Most who know Baltron Bethel (including P"V"C) know him for what he has always been, still is and will always be......nothing but a .............!

Our brain dead PM will now try persuade the public (like the unions) that BEC and other government corporations and government departments and agencies would all be paying their employees a higher base pay amount if it were not for their ability to "double dip" by pocketing National Insurance sick pay benefits. Christie would have us poor Bahamian taxpayers with outrageously high light bills believe the "double dipping" policy was all by design of past PLP and FNM governments to ensure union employees received an appropriate and fair level of compensation and benefits. Nothing could be further from the truth though.....it can only be properly described as but one of many glaring examples of the egregious and illegal "vote buying" that goes on in our country today as a result of politicians corrupt to the core! And to think our corrupt government now wants us to pay higher taxes through VAT, etc. so that they can continue devising similar schemes to defraud the taxpayers of this country for the purpose of buying votes by means of a bigger more costly government sector. Christie is now too senile to feel the shame he should be experiencing which means it really is time for him and many of his cohorts to step aside or risk ending up behind bars....and I don't the kind of bars where one can wet their whistle!

Mike Lightbourne is absolutely right but unfortunately most black, brown or "tan" Bahamians when they hear him say "these people" simply roll their eyes and say to themselves....he's gotta be a racist! It's that warped attitude of the majority that would rather key in on "these people" as being racist in nature rather than understand and soak in the reality of the situation.

Forget subjecting the revenues of the Numbers Houses to VAT....to do this would be tantamount to legitimizing their illegal gambling activities. A much better approach (consistent with the wishes of the vast majority of Bahamians other than the few employed in the illicit activities of the Numbers Houses) is to enforce the existing law and shutdown the illegal gaming activities of the highly prosperous Numbers Bosses, who are lamed brain criminals, and establish as suggested by Michael Hepburn and others a National Lottery whereby all the revenues (net of winning payouts) would go to paying down our National Debt. Problem is, Christie and his political cohorts are so indebted to the Numbers Bosses, that these criminals now feel emboldened to go on our State taxpayer subsidized TV extolling themselves as virtuous Christian faring pillars of our society when nothing could be further from the truth. Why should any Bahamian worry about complying with the laws of our land or paying VAT when Christie himself in unwilling to shutdown once and for all the illegal Numbers Houses and put their Bosses where they belong!

Governments, both FNM and PLP alike, have allowed civil servant payroll deductions to soar as a means of buying votes and loyalty to their political party. Reducing either the percentage of such deductions or the needlessly high head count of government employees in many areas would now have serious financial consequences for financial institutions like Commonwealth Bank, Fidelity and Bank of The Bahamas. This is yet but another glaring illustration of how our politicians (from top to bottom) are senselessly running the Bahamas into the ground for the sake of their own political survival. Not a dam_n politician in this country today has an ounce of patriotism or caring concern for his fellow Bahamian!

To do what is "right" requires that you have at least some sense of what is "right" and what is "wrong". Christie does not have this sense.....if he did, he would not have accepted political contributions from the ill gotten (illegal) proceeds of the numbers racket bosses and then turn around and try to make such activities legal on the grounds that the laws of our land have never been enforced against the numbers bosses....well, guess who bears ultimate responsibility for enforcing those laws.....none other than the highly compromised Christie himself!

Christie, Halkitis and Rolle have offered no explanation whatsoever for how more than 60% of government payroll is paid to banks by way of payroll deductions with a large portion of that amount being repayments of consumer loans owed by government employees to local banks. Small wonder a bank like Commonwealth Bank has over the years produced very handsome profits for the Symmonettes and other similar politically well connected families. Other banks like Fidelity and Bank of The Bahamas have changed their business models away from housing and business mortgage loans to consumer loans for cars, home appliances, furniture, etc. in an effort to get on the same gravy train but they may be a day too late. Now that word is out that these banks are effectively being propped up by a policy of government payroll deductions run amok, government is scrambling to bring in more revenue any way it can so that it can continue its policy of buying votes through the allowance of excessive payroll deductions to government employees. It doesn't take a degree in rocket science to figure why all of this is now beginning to spiral out of control, with serious consequences for our financial system and ability to cope with excessive national debt. Bahamian politicians remain hell bent on buying votes even if it means the destruction of the country; none of them are capable of pushing fiscal prudence as they can't tightening their belts ........just look at what happens to their own personal spending habits and waist lines once they get elected!

As a US citizen who has resided in the Bahamas for many years, I can only simply laugh at how foolish Bahamian voters are. It is well known that the imf, wto, World Bank, idb, oecd, etc. are all agencies in the main of US foreign policy tasked with destabilizing other countries whenever it is considered to be in the best economic or security interest of the US. The destabilization is typically accomplished by getting the country hooked on more foreign debt than it can possibly ever service. It is also often accomplished by forcing a country to replace its more cost efficient and more easily monitored/enforced taxation systems (like import duties in the case of the Bahamas) with other taxation systems that are not suitable for the country due to their revenue raising ineffectiveness, excessive costliness to administer (for both the government and taxpayers alike) and inability to be cost effectively enforced.
It is really all too easy in countries like the Bahamas with a largely poorly educated voting citizenry to get dimwitted greedy influence peddling politicians and their crony supporters (whether they be on the PLP or FNM side of the table) to "sell out" their country by sucking on the "borrowing tit" placed at their lips by self-interested foreign interests.

And it is wondered why so few Bahamian graduates from colleges/universities abroad return to the Bahamas.......their own families are telling them it ain't safe to do so!

Many of our fellow Bahamians today cannot afford electricity, have no secure roof over their head and feel sick that their children go to sleep hungry each night. Meanwhile the devil incarnate and his minions jet set around the world (flying first class, staying in the finest hotels and eating at the most expensive restaurants) with absolutely no care or concern whatsoever for the terrible hardships an ever increasing number of us are having to endure because of their failed policies, poor management skills and outright ineptitude! It really cannot get too much more disgusting and disgraceful than this.........the Pope better wash that right hand of his with Dawn dish washing liquid and Holy Water!