*Repost:* The long knives have already been unsheathed behind Minnis's back, and are now just waiting for the most opportune moment. Minnis made a grave mistake when he made his pact with Sebas Bastian. The dimwitted Doc is gonna learn the hard way that loyalty from voters is much more important than financial support from a criminal thug.

Take back our natural resources from the elites and put it in the hands of the people and we will be alright regardless of any blacklist that the EU put on us.

Outside of the aragonite what natural resources do we have over here. And how much would we get if we had control of the aragonite?

Do Haitians count as a natural renewable resource?

face reality we are coral rocks w sun sand and sea to sell ,,and in most of our local owned boutique hotels the service sucks ..Apart from a few islands we are a dump ..I live on Exuma that's doing good w tourism second home owners etc ,,Georgetown is a nasty dump , guest ask me why ,,what do I say go to Marsh harbor .Our tax money built a new straw market ,its now a loud ,,dirty place ,,shit I saw the same KFC box in the immigration building stair well for 3 months,,i used to say Bahamian ,,Bahamian Bahamian ,,but we cant even keep the lights on ,,reality

Stop jumping through hoops. Let then do what they have to do. What is so ridiculous, they themselves can't meet their on criteria. If they were honest they would blacklist themselves.

Why do we always do things at the last minute. We have been told for a while that this would happen should we not do XYZ, we haven't done XYZ and now we will be blacklisted. And yes for all who don't like the EU telling us what to do, we don't have to do this. But if we don't then the EU will do what it can to make sure their citizen decide they would rather put their money in other offshore countries and not Bahamas.

My how politics turn these men grey quickly! The old Chinese proverbs, be careful what you wish for, cause you just might get it.

@Dawes, our greatest and most overlooked (seemingly deliberately) resource is our people. And that's not just rhetoric. Bill Gates, Steve Jobs, Barack Obama, Einsteen, Howard Hughes, Henry Ford were/are actually all "people". THEY created the jobs/policy/business/leadership. This practice of bowing to external entities as if Bahamians right here in the Bahamas "can't" is not the way to go

As i have said this is fine. All the EU is saying is their people will find it harder to use banks in Bahamas if we choose not to implement what they deem is needed to stop tax evasion and money laundering. Nobody says we have to implement it, but if we don't there are consequences it is up to us which we would rather.

"All the EU is saying" is the wrong characterization I think. I agree that they have the right to do as they wish with their citizens. But I don't believe this is the end of it, in a few years the ground will shift again when the current laws no longer favor them. We are a "global community" with free "trade and no tariffs" and WTO is King UNTIL the free trade and zero tariffs no longer favour the G-7. Then it's "unfair".

What I am saying is we have to forget this model where EVERYTHING depends on the foreigner, we wait on them for jobs, we look to them to tell us how to do X, we believe they're all knowing, yes we need them, but they will always do what advantages them and potentially disadvantages us. we have to start seriously helping ALL of our people to build their knowledge and create their own businesses. And I'm not talking about mowing lawns and painting nails

we cant even keep George town clean ,,guest ask me all the time why its a dump ..I used to say Bahamian ,.Bahamian Bahamian ,,now I say thank god for the foreign investors ..I,m tired of it ,,check marsh harbor ,,spansih wells ,,the current ,,pretty and clean the rest of family island towns shit holes like Nassau ,,even parts of long island now are crap ,,truth is we can,t even keep the lights on ,,truth is evident ,,we are going backwards

My point isn't that we dont need foreign investment. My point is that we HAVE to stop looking to it as our future. Our people are our future. And if they're dim, d-average, low wage jobs and non tech, that IS our future. Not the shiny billion dollar investment from a foreigner.

In wanting to be a part of yhe global financial community...there are rules and regulations. In flying overr there is obvious the position is weak......and falling into appeasment.....
decisions must not be made under duress .....that will affect the lives of many Bahamians...bankers their families, businesses etcetc.....

