Sigh ... you would think that someone who was a Central Bank Governor, and someone educated would stop being an apologist and truth-skewing front man for those who are his intellectual inferiors. What gives? History will already record him as an unmitigated disaster, so he has no legacy as a banker or finance minister. And these public statements cement the legacy that he is somehow cognitively challenged.

I would say that Moody's has a much better reputation for veracity and accuracy than our partisan, politicking, pot-licking, PLP pontificator and prevaricator.

Probably sent it off to Allyson Mayonnaise Gibson for a slippery "legal opinion". Wutless PLP!

I was beaten as punishment as a child. I used to regard it as an unfair process. Oftentimes I was punished for being in the company of my peers when they did something wrong. My contention is that corporal punishment drives an invisible impediment to an authentic, open, mutually respectful relationship with one's parents. I would not physically punish any children of mine based on my experience as a child.

I think that you are spot on when you say that violence is a way for success, money and power if you have no other tools for achieving it. Persons of that ilk also lack the cognitive tools to rationally reject violence and crime as a viable life choice.

A young relative once brought home another young man who was unemployed, owned a gun (he said it was for protection), had dubious sources of income, filled his days in the environs of Balls Alley doing God knows what and was a high school dropout. The young lad could not even envision his life at age 35 or beyond, and he said that he would probably be dead by then anyway.

I can't imagine a life where hope is extinguished like that without any possibility of temporal salvation in this society, and yet these are the dark thoughts that these young men carry every minute of their waking existence. It invokes the immortal words of Alan Paton ~ "Cry The Beloved Country".

The trouble is that there is nothing else, but service jobs.

HAI before his defeat after two terms, tried to introduce the Third Pillar of the economy -- eCommerce and was roundly voted out of office, after losing the equality of women referendum as well.

Had the Third Pillar initiative succeeded, we would have had a small cadre of knowledge workers. Jamaica put a 3 cent tax on all incoming cellular calls. (They knew that the expats sending remittances wouldn't mind.)

They used the proceeds to build two technology parks and call centers. Both of those call centers are full. They took the Scotiabank business away from the Bahamas, and they have a web development center on the Mona Campus, UWI that is backed by firms in the US and Canada. The spin-off process has already begun. Ex-call center employees start a computer-related business to service the call centers and web design and they have a burgeoning high tech sector.

It just takes some seeds to be planted and take hold. The area around St. Anne's in Jamaica has many technology startups, and SMB (Small & Medium Businesses) are the drivers of job creation in any economy.

We have just crossed the line into a failed state.

A failed state is a state perceived as having failed at some of the basic conditions and responsibilities of a sovereign government. Although there is no general consensus on the definition, the Fund for Peace characterizes a failed state as having the following characteristics:

-Erosion of legitimate authority to make collective decisions
-Inability to provide public services
-Inability to interact with other states as a full member of the international community

So there is no democratic oversight of public funds in the Bahamas. We have officially become a banana republic. It is a shameful day for all Bahamians. The criminality of governance that was birthed the PLP has entrenched itself, and democracy is dead.

It is time to stop paying taxes, VAT and any other monies until there is public accountability over where the monies go. Sad sad day for democracy, for our independence and for fair play and the voice of the people. We deserve better.

No matter how you sugar coat it, a loss of $18.2 million is a loss and unsustainable.

Nice !!!!

So then, why not partner with private industry? Have a curated Bahamian products page, going to the high end. Have the straw vendors do a Harl Taylor, or have a designer do some high end straw, and the straw workers make it.

There is also an authentic Bahamian souvenir shop on Shirley Street who's name escapes me now.

Your $6 million is overly ambitious if it is the usual fare that I see in the Straw Markets, but if you upscale, make it into niche products, and partner with private industry to piggy back on their infrastructure, you could really make something out of this.

There is more than one way to skin a cat. Try the Chamber of Commerce for funds, or the Rotary Club, or guys like Winston Rolle who have a rolodex full of names that could possibly make this happen.

What you have to be sure of, is that there is a cultural divide as to what Bahamians think that tourists will buy, and what they actually buy. If you focused the straw works to encapsulate the green movement (can you have the workers make straw flip-flops), you will have a major winner.

Good luck.

I see that Reuben Rahming (PTAB - and Fox Hill) has been promoting something called La-Tow242 on his youtube channel, that seems to be doing the right things about socialising the young Bahamian male. He is taking them fishing, teaching them things about being a Land & Ocean warrior. (Cute line in there about surf casting spoon lures. Little boy saying "Mistah Reuben say he need da spoon.").

I'm wondering if there could be a neighbourhood movement to intercept young males as Mr. Rahming is doing, and gently socialise them in a different way. I would add literacy, free books, classical music, sports and a positive, non-preachy male influence. One could get them in touch with Bahamian culture by teaching them bush teas, plants and herbs, fishing (as Rahming is doing), growing things and elevate it a notch with computer programming.

The way that I see it, is that I have stated that Bahamians are trapped into a life of mediocrity with a monolithic economy, no opportunities as knowledge workers, or participation in the global village economy.

But the most disadvantaged -- the disenfranchised young Bahamian male, could also lead the way out of this morass. Some Canadian provinces have incubators, where young kids with a penchant for coding, live and sleep there, and code apps that they put for sale on Google and Amazon.

If we created a cadre of literate young males who support themselves in the digital economy, it could be a powerful driver for change, as well as creating role models for other Bahamian youth.

Just some random thoughts on grassroots initiatives of ameliorating crime, and more importantly, rescuing the young Bahamian male, who is the root cause of the crime scourge on this nation.

Interesting article. What about jealousy as a biological imperative: http://www.sharonlbegley.com/infidelity…

Along those lines, jealousy not only of sex, but also of money and other attributes such as physical strength, physical attractiveness personality may come into play.

When you couple that with a poorly socialised person with value-programming of the negative kind, and a lack of education, literacy and anchors like a family life, you have a recipe for social deviance and societal anarchy.