can have a Minister of Finance talk to Barbados about the economic issues facing the country and not address the debt?”
** $4B.. do you realize that with a population of 262,000 that is $15,000 BDS per person. If you have 5 people in your household, Mia borrowed BDS $100,000 in your name. Jesus, I was against 185,00 newcomers but now I am glad they are coming to help ease this load.
3)“That budget will not move the trajectory of Barbados and will not add to the valued lives of Barbadians. In effect, the budget keeps the status quo in check. The $1 billion of debt was not addressed, NIS reform was not addressed, pension reform was not addressed, education reform was not addressed. The Prime Minister, as the Minister of Finance, addressed no serious reforms in the budget, and the budget read like a throne speech rather than an actual budgetary statement,”
I disagree with him here, as he is a positive fellow. Our trajectory has changed as we are now on a path of destruction and the value of the lives of Bajans is on the decrease (an increase in debt is a decrease on the value of our lives)
4) “We have had 15 years of non-economic growth in our country compared to our neighbors who have had four, one or two (years of growth). We are at the bottom of the pile for economic development, our tourism is not growing, there have been no growth measures in this budget and yet, we had hours of the Prime Minister talking as usual but saying nothing as usual,”
**Just what I thought. She talks loud and long and don’t say much. But her speech carries so much energy, you would believe she is saying something.
Ronnie O, what would I do
If I couldn’t come and listen to you?
TheO
Either you are wearing blue and yellow or you are not very demanding?
What would have been impressive is if R”O”Y, had told us the exact changes to taxes, the NIS, pension reform etc he proposed.
In Opposition, and he isn’t there yet, criticism is easy, especially when it comes WITHOUT specific counter proposals.
Let’s recall, B’dos in 2013 & 2014 ran UNbudgeted deficits beyond $1B dollars, and little was said.
He needs to wheel and get specific or he is nothing more than another general critic. As he must be.
The blogmaster heard veteran journalist David Ellis with an interesting observation recently- new political parties continue to model themselves in the traditional form.
@David, what did he mean by “new political parties continue to model themselves in the traditional form.”??
Has politics changed fundamentally over the years other than the methods/means and styles!
As noted above, for example, re Yearwood’s tax remarks … whether by traditional old school ways or otherwise he left himself open to criticism by 1) not being forthcoming with the economic critique continually as the taxes were legislated and 2) by not offering the ‘precise’ nature and economic impact of the tax incidences!
Certainly with our current communications medium he could have saturated us with details (graphical, personal interviews etc etc) … so if Ellis means that the parties are not using the available tech to excite their constituents then all good … but that would mean they are just INCOMEPTENT! …
Just as those in the past, past would have been incompetent if they didn’t use regular neighborhood meetings around the country to get their message out!
The fundamental of politics remain the SAME: get your message to your voter where s/he is … because ALL politics is still local …
Some traditions are simply ‘sacrosanct’. Just saying!
@Dee Word
It is a David Ellis observation. One must surmise it is about traditional messaging, types of personal selected I.e. candidate selection etc. the need to democratize the process etc. He has a point.
“❗️JPMorgan, Morgan Stanley and Others in Talks to Aid First Republic Bank
The deal could include a sizable capital infusion to shore up the beleaguered lender, reports the WSJ.”
The bank in Los Angeles wealthy environs i mentioned couple days ago.
@ David.
Toronto’s film industry is growing faster than ever, set to surpass its 2019 record of $2.2 billion in production values next year, building on the over 1,500 film, television, commercial, and music video projects logged in the city in 2021.
@Hants
The argument by Dr. Yearwood is why grant the sugar industry mega dollars, a dead or declining sugar industry with limited opportunity and give peanuts to the local film industry.
David
Aren’t you also playing into optics?
Tony Wood claims $40M to sugar, but for what?
In Jan I drove past fields a body had told me were leased by GoB or agency thereof, to grow sugar cane. No cane? I asked the body, and the reply, “dat en my problem”.
If I told you $20M was available to the “film industry”, exactly how are you going to spend/invest those funds?
@NO
No, it was a provocative comment.
Let me hasten to assure you that I take no pride or delight in my ignorance. Indeed, I am trying my best to remedy my poor situation and often turn to others to learn or to hear words of wisdom.