KP’s solution is another half step and won’t address the following further black listing issues:

1. Use of nominee directors and shareholders
2. No register of beneficial owners
3. Zero prosecutions related to STRs since 2000
4. Zero income tax
5. Painfully slow cross boarded tax information exchange
6. Lack of up to standard ML regs, and monitoring of web shops
7. Web shops performing banking services
8. Exchange controls inhibiting 2 way capital movements
9. Many industries off limits to international investors
10. Lack of transparency on government expenses
Etc etc

But KP hopefully knew all of this. So why is he caught by surprise?

And this is beneficial or detrimental to me how exactly as an average bahamian? None of this affects me, so why do i care?

oh wait, yes government transparency, that affects me but you can't tell me that the EU really gives a flying cahona about that

Guys don't forget, that blacklisting well effect all Bahamians, no matter what color of shirt dey does wear, maybe we should hope for the best... maybe

Can you tell me how please?

...agreed and more.
Crux is the Bahamas does not operate in a vacuum and hrd mouting, banging tables in parliament does not cut it......Competition ....fair market forces.....laissez faire......
One cannot wing it when you havd a bunch of international banks mostly canadian banks following the rules and dupm hundreds of millons of pepples tax dollars into it to give it an unfair advantage....they have sharejolders too.....Central Bank does not get involved....even when Bahamians protesting....offshore, well with little or low taxes other competitors are complaining...and are in a position to do something .....
...............

When dealing on the international scene thry really should get their own plan for more reasons than .one jets are actually cheaper than many of the money holes being discovered.

We should wear that badge with pride.

We should write in HUUUUGGEEEE letters at LPIA, so it's the first thing anyone sees on landing: "Welcome to the Bahamas. Blacklisted by the EU since 2018. Your money is safe here. We will tell them SHIT."

And then tell them to fuck themselves. Zero co-operation going forward.

The trouble though, is that money is not safe here. I don't understand how Julian Brown and Owen Bethel can dip into client funds, make the clients lose most of their money, and none of them are in jail.

You can't put tinsel on a piece of shiite and expect the world to fall for it. When I wanted to transfer money from my American dollar account in the Bahamas, the compliance department in my new first-world country bank made me jump through hoops to prove the source of the money. They all know that we are a bunch of tax-dodging crooks. How can a virtually bankrupt bank not be closed by regulators and still have its stock trading on the domestic exchange? Everyone knows that we are a Mickey Mouse crooked jurisdiction, and quite frankly, the blacklist may kill the last of the piece of turd that we call Financial Services. Then we can rise from the ashes with full compliance and actually be a world-class player.

you have a point

I like this approach very very much

Reality- check you sounds like a little school girls who cannot seem to be able to stop calling Sebas Bastian and Craig Flowers ‘ name. Give it a break! If you have common sense enough to comprehend what you read the three issues this gangster controlled and scandal ridden EU has with the Bahamas is 1 It (Bahamas) failed to meet demands for a fairer taxation. 2.transparency and compliance with the fight against tax avoidance by multinational companies. So tell me where the Web Shops fit in. In fact seems like the HOA signed by Minnis and Oban is more in contravention with itsvtax freeness than all the web shops together. Give your sick mind a rest!

The 'web shops' are an anathema to out society and should not fit in at all!
PLP and FNM have both failed miserably in dealing with them. They should be eliminated. Full stop.

Yes, they are the elephant in the room.
Doesn't it bother anyone that Minnis won't open his mouth on this issue?
More money is siphoned out of the Bahamian economy by the web shops than any other way. It goes down a sewer pipe and straight into the pockets of the web shop owners, to the huge detriment of MOST ALL Bahamians.
Blacklisting pales in comparison to the damage done by the web shops.
We get distracted easily.

everyone badmouthing webshops is just grumpy that they didn't think of it first. and i haven't even ever step foot in one. not on any religious principle, i''m just smart enough to know it is entertainment not income...

