Minnis, you missed it by about a factor of 10.
You failed to include the very real lost opportunity costs that come from those who would be willing to invest in The Bahamas, but for the rampant dishonesty, corruption and theft that occur with every transaction here. Even the supposedly legitimate contracts and services provided by our own people are highly inefficient and politically motivated. No forward progress can be made when politics taints every aspect of a society, such as ours.
Politics has eroded our ethics and has promoted very poor performance.
To the point where most Bahamians could never hold a job anywhere reliability, competency, and honesty are required. We have allowed this completely unChristian behaviour to fester for too many generations now. We know for a fact that not one word from a politician's mouth can be believed. All we care about is what little we can get for ourselves.
We have turned into a very, very selfish nation with little prospect for the future, having invested little in education and the social conditions needed to keep decent people here. Those who manage to get educated and seek better for themselves would never stay in The Bahamas. We are backwards thinking with no vision and a short-term live-for-today mentality. We have far too many fatherless children who have no guidance especially because single mothers receive little to no help from our selfish politicians.
The writing is on the wall, for those few Bahamians who still manage to read.
Our politicians are worthless, greedy, corrupt, and self serving. That is why our nation is in the dire and disgusting state it is in.
If we fired and expelled every person who is, and has ever been in politics in this country, and replaced all of them with recent graduates from our high schools, despite them having no experience, we could do no worse than we are doing now with Davis and company and all the other politicians who supposedly are there for our benefit.
Dr. Minnis, what the true cost of corruption, dishonesty, incompetence and crime are costing The Bahamas cannot be measured in dollars. We have lost our country and the chances of seeing a place where our children can live are dwindling by the day.
Personally, I think it is too late. We have already lost far too many of our educated and decent people who have realized that The Bahamas has become what it is today; a place where there is a lot of talk, but we continue to go backwards as a nation.
We have no good leaders, Minnis. Is it really a wonder why?

We don't care.
We just don't care.
Do any government offices offer fast, friendly and efficient service?
Exactly my point!
We just don't care.
We have very limited choices, so we just take what is given us.
Makes no sense to complain.
Wonder why?
We don't care.
Trash all over the sides of the road?
We don't care.

Exactly!

We simply don't care. We simply don't care.
The3 corruption and dishonesty at the highest levels of government, the police and our churches have permeated every aspect of our lives and our nation.
Hope is one thing, being realistic is quite another.
Nobody seems to care.
Try getting something done in a government office without greasing the palm.
And now, the dogs of Inland Revenue will be sent out to pick up the last remaining crumbs from those who do not have connections to the OPM.
Yes, it is sad, but does anyone honestly see ANY change for the better on the horizon?

Let's not lay all the blame on our leaders.
They do not know any better.
Do you think Brave understands nutrition and exercise?

What if you have little intelligence to start with, birdie?
Your comments continuously prove a lack of learning and intelligence.

"I am a most unhappy man. I have unwittingly ruined my country. A great industrial nation is controlled by its system of credit. Our system of credit is concentrated. The growth of the nation, therefore, and all our activities are in the hands of a few men. We have come to be one of the worst ruled, one of the most completely controlled and dominated Governments in the civilized world no longer a Government by free opinion, no longer a Government by conviction and the vote of the majority, but a Government by the opinion and duress of a small group of dominant men." -Woodrow Wilson

Mr. Bowe,

Business and investment is based on trust. Yes?
If one looks closely at the Bahamian government and our nation as a whole one sees a veritable lack of trust and an abundance of dishonesty. A sane person, with a lifetime of experience would never take risks with their money in The Bahamas. This is simple due diligence. Bankers get far too much credit for their role in any economy. Bankers produce nothing, Finance and banking fees take far too much money out of any economy. Anyone who has studied these issues understands that the whole banking system in the west today was designed and implemented under dishonest and coercive political conditions.

"It is well enough that people of the nation do not understand our banking and monetary system, for if they did, I believe there would be a revolution before tomorrow morning.”
― Henry Ford

The daily papers in this country exhibit clearly the reasons why reasonable people do not invest here. Our government officials are ignorant, petty, uneducated and vindictive. Our process to open a business, a bank account or anything else in this country is Pay to Play and utterly inefficient. Worse, Nobody seems to care. If someone, say for instance a Prime Minister, did care, how come it is still in shambles?
Mr. Bowe, according to the World Bank Ease of Doing Business reports, how is The Bahamas doing?
It is one thing to recognize that we have excess liquidity in our nation, it is truly another to suggest that this country is business friendly, honest, and willing to assist those who would like to improve their condition.
Time and again, our government officials prove that they a short term political operatives who seek to squeeze out more and more for their selfish little selves, by hook or crook.
Until we improve our national business ethics and radically change our national moral code, it is a good bet to hold your money closely.

The government them are all the same group of greedy people. These no bid contracts for clinics that the Family Islands don't need and will likely never open are part of the proof that something is very, very fishy.
Of course pay the doctors what they're worth. What exactly do our politicians make a year? For what?

Sad to see Charlie Harper's take on the tilt toward fascism that all paying attention can plainly see.
Marco Rubio is standing against the world and common decency in continuing to support the embargo on Cuba.
He is a very little man.