40% property tax? What are you smoking. This would instantly make all real estate in the Bahamas worthless and mean all wealthy people would LEAVE within weeks. We would become Haiti but unlike Haiti we dont grow our own food.
The ONLY reason wealthy people or corporations are in this speck in the middle of the ocean is because the taxes are low. Change that and they will all leave within DAYS. There are plenty of places with beautiful beaches and many of them have better service and far cheaper food and workers
Doubt me? We used to have the worlds reinsurance industry based here and then Pindling tried to tax them so they moved en-masse to Bermuda within weeks.
We used to have a large liquor industry and then trying to tax them made the Bacardi's et al moved all their production to Puerto Rico
If you think you can tax your way to prosperity then think again, it just isnt an option here. The only route to prosperity for average Bahamians is for them to gain some valuable skills and education so that people will hire them and invest in them and pay them well. If you think you can shake down the wealthy you will be committing national suicide
Maybe instead focus on the fact the Bahamas is the only country in the western hemisphere (and one of only a few countries in the world) that isn't a WTO member because it thinks beautiful beaches will always provide a living and it has no need to educate its people so they can offer anything else to the world
Stop wasting your time bickering about the minutiae of Bahamian politics, take a step back and realise the Bahamas is the most isolated economy in the western hemisphere - the only one not to be a WTO member. In this it joins a select group of nations such as Somalia, Yemen and North Korea........what company to keep!!! And how ridiculous when only 50 miles off the coast of the largest and most vibrant economy on earth. It is a miracle we have any economy at all when we behave so pigheadedly stupidly and assume tourism from pretty beaches alone will always be enough to sustain a population of almost half a million people
And why are we so isolated? Because of the dark alliance between on the one hand the white knights, desperate to keep their monopolies on island industries which they use to inflate prices and squeeze money out of local residents until the pips squeak. And on the other hand, the politicians and unions representing a public deeply fearful about their own appalling lack of skills and competitiveness, barely literate, barely numerate and totally ill-equipped to compete with the foreign labour whose presence on the island terrifies them
If the Bahamian economy was cracked open just an inch the amount of foreign investment activity that would pour in would double the economy in barely two years and solve all these problems. It would mean many Bahamians needing to re-train to gain the skills they have never been given. It would mean some painful adjustments in certain areas - but labor laws could be kept overwhelmingly protective of local labor for the most part. It would mean some more foreign faces. It might also mean grocery prices less than the now - where we are charged three times Miami prices.
It would mean becoming a real economy and not a glorified beach bar of a nation
Stop wasting your time bickering about the minutiae of Bahamian politics, take a step back and realise the Bahamas is the most isolated economy in the western hemisphere - the only one not to be a WTO member. In this it joins a select group of nations such as Somalia, Yemen and North Korea........what company to keep!!! And how ridiculous when only 50 miles off the coast of the largest and most vibrant economy on earth. It is a miracle we have any economy at all when we behave so pigheadedly stupidly and assume tourism from pretty beaches alone will always be enough to sustain a population of almost half a million people
And why are we so isolated? Because of the dark alliance between on the one hand the white knights, desperate to keep their monopolies on island industries which they use to inflate prices and squeeze money out of local residents until the pips squeak. And on the other hand, the politicians and unions representing a public deeply fearful about their own appalling lack of skills and competitiveness, barely literate, barely numerate and totally ill-equipped to compete with the foreign labour whose presence on the island terrifies them
If the Bahamian economy was cracked open just an inch the amount of foreign investment activity that would pour in would double the economy in barely two years and solve all these problems. It would mean many Bahamians needing to re-train to gain the skills they have never been given. It would mean some painful adjustments in certain areas - but labor laws could be kept overwhelmingly protective of local labor for the most part. It would mean some more foreign faces. It might also mean grocery prices less than the now - where we are charged three times Miami prices.
It would mean becoming a real economy and not a glorified beach bar of a nation
Are you kidding? The Bahamas is the most closed economy in the world, go to any other country and you’ll find a workforce in which foreigners comprise a large part. Go to London and you’ll struggle to even find an English person these days
Bahamians are on the whole unproductive and poorly skilled which is why all the hardest work in this country gets done by immigrants and any employer would hire a foreigner over a Bahamian in a split second given half a chance. Our education system is a disaster and our economy is so closed it shelters our people from competition - which was fine when the hotels were full of tourists but leaves us completely exposed to one industry as no other country would ever risk
Maybe its time us Bahamians woke up and thought about why employers are willing to go to such lengths, costs, risks to hire foreign workers
We all know the truth, even when we won't even admit it to ourselves, that we have become a pathetically under-skilled and under-educated workforce that can't compete with the outside world........with all of us terrified of foreign workers like they were invading martians from some science fiction film and with our politicians all too wiling to stoke our fear of the outside world to win votes
Its left us completely dependent on tourism as we cant make anything or perform any useful service to sell to the outside world. We simply rely on selling the beaches and cays year after year with no imagination for anything else. A ridiculous one-trick strategy that has now left us high and dry and facing economic collapse
oceantonguer says...