Yet, it amazes me when my crude analysis coincides with that of someone who is much smarter or trained in a particular area. I was searching for an article where a learned person said that what was delivered was “no budget”.
Now I lack his eloquence and knowledge of the subject matter, but as I was listening I was thinking…. “That’s no budget, that’s a fudget (or fake-it)”
Medical Update
To those who asked and wish me well… My shoulders are recovering from trying to clap myself on my back.. I am amazed at the number of times she gave herself a pat on the back and did not suffer injuries.
“The Democratic Labour Party calculates about 30 taxes were imposed on the people since the Mia Mottley Administration took office in 2018”
Perhaps their fan boys could break down all 30 of these tax rises or perhaps not..
G0vernemt have no right to tax the weed as they criminalised it
Woi-oi. Yeah, na-na-na. Na-na-na, na-na-na, today [Chorus] Let’s forward with Jah Orthodox An’ back ‘way with the income tax.
Come, let’s stone the devil (Stone him)
Chase him on the level (Chase him, chase him)
Come, let’s stone the devil now (Stone him)
Clip him with a pebble
Forward With the Orthodox
I may have to stop reading BT. I made the mistake of reading this article and am now sick to my stomach.
https://barbadostoday.bb/2023/03/15/pms-well-wishers-share-budget-hopes/
“I don’t care what Mia do. Whatever Mia do is well done with me. I was always a ‘B’ and I will remain a ‘B’. I had to live up under the Dems [Democratic Labour Party] and suffer and had to live, so I could live up under whatever my Prime Minister Mia Mottley do and that is a fact of life.”
I happen to like the great Ronnie O, but let me assure you he will not get a free pass with me. When he becomes PM and
1) fails to deliver on promises made,
2) fails to change the direction of Barbados,
3) just collects frequent flier miles,
4) tries o get his picture in every magazine,
5) tries to be nominated for every meaningless shit,
6) tries to get three terms by shortening one of the terms
7) tries to pad his resume for a UN post whilst he is in the PM’s office
8) embraces any of the financial gangsters that he criticized for years
9) engage in any vaccine like skullduggery
then I will be all over him like white on rice.
Ronnie O, the support is true
But it all depends on what you do
Pacha…saw the story on the disappeared Libya uranium. Somebody got stock…lol
Fake and fraud-it are the operative words, openly LYING to the public while everything collapses around them, and yet to be called out on that dangerous and deadly lie….that can kill tens of thousands…
I gotta go,
but before I do gotta know
What became of Barbados uranium deposits?
They were right there by the oil deposits.
(I cannot help being an idiot)
Father forgive me, for I know what i do.
Have a great day Barbados.
Wishing the leaders of Barbados the very best.
My the Good Lord influence their decisions
Have a great Day Barbados
“Barbadians are tired of the politics. Like elsewhere there is increasing apathy and cynicism.”
@ David
I agree.
And, what also disappoints me, is the fact that politicains are more interested in assisting young people…… more so ‘young girls.’
A young girl could recieve a house from NHC, RDC or UDC ‘quicker’ than a senior citizen could have his/her house repaired by one of those state-owned agencies.
Senior citizens are deregarded by politicians, but become valuable to them only at ‘voting time.’
Remember, for example, Mottley ceased payment of the NAB pensions, WITHOUT PRIOR NOTICE, to a ‘handful’ of senior citizens who were receiving such payments for over 17 years and whose living standards would’ve been based on their income.
On another note……
It seems as though every thread you present to this forum for discussion, is used to either continue the same irrelevant ‘conversations’ that were started on previous threads, repeat the same rhetoric with monotonous regularity or push some narrow, selfish agenda.
Yet, undaunted, you continue to host BU.
I am forced to agree with your mate Bush Tea.
Surely you are a man of immense patience, tolerance and perseverance.
‘Keep up the good work.’
“We are at the bottom of the pile for economic development, our tourism is not growing, there have been no growth measures in this budget and yet, we had hours of the Prime Minister talking as usual but saying nothing as usual,”
**Just what I thought. She talks loud and long and don’t say much. But her speech carries so much energy, you would believe she is saying something.”
