Some feel that BTC did not have a good Christmas as their first cell phone rival company appeared to dig deeply into their business. The attractive, "no-contract"packages offered with the purchase of every cell phone went well with Bahamian consumers and this along with the thousands of free sim cardsthe company gave away caused many persons to switch to Aliv or , at least, pick them up for a second cell service. It would be interesting to see how the competition pans out and what the cell phone market will be like come Christmas 2017. Also the Cable vs Flow TV.

Rupert Roberts must realize by now that he has a strong monopoly control on the retail food market. And so during times of holidays or events such as hurricanes his sales will bubble over, regardless of the economic conditions. Apart from that, his stores are clean, well maintained and well stocked, so consumers will choose to shop there for the holidays that require a lot of food. But if you notice most of the other non-food stores, both here and in the US, have been running sales throughout the holidays. Amazon.com is reporting that it doubled the number of deliveries it made for Christmas 2015, and the Chinese rival, Alibaba.com is also reporting a two fold increase in its business. Meanwhile while retailers like target, Walmart, Macys and BrandsMart are all in a flurry to strengthen their online shopping and home delivery businesses. Online shopping is definitely having an impact on local businesses as some of the courier stores could not handle the number of packages that came in or the number of customers that came to collect them. The Christmas rush was combined with persons replacing damaged furniture and appliances for shipping companies, like The Betty K. and The MailBoat. Despite extended hours and additional sailings, these companies closed on December 23, before many consumers were able to collect their goods, much of what they were expecting for the holidays. Government must now seek to address the change in consumer behavior, where persons are now shopping directly online. Local business pay the same duty, plus additional taxes and license fees and definitely will not be able to compete with online shopping where the consumer avoid these fees.

What is needful is lawful ...amen march on Bahamaland!

So Junkanoo seems to draw 10 times the crowd they carnival does. Why can't that be turned into a moneymaker. O that's right all the money goes to renting the bleachers

For the record @ bandit, there are over 17 states in the US whose murder rate per capital is higher than the Bahamas. St. Louis MO., is number one with a murder rate of over 30. The statistics for Chicago is broken down into 3: East Side, Chicago Heights and South Chicago. If you follow Fox News, they will tell you that Chicago is still relatively safe and most of the killings are gang related and it is blacks killing and shooting other blacks, so it is no big deal. Then they try to link the current crime situation in Chicago to when now president Obama was a senator there and he did nothing to help then or even now, as president. The former mayor of New York links the Chicago situation to Ferguson and says police are afraid and/or are refusing to patrol certain areas and they turn their backs on certain crimes and criminals for fear of repercussions if they do get involved. But the current mayor feels that intentional lack of funding is the problem. The city of Chicago is falling apart for lack of funding. The schools, the hospitals, public transportation and every thing in Chicago is falling apart because of lack of funds. Then there's president elect,Donald Trump, who claims he can and will fix Chicago's problems in a matter of weeks

So did the Dow hit the 20,000 mark today? @ Banker your attack seems more personal than substantive , in many veins. I agree that persons earning $20 K a year will most likely not be investing in the stock market. But if the economy picks up somewhat due to bah mar's employment and economic activities, other persons may generate excess cash they may invest in the stock market.
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> Any wise person will not invest in
> BISX. It is a moribund failure

> Blockquote

This right here is a delibrate lie or, in the least, a weak an attempt to mislead people. But must of them who it is targeted at will have the sense to ignore it. And then who are you collectively blaming for BISX? It is only a collection of buyers and sellers operating under specific guidelines and rules. And it has been very beneficial to many during its years of operation. You need to take the chip of your shoulder .Your bitterness is obvious.

Norman_t...I was not offering to do anything for Chicago. The hel they need is beyond my abilities. My concern is still here in the Bahamas. In fact I have friends who have left Chicago because gunshots ring out throughout the night and day just like how fireworks go off here in October. And they know a number of the victims who have been shot or killed. The last two incidents of murder in this country are very disturbing: the incident in a night club where a young man was shot multiple times and killed after an argument over seating. The other where a married couple were driving when they were bumped from behind and the husband ended up being shot multiple times and killed when he got out to investigate. No longer can the news media or even the police deny that there are cold-blooded, heartless killers in our midst with statements like "the victim was known to police", or 'he had only released from prison ', or "he was wearing an ankle bracelet." The cold, hard facts are that innocent people are losing their lives in this country if only for being in the wrong place at the wrong or crossing the path of the wrong person. How far is the Bahamas from becoming a Chicago?

A person is shot every 2 hours in Chicago, and someone is murdered every 11 hours. More than 2 victims a day. Officially more persons have been murdered under the current PLP government than under former FNM government, with almost half a year left in their term and the most common and significant factor are not only has unemployment among young people, males especially, increased under this government, but the level of hardship in the country has also increased. And corresponding, the standard of living, for many, has decreased. This is in no way any attempt to make crime and especially murder a political football, but with election less than six months away, we should be reminded that the Christie government came to office on a platform promise to fix both crime and unemployment. The cold , chilling facts are, that if the current trend continues, up to 50 people and maybe more, can become victims of murder before the next election. And they will not be strangers or foreigners to this land, but sons and daughters of Bahamian soil. Blood running like a river.

The Christmas holiday weekend was one of the most bloodiest in decades for the city of Chicago, Illinois. Eleven people were murdered and over 60 people shot and injured, including two underage teen girls. More than 45 people have been shot and killed in Chicago for the month of December, 2016, and over 251 shot. The total number of murders for the year in Chicago is 735 and a total of 4334 persons have been shot in the city in 2016. The unemployment rate in Chicago is 25% and the crime and murder rate is said to be directly related to unemployment. Here in the Bahamas the unemployment rate among young people is around 15%, and unemployment amongst young males is projected to be between 18 - 20%. Young males in the Bahamas are not only the most common victims of murder, but they are also the most popular perpetrators of crime, including murder. So it follows that the most common sense thing to do to fix crime and murder, is to fix unemployment, amongst other things.

Can someone please change the channel