as if we need more evidence of the failure of socialism. Only the oil-rich gulf states can hand out to citizens these days and even some of them, Bahrain, Oman and to a lesser extent Saudi Arabia are quickly coming to the realization they can't continue the handouts like in the past. Read the Economist, even they are implementing VAT. hope BPL finds oil someday before we are overwhelmed by these unsustainable subsidies to SOEs like WSC and Bahamasair and my favourite, the non-contributory public service pension system.

DAWES is correct. if fuel surcharge is to cover the variable cost of fuel, how could you need to borrow due the high cost of fuel? further, last 2 years or so fuel prices have been below $40 a barrel so it doesnt add up to me either.

all of us know that the kitty is slowly but surely being emptied. we also know that this has been known for a long time. what pees me off is they let it get so far out of control then the only remedy is drastic measures. 1% increase a year would have been easier to digest by employer and employee as oppoosed to recommendations like this, of a doubling. and if they dont act soon to some degree, it will eventually be a tripling of contributions.

minister is correct. if citizens have a gripe, you go to court and insist on your rights and/or damages as provided by law. The role of government in these things is to amend laws as needed where deficiencies are identified but not addressed in the law. Thats why you have 3 branches of gov't in a democracy, the Executive, the legislature and the judiciary.. you dont need to beg for everything.

bahamas12345 is correct. i know plenty people who never paid. their position is i dont plan to sell my house, i will die there, so let someone else worry about it. So yes, just like every other law, the only incentive to comply is the threat of punitive action, a principle alien to our society.

further to sheeprunner12 post, The official United Nations definition of ethnic cleansing is "rendering an area ethnically homogeneous by using force or intimidation to remove from a given area persons of another ethnic or religious group" so if we are all black people and its not religious, how is it ethnic cleansing? we need to be careful throwing these terms around. next we'll hear the shantytowns are terrorist training camps or the gov't action is a crime against humanity. come on, give it a break!

leave on 'very favourable terms'.. political talk for overly generous lump sums and pensions to many who never should have been employed in the first place and others, who will be reengaged within 2 years.. and who will pay for this generosity? us of course, either through increased taxes and/or higher electricity rates. the money has to come from somewhere after all and wr know BEC doesn't have it...

you pay for a water meter whether you want it or not even if one gallon of water never enters the meter.. airport users pay fees for fire rescue services they may never use either, you pay insurance on your building every year even if you never claim... so what else is new?

sheeprunner 12 is close to the crux of the matter. Rowdy Boys i have been told, is a hard-core FNM bunch who perhaps have certain expectations following from their ties to former FNM Rep JFK, which paid big rewards for years. In this day and age we need to demand professional behaviour from bidders and if you cant fill out forms right, submit required paperwork, and have no qualified professionals employed, in other words a bush operation, you cant expect to play in the big leagues. We cant afford these catastrophes like what happened on Gladstone Road. just because you scrap a tractor and a few dump trucks and give yourself a big company name, doesn't make you one. finally, clearly Bradley Roberts just want to create mischief.. why would he care if a FNM company did not get a contract?

this is one example of why i have always advocated that the DF should properly be called Coast Guard. we have no capacity to respond to an act of aggression, so how can it be a Defence Force. however, we can patrol for the illegals trying to enter and fish and since Immigration cant patrol, here we see why the organization is more a Coast Guard.