That’s the popular sentiment…for the people’s good, they should listen…people are openly stating with utter DISGUST far and wide., dem like to hear demself too much while saying absolutely nothing for hours on end…that never materializes into anything helpful or progressive for the majority who voted..let’s see if the advice will be heeded. Slick talk cant buy bread or milk. Wont hold my breath though….some get addicted to the sound of their own voice.
There are limits to what those who actually have a sliver of intelligence can take. ..i have no more patience for any of it….none. The people should know what they gotta do. I already did..
@Artax
Our inherited system of government is predicated on public spirited people offering themselves to selflessly serve people.
NorthernObserver
Surely you’re aware what ‘side of the fence’ The O Guy sits?
He says neither B nor D, and since I don’t really care, I take him at his word?
Things are tough all over!!
Never asked whether or not you “don’t really care.”
I simply responded to the ‘label’ you attached to him, which is clearly indicated when you asked, “Either you are wearing blue and yellow or you are not very demanding?”
A sign of our times
Credit Swisse needs 54 billion to save it.
Earlier this week they called the Saudis for help. They said a flat no without even entertaining their proposal.
The degenerative West expects to sanction everybody they don’t like, even their allies, steal billions held in their banks, steal gold from Venezuela, uranium from Libya, oil and grain from Syria, to name a few.
And assholes here cannot be dissabused that the Devil and Satan are one.
A few days later the Saudis announced that they will invest many tens of billions into Iran. Their up until recently arch enemy.
If this is not a sign of the times, what is?
Signs and wonders we hear the congregación with a rejoinder!!!!!!!!!
Earlier this week they called the Saudis for help. They said a flat no without even entertaining their proposal….
Well somebody lied?
Chairman Ammar Al Khudairy of Saudi National Bank on CNBC this a.m.
“There has been no discussions with Credit Suisse about providing assistance,” he said.
“I don’t know where the word ‘assistance’ came from, there has been no discussions whatsoever since October,” he said.
He reiterated that the bank will not take its stake beyond the current 9.9%.
The message has not changed, it’s the same since October,” he said. “Even if we desired to, there are too many complications from a regulatory and compliance point of view,” he said.
“A few days later the Saudis announced that they will invest many tens of billions into Iran. Their up until recently arch enemy.”
Nuff signs and wonders…saw the one just days ago where Iran wants to be a banking partner with Afrika…am like WHAT???
@ David
‘Sounds good on paper.’
But, the ‘million dollar question’ is, “selfishly serve” WHOM?
An unemployed acquaintance told me she visted her constituency representative, Sandra Husbands, to seek assistance.
According to her, Husbands was more interested in if the lady was registered at her (Husband’s) constituency office.
The lady has an appropriate answer for Husbands when she comes around to solicit votes.
This is third example I presented to this forum to highlight the disregard politicians have for citizens.
Recall, Neil Rowe telling a constituent that ‘government’ is not hiring ‘OLD people.’
Now he is battling a charge for allegedly raping a YOUNG girl.
Karma?
And, Corey Lane??
I really don’t care?
Should I assume because you slammed MAM on the NAB cut (that now nearly as many times as I slammed the NIS?), or Husbands or NR, that you are anti B?
As I said, I don’t care.
You generally have specifics with your comments, which carries more weight than the persons involved.
“Barbadians are tired of the politics. Like elsewhere there is increasing apathy and cynicism.”
As the youths would say “Politics are for nerds and ❏ ❐ ❑s”
but the same youths protest hard against issues irregardless of political parties
Two items
1)
“Is this the supposed shadow government leader implying that ONLY NOW his economic team realizes his country has been soaked with THIRTY new taxes!!!”
Ronnie O can speak for himself, but I can imagine in preparing his response, the Great Ronnie O said.. “Every citizen knows we are overburden with new taxes, but we need an exact number. Saying that we have a large number or ’nuff’ new taxes will not crystallise the problem in the minds of Bajan”.
2) I am sorely disappointed that some would try to attach colors or the side of a fence to obvious truths. Note, that I will not try to label/color the concerns that some have for the elderly but I will vigorously support them in their call for fair treatment of the elderly.
