This is the most important article of 2022.
I have lived on a Family Island for 20 years now.
I do not know of a house that has another book, other than the bible, and rarely used school books.
Worse, the number of pastors, and local politicians, that cannot read is distressing, given that the bible is a work of literature, and we are supposedly a nation of laws..
I cannot think of anything else that is so substantial in keeping our country down, than the level of ignorance directly attributable to lack of reading.
Many of us use the term "lack of exposure" to explain why so much of our adult, national thinking is so adolescent in nature.
But, this article posits in no uncertain terms why our national mentality and level of social debate is so immature.
We do not read. We do not encourage learning. And we despise those who come back home with knowledge. But, damn, we are down on our knees when someone with money steps foot on our island.
Our politicians, for the most part, are proud of their ignorance. This is why they buy votes. This is why they don't worry about being held accountable by their constituents. Their constituents do not read the papers.
Reading does not guarantee that a person is well-meaning, or honest.
But, without reading, we are lost.
Without reading, we are at the mercy of every lying, hypocritical pastor.
Without reading, we are prey to every semi-literate politician.
Without reading, we cannot navigate the endless amount of information necessary for helping ourselves, as well as, building a good, decent, intelligent and caring nation.
If I were to try and put my finger on the one singular issue which holds us back as a nation, this would be the issue. A national failure to educate our people.
So, how best to communicate this imperative?
By writing articles that few will, or can, read?
I wish I knew.
Having been raised in the US, I can attest to the fact that every immigrant family I knew of, sacrificed everything to make sure their children received a good education.

Before I listen to someone spouting off about God, I want to hear their take on other, less complex issues such as; economics, or biology, or social sciences. If we cannot master, and explain our understanding of simpler subjects, why would I want to hear what one says about something much more complex, like God?

Mr. Bodie,

I've read your letters for some years now.
With all due respect, you have lost your grip on reality.
About PM Davis, "He’s been like a whirlwind traveling all over the globe to attend and contribute to climate change conference up in New York; over in Scotland and most recently in Egypt. He is now recognised as one of the world’s leading advocate on climate change."
Come now, Mr. Bodie. You are not serious. What are you reading? What have you been reading that allows you to make such crazy ridiculous statements. We don't need to be listening to anyone who makes a statement like, "Like climate change, to which I am a recent and reluctant adherent, age and aging are real phenomena."
What the hell does that mean? A reluctant adherent?
Mr. Bodie, your god may have given you a certain number of years on earth. But, Jesus, he certainly didn't guarantee sanity.
And, Davis as one of the world's leading advocate on climate change? Mr. Bodie, get real. Nobody who has followed climate change for the last 40 years would know Mr. Davis name.
Davis is a politician with virtually no understanding it seems, like you, of the science that supports the realities. Both of you should stick to being lawyers. Where you can twist words and strip them of their real meaning. In the same way you do the bible and any sensible Christian message.
We have some real cognitive problems in this country. You seem to be leading the pack.
Mr. Bodie, I think you need to seek help.

Politicians are politicians.
We are the foolish ones, suggesting they have the brains, fortitude, moral stature and caring to actually make things better for our country.
They are politicians, for God's sake.
Same as everywhere.

This is good news for a country dependent on tourism.

Sorry, the only thing I can say for sure is that we do not hold almost anyone accountable for their bad behaviour. What do black Americans have to do with this conversation? Is this a racial issue somehow?
And yes, just because something is regulated doesn't mean crap.
How are you missing the S&L crisis, the Great Depression, 2008 sub Prime crisis, and on and on? All "regulated"
Quite simply, finance has proven that it does nothing for an economy, in fact, it merely takes money from the working people and redistributes it upward. And here, we do not tax those gains.
The statistics on income inequality are there for all to see, if disposed to reading.
It does not reflect anything other than greed. Financial gains should be taxed enough to run any government before a working person's salary is touched by any government.
Only a money lover would argue otherwise.
We're getting to the root of the problem, yes?
A simple ignorance of common decency..

The bigger picture here is that we bend over backwards to get the rich to come here, and then refuse to tax them fairly.
Worse, we allow our own criminals to get rich on the backs of the poor and then let them buy our government.
The pirate mentality is alive and well in The Bahamas.
The results of the 50 years of dumbing down our nation should be clearly evident in this article.
That we could even suggest that we embrace Christian values and use them to guide our taxation and fiscal policies is an affront to anyone with a solid high school education and shows our elite politicians and financial "experts" to be the moral sellouts that they clearly are.
The numbers, even if fudged, are indictments on our souls. That a rich country like The Bahamas finds itself in this predicament after 50 years of independence is a tragedy of epic proportions.

As a business person, both above comments are correct. The costs of doing business here are way too high. They are too high because of corruption, incompetence, theft and poor productivity. There is no argument here. These are facts. We are facing a growing divide in this country. The results of this divide are very dangerous for this country. Jamaica has imposed martial law nationwide. Simply put, "when people have nothing, they have nothing to lose." Do we honestly think there are no consequences when we let a handful of Web shop owners, financial gurus, corrupt politicians and others who can come here and pay virtually no taxes, amass fortunes on the backs of those less fortunate? Did we miss the history lesson on the French Revolution?
I do hope the bible is right. That all these money grubbers rot in hell.
Jesus went into the temple and turned over the tables of whom?
If only we could read, honestly.

This isn't really a market. Many have pointed this out. We seem to be adverse to a day's pay for a day's work. Now living in a world where gambling is ranked along with actually producing something of value for society. As if the cultural consequences of this type of thinking isn't clear enough. We love our money and continue to say we are Christians. This sets the stage for wholesale hypocrisy and the descent of all morals. Look around. Am I wrong? Or, do you think this behaviour is normal? We celebrate and elevate the most greedy, abusive and dishonest among us. In our churches, in business, in politics. Why do the sociopaths rise to the top? Why do we continue to pitch schemes, instead of honest hard work? Don't see it, hey? Why do we continue to attract the "bad actors", as PM Davis calls them? Is it not clear? Education has been bought and sold in the US, where people from all over the world flock to study "business". Here in The Bahamas, we don't even pretend anymore. Our test scores prove it. So do the results evident in every facet of what we call our "society". The Bahamas most urgent existential crisis is rapidly rising sea levels. This is a fact. Yet, we are still stuck on marital rape and rooting for the FNM or PLP and don't seem to have the leadership for anything further. We have a national maturity level of an adolescent. Sad but true. These are choices we have made along the way. Nobody forced these failures upon us. We choose freely.

OK. I hadn't thought of that.

Too bad we do not have the regulatory agencies and expertise to identify the bad actors and rid ourselves of them.
Hey Mr. Davis?
The Bahamian people have been shackled by bad actors since day one.
But, because they call themselves Bahamians, we let them slide.
My guess is that 85% - 90% of the bad actors in this country are, have been, or will be, in government.
And, we keep voting these bad actors in every 5 years.
It's almost funny, if it weren't so sad.
The collateral is there, Mr. Gomez.
The longer this goes on thew longer some people are getting a monthly fee.
Take the F'ing collateral and let these scoundrels go to hell.
The Bahamian citizens deserve better than the incompetence and slackness that leads us along this path to perdition. .