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.

And, we make no connection between our lack of investment in education and the lack of leadership in our politics?

But, drilling for oil is cool?

Great idea for payment. But, what about what these people are bringing into, and out of our country? Our borders aren't porous, they are non existent.
If you want to digitize government, why can we not pay our Custom's bill with a Credit Card in Andros? Seems simple, right?

Wow. I would like to consider myself aligned with rightness, though you would call me a leftist? What was Jesus? How about Martin Luther King Jr.? Far leftists in your narrow minded book, hey? The protests are not only necessary, they are too tame. Some, like you apparently, put more value on property and tranquility, than you do on decency and actual lives. I good friend of mine was at two of the protests in the States. He said they were peaceful and inspiring. Perhaps you should turn off FOX news and do some reading. Your head seems to be up your TV. "Leftist protesters, rioters and looters" you say. You sound like Trump. I bet you still support him. And we seriously wonder why our world is in turmoil? People like you who just don't get it.