I will continue to believe that his contributions are “stellar and cannot be refuted and will continue to grade him as an A+ contributor
@NO
Are you sleeping well my friend? Do you see this as a buying opportunity or are you still depositing funds under the bed? Have a great day.
Sleeping well thanks. NO exposure to US banks, and think the Cdn banks are safe.
“Barbadians are tired of the politics”.
What else is there to hold Babadians’ interest?
Soccer?
Cricket?
Cropover?
Tourism?
My friend, there is only one game in town. Don’t just lean on the arms of Mia.
Leaning on the arms of Mia
Off topic
The PM had responsibility for the Town & Country planning dept.which is under fire for authorizing the building of a wall which will deny Bajans the opportunity to access the Joes river area as they have in the past. So what does the PM do? she turns over ministerial responsibility to Duguid saying she doesn’t have time for the day to day responsibility for that dept.,she has now realized this after five years and Bajans are supposed to swallow that excuse. Yesterday I caught a bit of the budget response and heard the patsy Duguid crowing that he is the first non PM to have responsibility for that dept.
Don’t stop the Carnival
@Sargeant
Wasn’t Liz Thompson responsible for planning at some point?
“My friend, there is only one game in town.”
Ketch A Fire
Tishen Politician
There is only one scam left in Town
Politician on the Money Money Riddim
A Killer King Tubby Dub Plate Stylee
Crop-over round the corner…all that’s left is the dancing…lol
Pacha…dont know why they would look for bailout money from the Saudis or anyone else when they have money to help them at home….too love to parasite off other people..
“Swiss National Bank Swoops to Save Credit Suisse with $50bn Lifeline
Zurich-based Credit Suisse saw shares plummet nearly 30%, prompting an emergency loan of $53.68 billion to be given by the country’s National Bank.”
Here I am rushing to the defense of Mia.
Mia has made it abundantly clear that all ‘big works’ must come through her.
And here you all are talking about a cheap wall. How on earth could you think a little 2×3 wall can be described ad big works. This small work was correctly delegated to a small man Minister Duguid.
It’s small works; a small wall, small beach and just small nation will be decided access to the beach.
Mia, spot on. You go girl.
@ Northern
Wait there was no change to anything so what you want we comment bout? I heard grand plans about all kind of things going forward, but i mean I had also been told few years back that Four Seasons was starting next month and the one in Bay Street was soon breaking ground, so i dont get involved in the dreams and hopes department. I mean it sound sweet dont get me wrong but i like facts more than fiction.
Northern I fell sleep so what was the outcome of the NIS restructuring and refinancing by the state. I mean them right off a billion of WE money so what she say there? They putting in $80million a year for the next 10 years then? I sorry i could not stand wake to hear the plan there.
Anyhow I hear the feelgood part and the fact that there will be no new taxes and ting, in other words business as usual, but i miss the ACTUAL budget with the numbers. Northern you could share that part with me please ? In other words Northern how the company known as BIM performing. What the balance sheet and P&L look like? I fall sleep and miss all that part it seems.
@John A
In the best Mia voice – didn’t you follow The Estimates debate?
What happened to the Barbados Growth Project?
Just saw a video clip warning people to believe NOTHING coming out of the parliament.
Ah take it they told one TOO MANY lies and the people had enuff…..but look what it took….look at the price paid..
Bushman….the longest day has an end.
Pacha…they claim they found it..
“Libya uranium: Missing barrels recovered, say eastern forces
By Robert Plummer
BBC News
16 March 2023, 16:01 GMT
Updated 2 hours ago
Video caption,
Video shows an official inspecting drums said to contain uranium ore
Armed forces in eastern Libya say they have found about two and a half tonnes of uranium ore that were reported missing by the International Atomic Energy Agency.
Ten drums containing the ore were found near the border with Chad, said the head of the forces’ media unit.
The IAEA said it was “actively working to verify” media reports.
The agency sounded the alarm after a visit by its inspectors earlier this week to the undisclosed site.
The area was not in government-controlled territory.”
Waru
The IAEA, the UN and ALL socalled international agencies, NGOs, are captives of Washington.
There is no international law, no independence of the socalled international frameworks, no sovereignty of socalled independent states, which empire recognizes.