And almost every Bahamian will agree that the tax burden is this country is skewed towards Bahamians and locals bearing the most of the burden. You have the hotels with their concessions. The Cruise operations and airlines with their tax rebates, the salt company in Inagua paying little or no royalties and taxes but shipping our salt around the world, even to Germany to make weapons. The same with aragonite. Then there are the companies in Freeport and The Bimini Bay, paying little or no taxes, yet the Bahamian people are faced with a 7 Billion debt and can barely keep the lights on. Fix it!

Most of this because the politicians who let these companies set up take the royalties up front AND under the table.

......the authorities seem to have darkers on. And the sad part knew this was coming from years ago......the govt pumps money knto the Bank of the Bahamas and thinks its fair cpmpetition to the rest of banks .....and if your taxing offshore so low posing what the majority calls unfair competition.....BUT .... I do like the recent counter strategy of rebrannding offshore to another name as we do much more than just offshore banking.....and well tell them that not us anymore and dont blacklist us anymore....

good luck boys go fight for your country don't mind the l losers they have nothing better to do now that their cash cow died in the last election they don't understand what is right or wrong anymore they will self destruct from hate,you know what to do ,and if you don't hire someone that do.

I completely agree with your last sentence. "If you don't know, hire someone that does". That's all I've been asking for for the past year. People kept saying give them time give them time, it's becoming obvious the more time they get, the worse it gets. They need qualified people not campaign workers who didn't run a very good campaign, they were just lucky the PLP was horrible

Its so odd that the reason we were black listed falls squarely in the agreement signed with Obn...it's uncanny...now they've flown to nether regions to tell them we're not doing what we're doing

It's not looking good for Minnis. His actions are starting to reveal his true intentions and character. They illustrate a man who never honestly believed it was the people's time. The fact that he has no intention to pass a Freedom of Information Act speaks loudest of all.

The European Union was formed specifically to bond together certain countries for economic reasons and discriminate against others. That is why the economic embargo against Haiti, that started over 200 years ago is still effective. This union wants to control the wealth of the world based on the premise that The European population is under threat and the rest of the world will rise up against them (because of their wicked deeds and bloodshed around the world and even now its economic warfare). And the Union is going into even greater panic as the war on drugs that was designed to lock or destroy Black Americans, basically has failed. Beyond that oil and other valuable mineral valued in the Hundreds of Billions have been discovered in non traditional places like Haiti, The Bahamas and countries that were listed as terrorism friendly. Meanwhile The USA Russia and China is in a mad frenzy to get their greedy claws on this new found wealth. And even Israel is joining in the fray fight to control oil that was discovered in its neighboring state. China is being described as ‘a silent beast that is taking over the entire world without firing a shot. Unlike the US and other conquering nations, China moves in peacefully and slowly takes control of a nations economic activity and consequently its wealth. Because The US did not want to empower and enrich a certain segment of its population, it moved most of its industries overseas. And by doing so it became a financial slave to China and even Japan. And these countries come to smaller countries like the Bahamas and not onl set up industries. But they force loans on the country, saddling them with debt and thereby milking every single dollar out of that country. Then you have false alarmed , yes like Reality-check ..that scream to the top of their lungs ‘it’s the web shops that done it, while billions and billions of dollars are leaving this country leaving the Bahamas saddled in debt. The US alone has crashed nearly 200 government’s around the world or caused them to change hands. A kep operative word is ‘corruption.’

?

He's paid by his numbers boss to distract.

been drinking too much koolaid i see?

A blinded man easily fooled by the drug cartels. I know what they want for the Bahamas, a narco-state. Thus they want to fool Bahamians into being Anti-Americans to destroy this land. This is no work of Americans, John. This is what the Bahamian Pride had wrought in the 80's. If we had never made that deal with the Medellin Cartel. We would had been saved, and now. Your demise is sealed. This is justice and a victory for honorable people around the globe, now if we acknowledged our sins. It's going to do wonders of our country.

Can someone please explain in black and white why blacklisting is bad? what exactly would happen? all i see is vague posturing ever since i returned from college 20 years ago and read the papers basically every day since.

