And let us not forget the good things about Bahamasair. Those months following 9-11. Bahamasair was one of the few airlines traveling with near full capacity loads on almost every flight to and from Florida. Those were the days when you could lie in the middle of the floor of the busiest airports in America and not be tripped on or trampled by passengers. That’s how empty the airports were. Americans were not only afraid to fly but they kept away from seaports, airports, malls, stadiums. And many tourists felt safer traveling on Bahamasair than an American carrier. And Bahamians, when they got that Florida Flea Market itch, ain’t no terrorists was gonna keep them from flying. Boho remembers?

I stand by my conviction that government should NOT purchase this hotel but seek either to find a new buyer or, in the alternative, seek to facilitate the sale of the property to the Wynn Group. Then seek to uses resources and influence to bring the magic back to Grand Bahama. Commanding all hands, including The Port Authority, and persons sitting on closed and shuttered properties. But the prime minister say we don’t know what he knows and, therefore we cannot see what he sees. Everyone agrees that the people of Grand Bahama have been long suffering and they need help and hope. The government promised relief. And the country understands the prime minister and his deputy are attempting to deliver. And they want the Bahamas and the people of Grand Bahama to see their efforts. And God still works miracles. So if Minnis faith in his vision is that strong, then the country, and especially the people of Grand Bahama, must pray and walk with the PM.

NONE of his productions was ever disappointing. Take your rest now.

And the Government of Venezuala just met to pass a law allowing them to print currency without the trailing three zeros. So a 1million note will be printed 1,000 instead of 1,000,000. the bolivar is 1million bolivar to $1 with the US dollar.

And if you think we have problems...: "Venezuelan Bolivar 1988-2018 | Data | Chart | Calendar | Forecast | News
*Venezuela introduced a new currency, the sovereign bolivar, on August 20th 2018, in an attempt to curb hyperinflation and economic crisis in the country. The new bolivar is anchored to the Petro, an oil-backed digital cryptocurrency launched in February. The exchange rate of the Petro cryptocurrency is fixed at $60, or 3,600 redenominated bolivars. The announcement was made by President Nicolás Maduro on August 17th. At the same time, the bolivar was devalued by near 96% from the current rate of 248520 per USD. To compensate for the devaluation, the President also announced a massive 3500% rise in the minimum wage to half a petro (1,800 sovereign bolivars), starting from September. It represents the fifth rise in minimum wages this year. Historically, the Venezuelan Bolivar reached an all time high of 248520.90 in August of 2018 and a record low of 0.05 in January of 1989."*

When the radio and tv stations give the weather report and give the high temperature, they will say something like "the high temperature expected is 97, but it will feel like 103 degrees.' The point is we already know it is summer and, everyone knows it is hot outside. And everyone should also know the financial crisis that started in 2008, is not over yet. And a lot of countries like Germany, and Greece and yes, The Bahamas may not have bottomed out of the financial ditch. And even though there are signs stronger than ever that the overdue turn around is in the making, you cannot react drastically, every time the pendulum swings to the left or even to the right. Yes, the government must still exercise caution especially when it comes to borrowing and spending but remember that it was Barak Obama's, bailing out of the US banks and car companies that set the US on a solid financial footing and have that country showing more signs of financial recovery than almost any other country. Donald Trump came in and met the car already full of fuel and the recovery map already drawn. and with his own character and promotion skills, he was able to maximize the recovery.

Downtown looked like the former days with hundreds of tourist walking the shopping strip or headed to the beaches. Even the Cable Beach strip was alive with mopeds and 4 wheel beach buggies. And another great winter season is anticipated. But Bay Street needs fixing. Really bad. Keep the momentum going and get us a surplus budget..pleeze!

American Airlines is good and probably the largest airline because of their service. But American eagle, which may have now been consolidated had a habit of bumping Bahamians and other Caribbean nationals off their flights. And they would be three, four five hours late. And they would combine flights. And so some passengers would get left. Almost every time you walked up to American Eagle's counter in Miami, there was some conflict going on between a passenger and an agent. at one point they even moved the check-in area away from the main councourse so make it more discreet.

Bahamasair use to 'wet lease' aircraft when they had fully booked peak seasons like the present Back-to-School rush. Just to avoid the unforeseen circumstance of an aircraft going out-of-service. This whole debacle of leaving passengers stranded for up to 16 hours is unacceptable. The lease of an aircraft to do two Miami flights and two Ft. Lauderdale flights daily until the end of next week would have kept the airline on time and kept good customer relations. And since Florida is experiencing a booming tourism summer, they could not put stranded passengers in any hotels. But now this government wants to venture into the hotel business...good luck please!

Chaos at Bahamasair. Passengers reporting flights coming out of Miami are delayed up to 12 hours. And despite all flights to the three Florida destinations being fully booked the airline has made little or no effort to accommodate delayed passengers with even food or water. And the rush to Miami for Back-to-school shopping is expected to continue for the next two weeks. Will governments removing of customs duties on clothing and shoes have a significant impact and cause more customers to shop at home? Or have many Bahamians built shopping in Florida into their vacations? A 50 % reduction in Bahamians going abroad to shop can do wonders for the local economy.