Anybody otherwise minded is an idiot! Its America which for example gave Barbados its independence by running the British out. So too 80 or 90 countries. Why would they have to respect them or the European states for that matter.
Any truly independent state like Iran, Russia, Haiti, Venezuela, Cuba, Syria will have, of necessity, problems with the racist American empire.
Saw that convenient report and so thought. How convenient! Especially when Russia supplies, and still supplies, most uranium products to the world. Its like the Israeli 400 nuclear weapons which have no presence in critical discourses. That uranium could disappear and appear because empire wants that. An empire which broke all the socalled rules so that Zionists can kill Arabs en masse.
@ David
I want to know bout the plan to address these issues. What is missing here is details in terms of application of the items in the budget. Plus remember there will be a cost of implementation and we have yet to hear what that is and how this budget will be financed.
As Corporate Barbados has said today we want details.
@John A
The PM with all her oratorical skills is not big on details and technical.
@John A
Source: Nation
Barbados appears to be attracting a lot of cruise ship activity, could it be giveback by the cruise industry because of Barbados’ welcomning stance during the pandemic?
So we will just pretend the permanent damage to the reef was the cost of doing business. For a country begging for green and blue economy funding the lack of an assessment of the damage to the reef is shameful. But alas beggars have no shame
@Redguard
In which capitalist society economic considerations will not outweigh all the others?
I never followed up on how these agencies are structured so did not understand the dynamics, it’s only now they have become so visible, the roles they play are becoming clearer.
Don’t get those farmers vex!!
Private Investors Bid To Take Over B’dos Sugar Industry – Starcom Network
https://starcomnetwork.net/blog/2023/03/16/private-investors-bid-to-take-over-bdos-sugar-industry/
@David, oh noooo!
This is a big slide along the continued very slippery slope of the new type of colonization and giving up the last of the crown jewels…
Lots of the pretty talk about employee share options but when these large tracts of Bajan land are sold off or leased off we will be truly screwed!
How can these guys make sugar profitable (on our limited scales) based on the long history of major concessions and market upheavals … this is a big foot fancy move that will be to our detriment.
I’ll not even touch on the fact that such a major ‘distillation’ of this ‘crack liquor’ is being done in the back rooms!
Pacha…something is happening, there is movement.
“US regulator expects bids for SVB and Signature Bank by tomorrow
The US Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) has asked banks interested in acquiring failed lenders Silicon Valley Bank (SVB) and Signature Bank to submit bids by March 17, Reuters reported.
This is the FDIC’s second attempt to sell SVB after a failed effort on Sunday. Among the institutions that studied but decided against an offer during last weekend’s auction for SVB were PNC Financial Services and Royal Bank of Canada.
As for crypto-friendly Signature Bank, any possible buyer would have to agree to give up all the crypto business at the bank, according to sources.
The FDIC is seeking to sell both SVB and Signature in their entirety, while offers for parts of the banks could be considered if whole company sales do not go through.”
Waru
Yes, there are always sharks in bloodied waters.
Crypto is only a small to moderate proportion it seems.Think it was SVB which has long been trying to get it off its books.
However, again the medicine, a takeover, maybe worse than the disease.
We’re dealing with two main factors. One, regional banks verses national banks. Two, the four biggest national banks have collectively 650 TRILLION dollars in derivative exposures. These are the ones most likely to gobble them up. Meaning JP Morgan, et al
To put this in context that’s about seven times the GDP of the entire world.
Until real solutions deal with this underlying problem, and others. All shadow dancing!
I was aware of FDIC as the watch dog and guardian for banking rules and regulations, because of experience in the private banking sector….but that was it, now i know they have a much wider reach..
“How can these guys make sugar profitable (on our limited scales) based on the long history of major concessions and market upheavals … this is a big foot fancy move that will be to our detriment.”
When the choir starts to sing off-key then we know we are in trouble.
TheOGazerts on March 16, 2023 at 7:57 PM said:
Rate This
“How can these guys make sugar profitable (on our limited scales) based on the long history of major concessions and market upheavals … this is a big foot fancy move that will be to our detriment.”
When the choir starts to sing off-key then we know we are in trouble.
