It Is Very Easy To Forget: Short Economic Memories In Barbados

Submitted by Trained Economist

Graph Credit: Barbados Economic Society

The challenges we now face must be put into a context and avoid the Tea Party like angry lashing out and politicizing of issues. The Barbados situation reminds me so much of what Obama faces in the USA.

1. It is easy to forget how dependent the Barbados economy is on tourism and international capital flows (especially for property investments). Given that the global recession was been especially long and severe, and the recovery weakest in the major source markets for our tourists and capital flows, it meant that Barbados would be severely impacted in terms of tourist arrivals, tourist expenditure and international capital flows. Aggregate demand, GDP, employment, government revenues and foreign reserves were bound to be negatively impacted. In 2008, Real GDP grew by 0.2%, it declined about 4.8% in 2009 and grew by around 0.3 % in 2010. Given those numbers and the length and depth of the global recession in our major source markets I am not persuaded by arguments which suggest that domestic policy aggravated the impact.

I would like to take you back to 2001 after the September 11 bombings. Our major source markets went into recession after the September 11 bombings and in 2001 Real GDP in Barbados fell by 3.4% and again by 0.4% in 2002. Very few would have argue that the post 911 recession was of the scale of the current recession, and the recovery was far more robust and sustained, but look at the impact it had on Barbados. The reason it had that impact was not because of a failure of local policy then, it was because of the openness of the economy and the reliance on tourism and international capital flows. The then government launched a major counter cyclical program but we still had two years of declining GDP. In the face of a recession of the scale encountered by our source markets and the slow recovery, a domestic growth solution is not a very practical one for Barbados given the structure of our economy.

CARIBBEAN STOCK REPORT 13 June to 27 June 2011

Compiled by the Department of Management Studies, UWI Cave Hill - Click image to read in PDF

Barbados Public Workers Cooperative Credit Union Members Urged To Take Back Their Credit Union From The Few Who Have Hijacked It

Submitted by Cat Eyes

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Clorinda Alleyne, CEO, Public Workers’ Co-operative Credit Union Limited

1. How is it that the CEO of this credit union makes almost $20,000 per month, inclusive of allowances. More than the Prime Minister of this country?  More than what some executives of private sector banks and insurance companies earn; more than some executives who have to perform and are appraised on performance. She also receives leave passage – the type that longstanding civil servants receive- holiday with passage paid for by the members. They have smartly sat down and crafted an exceptional salaries and benefits package for Alleyne who adds no value to the institution if you were to review her performance. Her salary is almost 6 thousand dollars more than her deputy the Legal Counsel. Those gaps in salary ranges are highly unusual. The CEO of the PW credit union has no financial qualifications, save for the credit union courses, and was a less than stellar attorney before joining the organisation as its Legal Counsel, yet through the machinations of Paul, and certainly not on ability or skill she is the head of this organisation.
2. The CEO has a chauffeur who is paid out of the organisation’s coffers. The reasoning was that she was suffering from dizziness so she could  not drive. For five years or more this has been occurring. It was suggested that the driver, who is a messenger at the credit union, be paid the overtime for chauffeuring her, out of her salary. He also picked up her children from schools that are within walking distance of the credit union..
   

The Abolition of TAXATION in Barbados

Mark Adamson, Leader of the PDC

In this week’s PDC article, we continue to provide greater ideological philosophical and practical proof of the Abolition of TAXATION in Barbados, and of the unprecedented substantial growth and development that will be realized in the material production distribution and financial affairs of this country, with the removal of the said TAXATION, and the putting in its place of the right political material social structures and programs that will help to usher in such a magnificent transformation of this Barbados country.

So, we will continue to do what we have been doing in the last two or three PDC article on here, by again employing examples of the operations of this very repugnant cost of use of money variable.

