“Politics is the art of looking for trouble, finding it everywhere, diagnosing it incorrectly and applying the wrong remedies.”
― Groucho Marx
.
"“Be like water making its way through cracks. Do not be assertive, but adjust to the object, and you shall find a way around or through it. If nothing within you stays rigid, outward things will disclose themselves.

Empty your mind, be formless. Shapeless, like water. If you put water into a cup, it becomes the cup. You put water into a bottle and it becomes the bottle. You put it in a teapot, it becomes the teapot. Now, water can flow or it can crash. Be water, my friend.”
― Bruce Lee
.
"“Too bad that all the people who know how to run the country are busy driving taxicabs and cutting hair.”
― George Burns

The reason most Bahamians don't get involved in day to day politics is because of situations like this. So they sit back and let them throw rocks at each other, black one another eye, cuss each other out and slap them twice. then those who presents themselves clean clothed and not still bruised, mentally and physically, on election day, that is who to vote for.''
.
"“It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs, who comes short again and again, because there is no effort without error and shortcoming; but who does actually strive to do the deeds; who knows great enthusiasms, the great devotions; who spends himself in a worthy cause; who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who neither know victory nor defeat.”
― Theodore Roosevelt

Someone said they are trying to convince their wife to sell off their home for as little as half its value. Then they would pay off the bank and buy a small cottage or rent a condo. So they will have no more bank payments, cut their maintenance in half and be able to live more comfortably without the worry of what else is going to happen in this economy. They feel doing that is better than reaching the point where they can no longer afford the mortgage payments and the bank takes the house anyway.

how about eliminating all bankers from the face of the earth...
"Genocide (From Greek: Γενοκτονία) is the intentional action to systematically eliminate an ethnic, national, racial, or religious group. The word is a combination of "genos" (race, people) and "cide" (to kill).[1] The United Nations Genocide Convention defines it as "acts committed with intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnical, racial or religious group".[2][3]

If they had sterilized his mother, then he wouldn't be making those comments today..go figure!

Overhead costs are a big problem in this country, labor and electricity especially. Put that with a very limited market and price controls and a company like the Alburys are a jack-in da-box. What several companies have is they bulk ship produce to South Florida, then process and can it. That way they can service the South Florida, New York ,Atlanta markets,where there are lots of residents from the Carinbbean, as well as The Bahamas and other islands. Jamaica has a company that partners with distributors in various Caribbean countries and produce, can or package goods with local labels. While the quality may not be as good as the Champion brand they are able to maintain a price point by having a larger market and easy market access.. Many of the produce are grown in Haiti, Dominican Republic and other places where labor is cheap and overhead is lower than here.

This is because this current government continue to launch assault after assault on the economy,with care or concern for the long term impact. The economy is suffering from schockwaves from the Implementation of VAT some of the effects are just now reaching some people. The increase in the business license fees and the associated penalties, the increase in the minimum wage and the corresponding increase in national insurance contributions, the record high unemployment, especially among young people. Government did not seem to realize that many businesses were already challenged and many in trouble because of the deep and long lasting recession when the government seem to launch an all out money grab at businesses. Some had remortgaged their homes to keep their businesses afloat, others had consumed most of what they had saved over the lifetime of the business and yet it was not enough to save the business. Many Bahamians are facing the serious and scary possibility of going into retirement penniless..broke. So where do we go from here?

when you do something once or twice it is a mistake. When you do the same thing over and over, it's a habit. So much for Bradley Roberts comments. What do you think is the better scenario: (1) **Bah Mar as it sits now, idle and all its 'newness' wasting away in the sun. Its future seems uncertain and definitely not opening in 2017.** Its control in the hands of the China ExIm bank and ultimately in the hands of the the government of the Peoples Republic of China.

OR
.
(2) **Izmirilian being allowed to take out bankruptcy proceedings against the China ExIm bank, get a two-three year protection from the bank foreclosing**, complete and open Bah Mar, pay off the minor creditors and continue to employ 2,000 to 3,000 Bahamians and maybe even more, thereby providing some of the much needed stimulus needed to get the Bahamian economy moving.

Even if Bah Mar had opened and had to close after three to four years, because it was not a profitable entity at least the Bahamas would have benefited for those years and if the project went into foreclosure it would be in a better position to be resold. Bah Mar as it sits now will never have the value it would have had if it had opened a year ago. Let Christie and Bradley Roberts measure the opportunity cost of having a $3.5 billion project sit idle for so long. Not to mention the real cost to get it up and going again.

That may be a good thing because while the retail sector and portions of the economy Bahamains participate in the most have been heavily taxed and now being double taxed, it may be time to spread the tax burden more widely and reduce the burden on those who have been carrying it the most. Many persons who live in Lyford Cay, Ole Fort Bay, Bimini, North Abacos, and Freeport, for example, do not know the real costs of living in the Bahamas, because they hardly shop locally. But they enjoy the benefits. Even someone coming from the US on a cruising permit. They come over with a boat loaded with supplies, cruise, catch fish and avoid all the high prices local Bahamians have to pay everyday.

Over the last several years so many small businesses closed. Not only were they not making a profit but some found it impossible to meet the demands government was placing on them. And as the economy continues to be stagnant and even shrink, some of the medium and larger businesses are showing signs of deterioration. There's just not enough activity for them to generate enough revenue to cover overhead and owners are becoming wary of injecting new funds. Government, under the guise of 'tax reform' has continued to draw more and more tax revenue out the economy, rather than providing stimuli to allow the economy to grow. Persons are being locked out of their businesses because they are unable to pay rent and others are operating without electricity. Many businesses have become mere tax collectors for the government. Some have not turned a profit since 2008. The VAT tax was suppose to replace customs duties and stamp tax, not become a tax on top of those existing taxes. Government is double dipping and is killing the economy dead!