They asked me to be on that committee. Wouldn't say i ignored them, but i looked at the PS rather bemused, and said "you don't get this, do you? technology is private sector industry."
> “Technology folks by their very nature are impatient. They come and expect a certain level of treatment and timeline for implementation. If you do not deliver that they will walk away; you will have a bad name and they never come back,”
For once, Moxey is correct. That's my personal perspective, and the perspective of every single foreign tech person who has visited. We're not "impatient": we live in 2018, not 1925. We build massive software systems at 24hr hackathons, on 3 litres of coffee and no sleep. Caribbean speeds of a) slow, and b) slower, do not compute, because the idiotic protectionism prevents competition. Complaining after 6 months that some idiot can't work out a spreadsheet isn't "impatience", it's surreality when it's 30+ years into the Information Age.
Newspapers don't publish on the weekend in the Bahamas. Family islanders believe in voodoo, churchgoers think God will make them rich, and people don't "trust" credit cards. Let that sink in.
Tech also introduces accountability. Every system needs a login corresponding to an account, which is auditable. Unless you're proficient in tech, it's hard to cheat. The elephant in the room is how tech is resisted because older folks don't understand it, but more importantly, they don't understand how to CHEAT it.
Blockchain systems are designed to EVADE regulation - they are decentralised, meaning it is virtually impossible to regulate them centrally. If you cannot understand something as simple as central vs not central, there is a problem.
- Very few, if any, have applied under the CEA. - Very few, if any, even know about the new visa.
ICOs are a tool of fraud, and have been comprehensively rejected by the tech industry.
The "Tech Hub" has been an absolute, abject failure on an epic level. It's not time for "regulating" tech you can't regulate, it's time people like Kwasi were held to account for that failure, instead of more wishful/magical thinking. The tech industry has responded by not responding - the answer is a resounding NO.
Well said, Fred. If we're going to have an actual Managing Director of GBPA (not a "president", whatever that is supposed to be), let's take a wildcard approach and throw him in for 2 years. We need a maverick with a mouth, an imagination, and some eccentricity. I'd LOVE to see the Trump-style chaos of change he'd whip up.
Truly terrifying in its stupidity - exactly what a politician does to avoid losing the election on that island.
- The free market labels the hotel unwanted and unviable - the government buys it (FAIL). - If they sell it to a rich white person, they're going to be called sell-outs and colonisers (FAIL). - The money they're borrowing is less than 50% of what is needed just for the first year (FAIL). - It won't be ready until Winter 2019 (FAIL) - The money to "employ" people is the People's own money (FAIL).
Clearly, the gamble here is the stability of a government owner will entice a savvy buyer to get it quickly; early enough so they don't have to pay the rest. That's going to backfire, because any savvy buyer is going to wait until the Greater Fool (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Greater_f…), i.e. the government, has wasted all the time and money doing the renovations, and is desperate to sell at an even lower price.
This isn't the "least of evils". It's just flat-out ignorance of basic economics. Bahamian politicians are obsessed with thinking they can control free market forces by controlling access to the local economy, and the policies of the country's institutions. Markets don't work like that; they collapse with attempted interference and wither with protectionism.
The economy on GB is in pieces because of corruption and incompetence - not because of a single broken hotel. There is room on GB for 500 hotels, next to the world's largest economy and supply of tourists. The question is: why aren't they there?
If the FNM thinks it can use protectionism - yet again - to save a collapsing island economy - the Bahamian people are going to learn - again - why their politicians need to prove a qualification in Economics to run for office. Markets are like parachutes - they only function when they are open.
Bahamian governments are obsessed with attempting to control the free market. Forced your hand? You were outplayed. No-one wants that hotel. The only reason to buy it is the collapse of GB will be slung around the FNM's necks at the next election. Be smart - dump the toxic debt on GBPA.
@bogart DPM is good, good friends with the perpetrators. You need external investigators and forensic professionals. Our neighbour 90 nm to the north isn't too keen on the money laundering and trafficking the dereliction is fostering. Start there.
BahamaLlama says...
Paul Wynn V2. Thank you for the contract and tax concessions, now we're moving to Nassau as planned.
Kwasi needs to be held accountable for these lies. And for the 500k Hubert caught him taking from a certain hotel developer.
On 'Tech hub' booster expands to Nassau
Posted 26 September 2018, 10:15 p.m. Suggest removal
BahamaLlama says...
They asked me to be on that committee. Wouldn't say i ignored them, but i looked at the PS rather bemused, and said "you don't get this, do you? technology is private sector industry."
On Crypto, ICO rules completed within ‘the next 30 days’
Posted 21 September 2018, 2:59 p.m. Suggest removal
BahamaLlama says...
