> 11 It is now cheaper to rent a 1,100 foot merchant vessel than it is to rent a Ferrari.

so why haven't freight charges in the Bahamas fallen?

continued.
"#18 All over America, retail stores are shutting down at a stunning pace. The following list of store closures comes from one of my previous articles…

-Wal-Mart is closing 269 stores, including 154 inside the United States.

-K-Mart is closing down more than two dozen stores over the next several months.

-J.C. Penney will be permanently shutting down 47 more stores after closing a total of 40 stores in 2015.

-Macy’s has decided that it needs to shutter 36 stores and lay off approximately 2,500 employees.

-The Gap is in the process of closing 175 stores in North America.

-Aeropostale is in the process of closing 84 stores all across America.

-Finish Line has announced that 150 stores will be shutting down over the next few years.

-Sears has shut down about 600 stores over the past year or so, but sales at the stores that remain open continue to fall precipitously.

#19 The price of gold is enjoying its best quarterly performance in 30 years.

#20 Global stocks have fallen into bear market territory, which means that about one-fifth of all global stock market wealth has already been wiped out.

#21 Unfortunately for global central banks, they have pretty much run out of ammunition. Since March 2008, central banks have cut interest rates 637 times and they have purchased a staggering 12.3 trillion dollars worth of assets. There is not much more that they can do, and now the next great crisis is upon us.s down? "
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"

Did the Bahamas get caught with its pants down? Seems like the world is headed into another recession (like 2008) and nothing was done to clean up the damage done from the last one. Can the Bahamas sustain another 5 years of recession:?"
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#1 Chinese exports fell by 11.2 percent year over year in January.

#2 Chinese imports were even worse in January. On a year over year basis, they declined a whopping 18.8 percent.

#3 It may be hard to believe, but Chinese imports have now plunged for 15 months in a row.

#4 In India, exports were down 13.6 percent on a year over year basis in January.

#5 In Japan, exports declined 8 percent in December on a year over year basis, while imports plummeted 18 percent.

#6 For the sixth time in six years, Japanese GDP growth has gone negative.

#7 In the United States, exports were down 7 percent on a year over year basis in December.

#8 U.S. factory orders have fallen for 14 months in a row.

#9 The Restaurant Performance Index in the United States has dropped to the lowest level that we have seen since 2008.

#10 This month the Baltic Dry Index fell below 300 for the first time ever.

#11 It is now cheaper to rent a 1,100 foot merchant vessel than it is to rent a Ferrari.

#12 Orders for Class 8 trucks in the United States dropped by 48 percent on a year over year basis in January.

#13 Due to a lack of demand for trucks, Daimler just laid off 1,250 U.S. workers.

#14 Even though Saudi Arabia and Russia have agreed to freeze oil production at current levels, the price of U.S. oil has still fallen below 30 dollars a barrel.

#15 It is being reported that 35 percent of all oil and gas companies around the world are at risk of falling into bankruptcy.

#16 According to CNN, 67 oil and gas companies in the United States filed for bankruptcy during 2015.

#17 The number of job cuts in the United States skyrocketed 218 percent during the month of January according to Challenger, Gray & Christmas.

The same measures they put in place to collect more taxes they should put in place to ensure that the Bahamian people's money is securely protected and not stolen or frittered away, not spent recklessly but the government receives value for money, projects are completed in timely and efficient manner. Government must control spending. Government gets 30-40% duty and VAT on everything that is imported into this country even before it leaves the port of entry. When you add national insurance, and business license and property taxes, and vat on BEC and VAT on water and sewerage and VAT on every other services consumed in this country, government is getting near to or more than 50% (***YES 50%***)of the average Bahamian's income in taxes. Yet they cannot balance the budget, is in deficit spending, year after year after year. The national debt is growing (already out-of-control), infrastructure is falling apart. So what will they do tax more and more and more. Suppose that the country's credit rating is downgraded to junk status and there is a resulting devaluation in the Bahamian dollar. Can you imagine what the cost of living would be like in this country. Just look what has happened in Brazil and Venezuela and even Puerto Rico in just a few short years after their economies went belly up. Will this government take the advice and warnings of John Rolle and the central bank or will they try to rail road him and throw him under the bus like they are doing the auditor general?

'A leader is best when people barely know he exists, when his work is done, his aim fulfilled, they will say: we did it ourselves". —Lao Tzu
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"The first responsibility of a leader is to define reality. The last is to say thank you. In between, the leader is a servant." —Max DePree
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"The very essence of leadership is that you have to have a vision. It’s got to be a vision you articulate clearly and forcefully on every occasion. You can’t blow an uncertain trumpet". —Reverend Theodore Hesburgh
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"Men make history and not the other way around. In periods where there is no leadership, society stands still. Progress occurs when courageous, skillful leaders seize the opportunity to change things for the better." —Harry S. Truman
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'It is better to lead from behind and to put others in front, especially when you celebrate victory when nice things occur. You take the front line when there is danger. Then people will appreciate your leadership." —Nelson Mandela

Some feel that the credit downgrade is mostly about the failed referendum.
That may be a part of it.

22 years ago I had a scholarship offer to attend Harvard University to study Economics and Statistics, MBA style. Family circumstances prevented me from accepting that scholarship.but today I think, would I have returned to the Bahamas if I had taken that scholarship and the job potentials that would come with it? Would I be here trying to make things better for myself and my family and Bahamians in general?

Someone say the PLP are nothing more than Black Chinese mafiea