else ...

the close to a billion was a shock.

As far as being flippant, the die was set when Crisco Butt squandered away the first receipts of the VAT.

I am with you in the fervent hope that the pros (CPAs etc) can pull this thing off, but the criminal PLP have put us in a very deep hole and the oxygen is running short.

In this case laughter is the only medicine for the soul.

Been to the Daily Grind lately?

Agree. To regulate it, I see it that it has to be illegal to import it. It must be grown here. And there must be quality control to insure a safe product with consistent dosage.

We could do several things with this concept. We could increase stop-over visitors and increase hotel occupancy with medical marijuana tourism. We could follow the Amsterdam model and have marijuana and soft designer drug cafes that would increase tourism.

Alcohol is scientifically proven to be more socially destructive than marijuana, and yet it is a big part of the economy. As you point out, it is time to get with the times and increase our GDP.

For once, I totally agree with you.

Interesting body language here. Notice the grouping of people. There are four that are tightly grouped, and one that isn't. In spite of occupying the same type of chair and sitting in a reciprocal but similar position to Glennys, Fred is distancing himself. Note the way he crosses the leg. In body language psychology, he is shutting them out of his personal sphere. Nobody is happy in the crowd. Look at Fred's hand, I copied this right out of Psyc 101:

*The mouth guard is one of the few adult gestures that is as obvious as a child's. The hand covers the mouth and the thumb is pressed against the cheek as the brain sub-consciously instructs it to try and suppress the deceitful words that are being said. Sometimes this gesture may only be several fingers over the mouth or even a closed fist, but its meaning remains the same. If the person who is speaking uses this gesture, it indicates that he is telling a lie. If, however, he covers his mouth while another person is speaking, it indicates that he feels they are lying!*

Interesting thought: Will Fred actually try to run for head of the PLP? If would help if he were a parliamentarian instead of a senator, but he is an ambitious person.

I'd love to have the big honking remote control on the table.

Christie has a hell of a legacy -- Poverty for close to 300,000 people.

I rather suspected that the financial situation of this country was dire. At least we will know how bad the situation is.

I foresee defaulting on some government bonds, and a devaluation of the Bahamian dollar in our mid-term future.

I also see a crash of NIB and a total shutdown or divestiture of BahamasAir. I also see a further selling of the 49% of BTC to raise money.

I see a huge reduction in the civil service, and efficiencies gained by total computerisation. I see an increase in crime and disorder, and even possible civil unrest in the streets.

I see a mass exodus of second home owners, and a crash in luxury real estate prices.

I see all of this suffering as necessary to a re-adjustment of an untenable situation in the economy of the Bahamas.

I see the need for huge austerity measures.

I see the need for dollarisation of the economy, but doing that would create economic chaos at this moment, and it is debatable whether we could stand it or not. However it has to be done. It would get rid of the charade that we call reserves, and it would open up the Bahamas to foreign capital to re-capitalise the economy.

I see pain and misery for the average Bahamian for several years.

I see an exodus of capital. I see a 50 percent loss of the financial services industry by this time next year, and a 5% decline in tourism. I see the failure of BahaMar as economically not viable in this uncertain fiscal, monetary and social climate.

I can't see hope unless the FNM start swinging a big cleaver and start swinging it soon. The problem is where to chop to hurt and bleed the least.

Sad. He needed cash to go to the US for treatment.

Thank you for this ray of light on a dark subject.

The most cogent message here is telling people to snap out of depression is like telling people to snap out of diabetes.

I would be very interested to know your thoughts on mindfulness.

Thanks again.

You are a scumbot liar as bad as the PLP. Categorically, and unlike you, I have only one account here. I have detected more of your stupid clone accounts here.

The community here now knows that you are a troll and worse than birdie. Birdie is a partisan. You sir are a congenital and serial liar like Trump. You make up shiite to reinforce your lies and biases. And like all morally deficient people, you assume that everyone lives as a bottom feeder in the same slime that you do, doing the same lying.

I know it is impossible for you to honour yourself by sticking to the truth, but smearing your shiite all over this forum is a reflection on you and you alone. You have lost all credibility, despite what I think is an underlying intelligence in spite of your deviousness and lack of moral compass.

To state the obvious, Mass Exodus and I are not connected, and if your lies were truth, you would be able to check IP addresses. Please go back to the bunghole that you came out of us, and only re-emerge when the truth within you strikes back. (if possible)

While I agree with the intent of the article, I would like to point out that the decline of Nassau and Bay Street in particular is part of several larger trends. The first is our declining tourism, and huge numbers of cruise tourists that do not even bother to get off the boat in Nassau. Bay Street, by and large, catered to the tourists of a generation ago, which is not the profile and demographic of today's tourist.

The second major trend that affects Nassau, is the downward spiral of most retailers. This is not a local trend. If you peruse the business news, you will find that most serious retailers are in a decline or a state of retrenchment. Online shopping killed a vibrant retail economy, and the genericization of exclusive luxury veblen goods such as Tommy Hilfiger and Ralph Lauren, now catering to the unwashed masses pushed the decline onto a steeper gradient. One can now get brand names at stores that traditionally did not carry them.

The downtown core of many cities are in decline. It started with the advent of the shopping malls. Shopping malls are now in decline across North America in favour of box store campuses. The net effect is that the downtown core withers and dies.

Nassuvians have all but deserted the downtown. Have you been downtown after business hours and when there are no cruise ships in port? It is devoid of life. The downtown core needs a gentrification and a re-introduction of use by the local populace, but that is almost impossible with the monolithic economy, the decline of the middle class and the systemic, endemic unemployment problem, or under-employment situation in our stagnant economy.