oil prices may fall below $20.00 by the middle of this year. Sanctions have been lifted against Iran to allow that country to start selling oil, and other countries are refusing to cut back on oil production. That coupled with alternative forms of energy has led to an oil glut so much so that there may not be $100 barrels of oil in 20 years. This is the time for government (yes Bahamas Government) to grab the bull by the horns and set BEC right. This is a once in a life time to pay off BEC's debt and to renovate and restructure its plant and equipment. But what happens thus far? A "so called" management company is brought in, and rather than get a grip and wrap their arms around the situation and start to make things right, and less costly for Bahamians, they seem to have dug a hole, gone underground and disappeared ( with some $900,000.00.) And Bahamians remain overburdened with unbearably high costs of electricity, and the resulting high costs of living, and total uncertainty as to energy costs and supply in the future, near and far. The only concrete thing Bahamians has learned thus far is that bonds will be floated to pay off BEC's debt and the consumers (who are paying) will be made to bear the burden of these bonds. So what is happening to the $700 million BEC is saving each year through the reduced costs of fuel, the single largest cost to that corporation?

Donald Trump did not worry about the party's infighting and their not wanting him to run. As of now he's ahead of his closest opponent by at least 15% in most polls. Unfortunately many of the things (loose lips and rudness) and the people (Sarah Palin) that caused him to be the forerunner in the Republican party, may cause him to lose in the presidential elections.

***What I'm not saying is that all government spending is bad. It's not - far, far from it, but there is no free lunch, as a former colleague of mine used to say. There is no public tooth fairy. Father Christmas does not work on the Treasury staff this year. You can never bail someone out of trouble without putting someone else into trouble.

Arthur Laffer
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I believed the only thing that could turn around this government spending and mounting debt would be if the people rose up.

“How bad is our economy? Well I’ll give you my two cents…which used to be a dollar.” – Stephen Colbert

“The new taxes are going to put rich people in a very tough spot. Paris Hilton may have to carry her own cocaine. Trump may have to fire the guy who trims that thing on his head. Warren Buffet may have to move in with his cousin Jimmy Buffet.” – Craig Ferguson

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“According to government auditors, the stimulus money is being held up because there aren’t enough government workers to oversee the spending. So follow me, in other words, government workers who aren’t there are needed to spend money we don’t have to create jobs that don’t exist.” – Jay Leno

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"President Obama became the first sitting president to visit a federal prison yesterday. Obama said it was a good chance to talk about prison reform, and to catch up with so many former congressmen." –Jimmy Fallon
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"Police in Florida have arrested a man who said he finally achieved his goal of shoplifting in all 50 states. You know what you call someone who steals from all 50 states? A congressman." –Jay Leno
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“It is a popular delusion that the government wastes vast amounts of money through inefficiency and sloth. Enormous effort and elaborate planning are required to waste this much money.”
― P.J. O'Rourke,

This is another case of the PLP taking the money and running. They got honest, trustworthy and upright Bahamians to convince the Business community to comply with the vat tax and bring it to successful fruition. Many of these business owners saw no way that they could burden these taxes having only saw business license fees increase in a very lean and declining economy. But they complied for the good of the country and under the premise that things will be better, even for them, with the VAT and in a 'side bar' kind of way that business license fees would be reduced. Now them PLP people got what they wanted. If fact they bragging about how much more money VAT bring them than they expected. And some of the same honest, upright and trustworthy businessmen who led other businessmen to slaughter now face the fear of having their own businesses close down. They too are struggling for survival. Overhead is too high, taxes are too many and the economy is sick. Ask them!

Check and see who own the auto parts stores, then you will understand why the roads fall into caverns and go unrepaired. Motorists have to spend hundreds repairing brakes and suspensions. They started paving the road by Super value out West since October. Skinned up the old tar and yet the road remains unfinished. Yes we did have more than average amount of rain, but the major thoroughfares should never fall to this level of deterioration... Like some people observe, the only roads in good condition are the ones constructed under the previous government (and East Street).

There is now what is called 'extended solar power.' Rather than just using solar panels to generate electricity they use the panels during the day to generate electricity and at the same time to heat up large tanks filled with oil. The oil, when heated, creates additional electricity for several hours that can supply power during the night or during periods of no sun. The oil is only heated and not burned, so there is little pollution from these type plants.

bahamians are too passive!!! Figure this : BEC's fuel bill has been reduced from over $1 billion annually to under $300 million due to the falling oil prices over the past 3 years. Our (yours and mine) electricity bills have remained basically unchanged and, in some cases, have increased due to warmer temperatures that cause us to burn more electricity. YET they claim that BEC is deep to its neck in debt, and still loosing money. So can they please tell us what is happening with this $700 windfall BEC should be realizing from fuel savings? They should have wiped out their $600 million debt in 1 year and accumulated enough to replace three engines after the second year. Yet they telling us to "take the bull$hit", passive Bahamians that they have to float bonds to pay the debt. Who t'ief the money? Who still t'iefin da money? Same with the price of gas. Why are we still paying almost $4.00 a gallon ? Gas in the US is on its way down to $1.00 a gallon! we are being hoodwinked and bamboozled to our graves because the cost of living is too high and the quality of living is too low.

One of the Donald trumps of Bahamian politics.

Anytime you see Big, Bad, Brad going on the political attack, there is something that is concerning his party big time. Maybe a secret poll is showing the dwindling support?