Well Muddo take sic., you have raised a very important issue. The rating agencies will downgrade the Bahamas based on the probability of an Irma style strike in the next 5 to 10 years and our lack of insurance reserves or our ability to borrow for a major recovery effort.

I realize the FNM is working feverishly on hurricane relief to our hard-hit islands and we, as Bahamians, will all do what we can to help. However, I do believe the Bahamas government lacks the capacity to progress sound and progressive economic plans in parallel with hurricane recovery efforts. No offence to the FNM as the PLP lacked this ability as well.

Time is limited for the Bahamas’ financial system. If the FNM doesn’t start to think outside the box and if a hurricane like Imra hits the entire Bahamian island chain, the ability of the Bahamas to recover would be questionable at best and nonexistent at worst, as we have little capacity to borrow or resources.

Unfortunately, there is no quick fix or any series of knee jerk actions to solve these issues. Continuation of old and tired PLP/FNM policies and historical Bahamian economic fixes (such as massive single foreign investments such as Baha Mar and Atlantis) will not work going forward as this economic model is dead. Albeit the government doesn’t realize it. One good hurricane and Baha Mar will not reopen. It doesn’t even have an owner (other than the bank)!

We need rapid economic and structural liberalization, Bahamian privatization, southern island consolidation and most importantly the utilization of a massive amount of Bahamian and foreign brain power and intellectual capacity that has been left on the sidelines by the FNM and PLP for decades. Our brightest have left the country years ago. They have been replaced by ignorant politicians pontificating in the Guardian and Tribune day and night without a wooden penny to back it up.

Our problems range from the very large by decades of mismanagement of our energy plant and grid by BEC (which continues to this very day) all the way down to very small issues plaguing our youth like an underprivileged college student wiring $1,000 to her school and the bank charging her $150 in fees (most of which is bank profit and government taxes). The charge should be no more than $3.

Is anyone in power listening? I doubt it, let see how the hurricane season goes next year. Until then “it’s the peoples time”.

Great and forward looking decision by the FNM to evacuate the southern islands. It will save lives and allow first responders to focus on easier to reach and more populated areas of the Bahama islands.

Not to be negative but the islands of Acklins, Crooked Island and Inagua are very poor and mostly living of government subsidies. During recovery, the limited resources of the Bahamas government can be deployed in larger populated areas where the impact per person will be much higher.

Just think of the savings if these islands are not repopulated. No more government schools, no government clinics, no NI offices, no administrator offices, no BEC, no Water and Sewerage, no more subsidized mail boat service, no more airports, no more Bahamasair flights etc. etc.

The savings to the government will be enormous.

Tal, are MOT employees going to strike before or after Cat 6 Hurricane Irma with winds at 180 mph impacts to some extent every island in the Bahamas and all of the tourist have been evacuated?

While disaster strikes the FNM seems to be more interested it talking nonsense to the Tribune. Trust me, after Irma the NCL Tour Operators will be only too happy to have some business if their boats haven't been damaged by the hurricane.

We need to be more grateful as a people and not so angry all the time. God is not pleased.

They should hold their heads in shame. After allowing the twin plagues of VAT and numbers to be legalized on the poor.

When all hope is lost, the poor will grasp at anything. Thanks to the government.

This is what happens when you sell your soul to foreigners (Baha Mar, the Cruise operators, Bahamas Power, Atlantis, tourism marketing contracts, gated communities). Then add to this Bahamian family monopolies like oil and gas imports, big box retail, container ports, foreign banks/exchange controls, numbers houses, Ministry of Education pushing out D students to most Bahamians, governments strangle hold on Water and Sewerage, NI and Post Office, MPs pretending to be legislators but are essentially executives in government corporations or agencies (legislation is non existent) and a backwards democracy with one vote every 5 years along with zero local government.

These are all monopolies at worst, cartels at best.

Neither the FNM or the PLP will be able to grow GDP or solve the debt issue. The foundation is wrong. Devaluation has already been done, have you looked at the interest rates on savings accounts recently? There is nothing that will change the paradigm. Every man for himself Bahama Land, God for us all.

Also, Exchange Controls. Get rid of them. Banks take 0.5% of every US dollar converted to Bahamian dollars.

can also be done online

Becks. Either we as a Country upgrade our financial services to accommodate electronic banking (something I doubt we will do) or we suffer with continue to suffer from high levels of violent crime related to businesses and consumers dealing in cash.

Unfortunately this is not a high priority of the government or the financial regulators. They are more interested in bailing out BoB, putting PLPs in jail for 1 day, and essentially accomplishing nothing of lasting substance in the first 100 days.

You would think in this day and age businesses would stop accepting cash and if they did they would deposit each night.

Parents should deposit school fees directly into the bank and bring the despot slip to school.

Electronic banking should be the highest priority of the FNM government and the financial regulators.

Instead they are playing musical chairs between the MOF and Central Bank. And the Securities regulator is busy yapping about Ponzi schemes they are powerless to shut down.

The police are as likely to crack down on the ponzi scheme as they did the numbers houses before they became a legal rip off scheme for the masses.

My understanding is that the ponzi scheme has a business license. Under our "rule of law" there doesn't seem like there is anything wrong with promising someone to triple their investment in one week. No one is protecting the uninitiated. In the Bahamas its "all for me baby" and God help us all.