While the authorities seem to be in denial as to the reasons for the recent spate of murders, young men in this country continue to be killed and dropped like flies. Fourteen in January alone. More than one life lost every two days. Two more than January last year. In fact the four months starting October. 2016 to January 2017 may be the bloodiest four months on record. All these months recording double digit murders. Blood touching blood. Murder following murder and no reasonable motives for the slaughtering.

Y'all watch this dead closely. Watch what they are doing with gas and electricity prices. Not only here in the Bahamas but worldwide. They are resetting the ratio of gas and electricity prices to that of a barrel of oil. When oil was $155.00 a barrel Bahamians were paying $5.33 give or take for a gallon of gas and the fuel surcharge on your light bill was about 1/3 of the bill. Today with oil pegged at $53.00 a barrel, gas is $4.29 a gallon and climbing and the fuel surcharge is sometimes more than the electricity charges on your light bill. So what happens if oil goes up to $100.00 a barrel? YOU, Mr. or Ms consumer will be paying close to $10.00 for a gallon of gas and your electricity bill will double!!! And if oil prices go back up to $153.00 you will be paying $15.00 for a gallon of gas and the fuel surcharge will be 75-80% of your electcrity bill. Meaning most small and medium businesses will be wiped out and the average person will not be able to afford to drive a car or keep his lights on at home. This is a plan they were trying to implement from the 1980's and that is why they are discouraging solar power and making it so difficult for altenative sources of energy. The Bahamas can easily supply 80% of its energy needs with solar power. But guess what, the big energy companies loses out on the $billion dollar energy bill. So what they do/ make energy (BPL) as scarce as possible and have you paying out of your ears and nose for it..(arse too then). So the consumer is so duped into thinking there is an energy shortage or it is so expensive to produce..they buy into it...and pay for it...drive around the island..half the homes in the low and middle class areas are in complete darkness at night trying to manage that electricty. America alone has enough oil to run the world for at least 100 years..and that not even mentioning their coal reserves.

Many Bahamians say they fear the Chinese are taking over the Bahamas (economy) but how many have noticed how many Chinese businesses have closed or changed hands in recent times? Many Chinese are getting out of the food store business completely and others seem to combining the food stores or restaurants with adjacent liquor stores This seems the only way to make ends meet. Then there were several car lots being operated here by Nigerians. Many of them, too have closed or streamlined their operations.Some have become almost non-existent. But when the ship comes in from japan, it leaves hundreds of cars here that Bahamians have purchased online Not only is the economy tough and brutal, but because the recession/depression has lasted so long, many business owners have consumed all their savings and can no longer fund their operations.

TSince the recession hit in 2008, hardly any businesses were realizing a profit. And seems like every time a business adjusts its prices to reflect increases in costs, some other cost creeps up and eats up the expected profit. With the government 'front-loading' businesses with customs duties and VAT at the ports of on the purchase of goods and services, then 'double whammying" then again with VAT (on gross sales) and business license (again calculated on gross sales, there is little room to realize a profit. The sure thing is if you cut your prices and import more goods, government wind. And if you increase your prices and reduce your imports they still win, and most businesses can't seem to find a middle ground at least to get revenue to equal expenses. And that is why so many businesses are still closing down. When the government is getting up to *85% taxes on some imported vehicles (total) it is impossible to turn a profit.

what is the difference between a racist and a jackass: one is slow to move and the other is moved by color.

Yes it would be so nice if all companies made the necessary expenditures and invested in their employees making sure they are fully equipped for their jobs. Unfortunately this is just an illusion, fantasy a pie in the sky illusion. First of all many persons entering the workforce, after 12 years of schooling are barely literate and their math and other skills are as equally lacking. Not all are unteachable or not trainable, but it will take time and effort and other resources on the part of the employer. Then what happens as soon as the employee realizes he/she is more qualified and more employable they begin to mare additional (financial) demands on their employer. Or they quit their job for another higher paying job without any consideration to the amount of investment their current employer has made in them. Then there are the workers who branch off and start their own companies as soon as they learn certain skills or learn some training. So the smaller companies are more reluctant to give staff extensive training. And many employees regard formal training and education as expensive but do not show loyalty to companies that provide it for them.

Hold on, But WAIT! Maybe the PM is on point and being truthful. Bah Mar claims that only a thousand persons applied for their 1,500 jobs and only another 500 inquired about them. So that explains it. Everyone is employed!

You have to spell "Fook" with a capital 'F.' It is the name of a company.

Gang violence and warfare, The drug culture including the smuggling, sale and use of illegal drugs, break down in the family, including too many mothers with 'baby daddies instead of real fathers and vice versa, the erosion of moral values in society itself, including corruption or the perception of it,the exclusion of many from the benefits their citizenship or residency status affords them, the unequal sharing of the tax burden, while some carry a lot others bare none and lack for the reverence and respect of God both as individuals and as a nation all needs to be fixed.

Notice the headin, " **32,000 *extra* jobs**.". Does this mean that the PLP created 32,000 jobs in addition to the 5,000 new workers (school leavers) that come into the work force each year. Does this mean that they created 87,000 new jobs since coming to office or 17,500 (yes Seventeen Thousand, Five Hundred) jobs *each year* since coming to office? Then of course if you counting extra jobs, you don't have to discount the number of persons who retire or otherwise leave the workforce. they have simply been replaced. So in his own words this is "absolute rubbish." "Utter nonsense". But we did hear that the number of public service workers has increased by 4,500 since the PLP came to office in 2012. And maybe the prime minister is counting the temporary, one week jobs created by carnival and others created for hurricane relief and clean up. Fortunately many of the hurricane repair and restoration worker both in new providence and Grand Bahama are still employed, though many property owners who suffered damage do not have funds to do repairs and some are still wrangling with insurance companies to get claims paid. What the pm should do is follow the lead of Donald Trump. Call up friends, family and supporters who own businesses and try to encourage them to take on more workers. Reach out to businesses as a community (small and medium especially) and determine what their hardships are and see what efforts government can make to cause doing businesses in the Bahamas less costly and less difficult. Unfortunately Mr. Prime Minister, many businesses are coming to the reality is that they have to close shop, lock their doors, dismiss their workers and cut their losses. just look at the stores that have closed since Christmas, and this is still January. Donald Trump understands the importance of small and medium businesses and has promised to escue them in the US. Real Talk: Another 6,000 school leavers are about to hit the job markets in a few short months. (June, which will be the month after elections). They would love to have one of the *extra* jobs the prime minister is talking about. Me too!