So, "We are so spoiled", Mrs. Philips opens her screed. Can she provide names for these many spoiled, oh so spoiled, Bahamians? Is this paper only read by a handful of spoiled people? Or, do you really think most Bahamians are spoiled? Seriously!
Sorry to be hard on you Mrs. Philips, but can we honestly not see WHAT needs to be changed? Just out outlook, hey?

As for casuarinas around tennis courts. Sorry, but they don't stay in one place. They are called an exotic invasive for a reason. They provide little protection from hurricanes. Their root systems are too shallow. A quick look at any of our family islands will show you the thousands of overturned casuarinas caused only by the rising water at our shoreline, no storms needed. Where are all the casuarinas in Abaco right now? They are underwater offshore pulverizing our reef. You do read the Tribune, don't you? When was the last time you snorkeled on our reefs? Yes, casuarinas provide shade and a sweet sound for us humans. However, they are terrible for our flora and fauna, and they do not do what you are claiming. Yes, I have spent a lot of time studying this issue. You are completely wrong, except on your defence of tennis courts. Long live tennis courts. Especially since we cannot use our wonderful education and reasoning skills to imagine one other way of keeping our precious little ball from getting blown away in the wind.
A revolution of our mindset means thinking anew. Adults are simply unable to do this. We are brainwashed. That's why we must focus on our youth. I hope they don't forget about us when they finally start to "get it".

Wow! But let's continue business as usual. Let's use our wisdom to convince people that drilling for oil is a great idea for our country. Why are these people not arrested for endangering others? We arrested and fined people who broke curfew. Why? Endangering the rest of us. But then let people like Simon Potter tell us to let them drill for oil. Why is Mr. Potter walking free? Only someone who thinks would be disturbed by this comment. Is the country that ignorant that we cannot see what the best scientists in the world are telling us? We are going to listen to a bunch of politicians and business people tell us what is best for us, and yet ignore those who actually use their brains?
Wow!

What the world is crying out for, Mrs. Philips, is change. Change in how we treat each other, and how we treat the earth. This much is clear Mrs. Philips, we are not, and have not been succeeding in acting in a caring and Christian manner. While I am sure that the woman whom the doctors say does not have long to live will be appreciative of the ability to swim with the pigs, what about the thousands, tens of thousands, maybe hundreds of thousands of Bahamians who are completely and totally insecure and whose children are at risk of starvation right here in Pig Paradise? Here is what change may look like Mrs. Philips. That our newspapers would be written by and edited by people who have some connection with the average person. Or, that our representatives would at some point begin to speak out and act in favor of the majority of their constituents, instead of the well-groomed and well dressed business people and those of the right color. We act as if we are somehow different from our neighbor to the north. Are we? Really?
Mrs. Philips, we need a radical revolution of values. Can you acknowledge this, or not? Not small incremental change, by definition. A revolution means an awful lot of "out with the old ways". These are the same ways which we are currently championing. The idea that white rich people can make a difference in our lives, while our government gets a free hand in whom they "help".
But, back to Christianity for a moment. Besides words, what evidence, according to the scriptures, can you show me that would suggest for even a moment that we here in The Bahamas get even an iota of what Christianity actually means and stands for?
Our economic outcomes? Our treatment of the poor? Our treatment of the mentally ill? Our treatment of our environment? We need to quit making excuses for our anti-Christian ways. It gets old and tiring listening to these yappers talking about god, while checking their bank account each day, and running around with their sweethearts. Isn't it just a little bit nauseating, Mrs. Philips?

Mrs. Phillips,

For those of us, and I suspect you are one of us, who have enough to eat, whose bills will be paid each month, and are relatively healthy, yes, we do have much to be thankful for. However, I believe that all it takes for evil to persist is for good people to remain silent. Presently, the world is in tatters for most people. Yes, I said most people. I have been complaining about some of the things you mention for many years now. As a student of history, I am trying to find one instance where things changed or the better, without complaining. That would be called magic, yes? Please don't forget the elevated position you occupy has nothing to do with "where' you live. Yes, The Bahamas is a great place to live provided you have the essential human needs available to you. Nearly every country on earth has people who are the same as you: well fed, clothed, housed, taken care of, so to speak. Yet, the numbers bear out a huge percentage of populations, the Bahamas included, where people are food insecure, home insecure, job insecure and unable to find the time to feel as thankful as you do Mrs. Phillips. What I am suggesting is that there are other aspects that must be taken into account besides, where you reside that sets the conditions for "being thankful" Yes, there are many worse off, and many better off. Most people in The Bahamas, according to the statistics I read, suggest you are not representative of "most" people. There are rich and well-to-do in every country. There are poor in every country. If your assessment of reasons to be thankful are based on where one lives, you are bordering on delusional. The Bahamas does not treat poverty seriously. I often say that we have more in common with our brothers and sisters in Haiti, than we do with our own political and business leaders. Is this not true in what we are faced with each and every day? White privilege may also contribute to the inability to see what is staring most of us in the face each day. This is allowed to be talked about now, right? Or, is this simple fact not pertinent here? Only our neighbor to the north can be called out on the realities of race as figures into the ability to "be thankful". No Mrs. Philips, I feel it is important to be thankful, but just as important to complain against every injustice done to another human being. What are the chances that every person in your story above is white. Why is philanthropy held up as some good thing, when your own government can't even keep its people living in a modicum of decency?