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Here are numbers from Peter Webster!!
https://bstabarbados.org/articles/tag/peter-webster/
This is good too, looks like he got his graph from me!!
https://barbadostoday.bb/2023/03/16/btcolumn-privatising-the-sugar-industry/
“The International Society of Sugar Cane Technologists stated in 2008 that the smallest financially viable sugar industry in the world was 12, 000 hectares or 30, 000 acres. Yet some in Barbados expect to have a financially viable sugar industry in Barbados with less than one quarter of the size needed to achieve the required economies of scale for financial viability.
The reality is that the Barbados sugar industry currently being managed by the Government of Barbados, is producing less than 8, 000 tons of sugar annually at $4, 000 per ton and selling it at the market price of $2, 000 per ton – financial folly! At the same time, it is selling its molasses to the favoured rum industry at almost $100 per ton, less than the imported price. The Government has been able to do this simply by subsidizing the sugar industry’s losses using taxpayer’s money that is also needed elsewhere. So what magic wand does the private sector have that would change all of this?
Has the Government rescinded all the legislation that gave it control over the industry and allowed it to dictate wages and tax the industry to bankruptcy? Where is all the capital to come from to revitalize this industry? And why would anyone in their right mind invest hard-earned savings/capital in such a risky, loss-making venture without the prerequisite assurances?
Round and round we go…”
Where are the “investors” going to find 30,000 acres?
https://barbados.loopnews.com/content/top-4-klm-pilot-stuns-ig-audience-lit-aerial-shot-barbados
Just to find somewhere to scotch the $100 million Geriatric Hospital required rezoning Zone 1 land around the Belle to fit it in at Waterford!!!
Our leaders need putting in the Psychiatric Hospital!!
https://gisbarbados.gov.bb/blog/construction-of-new-geriatric-hospital-begins/
That was the whole purpose of the rezoning video from BWA!!
https://www.facebook.com/bwa.bb/videos/the-new-proposed-zoning-changes/469967067714947/?locale=hu_HU
If they are scrounging to find land to put the Geriatric Hospital, you know all this talk about sugar is pie in the sky!!
Well it’s pie in the sky for the average Joe Clarke or Millicent Brathwaite Bajan but a wonderful long term windfall for the selected pols and legal and financial elites!
Different but not grossly dissimilar to how you and your family eventually cashed-out on that land matter: get hold of the land and in the end you get hold of it’s worth!
Absolutely awesome when you are an insider!
pussycat doll still nice.
My grandfather bought his first plantation in 1939, just before WWII started when economic conditions were extremely bad in Barbados.
Ask Simple!!
He benefitted from the rise in sugar prices and demand for the commodity.
What inside track could he have possibly had to lead him to gambling on the purchase of a plantation?
It was heavily mortgaged.
Because prices were high and demand insatiable, he reinvested profits in mechanisation, increased output and by 1958, with his wife and seven children owned 1,133 acres of land in Barbados entirely mortgage free.
They formed a limited liability company to limit their liability given the loans they had taken out to purchase tractors and equipment to move the cane from field to factory and cultivate.
Several other Barbadian families did likewise, eg the Chandlers at Portland/Alleynedale and Todds Lemon Arbour, the Wards at Newton, Staple Grove and with the Simpsons at Thickett, Robinsons at Constant, Arthurs at Yorkshire, Evelyns at Wotton etc. etc. etc.
What the politicians are dreaming of actually did happen in the 1940’s and 50’s, the private sector invested heavily in sugar, increased wages and made more jobs available. The reason that happened was because the politicians were not around back then to destroy and steal. All they can do is dream.
For you to understand why it is unlikely to happen again you only need to look at the picture of Barbados taken from the KLM plane to understand there is insufficient land to meet the 30K acres for there to be a critical mass to ensure viability.
All you have to do to understand how we got to this stage is to read Peter Webster!!
“Forty years ago, a Caribbean political leader challenged the private sector to invest more in their country and, after a few months, complained bitterly that the “private sector” had not responded. This in a country where the private sector had been battered for years, almost to extinction, by socialist policies that had depleted its capital and without capital there is no private sector.”
Hosea 8:7
King James Version
7 For they have sown the wind, and they shall reap the whirlwind: it hath no stalk; the bud shall yield no meal: if so be it yield, the strangers shall swallow it up.
