Government Can Do More To Enable The Environment For Small Business Enterprises

Adrian Loveridge - Hotel Owner

Our precious four acres of Inch Marlow has felt more like the United Nations over the last week with guests from Lithuania, Denmark, Norway, Netherlands, Germany, Brazil, United States, Canada, United Kingdom and for the first time, Uruguay.

It’s a far cry from 1988, when we purchased a then derelict Arawak Inn and spent just about everything we had in the world, transforming seventeen separate buildings into a functional hotel. I graphically remember a prominent Barbadian hotelier telling me soon after we moved here, almost with glee, that ‘we were never going to make it with just 22 rooms’. While dejected at the time, I am really glad now that I didn’t take a blind bit of notice of him.

Also the lectures from bank managers telling us that we were undercapitalised or overtrading!

The Fair Trade Commission Responds To Query About Delisting Of Companies Listed On The Barbados Stock Exchange

Submitted by Atrue Freeman

The following is in response to your email of January 8, 2011 in which you commented on the matter of de-listing a security from the Barbados Stock Exchange Inc. and in particular on the perceived effect of a de-listing on minority shareholders.
We draw your attention firstly to section 38(1) of the Securities Act, Cap. 318A (“Securities Act”) which provides that where an application is made for an Order from the Commission authorising the de-listing of a security, the Commission may impose such conditions, if any as it thinks fit for the protection of investors.

In responding to a request for an Order authorizing the de-listing of a security therefore the Commission takes into consideration the particular circumstances of a de-listing and proceeds in accordance with the provisions of section 38 of the Securities Act.

It is important to note that in accordance with section 38(2) of the Securities Act the Commission may only refuse to authorize the de-listing of a security in circumstances where the de-listing is in breach of the rules of the self-regulatory organization; or an agreement entered into by the issuer of the security.

Hats Off To Mia Mottley

Submitted by Charles S. Cadogan

I am so happy to have read Mia Mottley pushing for minimum wage. I mentioned in an earlier posting that I feel such a move would be helpful to those at the bottom of the ladder.  By doing this, it will actually stop many from being underpaid  for a hard days work.  Others holding degrees or other accreditation gives them a much better opportunity to receive higher pay.

This is needed like yesterday to make life much better for the little man. But in doing so you will have to make sure that the cost of living is taken into consideration to make it work. If you want to improve and to follow the policies of other countries this is one area that needs to be adopted for sure.

The Subprime Recession

Submitted by Looking Glass

New Model of Mortgage Lending - Click image to read more

Economic theories of recession tend to focus on particular aspects of the problem and assume rationality. Financial history tells us that recessions are not new and will continue to occur. Like stock market crashes they all have to do with finance: the rise and fall in value of assets. The current global recession is not really a consequence of increasing interest rates and rising inflationary pressures but appears rooted in the real estate collapse and its interlinkages with the credit market.

Politicians propose and put in place policies to prevent recessions. But not infrequently such policies, though well intentioned, have had devastating consequences. Something is suspect about a solution which is always considered logically correct despite the problem.

The Wall Street crash of 1929-32 led the automobile industry to lay off ½ of its workforce. The unemployed gathered at the Ford plant to request unemployment relief. A scuffle occurred with security in which five were killed. This led to the building of homes in the eight mile district on one side of the “WALL.”

The US government as part of the New Deal Reform—Fannie Mae and later Freddie Mac in 1981— underwrote the mortgage market, and by reducing the monthly cost facilitated the explosion of home ownership. But the homes were not for everyone. To qualify for loans from the Federal Housing Authority developers built homes in Detroit on the white side of the WALL. Blacks were deemed to be predominately uncredit-worthy and denied property ownership. The few who could afford it had to pay higher interest rates and meet other requirements. Government policy, in this case credit, separated the city by colour/race, later the country by credit rating and the Prime and Subprime as we know it today

Breaking The Stranglehold On High Prices Will Call For A Holistic Strategy

Andy Armstrong, President of the Barbados Chamber of Commerce

I am just fed up with the mark-ups . . . I was in a supermarket recently and I wanted to call the health inspectors. The quality of the English potatoes was so poor! So you are not only paying more money, but getting poorer quality,” Benn added…Sir, I have being complaining for the last five years and no government department takes me on. I am further convinced some importers are importing low grade or rejected potatoes which are not fit for human consumption - Minister of Commerce Haynesley Benn (Nation)

It started with Minister of Finance Christopher Sinckler making the charge at the kick off by-election political meeting in St. John that retailers have been ripping of consumers in Barbados. He went on to challenge officers in the ministry of commerce to getup off their backsides and patrol the supermarket aisles to ferret out and expose cases of ‘price gouging’. On queue a couple days later Minister of Commerce Haynesly Benn paraded a number of items to the media, which at face value, supported Sinckler’s case that retailers have indeed been pricing products unreasonably high. It is at this point things have become very interesting.