Exponential growth does not work that way, Paul. It will only take one tourist, who contacts how many, and then those contact how many. Starting off slowly doesn't matter so long as we are not testing, and have gotten very lax in our recommended social distancing and mask wearing.

Why is anyone surprised? The whole Crown Land issue is not for Bahamians. It is for politicians and their hand-picked foreign clients. There are many people I know on Andros who have applied for Crown Land ten or twenty years ago and still haven't heard back. It is a cruel joke this Crown Land business.

The Bahamas is a natural and national Disney World. You do realize this, don't you? I have spent some time traveling. The Bahamas has many, many reasons to visit and to live. We don't need to give away the farm. We need to tax these people much more. We need to get this regressive taxation off of our Bahamian backs and right where it belongs, included in our business model. Customs is an absolutely archaic disaster. Start taxing real property. Remember, supply and demand. They ain't making anymore Bahamasland. Disney World ain't free, and neither should visiting and living in The Bahamas. Quit making concessions for people who don't need them, nor deserve them. We continue to sell ourselves short. Our natural resources, and our human resources. Start a wholesale program that stimulates partnerships between foreign investors and local entrepreneurs. However, you are asking for those who have profited from and been educated by, a thoroughly flawed and failed system for allocating the scarce resources of this beautiful earth fairly and equitably among all. There is little humane about this economic and political system we presently have. I know more than I speak. We are not any nearer our human potential than we have been in our lifetimes. This does not suggest that we who have had the floor, have any reason to demand it any further. We have not succeeded. The metrics confirming this abound. The precipitous decline of our living world should be enough for others to demand the reigns from here on out. Nothing short of a revolution means diddly. Now, who comfortable among us is ready for that?

Dawes, first let's define "the situation we are in:" I like to start at the top. This country has had billions of dollars a year flow through this country. The envy of any developing country. Yet, for decades now, we have failed to make sure that our "people" had any real security. Money security, health security, job security, educational security. We did not insure that a rising tide lifts all boats. It hasn't, That is clear here, as it is around the world. So, if I was looking at solutions that help humanity, not just a restoration of business as it was, I would have to propose radically new ways of doing business. Otherwise, why bother to resurrect a failed paradigm. Presently, we have no representatives who actually work for and empathize with the poor and marginalized, nor the working person. Those people, most people, who do not have a minute to comment on this article, as you and I do. I am speaking as someone who is not religious, yet believes that the Christian message is a pretty good one. Imagine if. With that said, capitalism, full throated, and Christianity cannot truly coexist. Personally, I think we need a world view that focuses on governments providing the greatest good for the greatest number. Instead of worshiping and rewarding short term profits and money alone. Our incentive structure needs to be radically changed. Is this an opening for us to do so? If the thought process was mature enough and educated, which it is not, we would see a new way of leverage to attract a more locally multiplying dollar that is equally beneficial to both the government coffers, as well as, to incentivize, local entrepreneurship. This has never happened, and we know why.

Sorry to disagree, but, the last thing Bahamians need are more high-net worth individuals who contribute little in the way of economic activity and true investment.in the future of this country.
"Economic activity" is not a good unto itself. So long as many people share in the economic pie, all is good. But, the world has been rallying the stock market and other superfluous metrics while the vast, vast majority of people are left behind. "Otherwise, he warned, the country will "wake up from this nightmare and find we're in hell" said Dr. Rogers, according to the Tribune. What percentage of Dr. Rogers friends could say that, and how many Bhaamians in general can say that? "Dr Rodgers argued that The Bahamas' monetary dilemma stemmed not from the fixed exchange rate peg, but the fact that at all times before the COVID-19 pandemic hit it was attracting insufficient US dollar inflows to provide the necessary foreign reserves buffer." Really, a small country like The Bahamas having billions of dollars flowing through it, but we want to argue for more, instead of trying to capture a larger share of that for our own economy. Sell citizenship? Honestly.
Dr. Rogers wants change. I wonder how Dr. Rogers mindset has changed over the years? What should be clear to any thinking person is that the present system isn't working. Nibble away at the edges with fiscal and monetary policy, or use the large brains we were endowed with to radically change the entire way of doing business. The gatekeepers, of which most people quoted in the papers are, want nothing to really change. They can't even imagine it.