> “Technology folks by their very nature are impatient. They come and expect a certain level of treatment and timeline for implementation. If you do not deliver that they will walk away; you will have a bad name and they never come back,”
For once, Moxey is correct. That's my personal perspective, and the perspective of every single foreign tech person who has visited. We're not "impatient": we live in 2018, not 1925. We build massive software systems at 24hr hackathons, on 3 litres of coffee and no sleep. Caribbean speeds of a) slow, and b) slower, do not compute, because the idiotic protectionism prevents competition. Complaining after 6 months that some idiot can't work out a spreadsheet isn't "impatience", it's surreality when it's 30+ years into the Information Age.
Newspapers don't publish on the weekend in the Bahamas. Family islanders believe in voodoo, churchgoers think God will make them rich, and people don't "trust" credit cards. Let that sink in.
Tech also introduces accountability. Every system needs a login corresponding to an account, which is auditable. Unless you're proficient in tech, it's hard to cheat. The elephant in the room is how tech is resisted because older folks don't understand it, but more importantly, they don't understand how to CHEAT it.
Blockchain systems are designed to EVADE regulation - they are decentralised, meaning it is virtually impossible to regulate them centrally. If you cannot understand something as simple as central vs not central, there is a problem.
- Very few, if any, have applied under the CEA.
- Very few, if any, even know about the new visa.
ICOs are a tool of fraud, and have been comprehensively rejected by the tech industry.
The "Tech Hub" has been an absolute, abject failure on an epic level. It's not time for "regulating" tech you can't regulate, it's time people like Kwasi were held to account for that failure, instead of more wishful/magical thinking. The tech industry has responded by not responding - the answer is a resounding NO.
On Crypto, ICO rules completed within ‘the next 30 days’
Posted 20 September 2018, 10:11 p.m. Suggest removal
BahamaLlama says...
Well said, Fred. If we're going to have an actual Managing Director of GBPA (not a "president", whatever that is supposed to be), let's take a wildcard approach and throw him in for 2 years. We need a maverick with a mouth, an imagination, and some eccentricity. I'd LOVE to see the Trump-style chaos of change he'd whip up.
On Grand Lucayan deal is ‘economic suicide’
Posted 24 August 2018, 5:59 p.m. Suggest removal
BahamaLlama says...
Truly terrifying in its stupidity - exactly what a politician does to avoid losing the election on that island.
- The free market labels the hotel unwanted and unviable - the government buys it (FAIL).
- If they sell it to a rich white person, they're going to be called sell-outs and colonisers (FAIL).
- The money they're borrowing is less than 50% of what is needed just for the first year (FAIL).
- It won't be ready until Winter 2019 (FAIL)
- The money to "employ" people is the People's own money (FAIL).
Clearly, the gamble here is the stability of a government owner will entice a savvy buyer to get it quickly; early enough so they don't have to pay the rest. That's going to backfire, because any savvy buyer is going to wait until the Greater Fool (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Greater_f…), i.e. the government, has wasted all the time and money doing the renovations, and is desperate to sell at an even lower price.
This isn't the "least of evils". It's just flat-out ignorance of basic economics. Bahamian politicians are obsessed with thinking they can control free market forces by controlling access to the local economy, and the policies of the country's institutions. Markets don't work like that; they collapse with attempted interference and wither with protectionism.
The economy on GB is in pieces because of corruption and incompetence - not because of a single broken hotel. There is room on GB for 500 hotels, next to the world's largest economy and supply of tourists. The question is: why aren't they there?
If the FNM thinks it can use protectionism - yet again - to save a collapsing island economy - the Bahamian people are going to learn - again - why their politicians need to prove a qualification in Economics to run for office. Markets are like parachutes - they only function when they are open.
On We’re in the hotel business . . . for now
Posted 24 August 2018, 5:55 p.m. Suggest removal
BahamaLlama says...
AMEN.
On PLP eyed stake in GB Port Authority
Posted 15 August 2018, 11:08 p.m. Suggest removal
BahamaLlama says...
Bahamian governments are obsessed with attempting to control the free market. Forced your hand? You were outplayed. No-one wants that hotel. The only reason to buy it is the collapse of GB will be slung around the FNM's necks at the next election. Be smart - dump the toxic debt on GBPA.
On Closure threat forced our hand
Posted 15 August 2018, 11:04 p.m. Suggest removal
BahamaLlama says...
Right diagnosis, wrong prescription.
On Davis: Funds to buy hotel could help Bahamians instead
Posted 15 August 2018, 11 p.m. Suggest removal
BahamaLlama says...
Lots of nice words. You missed the problem.
GBPA.
On ALICIA WALLACE: Time after time all Grand Bahama has received is neglect
Posted 15 August 2018, 10:58 p.m. Suggest removal
BahamaLlama says...
@bogart DPM is good, good friends with the perpetrators. You need external investigators and forensic professionals. Our neighbour 90 nm to the north isn't too keen on the money laundering and trafficking the dereliction is fostering. Start there.
On Minnis to lay out Lucayan proposal
Posted 13 August 2018, 11:31 p.m. Suggest removal