So let me see if I understand. The company now has $461 million of debt, dis highly paid clown wants we ta invest another $30 million in debt. So at the end a da day the debt ga be almost half a billion dollars. Oh my is right, da entire debt a da Bananas is only $7.5 billion.

Da company over 50% own by we government...y'all investors better be careful ya don't end up like da bank we own. Sound like ya ga need "resolve" ta sort dis out when it crash.

cable is crap, Netflex is much better. Internet always dropping and I scared to try Aliv. yinna better be careful

http://tribune242.com/users/photos/2017…

the swiss will come, bahamians will show them a good time, then the swiss will go, and the national average will stay constant at D-

1. What was the size of the Bahamian delegation?

2. Did they all fly first class to Rome paid for by the Public Treasury?

3. What was the total cost of this trip?

4. What benefit to the Bahamas was this trip?

5. How much do we pay all these Ambassadors?

The questions are relevant when it is clear that VAT needs to be increased to 15% after the election to cover the constant budget deficit.

https://www.amnesty.org/en/countries/am…

Bahamian's shouldn't be surprised that little by little our basic human rights are being at best frustrated and at worse denied.

Take a look at the link above from Amnesty International of alleged human right abuses. Its makes any challenge to get registered to vote, getting a passport, getting a drivers license, voting No to webshops, voting No to women's rights or getting any type of document legitimizing your existence look like child's play.

John, your argument as to why Ruperts sales are down beyond the simple "webshop" scape goat are excellent.

The stranglehold that Bay St merchants have on the economy will further be loosened once Amazon starts to operate in the Bahamas.

Right now the Bahamian market is too small for Amazon, the lack of house/street numbers makes it difficult to locate anyone and the massively complex custom bureaucracy slows down shipments so much that any perishables will surely perish via direct shipments from the US. Also the cost of buying in bulk currently is unaffordable to most.

I am sure these barriers will be broken down in the next couple of years.

Perhaps the webshops will innovate and proved an Amazon service as they have already created a parallel banking system disintermediating the Canadian banks.

Excellent points John.

Tal, like Birdie you also have the unique ability to obfuscate a critical issue by attacking the messenger. Yes, Rupert wanted to have gambling in his stores but if he also says its taking away food sales then that too is also true.

The real issue is that gambling is sucking funds out of the productive economy and it is having a devastating impact on society, especially in Long Island.

Armchair critics like us are also to blame as we have correctly identified the problem but will not sacrifice anything to fix it. Perhaps this is your real point.

Birdie, like the true PLP you have the great ability to obfuscate. While it is true that the same people are gambling who gambled when it was illegal, an entire new set of gamblers have come on stream and the number of outlets have proliferated.

While Bahamians are overweight it is shameful that children are going to school hungry and can't learn because their parents have gambled away grocery money.

If this is good then shame on you.

DonAnthony, excellent analysis of the devastating impact of gambling on Long Island.

The FNM (or DNA or whom ever wins the next election) will have a virtually impossible task of rebuilding the economy with over 400 webshops and growing. A very significant portion of the countries GDP is being siphoned of by this non productive and highly addictive activity especially impacting those that can lease afford it.
The truth be told that its impact, I believe, but I have no facts to prove it, that it has a more negative impact than corruption under the PLP. We simply need to know the total size of the gross net winnings of all the webshops and divide that number by the GDP (approx $9 billion).

Example if the net winnings is $400 million, then its about 5% drain on GDP. No amount of foreign investment (Baha Mar, tourism, agriculture, fishing or second home market) can offset that. Not to mention the drain on social services, education and the lives destroyed for generations to come.

My advice to all Bahamians is to discourage your loved ones from using webshops.

Goto, if you are a Bahamian citizen you have already bought the bonds, as NIA or the Treasury will subscribe to the entire issuance. Guess whoes on tape for the government....you and me.