Strangers have swallowed it up!!
Until the 40’s to the 60’s sugar had never played a pivotal role in economic output of Barbados.
It was the use of Sugar Cane as a cover crop that made it possible to produce the other agricultural produce to reprovision ships that allowed trade to become a pivotal factor of our economy.
Source: Nation
@Artax
Source: Nation
We are soon entering the fifth IMF programme.I am already forecasting the sixth and seventh for 2028 and 2033.
You all need to realise that slavery never ended in Barbados. Self-determination of the people is an illusion. Our society is built on the quicksand of an uncontrollable national debt. The fences of the old plantations no longer exist. They have been replaced by gated communities, where the real rulers live behind new fences, invisible to you, but controlling everything and everyone.
Currency devaluation is inevitable sooner or later.
Tron, year 5 SL, year 2 NR
Here is an amusing example of being politically correct.
https://www.msn.com/en-gb/travel/news/gmb-guest-rages-oxfam-should-cancel-themselves-over-outrageous-inclusivity-guide/ar-AA18JQpO?ocid=msedgntp&pc=W069&cvid=192e4194c7a947e9ac306e2f949e5544&ei=18
“You all need to realise that slavery never ended in Barbados. Self-determination of the people is an illusion.”
Tron…is that really you?
Hosea 8:7
King James Version
7 For they have sown the wind, and they shall reap the whirlwind: it hath no stalk; the bud shall yield no meal: if so be it yield, the strangers shall swallow it up.
Strangers have swallowed it up!!
https://youtu.be/rum1BlSrZSE
Tron on March 17, 2023 at 12:39 AM said:
Rate This
You all need to realise that slavery never ended in Barbados. Self-determination of the people is an illusion. Our society is built on the quicksand of an uncontrollable national debt. The fences of the old plantations no longer exist. They have been replaced by gated communities, where the real rulers live behind new fences, invisible to you, but controlling everything and everyone.
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Between 1680 and 1817 the population of slaves doubled!!
Clearly one type of erection that did not exist in the days of slavery was the fence!!
Today however, the fence would seem to be the only erection in Barbados as we watch its population level off and soon fall.
David
On February 2, 2023, Minister of People Empowerment and Elder Affairs, Kirk Humphrey, disclosed ‘government’s’ plans to amalgamate all departments providing social services in Barbados, including the Child Care Board, National Assistance Board, National Disabilities Unit and Welfare Department to form the ‘Department of Family Services.’
Although he did not mentioned anything about Rural Development Commission and Urban Development Commission, both SOEs also provide social services as well.
Assuming RDC and UDC are included in the amalgamation, then, it would six (6) government agencies slated for reform.
Each agency has its own organisational structure. Obviously, there wouldn’t be a need for six (6) heads and assistant heads of departments, accountants or assistant accountants.
Additionally, although I believe Welfare Officers may not be affected, some support staff, such as Senior Clerks, Clerical Officers, Secretaries, Clerk Typists, Receptionists, Driver/Messengers, Maids etc, at each agency, will come under scrutiny.
The Welfare Department is not a SOE. Assuming the Department of Family Services will be a statutory corporation, a situation may occur, for example, similarly to what occurred when the QEH transitioned from Central Government to a ‘Board,’ whereby employees who opted not to remain with the hospital, were either transferred to other government departments or paid a monthly salary for a predetermined amount of time.
I suggest those individuals who are qualified in accounting, could be given an option to transfer to the Auditor General’s Office, after undertaking the required training.
@Artax
The prime minister/Straughn mentioned packages. There was no mention of facilitating transfers or soft landing options other than severance. Should the union be leading this conversation with government?
@ David
I understand the amalgamation is supposed to be completed by March 31.
That is aggressive Artax in light of what Toni Moore has been messaging the public. Then again, we understand how these things go.
“You all need to realise that slavery never ended in Barbados.”
You all need to realise that slavery never ended inside each individual Bajan mind body and soul
It is embedded inside their DNA and psyche
the only cure is to dance away the heartache
sometimes I think I am too deep for you all of y’all
John on March 17, 2023 at 12:06 AM said:
Rate This
Several other Barbadian families did likewise, eg the Chandlers at Portland/Alleynedale and Todds Lemon Arbour, the Wards at Newton, Staple Grove and with the Simpsons at Thickett, Robinsons at Constant, Arthurs at Yorkshire, Evelyns at Wotton etc. etc. etc.
