"*he pointed to the section in the legislation that imposes restrictions on the family members of bank employees from buying or making offers on distressed properties where the same institution is seeking to exercise its power-of-sale.*"

Mr Bowe knows his business better than me but what I do know is, we are not an honest people and everybody (well.. alot of people) looking for some way to crook the system or someone else to "*get ahead*". We've heard rumours for years about bank personnel putting shady contractors on approved lists, or approving mortgages for unqualified persons for profit. One customer gave an account on radio how 3 bank employees colluded to take her property and at the time were living in her triplex, claiming to have purchased it but unable to show any evidence that theyd made a single payment toward the mortgage. All employees were ultimately fired by the bank but the lady was still out her property.

**This entire debacle is the result of yet another bungled policy.**

From earlier this year BICA I believe, if not the Chamber, issued a statement citing challenges with the forced Q1(?) deadline, least of which was there simply werent enough accounting firms do to the work!

In complete defiance of all evidence to the contrary, Finance maintained its strongman approach that everyone had to meet the deadline *or else*. Its now August and the audits aren't complete. What was the point?? It was clearly an unrealistic goal.

**Seriously where is Brave Davis and why is he maintaining the facade of Minister of Finance?** How long will he allow whomever he's left in charge to make one blunder after the next? "Lucky" for us another ripe opportunity for disaster is coming, 15% global corporate tax... wait for it

From an ilo.org article:
"*Most frequently, countries adjust their minimum wages once a year. Some countries, adjust rates every six months, while others have 2-years intervals. Annual adjustments seem adequate in periods of low or moderate inflation, providing workers and employers with appropriate predictability and allowing for regular adjustments, in line with evolving economic circumstances.*

*What to do if there is high inflation?
Yearly adjustments allow for predictability and smooth adjustments, and can be complemented by more frequent adjustments when inflation exceeds some threshold.*

*In some countries, when inflation accelerates above a certain threshold, more frequent adjustments are automatically applied. In France, for example, the minimum wage is automatically increased whenever price inflation exceeds 2 per cent within a given year.*

***Automatic indexation above a certain level, however, can be risky and lead to inflationary wage-price “spirals” in situations of sharply accelerating inflation.***

A very complex issue. In the US the federal minimum wage increase requires an act of Congress. **Despite the *theory* from the ilo, from epi.org (*economic policy institute*), in the US:**
"*The federal minimum hourly wage is just $7.25 and has not increased since 2009. The Raise the Wage Act of 2021, introduced in the U.S. House of Representatives on January 26, 2021, would gradually raise the federal minimum wage to $15 an hour by 2025.*" **this article was dated Jan-2021, but the 2024 fed min wage is still listed as 7.25.**

**The Bah govt is doing alot of uncoordinated *good* things, a clear sign that the motivation is not based on strategy and has everything to do with a 2025/2026 election campaign**. Had this been strategic, at the time of the first increase which was just a few months ago, they would have stated the plan for the sliding scale and the ultimate goal. They didnt. **Business like stability and predictability**

They're in business.

It would be nice if businesses also "cared" about the Bahamas, but their primary goal is profit. It is for the govt who has an obligation to care for the Bahamas to decide if any intl business operating here with primary goal of making profit, will also result in some positive/benefit for the Bshamas and its people.

We've had enough bedrock banks, businesses and industrial companies pack up and leave to know that no business thinks they "have" to operate in the Bahamas

Noone can really say what is excessive or not without looking the business cost structure. I assume they make more than 300 dollars per flight but who knows. Perhaps the Bahamas is a loss making leg just designed to get people to other profit making legs, we dont know.

He's also talking about introducing the 15% global corporate tax for multinationals and estimating all the money theyll make from it. I just hope they're using an economic model other than the *all positive news* one. Because every single economic policy theyve introduced has ended up in an ill thought out ball of confusion. I'll wait to see if any of these companies decide that if they have to pay this tax, they might as well move their entire operation to somewhere with at least reliable electricity

They should bar **all** activity on the island. Mr Hanna nor his masters should not be allowed to profit from their wanton destruction of the environment

"*He said the native limestone had been demolished to create a path across much of the island.*"

That entire structure has been compromised. The island is only so wide.

How dumb are we. The person who did this should be given a fine of 100000 dollars for every person living on the north eastern end of NP.

This is like constructing a sand bag dune to hold off rising water from entering the city then have someone on the other side inserting a pipe to allow free flow of water

Again why are all of these people fighting to develop land that's been designated a marine reserve? Its mindboggling. And even more important than that, land that's been marked as key to the protection of north eastern NP from storm surges. You just cant make sense of this. Any development of that land weakens the entire structure

"*Gowon Bowe told this newspaper this was due to CrowdStrike’s impact on the processing firms rather than Bahamian commercial banks. He added that the Association’s members were impacted to “varying degrees”, but the ability to process customer card transactions for all was restored by the day’s end.*"

This is incorrect. Every single card owner could probably tell you of at minimum 5 instances when the electricity was off or the card machine was "down" as they like to say. Beside the common sense of having a backup, the infrastructure in this country is not ready for reliable consistent available cashless.

I remember when the port announced that they were opening a junkanoo museum, the show host said something like *this is wonderful!*, even brought in a j UK nkanoo expert to speak about how wonderful it was.

All I could think was, who okayed this? Why would you place this thing that is uniquely Bahamian, something you could point to the tourists and say this is ours, right at the cruise ship steps??? Put that someplace out South Beach and force an exciting tour through the streets culminating in the ultimate Bahamian experience.

But no.

All we like is ribbon cuttings and ceremony, when we realize all the goods gone is too late. Beaches in tourist spots in Italy I believe are now denying tourists the ability to reserve beach spots using placement of beach chairs. Sounds familiar? Everybody but us understand the value

They will keep biting away and biting away until they have an all inclusive stopping point on the dock.

Meanwhile we doing our own damage bulldozing the hills on Athol island that protect NP from storm surges. If Bay St, the cruise port and north eastern NP gets washed away, how many years do we think it will be before the next cruise ship docks? And what becomes of this tourist facility you created to attract cruise tourists?