Looks like Brave has a new attack dog. Oh what a cur it is! As a dog returneth to his vomit, [so] a fool returneth to his folly. For without are dogs, and sorcerers, and fornicators, and murderers, and idolaters, and whoever loves and makes a lie.

Sighhh... here we go again. Why the hell can't we get a blue-ribbon company in the Bahamas that is free of taint? There is not a one !!!

If Ortland H. Bodie Jr. is on the path to enlightenment, we are all doomed. Being a disbarred lawyer goes to character. Nuff said.

The fixed peg to the American dollar benefits the fiscal policy of the Bahamas because of the reserves system. It is currently one big shell game. A great majority of the reserves are "paper" reserves with questionable value. For example, a government note denominated in American dollars ends up being tallied as part of the reserves, instead of actual cash. Various financial instruments in the banking system are counted towards the reserves if they are denominated in American dollars. At any given time, they are not particularly liquid, nor is their value guaranteed.

In the meantime, the banking system and government agencies have excess liquidity of funny money (Bahamian dollars) solely because it is not convertible, and cannot be used to support imports, and as a result, the government will borrow that money domestically.

Because of this mechanism, this debt is almost invisible to the credit rating agencies who look only at the GDP and debt denominated in a convertible currency. A good example of this is the $1 billion dollars that the government owes NIB in unfunded contributions. The iceman cometh eventually, and this is currently swept under the table, and not factored into any econometric valuations.

Another type of shell game is that if an organisation accumulates foreign currency that is domiciled in the Bahamas, the government can borrow from that pot, denominate the repayment in American dollars and that note is now part of the reserves.

If the Bahamian dollar were allowed to float, market forces would find the real value against a traded, convertible fiat currency, and the devaluation would be an economic shock from which the country could not recover. The only real way out this mess, and the charade game that the government calls fiscal policy, is to dollarise the economy. Barring that, the only way to relieve the shock, is to devalue the peg slowly until the economy can take the shock of dollarisation. Either way is not very a very pretty scenario for the average Bahamian. Endemic, structural unemployment is at an all-time high. The first pillar of the economy, tourism is a dated product in decline. Financial services, the second pillar is a disaster area, with all of the major players either selling their book of business or contemplating a complete withdrawal from the arena.

The Bahamas, especially the current incarnation of a kleptocracy called the PLP, has studiously resisted efforts to diversify the economy, so unfortunately, the short and long term prospects for Bahamians are quite bleak.

There was a stabbing at Arawak Cay during Carnival that was quietly hushed up. Saw the bloody video on social media.

The Bahamas, plain and simple does not respect women. When Hubert A. Ingraham proposed constitutional changes to give women equality, the PLP campaigned hard against him and defeated him in 2002. In that same agenda, he wanted to diversify the economy and create a Third Pillar of the economy in eCommerce. That would have created a greater sense of well-being in the populace, more high paying jobs and less crime.

Instead we have institutionalised sexual exploitation which leads to domestic violence. The powers that be in this country (ie senior politicians) all have sweethearts and boyfriends on the side. Cabinet ministers gloat about beating up women. The veneer of civilisation in this country is very thin. Truth is the victim and enlightenment is banished to countries with a more intelligent population.

Throwing a party to make people feel good is how you distract them from the corruption and sh*tty lives that they have. The Romans did it by building the Colosseum and having gladiator games. The PLP do it by having relay races and Carnival. Forget the fact that they added $1.2 billion to the debt in a year and a half. Forget the fact that Jerome Fitzgerald is connected to Rubis. Forget that Gray interfered in the judicial system. Forget that this is the same old corrupt PLP that ran drugs and sold the country out. Rejoice. Eat, drink, dance and be merry!

Yawn ... more BISX junk masquerading as investment grade securities. I can't believe that anything connected to Alliance, Benchmark is still listed on BISX despite being insolvent.

Exactly. They are all complicit in a charade, a failure of fiduciary responsibility and a sense of common decency to protect Bahamian investors. This is an example to the world as to why Bahamian markets, Bahamian financial institutions, Bahamian accounting firms, Bahamian lawyers and Bahamian regulators are complicit in corruption, white collar crime and are not to be trusted with anyone's money. I wonder how much "extra" PKF was paid for a semi-favourable report. In a little while we will be seeing this story on offshore alert websites.