There is already a cap on interest rates - which is 20%.

For Government to act, the best thing would be to enact Laws for bankruptcy as he mentions are there in other countries. That would then make them think twice about preying on the poor and uneducated.

I would not even provide them with a registry to search for who had declared bankruptcy - let them make their own association to track it.

The law can also be similar to the US where after 7 years no consideration can be given to a prior bankruptcy.

That is the quickest and simplest thing to do to make them THINK before they lend. Currently banks have people living in slavery which is supposed to be outlawed under our Constitution.

Yep, a church on every corner and this still happens. But, no surprise really when you note carefully what the churches worship ...

a man who had no children (supposedly), and was born of a virgin.

So from the break, sex is a bad thing (or a shameful thing) because it was not good/clean/acceptable/whatever enough to bring forth our deity in a human body. He had to be born of a virgin.

Secondly, sex must be unacceptable on another level because our Lord - even though here temporarily supposedly as a man - did not do what "normal" grown men do, which is father children.

Christianity (and esp mixed with Victorian prudishness) puts a dark veil of shame over one of our most basic and normal functions as biological (partly) beings.

All of your points are correct, and I applaud them - but until we change Christianity (or our view of it) to be more pro-human, we will always have defective humans because the faith teaches that humans are defective to begin with - "born in sin" they say. Broken from the break.

That is a bad way to start off your day.

* * *

"and these are persons with families and small children." LOL. Is that supposed to be something special???????????? We have persons with small children in this country who haven't graduated (or got leaving certificates) from High School yet.

There are tons of people out of work who could say the same thing.

Why don't they just leave the RIU and go to one of the hundreds of other companies out there that have long lists of vacancies just dying to hire someone to work for them ???? LOL.

There are NO JOBS people. Wake up. Tell your kids to stop having babies when they're 15,16,17,18,19,20,21,22,23,24,25 years old because there will also be no jobs 18 years from now when those kids are ready to work.

Fewer jobs???? Let's make more people then. That is the general Bahamian attitude.

The way we are headed, Great Britain will have to send a warship here in a few years with troops to setup soup lines - and everyone will stand in line each morning to get their ladle of warm soup - and be grateful for it.

Finally, just in case someone read this comment and mistakenly believed that at the beginning of paragraph 4 I said there are lots of jobs - let me repeat - There are NO JOBS!!

It is a failing of our Constitution that a referendum is not needed for the Government "of the people" (so-called) to enter into International Agreements on our behalf.

What exactly are we supposed to get as a benefit of being a member of the WTO? What do we export? Yes, a few tiny things, yes - but is it worth it to turn the whole country upside down for the sake of them?

Why don't we dismantle our entire Tourism Industry FIRST and then we will have a good excuse to say - "Hey we are an exporting nation now and we need to dance a new dance".

This WTO thing seems very stupid.

BUT I would love to LEARN from the Government WHY we are itching to join it. But of course I am only a citizen of this country - unworthy of such explanation.

Hey, it's not just Haitians. We treat our own Bahamians worse than dogs while they are awaiting trial in remand in prison (not to mention those convicted).
Does God disown his children if they rob a jewellery store? I never seen anything in the papers from ANY church speaking out against the conditions that former human beings are subjected to in prison here. But if a gay cruise ship pulls into port - the churches kick into high gear.

Mr. Smith, of all people, ought to agree that our court system is insanely slow. The fact that a land matter (mentioned in the article) is before the Privy Council is enough evidence of this. In other words, the Supreme Court is not sufficient (or our own Appeals Court) to decide a land matter in our "own" land. Can you imagine how many years that case has been crawling along?

It should be pointed out, however, that some of the comments here maligning the operation of the courts may be illegal themselves. It is not allowed to insult or call into question the good name of our court "system". This restriction of "free speech" is allowed by our Constitution in 23.(2)(a)(ii). (that is just one sub-section - of others that further restrict free speech).

