great news! Stop the partying time to get serious! Get this debt under control, get the GDP to deficit percentile lower and within reasonable range, then we ALL could start to think about festivals and partying. Im tired of this government. Priorities MIX right up, Ancient, out dated initiatives and thinking is what has Pindling doing somersaults in his grave. Dated MP's its time to retire and enjoy life. Leave the Politics to those much younger and deserving.

I blame the union. I am a worker and apart of this Union and can tell you that most if not all the 'execs' are always dumbfounded when these things happen. They sit up in that place, all day, go to meetings with employers, travel and get so stuck in their way that they forgot how to reason, plan and prevent things like this. It is complete stupidity to not renew the existing agreement appropriately within the required time frame as indicated by law especially if they did not have a new one to supercede. Need I mention that most if not all policies & agreements are reflective of models from the early 90's and prior with almost NO change at all based on current times? Employers look at these people with stupidity and only hold meetingns with them because of the law and protocol, but are they really fighting for employee rights or being paid off? The world may never know. Some employers even went as far as to have security block execs from coming on property! These people are sores and make the already low paid hard working employee look so stupid! They simply let the ball slip trying to be vindictive and as a result workers were terminated, who every week without failure wire their dues to this union. This Martin woman and her crony execs need to come down off their high horses and get to work. All this biggety talk LA LA ray is not substantial when you want employers to help protect the rights of employees. Do your damn jobs Union Execs, you atre the only voice of reason for these workers. I completely agree with Mr Gibson. Shame on the Union. Bunch of lazy hard mouth stupid people.

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There is an article about China over fishing their own waters entitled, "Emptying seas and mounting tensions in fish-hungry Asia" via The Financial Times. The UN also did a report on it. When we Bahamians only consume certain types of fish, the Chinese are consuming seafood in almost all forms; sea life that may also contribute to the well being and preservance of the sea life we tend to mainly consume, also destroying the various eco systems etc hence their interest in our waters and lands and the depletion of product in theirs. If Mr. Gray thinks that Bahamians are not interested in agriculture, or maybe because of the fact that they can't get anything from the banks, shouldn't he as minister make it possible for Bahamians to be able to get interested and implement ways for it to be easier for an average Bahamian to obtain assistance from for example, the Government through various Special Purpose Vehicles? Maybe we cam harvest and sell to the Chinese. I mean come on, don't sell the Bahamian soul just to gain the world.

Article Link:
https://www.ft.com/content/54cac12c-a1d…

Matthew came to remind the government about who they are really serving, which is the people that make this country natively what it is. It's hardworking, slaving Bahamians that have to pay double the price on products with a VAT fee attached. All the money that we hard working Bahamians earn, if any, has to go to keeping food on our tables and keeping the light on. The government and offshore banks are wasting no time kicking people out of their homes who have been paying mortgages and all of a sudden cant keep up because of either mass redundancies and or employment terminations and obviously all the other undetected spending and fraudulent activities. Tthe uncontrolled splurging and misappropriation of our taxes has forever been a problem since our independence. The high cost of living and follying of the government is the reason why the people are scared and relecutant to invest in the country along with an indirect prejudice that 'Bahamians are bad for business' associated with crab in bucket syndrome. Every dollar earned is kept and held on to for as long one can because of the problems we face as a result of the deterioration of the country, this problem is on everyone's door step. Im sure the adoption of carnival has been regretted especially with all the money spent & hardly any earned and maybe if you weren't investing the peoples money on partying, trips, luncheons, and pay offs along with all the other under wrap splurging then we would not need to add to our already mountainous deficit.

They are now being taught indirectly by the government, social media and their families themselves that, there is no real future for young persons here in the Bahamas. The hope for jobs and a better income is hardly in sight with more and more taxes being added to an already struggling society. Old Cronies are well beyond the retirement age and yet they still sit in high positions without the room for growth for the youth. Simply, there is no real future here for the youths, the Tourism industry is packed and all positions basically taken up and yet it still doesn't budge the unemployment rate. New implementations with millions of dollars spent are surely proving to be a waste, for example BAMSI. This place is just trying to do so much with so little and it is biting the governing body and the people in the a$$.

Soo, 7.5% tax on services and goods, 5.4% tax on salary for NHI along with salary deductions for NIB but no increase in salaries and no increase in employment. Sounds like the middle class is getting ousted, and there will only be the Rich and the Poor. Soon the natives themselves will be driven out of the Capital.

Umm we dont want something that anyone will be able to shoot out of the sky. Quad copters aren't drones, although they would like them to be and only one thing caught my eye in that article which then proved that it was only a 'replica' of the real thing. Come on man, In terms of protecting the country, we need military grade drones to ensure durability despite weather, stealth, rapid deployment, and of course a good investment and life span along with the proper personnel to effectively control it.

All this water and wind out on the seas, one would want to know why haven't they thought of naturally generated power like wind or water powered turbines..

Drones are too expensive, and the Bahamas does not have the infrastructure or man power/intelligence to be able to adapt these types of aircraft. Let alone recruit them to their arsenal and maintain them at the same time. Did I also mention that drones are not for sale to any country? The USA currently owns the drone initiative and are using the technologies for far more serious issues. China and Russia are still trying to come out with their first successful drone. Helicopters equipped with Spot lights and night-vision/FLIR systems like on COPS (tv show) will of course do the job. The question is, do we have effective and available helicopter pilots for this task..