It must be serious to warrant the DPM and Minister of Financial Services leading a "government delegation" back to Europe again at The People's expense. Perhaps they think the EU will be swayed from its larceny by the sight of a group of Bahamian politicians and their lackeys on bended knee.

The blacklist will be linked to EU legislation so that jurisdictions implicated will not be eligible for funds from the bloc except where it is to aid development.

We as a people eliminated the web shops, we voted, via referendum, and spoke loud and clear, but alas! our government still saw the need to still move forward with it.. as it is often said, we reap what we sow Gal. 6:7

I'm sorry, the bahamas receives funds from the EU? like what? is it a loan we have to pay back or just free money? I'm still so lost adn why do you blame EU policy on webshops? why does the EU give a flying cahona?

Then it’s time to form the NEU ( or the Non-European Nations) and stand united against them that discriminate against us and exploit us and steal our resources.

that would be NEN no NEU. NEU would be Non European Unichs.

The EU is hell-bent on ensuring that their nationals dont escape one euro of taxes. how that came to be our problem is beyond me, but they write the rules of the game. frankly i think we lose no matter what we do. KP and BS should save that travel money as i fear the outcome is a done deal. The OECD screwed up when they allowed 2 options for compliance but in fact really only wanted one, the automatic exchange mechanism, and when we chose the option they didn't like, the dye was cast. they fired warning shots through their mouthpiece the Economist magazine, but we didn't heed.

Only now that Crypto currencies, like the Bitcoin poses threats to countries local currencies are they seeking to regulate it. Basically it was someone taking Monopoly money and pretending it’s real money that got it started. And as more people believe in this ‘invisible ‘ or digital money, it becomes more valuable. A guy claims he bought Bitcoin at $6-7. When it got up to $14,000 he was able to trade the value of Bitcoin for a $16,000 car. But by time the car dealer got to the bank to trade the Bitcoin, its value had dropped to $12,000. So he lost over $2,000 on the sale of the car. So now there’s Ripple that bypasses banks and converts your money into the currencies you want to trade in in a matter of seconds. So if you’re in the Bahamas and want to trade in Europe, rather than having to convert Bahamian dollars into Euro, Ripple does this digitally in a matter of seconds and allows you to do the trade. It also works if you need to convert Euros back into Bahamian dollars, avoiding all banking delays and most fees so now they want to regulate and control these currencies for fear of what it will do to banking revenue. And now countries that are blacklisted or being untreated fairly by the EU and commercial banks are introducing their own crypto currencies. Venezuela plans to introduce the Petro coin in short order. And as US dollars are no longer required for international trade, including the purchase of oil both the US dollar and the EU are facing extinction.

LOL, John. You are living proof that a little knowledge is a dangerous thing. You qualify as a nuclear weapon.

Dude needs to put down the peace pipe before he starts posting online, me thinks.

@John Regulation is the key . What is regulated is viable Crypto currencies presently make up less than 1% of The world monetary supply which totals about 60 trillion dollars of which only about 8% of that is cash.people and governmants will only put their money in what is viable.

I take it you are not a republican?

I'm thinking of writing an article on our fourty yesrs of greed. It is clear as day that we, and nobody else, have blacklisted ourselves. The only solution may be to beg England to become a collony again. The people that decided to make the Bahamas independent were "bat shit crazy" in my opionion and only out for personal gain.

So many contributions refer to Aragonite - but nobody does any homework on the subject. It is not rare and is found almost everywhere - perhaps the oolites are not as high quality as here, but costs defer the ongoing profitability of keeping the aragonite mining sustained. No aragonite can be sent to the U.S. on anything but a U.S. registered vessel (The Jones Act 1920). Then it is further taxed from their side. Unless a specialist use is intended for import, the main sources of aragonite to be used will be their own locally obtained product. This act strangled Puerto Rico and acts as a disincentive for companies importing to the U.S. if there is little to no profit being realised. Because of this, Ocean Cay is being re utilised as a destination rather than a site of mining and production - there is no sustainable money in it!