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
The Thorne Family was another family active and investing heavily in sugar in the 20’s and 30’s when economic activity was at a low ebb. That family owned over 2,000 acres (8 plantations if memory serves me right) in St. James and operated Sandy Lane Sugar Factory.
They were financed by Dacostas, one of the Big 6 families at the time. Sugar prices were low and Dacostas foreclosed which meant an up and coming private enterprise, BS&T got the assets. Sandy Lane was replaced by Porters Sugar Factory and of course there was Warrens Cooperative Sugar Factory in which my Grand father had shares.
In the late 50’s BS&T used these assets to diversify into tourism … Sandy Lane Hotel, Sunset Crest etc etc.
Vaucluse was also nearby and was served by plantations many of which were owned by the Mahon family. In St. Lucy there was the Ward family that operated Fairfield Sugar Factory.
These are some of the families that would have invested in sugar when the investment climate favoured investing, before independence. That climate was destroyed by our politicians and national heroes.
While it existed, those families provided a booming economy based on sugar and the natural resources of Barbados.
Eventually BS&T got swallowed up!!
Here is the problem. Not a single politician can point to any long term economic activity they have successfully pioneered.
They have orchestrated the theft of capital invested in the economy by generations of Barbadian families looking to earn a living and benefit others by the economic activity they generated.
The workers who supported the activities of these families have watched as their labour was stolen by the same people they voted to elect to represent them.
The result is strangers have swallowed up Barbados as those families and their workers have disappeared from the scene.
The Bible is pretty good at describing how to live and work together and what happens when its basic principles are flouted.
@anyone
I have seen this United Trust corporation mentioned a few times. What is it?
T&T have a similarly named entity, are they related?
Unit Trust… Is there a relationship between the two or like it like every island having a “Tourism Board”
TheO
My phone pulled one of those autocorrects..albeit correctly it seems.
While the above article states
“and the establishment
of a United Trust Corporation in the Budget puts Barbadian agencies in a position to build out the business, another form of growth.”
I think elsewhere I have seen the term Unit Trust, and that was the term I had intended to use. Mutual Fund?
@ John Boy Knox
You got to realise that your family thrived on the exploitation of human manual labour of those who toiled in the fields and sugar cane mills for a barely liveable wage, and they adopted the same slavery and colonial business model that was the legacy of the worst crimes to mankind.
Humanity was not humane and still isn’t.
You have stated that slave workers and their families were happy and well looked after, but that was also part of the evil self serving scam of exploitation and pure greed.
@NO
I have seen this United Trust corporation mentioned a few times. What is it?
T&T have a similarly named entity, are they related?
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
It is the kind of shiite that is done when leaders are bluffing, and when they have no clue about the way forward.
Can you imagine that Barbados ALREADY has a Cooperative Movement that has been spectacularly successful at raising funds over the past decades -with billions of dollars in savings…?
Their problem is that, try as they have, politicians have not yet figured how to access those savings….for their usual splurging..
The challenge is the TOTAL transparency of cooperatives…. and men like Caswell… LOL
What the politicians HAVE DONE however, is to pass some shiite LAWS that PREVENT the credit unions from investing those funds in any OTHER shiite, BESIDES government bonds – or in the foreign banks. for the albino vultures’ convenient access.
So perhaps the PM can explain the need to START a Unit Trust scam now …. when an extremely SUCCESSFUL credit union group ALREADY exists….
Madness is doing the same shiite OVER and OVER ..and expecting different results.
Also…
Quos Deus vult perdere prius dementat
Bushie
I confuses easily.
A “trust” by definition is not incorporated. It is a Trust. In Canada they are known as Income Trust’s, and Unit Trust’s have different meanings in different countries.
Hence “United TRUST Corporation” is an interesting animal.
My fear whenever pols toss out a name without specifics, is next we’ll hear the UTC is replacing the NIS. And when people say I didn’t know that, they’ll be told it was “mentioned several times, in the budget, in the estimates etc”