The auditors says that BoB cannot continue as an ongoing concern, but the BoB board feels otherwise. And obviously they (the board) have put a lot of hard work in the bank. Despite the numerous 'prop ups' from government, Bob seems to want to stand on its own. It is showing signs of life and even turning a little profit. And remember it was a very profitable bank until those greedy, crooked, heartless, selfish politicians found a way to get their slime dripping claws into the cookie jar. The biggest thing BoB needs now is consumer confidence, and investor confidence that the bank will not fail. And then there are some who are trying to force the government to give the bank away at a fire sale.

Can you go back and find something owned by your great, great grand daddy? So imagine when someone says they found something the existed thousands of years ago. There will always be greedy fraudsters and long as there are gullible people.

Shots Fired!

The comment above was not intended for the current government. Many believe that Hubert Minnis is sincere in his efforts to set this toppled government right side up again and reduce its Humpty Dumpty (Gussimae) size to one that is more fit and trim. And sometimes we grow impatient and forget how difficult and drawn out the process is. Financial problems really started in this country in 1973, when governments were giving away everything of value to foreigners and borrowing like a drunken sailor. even as a schoolboy one could not figure out (back then) why so many concessions were being given to hotels to accommodate tourists, to establishments that entertained them, and to cruise and airline companies who brought them here. Bahamians, who were barely surviving, were subsidizing the vacations of tourists. And millions, ok, billions were being borrowed. Now the chickens have come home to roost. And only Bahamians here to feed em.

The bottom line is the government is not going anywhere. The FNM may come to power and so may the PLP. And one day the DNA may sit in the seat of power. So the government will always need buildings. And it should seek to own and maintain buildings for its most essential services as opposed to renting. True to fact, the Minnis government inherited a lot of vacant and dilapidated buildings, that are not only an eyesore but pose a possible danger to the communities they are located. And with the American Embassy soon to start construction on East Street Hill, now would be the perfect time to start with the post office site and construct a state of the art, multipurpose building. And move through the inventory replacing and upgrading buildings. The stagnant economy has caused a lot of private buildings to also fall into disrepair. Rather than going around with a big stick threatening these property owners, government should create a cooperative to so how best to get these buildings back up and running or at least secures from vandals and vagrants

It is like a vehicle on the side of the road that has run out of gas. Rather than send to the gas station for gas, you take the last money you have and pay someone to wash the vehicle.

The original reason for VAT was tax reform where customs duties and stamp taxes would be replaced by VAT in preparation for membership in the World Trade Organization. The WTO considers customs duties barriers to trade. But rather than eliminate Customs duties or gradually reduce them as VAT was introduced, then increased government kept both taxes running simultaneously. So imagine when customs duties are totally eliminated. VAT may have to go to 25% for government to realize the current level of revenue. Especially if they do not grow the economy.

‘VAT was increased by 60% but the VAT revenue was only up by 19%.’ Talk to any business owner outside food stores and they will tell you that sales are down by as much as 30%. And business license fees are down bro confirm this. Increasing taxes when there is no real growth in the economy and consumers were already spending all their disposable income means the new tax money has ty come from some where. And so if spending continues to decline in the next quarter, government will not realize the increases in revenue it anticipated. Then come January, business license fees will also decline, not only because there will be store closures but businesses still in operation will be generating less revenue. And these two ‘winter’ quarters should be the time government should be seeking to maximize its tourism and revenue to external sources. To seek more tax incu in the short term will definitely kill the economic goose.

When asked about the status of the property yesterday, CSP Cash said he did have concerns with it, adding that given the state, ‘humans should not be in the general area.’ Fact is there are many such buildings on this island (some owned by the government, like the old City Markets building on Market Street, the now vandalized Phil’s building on Gladstone Road, The Clarence Bain Building on JFK and even the Rodney Bain building on Shirley Street). And likewise on many Family Islands. But don’t let the abandon and delapidated buildings detract from the fact that The Bahamas still have a serious crime problem, with murders especially and most of them do not happen in derelict buildings. And murders have occurred in communities as upscale as Lyford Cay. The murder rate saversges 7.22 per month for this year compared to 10.57 per month last year. This shows a significant improvement but should be accepted with cautious optimism. As history shows, things tend to go haywire once progress is taunted Or celebrated. And, of course, there is some increase in the detection rate. Part and parcel to this is that some killer seem less worried about being caught. And life in prison seems little or no deterrent.

And don’t forget how many have been fired under this administration. Not that it is necessarily a bad thing but people who do not have jobs cannot pay taxes or even pay other bills for that matter or even spend on consumer goods and help grow the economy. And speaking of economics which is Greek to Marlon Johns’s, as is public finances. Some peg the GDP of the Bahamas at around $11 Billion Dollars. The problem why there is such a shortfall of revenue is that may of the economic activities in the country exclude the payment of taxes to the government. (tax evasion ). Most of this economic activity (business), is carried out by foreigners who come here, rape the country then disappear leaving thousands, Bay millions in unpaid bills and taxes. And because it is so lucrative for them, to operate under the radar they come back a second and even a third time. One such operation was the Sun Wing airlift in Freeport, where these gangsters even had government paying for empty seats to Grand Bahama. To the government’s credit they were able to uncover the scam and they wasn’t scared to tell SunWing to go fly where the sun never shine. Then there were the payments to the extremely lucrative cruise lines that D’Aguliar put a stop to because they were taking the country to the cleaners (and it wasn’t Super Wash). Some hotels are doing the same thing while practically all the Bahamian hotels are closing. Some homeowners, again not Bahamians, have three and four and five homes that they rent out for short term or long term or year round and little or nothing goes to the government. They claim it’s either family or friends. And many build these homes and furnish them virtually duty free. And the Dominican catch the other day was just a small, ok tiny, indicator of what the country is losing in marine resources. The weekend fishermen in the Northern Bahamas carry just as much or even more annually.