Hmmm ... the term *"infiltrated by foreigners"* sounds an awfully like the old PLP playing the Roots movie over and over at election time. It sound terribly pejorative coming from a cabinet minister. And yet, he is a simpleton retard when you examine the logic. Let me spell it out.

He says that there are too many foreigners. In the next breath, he says that there should be recognised major brands. Ahem -- those recognised major brands are all ... guess what ... they are all foreigners.

Now, this blazing idiot with feces for brains insults foreigners and then wants to invite other foreigners in. Doesn't anyone have a brain in the PLP?

The other issue, is that the whole world now knows how a foreigner investing in his money is treated by the government, thanks to the Baha Mar fiasco with Sarkis Izmirlian. So if I am a major owner or decision-maker, would I want to invest in a place where the playing field is stacked against me at the whims of the government?

What the minister of Tourism fails to understand about business, is that it is a very Darwinian, self-adapting organism. It fills niches. If there are only jewelry stores selling cheap, tawdry jewelry, then that is what the market wants. The small percentage of cruise passengers who get off the cruise ships, don't want major brands, otherwise John Bull would be chock-a-block full of people. They carry all of the major brands.

The dunderhead minister is still trying to sell an outdated paradigm in tourism. People don't get off the boat to shop. The recent stats prove it. They get off the boat for an experience. Tourism has become experiential, not the shopping and sun, sand, sea and gambling. The minister is way behind the times, and doesn't know anything about Tourism despite being minister of it. That has been the problem for the past 20 or so years. And when he insults foreigners who would provide the tourism experience, he is just adding another nail to the coffin of the economy.

That's a sad way to live, and yet Bahamians accept it. When I visit my friends near the bend at Eastern Road where it meets Yamacraw Road, you can see people out walking at night carrying sticks to protect themselves from potcakes -- both human and animal. Many of my friends carry brass knuckles, folding billy sticks or pepper spray.

It's not just the young gang members plugging each other. The young criminals will rob you and then shoot you. I was driving down Shirley Street near Soldier Road at night, and three punks tried to box me in with their cars with the intent of robbing me. I saved myself by turning into Harbour Bay at the last minute as I sped away.

As previously mentioned I was shocked to hear clean-cut stock boys in a supermarket discuss the pro and cons of a Glock pistol over a Smith & Wesson. I later Googled what I heard, and it turns out they did know what they were talking about.

Those who say that we are just like any other major city have it wrong. I was in New York City recently, and I was walking in downtown Manhattan at 1 AM, and the city was alive, and safe. Last call at the bars is 4 AM and they are still rocking, and nobody gets shot or robbed.

GBPA is a huge failure in every way.

If NEMA had any sort of sense, they would keep strategically placed cargo containers around the Bahamas -- filled with bottled water, dry clothes, insulin, aspirin, rain gear, canned foodstuffs, sterno fuel, satellite telephones, tents, cots, battery operated computers so that disaster recovery officers can execute a pre-devised recovery plan. This is so basic, and yet no one thinks about easy, simple things like this that adds much comfort to the people.

I have even see with my own eyes, an entire medical clinic in a cargo container that could be air-dropped using LAPES or Low Altitude Parachute Extraction from planes so they needn't land when the runway is destroyed. Why is the government so retarded?

I agree. The human compassion angle is taking a back seat, and the poor beleaguered residents are being treated like zoo animals -- just subjects for dramatic news pictures and selfies with politicians who want to prove how much they are "on top of it"! And the suffering goes on ....

Has Christie the clown stopped calling the storm "Joe-Queen"?

The views express the moral & ethical compass of the PLP government, the PLP party and person giving the opinion.

Could it be because JP and Credit-Suisse are pondering ALL of their options instead of committing to new real estate? Anyone looking at leasing large square footage is now being hammered mercilessly to sign up for long term agreements, and everyone it seems, is taking a wait and see attitude. My own job is being moved from the Bahamas -- thankfully I am going with it!

If these deals are going down in the Bahamas, or from the Bahamas as you state, then the Bahamian lawyers are just on the periphery and that is what Mr. Coulson is saying in a round-about fashion. Bahamian lawyers cannot be the rainmakers in the deal.

The bigger point is that legal teams do see opportunities and initiate deals based on arbitrage factors of other deals in the works -- and that is where the Bahamian lawyers do not have the expertise. And, in the higher finance circles in the G20 countries, any deal stemming from an offshore (say Bahmian) IBC is immediately suspect and causes the compliance lawyers to go full-on red alert.

Having seen a massive flight of HNWI's and their capital, I question whether Bahamian firms are involved in 9 figure deals with any great frequency, unless they involve Latin American counterparties.

It's all fine and dandy to rebuild, and create something new and wonderful, and I am all for that. However, I am looking from the economics of it. The Family Islands do not have enough economic output to warrant the investment. Unfortunately, the government, with its idiot prime minister as finance minister, doesn't have the knowledge, insight or brains to figure out that there is not enough economic output to bring Nassau's infrastructure to civilised, modern standards -- never mind the Family Islands.

Some of my ancestors came from Moss Town, Exuma, which is now a virtual ghost town. It used to be a thriving agricultural community that raised tomatoes, vegetables and fruits for itself and for Nassau. But the way that they lived, was quite regressive. I wouldn't want to live that way.

They had cess pits. There was no electricity. They used to run and hide in hurricane houses until the storm was over. There was no ice. They would shop by mail boat which took forever. However, their economic output (raising and sending produce to Nassau) supported their rustic lifestyle.

To support the building of a modern way of life in the Family Islands, one first has to figure out how they would earn a living, and it would have to be commensurate enough to offset the high cost of energy and infrastructure to support that mode of earning a living. I think that we have moved beyond the agrarian, fishing homesteading type of life that the residents once lived. Heck, we can't even figure out how to employ people in Nassau.

Even if you chose agriculture, we don't need as many people as was required in the past. With mechanization and a thrust towards agri-business, we could have massive farms with very few people.

It is a tough nut to crack. We simply do not have enough money to create and maintain a modern infrastructure amongst a non-contiguous land mass, separated by miles and miles of ocean that is more expensive to cross than by say driving a truck. Technology may provide some answers, but at a price that we cannot afford. There is not enough human capital to make a difference as well.

I would like to hear your ideas on how you would economically support a refurbishment proposal in the Family Islands. We all would.