Spot on! There are several other scenarios too under which the same defrauding of the Bahamian people can be achieved by Crooked Christie and his select group of elitist political friends and business cronies. Baltron "Bag Man" Bethel has perfected two other scenarios!

The photo to this article says it all. Here we are more than 43 years after our independence having to bring foreigners into our country to deal with our own power needs. The responsible technical persons we had in government pre-independent Bahamas have all now quit or retired and for decades there has been no replenishment of them. For the past 25 years, most sensible Bahamians that have gone abroad and obtained an education in a technical field have not returned to the Bahamas. Why should they? Bahamians who have received a good education abroad and possess considerable technical expertise are rightfully not inclined to return to the Bahamas and work for a corrupt government led by a bunch of ignorant buffoons who are only capable of lining their own pockets while recognizing and rewarding political loyalty and patronage to the exclusion of everything else. I have a Bahamian nephew who holds a masters degree in electrical engineering and computer science from the Georgia Institute of Technology. Since graduation he has received 10 years of invaluable work experience with Duke Energy, a public utility company in the U.S. He laughed at me several years ago when I suggested he consider returning to the Bahamas to put his technical expertise to good use at BEC. Can't say I blame him and I'm sure there are thousands of Bahamians working abroad just like him. Our successive corrupt governments since independence continue to naturally repel the best Bahamian talent simply because they are too easily threatened by it. This has allowed foreign contractors over the years to royally rip off the Bahamian people by entering into all sorts of side deals with our corrupt government officials. And round and round it goes until our balloon of national debt is finally over inflated by our current corrupt Christie-led government to the point where it simply bursts alla Venezuela. Yes folks, this is perhaps the most telling indictment of the extent to which Crooked Christie and equally crooked Ingraham have brought our country to its knees!

The responsible technical persons we had in government pre-independent Bahamas have all now quit or retired and for decades there has been no replenishment of them. For the past 25 years, most sensible Bahamians that have gone abroad and obtained an education in a technical field have not returned to the Bahamas. Why should they? Bahamians who have received a good education abroad and possess considerable technical expertise are rightfully not inclined to return to the Bahamas and work for a corrupt government led by a bunch of ignorant buffoons who are only capable of recognizing and rewarding political loyalty and patronage to the exclusion of everything else. I have a Bahamian nephew who holds a masters degree in electrical engineering and computer science from the Georgia Institute of Technology. Since graduation he has received 10 years of invaluable work experience with Duke Energy, a public utility company in the U.S. He laughed at me several years ago when I suggested he consider returning to the Bahamas to put his technical expertise to good use at BEC. Can't say I blame him and I'm sure there are thousands of Bahamians working abroad just like him. Our successive corrupt governments since independence continue to naturally repel the best Bahamian talent simply because they are too easily threatened by it. This has allowed foreign contractors over the years to royally rip off the Bahamian people by entering into all sorts of side deals with our corrupt government officials. And round and round it goes until our balloon of national debt is finally over inflated by our current corrupt Christie-led government to the point where it simply bursts alla Venezuela.

Most public sector employees are buried in debt thanks to the partnership that exists between our corrupt government and the major consumer lending banks like Commonwealth Bank, Fidelity Bank and Bank of The Bahamas. Ordinarily a borrower's total monthly payments in respect of all loans received should not exceed one-third (33%) of their total monthly income. This rule of thumb in most civilized developed countries is often referred to as the debt service ratio. But our corrupt government, our Central Bank and our greedy consumer lending banks have conspired over the years to allow public sector employees to take on grossly excessive amounts of consumer debt, with the current average debt service ratio of a civil servant being well above 60%. The greedy consumer lending banks are content to take on this grossly excessive lending risk because the government has committed to them that the loans will be serviced and repaid by way of direct salary deductions and the borrowers will be kept on the government's payroll until the loans have been fully repaid. This is one of the key reasons why our country suffers from a very bloated public sector headcount.....our government cannot even fire known abusive and non-productive employees as long as they are heavily indebted to the consumer lending banks, and our civil servants are well aware of this fact; hence their willingness to take on much more debt than they should as it provides job security. The government of course sees all of this as a way to "buy" loyal votes from employees throughout the public sector. For their part, the greedy consumer lending banks reap enormous profits from the outrageous interest rates they charge on their consumer loans to public sector employees. In our system of government the Central Bank was intended to play a independent regulatory role free of government interference whereby borrowers would be protected from the predatory lending practices of the consumer lending banks. But that protective mechanism failed as a result of successive weak and incompetent Central Bank governors like James Smith, Wendy Craigg and now John Rolle, all of whom remain loyal lackeys of the corrupt Christie-led government to this day. To hear John Rolle recently announce the further relaxing of debt service ratios that should be imposed by the Central Bank on the consumer lending banks made me wince! This great conspiracy explains too why the local banks are willing to insanely extend additional credit facilities to our essentially bankrupt country in the aftermath of Hurricane Matthew and why they can continue charging all of us exorbitant bank charges and other bank fees. and that my friend is the entire big picture behind the great conspiracy of greed and corruption that exists between the government, the central bank and the major consumer lending banks.