Along with that, even our Members of Parliament (who supposedly represent the people in their districts) are not allowed to speak (at all) in the House unless they have prior permission from the PM (it is put on the schedule in advance). (Remember Glennys Hanna-Martin was thrown out a few years back for trying to speak). So they actually cannot represent us, because they are not allowed to speak in the House (without permission - which of course means they agree to say what the PM wants them to say, not what we want them to say).

I say that, just to say, be careful what you write about the courts in this forum so that you do not end up before them. I think just last year an attorney was brought up before the court because of something he said to a newspaper or talk show, and was required to issue an apology publicly.

Remember that we so-called citizens are not even allowed to speak in the Supreme Court. We must (must!!!!) be represented by an attorney in that court. I don't know what happens to people accused of serious crimes who cannot afford an attorney - I guess the court gives them one, - does anyone know?

In the Bahamas, you are best not to buy land or get married because both of these issues must be decided in the Supreme Court - and you're not allowed to even speak there. So look before you leap.

The writer makes a great point that the Government should spend lots of money on training and retraining of Bahamians - so that nobody can say we don't have a trained and skilled workforce. This would give Mitchel good ammunition to fight for Bahamian employment vs educated and trained foreigners.

It is not too late to start. How about a 5-cent per soda tax (over and above customs duty) to fund such a lofty educational project?

Too bad former Minister of Finance Hubert Ingraham did not come up with a dynamic, powerful, and highly visible training program for his people. He might still be in office today.

I'm sure the old broke-down hotel is in no worse condition than the Rand Memorial Horse Spittal.

At the least the old lady mentioned above would have a bed to lay in instead of one of those little hard plastic chairs. Maybe you ought to go to the emergency room and sit your butt in one for 15 hours before you toss opinions.

That so-called hospital is a disgrace to humanity, just like our beloved prison. Yet we call ourselves human beings, and even children of God, and build churches on every street corner.

Keep giving the money to the pastors and let the old ladies drop dead in hard plastic chairs. Why not? We've been doing it for years.

Why didn't Ingraham open it while he was in power? Same with clinic and airport in Abaco - only half-done projects. Mr. Half-Done Ingraham ended up winning less than 1/2 of the seats and so his Party is out of power. That's how it works.

Proud Loud (above) says when FNM wins in 2017 ....... How can anyone vote PLP or FNM in 2017 ???????? If the majority voted them out in 2012 why would they vote them in again 2017? Maybe the same reason the clowns who were voted out in 2007 were voted in again in 2012?

How many years do we plan to rotate the same two sets of clowns around in a circle?

This year is our 40th anniversary as a "free" nation. In that time we have only had 3 (THREE) Prime Ministers. Does that sound like a free nation? In 40 years (5 years each) we could have had 8 PM's. Instead we only got 3 of the potential 8 - that's less than half of the potential for change and democracy.

Now you want to put the FNM back in 2017????????? Then what? Put the PLP back in in 2022 ?

Which one will be up to bat when your grandchildren are old enough to vote? PLP or FNM? Which clinics will be half-done in that year? Which airports will be half-done? How many murders per years will be have?

The DNA offered a candidate in EVERY constituency during 2012. Not ONE was elected to a seat. Yet, Bahamians complain about the PLP and FNM on a daily basis. When it comes time to vote though, Papa and Obeah always come out on top.

Do Bahamians really want change? Are they willing to vote for it? Or are we worried we might run out of things to complain about if we did?

The DNA had a candidate in every single constituency and not ONE was able to win. They only won 8% of the overall vote.

Does that mean that 92% of Bahamians are happy with the way things are? If so then we can't blame either government. They are giving the people what they want. If Bahamians were truly unhappy or felt oppressed by police or media or whoever, then certainly at least ONE seat would have went to a DNA candidate?

The conclusion? Bahamians love their Communist country just the way it is, so stop complaining ( or should I say "pretending" to complain ).