This time, we will show how this variable exposes some of the underlying weaknesses and principles of this Multiplier Effect model that has been used in the so-called economics discipline in Barbados.
The PDC will in this present article use some of the aspects of this same model to show that TAXATION is primarily being used by successive joke DLP/BLP Governments to exercise near totalitarian Bonapartist control over other social groups and peoples in this country, and to show that by exercising such control it is just as fearful of cocaine dealers as much as it fearful of private doctors, lawyers, educators and others achieving a greater level of social market power at its expense in this country.

Read full article

Rules To Live By

Submitted by Charles Knighton

 

A recurrent theme in today’s Barbados is why there seems to be a current of frustration and even anger flowing just beneath an apparent calm surface. To effect some level of remediation, I would offer for Parliament’s immediate consideration the following rules to live by.

1. It is no longer permitted to be both stupid AND slow. Individuals so afflicted are now required to choose one or the other.
2. Motorists who stop either one or both lanes of traffic in order to carry on a conversation shall have their vehicles confiscated. Said vehicles shall be moved to the road’s verge with appropriate signage for the edification of other inconsiderate louts.
3. Motorists who would seem to prefer a head-on collision with oncoming traffic rather than slowly negotiating a lane impediment such as standing water shall be referred to the Psychiatric hospital.
4. Any motorist whose vehicle is unable, or who is personally unwilling to exceed 25 KPH under any circumstance, shall be banished from highways. For the sake of their health such motorist are urged to consider bicycling or walking to their destinations, thus saving gas while still going from point A to point B in about the same amount of time as if they had driven.

Pimping The Legacy Of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr – Are Gay Rights The Same As Civil Rights? How The “Lunatic Fringe” Of Modern Religious Pharisees, Wishy-Washy Politicians, And Secular Humanists Masquerade In Deception And Disinformation

Submitted by Terence Blackett

 

On Monday January 17^th marked the 25^th anniversary of The Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. holiday – a day that saw “multi-racial” groups breaking bread together; political leaders setting aside their partisan politics to speak of the need for greater unity (even if only just so glibly); sprinkled with the solemn tributes and affirmations as well as the pontificators who lauded the name of MLK. Somehow you could feel this sense of fuzziness, and for a moment, you thought that some of the rival factions were literally going to break out in the singing of “kumbayah” my lord…

Sadly, the dust always settles and the smoke finally clears and it’s back to business as usual with the customary wrangling, infighting and squabbling over every inch of social terrain. It’s seems that after “THE DREAM” comes the cold, bitter morning of reality and we are somehow shocked into this polarized sense that we simply do not see eye to eye and are incapable of getting along.

A pedantic lurch back through the mid to late 1950’s and 1960’s history carries a stark reminder of a time when as Black folks our parents and grandparents faced in many ways a myriad of social pressures – monetary, political and religious alienation which has contributed and has been responsible for the psychic scar that remains a blot on the landscape of Black empowerment. This has due in part to the contemporary eyes of postmodernity through which we view that recent historical past but especially for those who were not privy to live through it. But even if we did, the memories have faded to a mere shadow of what life was really like. What does stand out is the socio-sexual revolution of the 60’s – and although this seismic shift in the last [50] years has defined the latter half of the 20^th century, we are seeing its resultant social metamorphosis now in the 21^st century.

The People’s Democratic Congress, A Bona Fide Alternative Next General Election – The Abolition Of Taxation

Submitted by The People’s Democratic Congress (PDC)

Mark Adamson, Leader of the PDC

The People’s Democratic Congress (PDC)  was formed in January 2005, and one of the principal reasons for its formation was to make sure that as part of its fundamental duty to the nation and people of Barbados it devoted much of its human social political capacity at any time thereafter towards investigating and reporting on many matters that would  positively/adversely be affecting the social financial and material interests of the country.

Moreover, the PDC emerged when it was clear to the vast majority of citizenry of Barbados that many of the country’s social political material and financial systems and their leaderships were in crisis, were  dysfunctional and were inadequate (the then DLP internal squabbles/ the then BLP Government’s disastrous fiscal and financial policies – hikes interest rates – the idiocy of so-called land prices being made to fetch their highest financial value).