You have only touched on the surface of the real problem my friend. Most public sector employees are buried in debt thanks to the partnership that exists between our corrupt government and the major consumer lending banks like Commonwealth Bank, Fidelity Bank and Bank of The Bahamas. Ordinarily a borrower's total monthly payments in respect of all loans received should not exceed one-third (33%) of their total monthly income. This rule of thumb in most civilized developed countries is often referred to as the debt service ratio. But our corrupt government, our Central Bank and our greedy consumer lending banks have conspired over the years to allow public sector employees to take on grossly excessive amounts of consumer debt, with the current average debt service ratio of a civil servant being well above 60%. The greedy consumer lending banks are content to take on this grossly excessive lending risk because the government has committed to them that the loans will be serviced and repaid by way of direct salary deductions and the borrowers will be kept on the government's payroll until the loans have been fully repaid. This is one of the key reasons why our country suffers from a very bloated public sector headcount.....our government cannot even fire known abusive and non-productive employees as long as they are heavily indebted to the consumer lending banks, and our civil servants are well aware of this fact; hence their willingness to take on much more debt than they should as it provides job security. The government of course sees all of this as a way to "buy" loyal votes from employees throughout the public sector. For their part, the greedy consumer lending banks reap enormous profits from the outrageous interest rates they charge on their consumer loans to public sector employees. In our system of government the Central Bank was intended to play a independent regulatory role free of government interference whereby borrowers would be protected from the predatory lending practices of the consumer lending banks. But that protective mechanism failed as a result of successive weak and incompetent Central Bank governors like James Smith, Wendy Craigg and now John Rolle, all of whom remain loyal lackeys of the corrupt Christie-led government to this day. To hear John Rolle recently announce the further relaxing of debt service ratios that should be imposed by the Central Bank on the consumer lending banks made me wince! This great conspiracy explains too why the local banks are willing to insanely extend additional credit facilities to our essentially bankrupt country in the aftermath of Hurricane Matthew and why they can continue charging all of us exorbitant bank charges and other bank fees. and that my friend is the entire big picture behind the great conspiracy of greed and corruption that exists between the government, the central bank and the major consumer lending banks.

Turnquest speaks with a forked tongue. Christie no doubt has told the local clearing banks that the $150 million loan facility will be repaid using the proceeds of a "special tax" that will be introduced by the next government after the up coming general election no matter whether the next administration is led by Christie, Minnis or McCartney. Both Minnis and McCartney had to agree that this would indeed be the case no matter which party or coalition of parties wins the next general election and forms the next government. The cartel of clearing banks insisted on this requirement being met as a pre-condition to providing the $150 million credit facility that is.....you guessed it....guaranteed by none other than the honest hardworking already financially crippled taxpayers of the Bahamas. As Christie put it to the cartel of the local clearing banks, and to Minnis and McCartney, the proposed "special tax" balloon that he floated shows that it would be political suicide for the current PLP led administration to significantly increase taxes in the run up to the next general election. Therefore, doing so would have to be the responsibility of the next government early on in its first term.

Re-post: Christie no doubt has told the local clearing banks that the $150 million loan facility will be repaid using the proceeds of a "special tax" that will be introduced by the next government after the up coming general election no matter whether the next administration is led by Christie, Minnis or McCartney. Both Minnis and McCartney had to agree that this would indeed be the case no matter which party or coalition of parties wins the next general election and forms the next government. The cartel of clearing banks insisted on this requirement being met as a pre-condition to providing the $150 million credit facility that is.....you guessed it....guaranteed by none other than the honest hardworking already financially crippled taxpayers of the Bahamas. As Christie put it to the cartel of the local clearing banks, and to Minnis and McCartney, the proposed "special tax" balloon that he floated shows that it would be political suicide for the current PLP led administration to significantly increase taxes in the run up to the next general election. Therefore, doing so would have to be the responsibility of the next government early on in its first term.

Re-post: Christie no doubt has told the local clearing banks that the $150 million loan facility will be repaid using the proceeds of a "special tax" that will be introduced by the next government after the up coming general election no matter whether the next administration is led by Christie, Minnis or McCartney. Both Minnis and McCartney had to agree that this would indeed be the case no matter which party or coalition of parties wins the next general election and forms the next government. The cartel of clearing banks insisted on this requirement being met as a pre-condition to providing the $150 million credit facility that is.....you guessed it....guaranteed by none other than the honest hardworking already financially crippled taxpayers of the Bahamas. As Christie put it to the cartel of the local clearing banks, and to Minnis and McCartney, the proposed "special tax" balloon that he floated shows that it would be political suicide for the current PLP led administration to significantly increase taxes in the run up to the next general election. Therefore, doing so would have to be the responsibility of the next government early on in its first term.

Christie no doubt has told the local clearing banks that the $150 million loan facility will be repaid using the proceeds of a "special tax" that will be introduced by the next government after the up coming general election no matter whether the next administration is led by Christie, Minnis or McCartney. Both Minnis and McCartney had to agree that this would indeed be the case no matter which party or coalition of parties wins the next general election and forms the next government. The cartel of clearing banks insisted on this requirement being met as a pre-condition to providing the $150 million credit facility that is.....you guessed it....guaranteed by none other than the honest hardworking already financially crippled taxpayers of the Bahamas. As Christie put it to the cartel of the local clearing banks, and to Minnis and McCartney, the proposed "special tax" balloon that he floated shows that it would be political suicide for the current PLP led administration to significantly increase taxes in the run up to the next general election. Therefore, doing so would have to be the responsibility of the next government early on in its first term.

It's actually much worse than you state because workers who are now nearing retirement age will only be receiving a small pittance of what they were promised under these schemes during the last two-thirds of their retirement years. A lot of hard working honest Bahamians and Haitian-Bahamians are going to be left high and dry with little if any retirement income to live off of during the neediest years of their retirement.