Sorry, didn't mean to be misleading -- just exact. RBC does in fact pay dividends, but the Bahamian operation which has Bahamian shareholders does not pay dividends and has not for 2 years. They still have about $100 million of non-performing loans on their books. However as one pundit pointed out, they have barrels of retained earnings, and they have assets of close to a billion dollars, so they are not in a precarious situation like BoB.

To be perfectly exact, yes, RBC(Bahamas) has not paid dividends in 2 years. RBC has.

It's a very interesting situation, from a Canadian taxation point of view. It is not a direct subsidiary of RBC -- the holding company is. Two reasons -- there is the insulation from untoward results of tax haven money (which you call a blocker company). The second reason is that it behooves RBC (Bahamas) to act as a separate company. However it is a foreign company, so if it is wholly owned by a subsidiary, there is a tax deal with Barbados such that if they pay 4% tax on profits to the Bajan government, they can be repatriated back to Canada tax free. And they can play footsie with the amount of "profits" for Bajan taxation purposes. If the profits came from a wholly owned foreign corporation, there would be a significant tax hit. RBC (Bahamas) cannot be a subsidiary because of the various risks of running afoul of the OECD, the US etc. Notice this vehicle came into effect in 2011.

And if there is major trouble with money-laundering, breaking international law with some dubious accounts, there is double insulation. The first is the holding company and the second is that the Bahamian entity is not wholly owned by the holding company. It would be easy to do a snip, and still retain a vehicle for almost tax free profits from other operating entities.

It is really a nice piece of work in an obscene sort of way.

I love the laughing photo.

He's a happy man. Ha ha ha.

We got more Zika. Ha ha ha.

Tourism gern down da toilet. ha ha hah.

http://tribune242.com/users/photos/2016…

LOL. Make sure that the software filters out the word "Comrade" and truncates the message after the first sentence.

I was largely impressed about specifying a means test for the Baha Mar buyer. That was in the first sentence. Then it all went to hell in a redshirt, communist-lingo handcart.

As for the buyer, I bet you PM Crisco Butt phoned up Phil Ruffin. He regularly takes rides in Ruffin's private jet. The convo went like this:

"Mr. Phil. Hello. This is Prime Minister Pewwy Gladstone Chwistie."

"Who."

"Perry".

"Perry, who?".

"The Prime Minister of the Bahamas".

"Oh ... ummm... the plane is busy now and can't bring you to the States". (aside to secretary "The dumb phocque Bahamian prime minister is on the line. This oughta be good.")

"No, I don't need a plane ride. Dem Chinese, and we are building democracy, and FDI is important, and dey calling me names over it".

"Speaking English man!".

"I need you to buy Baha Mar".

(aside to secretary -- "They want me to buy that pile of shiite that I sold to them for a profit. Ha ha ha!) "Tell you what, Crisco, I'll give you a hunnert million fer it.

"My Lord, it's a three billion dollar project. I need you to buy it so that I can save face."

"Do you want to save one, or both of your faces?"

"Both".

"Tell you what, have the Chinks build it, and I might buy it then."

"Oh thank you thank you thank. Jesus will bless you."

"How did that referendum go?"

"The population turned it down. They were afraid of gay marriage."

"Why didn't you tell them that Jesus had two daddies?"

"I know. But they are a very simple people -- thanks to my education policies. So you will buy Baha Mar, Mr. Ruffin?"

"I will consider putting in a offer."

"Oh thank you, thank you, thank you, the people of the Bahamas thank you, I thank ..... hello? hello? Did we get cut off? Damn Batelco!".

Patronizing web shops is how the unemployed spend their time, and their last dollar.

I hope that Prime Minister Crisco Butt grills Obie as to why he broke the Industrial Relations Act twice -- once for failing to hold nominations for its executive positions, and in the second instance, the non-publication of its annual returns. This is the law of the land. Until they comply, they should be told to sit down and shut up.

Obie Ferguson thinks that he is king for life over the union. Heaven forbid that he loses his cushy job built on the backs of working Bahamians by holding a free election. He is a leech on Bahamian society.

There are several people who should go to jail over this.

You bring up an interesting point. Once the project is completed, it has to be retrofitted for the new owner. They will have to do the rooms to the decor and theme of the brand. So the new owners will have to sink more money into it. It is highly unlikely that Baha Mar can be sold at a profit. The Chinese are going to have to take a financial haircut. So why would they agree to that?

The prescient answer is obvious. Owning the land is more important to the Chinese than actually finishing the hotel and selling it. They know that there is no way in hell that they can get the money that they have sunk into it. But owning the land is a carrot and a stick over The Bahamas. We will be voting for every Chinese interest in the UN from now until kingdom come.

I for one, don't believe that they will finish it properly, or that it can be sold.

Let's spell this out in simple terms. If you are due to retire in the next 6 years, there will be no money for you to do so. The unfunded pensions will total about 64% of the entire economy or GDP.

There is no way now that they can fix the $1.6 billion. When it reaches over 60% of the entire economy, there will be old people starving because there will not be money to pay their pensions out.