So ask Marlon Johnson to answer this question: How much Top Up does an average store sell? And if a store is still only making 25 cents on a $5 Top Up, how much Top Up does this store have to sell to pay a cashier a $300 minimum wage?

And don’t forget the history of Marlon Johnson who single handedly closed down dozens of Bahamian owned electronics stores by using BTC’s marketing revenue to lie to the Bahamian consumers and tell them that if they purchased cell phones from these stores, the phones will not work on BTC network. He knew it was a lie but his message did the damage and dozens of stores t, whose major product at the time was cellphones, went out of business. And it was also under Marlon Johnson that the profit margin on phone cards/top up went from 25% down to 5% and again hundreds of Bahamians lost their income. They were actually paying BTC to sell their products. Because it cost you more than 25 cents to sell a $5 phone card. But the damage had been done. And then the white man was fired and those who worked under him forced to resign. And look at BTC now as it shrivels and folds. All the franchise stores are closing. A market they tried to steal from Bahamian businesses. But Aliv is kicking and opening more stores. BTzc took its Bahamian partners out over the ocean and just dropped them. The clown that’s there came and further dismantled a channel of distribution ithat was working effectively and efficiently in favor of foreigners. So BTC not only finds itself fighting to maintain market share but fighting for its very survival. The demographics of BTC will show that it is not attracting new and younger customers, but it is the older and loyal customers who maintain BTC’s customer base. Some are only still there because they don’t want to be bothered with the switch.

In the US, Hillary Clinton planned your raise the minimum wage to $15 an hour. She got defeated and Donald Trump said jobs, jobs, jobs! Lower the taxes bring the manufacturing companies back and create jobs, jobs and more jobs. He raised the tariffs on items coming into the country from China, Mexico and Canada especially and generated hundreds of millions in additional government revenue and was able to create even more jobs, jobs, jobs. And now SAmerica is experiencing its lowest unemployment in Fifty years and wages and salaries are increasing. No one even needs to mention minimum wage anymore because those who cannot make it on a single income can find a second or even a third job. But apparently the Bahamian government is apparently trying to squeeze water out of a stone. It is putting more pressure on the Bahamian economy and the employers to pay workers more, rather than giving incentives to create more jobs, jobs, jobs. A dollar is still a dollar, no matter how many pieces you cut it into. And a dollar can only become $1.25 if you add to it. That simply means that you Minnis and Turnquest and giving workers and the masses false hopes and fake dreams by turning them on their employers to demand higher wages in a very stagnant and even shrinking economy. This move will lead to mass unemployment and hyper inflation ( some call it stagflation) and hopefully it will come just before the next election, to demonstrate exactly what two economic idiots the pair of you are. Not only are you Co stay raising taxes but now trying to force an increase in the other costs of doing business in the Bahamas and making the cost of doing business not only difficult , but impossible!

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***As you know, since then things have changed and the cost of living has gone up in every sense of the word. I think this is an appropriate time to see if we can consider increasing the minimum wage to what I consider to be a livable wage.”***

How about getting paid for the value of work you do and your level of skills. Leave it to these blood-sucking union bosses and they will want employers to pay for the house, home mortgage vacations and more in addition to wages.. Go ahead and give it a try.. Guaranteed result is the unemployment rate will hit 17% before elections 2022 and the cost of living index will increase drastically. Unions have a tendency to demand more than what is reasonably conscience or affordable by the employer, just to appease their membership. Then a few years down the road when the damage is done, it is the worker who will suffer. Fix the economy and create a worker shortage and wages will increase across the board. Employers will be happy to pay the increase because they will be making more money. But to do it in this present economy will be robbing their pockets.

It is a political ploy where the government is pandering to the masses, without giving any real solutions to the problems. The wage increase in the public sector will affect a minimal amount of workers because most of government employees require a certain skill set that puts their paygrade above minimum wage. But in the private sector, the majority of workers are at entry-level and minimum wage earners. And after a 60 percent rise in the minimum wage barely 5 years ago, many businesses cannot afford another 40% raise especially in light of the 10% increase expected in BPL electricity bills. And with no real growth in the economy for almost a decade, where is the additional revenue coming from? So government who has religiously and mercilessly raised taxes is now shifting the focus from itself to employers many of whom have been long-suffering and will have to close shop if this 43% pay raise is implemented. And will workers who receive this pay increase under the present economic conditions (no growth in the economy) be any better off? NO, because businesses that survive the raise will find themselves having to increase prices even more to compensate. and so up goes the cost of living in the country again..Food prices thru the roof. And guess what happens when prices increase? the VAT also increases..SOOOo . Government will be the biggest benefactor in this whole fiasco..because, at the end of the day they will be receiving more VAT taxes!

That is very true. And there are several reasons for it. Firstly, the Bahamas has a small economy. So most businesses operating here are, also small. So there is no need for different levels of management, especially on the corporate level where jobs pay 10-100 times more than they pay on the production or service level. And there are also not many manufacturing or industrial jobs that require different levels of skill, supervision, and management. So workers tend to find themselves in more horizontal movement rather than upward mobility. For example, someone who worked at McDonalds last year working in wendy's this year doing basically the same job. Or even worse a guy who worked construction making $500-600 a week must now work in fast food making $250 a week because there are no construction jobs available. ANd this so ever true since the economy has been stagnant for so long.

For most businesses, wages is already 50% of their sales. A nominal profitable business will seek to have wages around 10%. Now you talking about increasing labor by 40% Go ahead, give it a try

Another idiot

A minimum wage is usually designed for an entry level worker. Someone who is just finishing school and still lives at home with parents. It is not expected to be a living wage but one that allows the workers to contribute towards the living expenses in the home. And it is not expected to be long term or permanent. As a worker gains experience or aquires more knowledge, his earnings potential should also increase. But what the government is doing with the assistance of a former poorly informed union boss, is upsetting the equilibrium in the work place. It is forcing employers to pay barely educated, poorly trained or unskilled workers more wages than they deserve. Not only will this drive the cost of all other wages in the economy and, hence the cost of living, but it will also lead to lower productivity and less skilled workers in the work place. It will eventually lead to higher unemployment and an even more stagnant economy. Private employers can only pay workers from the revenue the business turns over. And if there is no increase in revenue then the employers must then settle for less revenue. A business that has to borrow to meet its payroll is on its way to closing down.

The BPL scandal could have been cleaned up in a more efficient manner where the amount of money borrowed was much less and the burden on the Bahamian people less burdensome. BPL is a single monopoly with a growing customer base and should never find itself in a position where it is losing Minnetonka consistently or with all its equipment obsolete and unreliable. But that is what the Kissinger Report says you should do when you want to take over a country. Control their power supply, their food supply and their communications. What only country has been trying to take control of these assets in the Bahamas?