We emerged at a time  too when such unspectacular states of affairs did not only warrant careful and significant investigation and analysis of the way how these  systems and their main human and other composites were malfunctioning, and of the possible/causes that were driving why they were performing in such thoroughly displeasing ways and why they were performing so miserably within the social political environments within which they were placed, but also we merged at such a time when these very distressing  circumstances necessitated the deliberate and sedulous crafting of partial answers and solutions to the myriad national and sub-national problems that were being significantly caused by these said systems.

Jack Warner Embroiled In FIFA Bribe Scandal Over England’s 2018 World Cup Bid

Lord Triesman's allegations has fingered Minister of Transportation Jack Warner

The allegation by English officials that four FIFA members acted inappropriately is beginning to gain some traction in the United Kingdom. A Lord no less has been leading the charge. To be fair to Jack Warner and the other three, Lord Triesman has issued his claim using the cloak of parliamentary privilege. “The Football Association has commissioned an independent review by a leading barrister [James Dingemans QC] of claims of misconduct by four Fifa members during England’s 2018 World Cup bid campaign.” There is talk in the UK this morning that there was a witness to Lord Triesman’s chat which means this issue is on a path to being a major scandal.

For many years many stories which alleged corrupt behaviour by Jack Warner have surfaced only to blow away with the strong backing he received from FIFA; a very influential body. The English are known to be bulldogs when seeking out corrupt behaviour, has Jack bitten off more than he can munch on this one?

Follow the story of Sky News

REDjet: Cheap Flights And Validity

Submitted by Looking Glass

REDjet’s CEO, Ian Burns

First congrats to Joseph “Reds” Perreira. “Living My Dreams” is indeed a beautiful cover drive that belies the WISU experience.

According to the CEO the World Bank 2006 Report on air travel in the Caribbeanidentified the “need for competition and private capital to bring the region’s aviation capacity in line with other regions in the world.” Really Mr.CEO? Since when does competition facilitate standards? I suggest you send a copy of the report to the BU. Capacity has nothing to do with world standards. Where in the world does Redjet’s advertised fictional “poor man” fares apply? Until Redjet the region had been serviced by LIAT, BWIA (Caribbean Airlines) and other international carriers in ‘line with world standards’ without foreign “private capital” and with hardly a rumour about cheap flights. Foreign investment and benevolence do not go hand in hand. Exactly how much did it costBarbados to entertain Redjet?

Correct me if wrong: I believe Redjet is ‘connected’ to a travel agency in Barbadosthat is owned by Trinidadians. Ask who the shareholders are. The fleet consists of two 150 seat MD planes acquired (Leased) for two years at around US$10,000.00 per month. The planes, about fit for the scrap heap, do not meet certain standards and might not be allowed intoNorth America or theUK. There is no concrete evidence that Redjet will indeed be allowed to service the region. So will the owners of LIAT support the kind of competition that will push the airline into the red or out of business? Only a fool will do that.

Give Barbadians a Real Ease: Forget the Gravy Train Kadooment Budget – Call Elections

Former Chairman of the NAB and BLP Supporter

At a time when the country is crying out for serious politics; serious and sober policies and a Team that knows what to do, we are hearing about: “A Kadooment Budget!’ But Barbadians must reflect on the wise counsel of National Hero, the Rt. Excellent, E.W Barrow – who cautioned in his ‘Mirror Image Speech,’ ‘not to let politician bribe you with your own money.’

Even at a time when the DLP is making reference to the Standard & Poor’s (S&P) Report and telling the country that it is on top of things and that the economy is sound – we are hearing that even more Barbadians are going on the bread-line, while still others will be asked to work reduced hours: increasing unemployment and massive under-employment.

Barbadians must therefore guard against accepting political-hush-money and must remember the famous words by Laocoon to the Trojans: “Trojans trust not the horse.  Whatever it be, I fear the Greeks even when bringing gifts.”