Both political parties have struggled over the years to rein in the cost of living. Before the recession when there was plenty of money in circulation an already passive Barbadian consumer had become price insensitive. Well into the throes of a global recession of the worst kind, a desperate government which has over promised and under delivered on reducing food prices faces an uphill battle. It should be obvious in the prevailing economic climate that it will be well-nigh impossible to significantly reduce prices. It does not mean that as a country we should not be vigilant to the practice of what is termed ‘price gouging’.  The Fair Trading Commission (FTC) which was setup to safeguard the interest of Bajan consumers has been asleep at the switch from its inception. To add to the problem of government the Washington Post reported yesterday that the battle is on to keep global food prices from soaring.

The issue of high food prices like most things in Barbados has become a heavily politicise one. Wholesale distributors and the major retailers are in the main controlled by the merchant class. The inability of successive governments to effectively manage food prices clearly illustrates a case of those who control the economic power trumping those who have the political power.

A Report On The Performance Of Stocks On The Regional Exchanges In The Caribbean 2010, Compiled By The Department Of Management Studies, UWI, Cave Hill

Pay Attention Bajans!

Submitted by Charles S. Cadogan

I read on the last page of Barbados Today Online (13 January 2010) where Historian Trevor Marshall and Phillip Bostic are both very angry about the way the tourist industry positions are being filled by outsiders. I have mentioned something about this in a previous submission and was called a racist.

Mr. Bostic has a very good point. Why do we have qualified Bajans in Barbados who are able to find a job in the hotel industry outside of Barbados, but not in Barbados?  This makes no sense at all.

For as long as I can remember when I lived in Barbados the main hotel jobs were maids, gardeners, bartenders, waiters and others of this kind. However the top jobs were never given to Barbadians only in a few cases.  This is what beats me – how things have been going for all these years without any changes made for the betterment of qualified hotel Barbadian workers.  Something is so very wrong with this picture.

Looking At The Global Crisis In The Black Community

Submitted by Ras Jahaziel

Minister Lousis Farrakhan

Many voices have preached and many warners have warned.

Many of them were reviled and many of them were scorned,

and many said to them stop prophesying such disturbing things.

But nothing happens without a cause,

and blessed are the people that study their history, for they shall be aware of their moral and historical obligations.

They will not collaborate in keeping the truth under lock down, but they will preach it from the highest rooftops.

The following is an interview with Minister Louis Farrakhan JAN 2 2011 In this interview he looks a the causes of youth violence and makes some stark predictions concerning the future.

http://rastafarivisions.com/truthunlocked/insight

Treating Our Senior Citizens With The Respect They Deserve

It has come to the attention of BU that a few companies in Barbados have been  ‘firing’ long standing employees for questionable reasons. The objective behind what BU labels an unethical action is to avoid paying ‘severance’ to longstanding employees. In one case that we know of the person was employed at a St. Michael company for over 20 years. The only reason BU is withholding the name of the company is the reality it would prejudice the matter which is the subject of litigation for the employee involved. Regrettable the role of the unions in the current environment has become redundant. or so it seems.

There is another concern which BU has, here is a scenario:

My partner is rapidly approaching her 60th birthday and she wanted to find out what her options were for retiring (“comfortably”) when she attained that “wonderful” milestone. So with this in mind I went to the National Insurance Scheme (NIS) Office and spoke with an officer. He explained to me that the earliest anyone could apply for an NIS pension was at age 60. However, he said, by the time my partner reaches 60 the official retirement age at that time would then be 67 years.

He continued to say that theoretically my partner could still opt for retirement at age 60 BUT would lose 6% for each year up to the age of 67. Some simple maths would reveal that at that point 42% of the total pension would be lost by ‘cashing in’ early.

What Is A Good Government?

Submitted by Terence Blackett – An analytical excerpt of E. E Abrams’ Government & Rebellion

No citizen looks for an absolutely perfect form of nationality – of law. But we have a right to ask for good government. We have been accustomed to think that it depends more on administration than on principle; and the line of the poet, “that which is best administered, is best,” is a proverb, to the sentiment of which we too freely yield.

No doubt a government with bad statutes and wrong laws may be so administered as to produce a tolerable degree of national comfort and development for a season; while a Constitution perfect in its theories and principles may be so maladministered as to corrupt and distract, impoverish and demoralize a people.

And yet, I agree with an old patriot of the past century who said, “there is no foundation to imagine that the goodness or badness of any government depends solely upon its administration. It must be allowed that the ultimate design of government is to restrain the corruptions of human nature; and, since human nature is the same at all times and in all places, the same form of government which is best for one nation is best for all nations, if they would only agree to adopt it…”