Tal, you are funny. Everything in the Bahamian legal system is a Mirage. Remember the court case involving John Travolta? The noises around the DPM's law firm in misappropriating funds of a deceased client? Lawyers that steal their clients money from the trust account. Sleeping beauty AG that talks about shortening bail and sweethearting the FATF over our money laundering money boys? And an LOI is not an LOI? Paper takes on anything in the Bahamas. Most of the politicians are lawyers - says it all, ey?

yep. the grass is greener on the other side of the fence for our young Bahamians.

Well Mr. Wells got slurped up and spit out by PGC and the DPM, similar to Jonas and maybe he is reformed, a new man, freed from the shackles of the past, maybe he is the man to lead the Bahamas out of corruption, criminality and moral decay. The future is bright.

Shantytown New Providence.

Why would the Government have to defend the sale of the Hilton to the Chinese? Isnt the Government looking out for the best interest of the Bahamian people? We get 500 jobs guaranteed: cleaners, waiters, drivers, maids. How about asking the Chinese to rebuild all the schools, so that our kids and grandkids don't slide into planned and organized labour slavery? Its not the politics that rules the world, its the capital - and it is particularly concerning when the investor is a tyrannic system.

Well Mudda - the preclearance is a favor that the Bahamas is doing to the U.S. This is priceless for the U.S. as it keeps potentially illegal persons out of the country to begin with (e.g. Haitians). So that is why the U.S. is putting up the money, similarly on the war on drugs, that is why the DEA is on the island and the USCG. What is more suprising, however is that the U.S. does not interfere more actively and pushing the Bahamas to steer clear of more Chinese influence.

well three comments here:
1. Fear the Chinese, not the Haitians. You can kick out the Haitians any day of the week. The Chinese however will kick you out of your house, because they will own soon anything we have. They have bought the politicians a long time ago.
2. Yes, I believe there is a political agenda behind the investments. Who needs Cuba, if you control the Bahamas if you are a foe of the U.S.?
3. Some of these large Chinese companies are actively engaging in human smuggling, slavery, money laundering, big time corruption and certainly tax evasion.

My fellow Bahamians, if you share your bed with dogs, don't be surprised if you wake up with flees.

I agree with both comments above. Becoming a Bahamian citizen should a privilege that is reserved to persons that love this country and are dedicated to build the country with all their skills and talents, and if needed some of their money. What I see though is that we let people in that have an accounting/checkbook mentality - all that matters to them is what expenses they have to incur in order to save taxes and sometimes these people even park their families and the dog in Lyford Cay or Old Fort or Albany for a few years. Having this said though, most if not all of the crooks that set foot onto the island or are residents on the island (and if you google them, there are more of those than we should have) were "let in", have a residents permit etc. only because of their money, wealth and/or promises - whether empty or not. I have seen good people being denied citizenship and bad people been given citizenship and the difference was simply money and greed on behalf of the decision makers - sometime perceived political affinities of the candidates.

The reality of the economic citizenship is a checkbook mentality, these people will not spend any time here, are not here for the love of the country or the Bahamians. They will tolerate all the shortfalls (BEC, corruption, lack of services and goods, limited lifestyle choices) only because the $$ add up being in the Bahamas. I am a firm believer that a Haitian living in the Bahamas, that is a thankful, hardworking person is a better candidate for Bahamian citizenship than a flight-by-night white collar criminal that defrauded clients.
Having said this, there is a group of persons that suit the profile of an economic citizen. There are many countries with wealthy families that are seriously at looking to relocate due to political or economical distress (U.S., Venezuela, Ecuador, Mexico, Russia, Iran, Ukraine, China etc.) and the ability to buy land, run a business or build a factory and proximity to the U.S. are key components that make the Bahamas attractive as one of the options for families to find a new home. The ability for economic citizenship puts the Bahamas on their list of countries to choose from. So discounting the merits of Economic Citizenship would be wrong, however I am afraid that the Government, its members, will not be able to look at this approach from any angle other than just $$ piling up for themselves. (yes and there could be the possibility that an economic citizen may obtain voting rights only after a period of time).

and that is the short list you presented.

High Noon. Only uneducated people kill each other with guns, ey?