40% property tax? What are you smoking. This would instantly make all real estate in the Bahamas worthless and mean all wealthy people would LEAVE within weeks. We would become Haiti but unlike Haiti we dont grow our own food.
On Downgrades are a blessing in disguise
Posted 16 November 2021, 11:39 a.m. Suggest removal
oceantonguer says...
The ONLY reason wealthy people or corporations are in this speck in the middle of the ocean is because the taxes are low. Change that and they will all leave within DAYS. There are plenty of places with beautiful beaches and many of them have better service and far cheaper food and workers
Doubt me? We used to have the worlds reinsurance industry based here and then Pindling tried to tax them so they moved en-masse to Bermuda within weeks.
We used to have a large liquor industry and then trying to tax them made the Bacardi's et al moved all their production to Puerto Rico
If you think you can tax your way to prosperity then think again, it just isnt an option here. The only route to prosperity for average Bahamians is for them to gain some valuable skills and education so that people will hire them and invest in them and pay them well. If you think you can shake down the wealthy you will be committing national suicide
On Downgrades are a blessing in disguise
Posted 16 November 2021, 11:37 a.m. Suggest removal
oceantonguer says...
Maybe instead focus on the fact the Bahamas is the only country in the western hemisphere (and one of only a few countries in the world) that isn't a WTO member because it thinks beautiful beaches will always provide a living and it has no need to educate its people so they can offer anything else to the world
On Bahamas not on UK list
Posted 4 July 2021, 6:56 p.m. Suggest removal
oceantonguer says...
Stop wasting your time bickering about the minutiae of Bahamian politics, take a step back and realise the Bahamas is the most isolated economy in the western hemisphere - the only one not to be a WTO member. In this it joins a select group of nations such as Somalia, Yemen and North Korea........what company to keep!!! And how ridiculous when only 50 miles off the coast of the largest and most vibrant economy on earth. It is a miracle we have any economy at all when we behave so pigheadedly stupidly and assume tourism from pretty beaches alone will always be enough to sustain a population of almost half a million people
And why are we so isolated? Because of the dark alliance between on the one hand the white knights, desperate to keep their monopolies on island industries which they use to inflate prices and squeeze money out of local residents until the pips squeak. And on the other hand, the politicians and unions representing a public deeply fearful about their own appalling lack of skills and competitiveness, barely literate, barely numerate and totally ill-equipped to compete with the foreign labour whose presence on the island terrifies them
If the Bahamian economy was cracked open just an inch the amount of foreign investment activity that would pour in would double the economy in barely two years and solve all these problems. It would mean many Bahamians needing to re-train to gain the skills they have never been given. It would mean some painful adjustments in certain areas - but labor laws could be kept overwhelmingly protective of local labor for the most part. It would mean some more foreign faces. It might also mean grocery prices less than the now - where we are charged three times Miami prices.
It would mean becoming a real economy and not a glorified beach bar of a nation
On ‘Deadly’ debt costs breach $1/2bn mark
Posted 27 May 2021, 5:18 p.m. Suggest removal
oceantonguer says...
Stop wasting your time bickering about the minutiae of Bahamian politics, take a step back and realise the Bahamas is the most isolated economy in the western hemisphere - the only one not to be a WTO member. In this it joins a select group of nations such as Somalia, Yemen and North Korea........what company to keep!!! And how ridiculous when only 50 miles off the coast of the largest and most vibrant economy on earth. It is a miracle we have any economy at all when we behave so pigheadedly stupidly and assume tourism from pretty beaches alone will always be enough to sustain a population of almost half a million people
And why are we so isolated? Because of the dark alliance between on the one hand the white knights, desperate to keep their monopolies on island industries which they use to inflate prices and squeeze money out of local residents until the pips squeak. And on the other hand, the politicians and unions representing a public deeply fearful about their own appalling lack of skills and competitiveness, barely literate, barely numerate and totally ill-equipped to compete with the foreign labour whose presence on the island terrifies them
If the Bahamian economy was cracked open just an inch the amount of foreign investment activity that would pour in would double the economy in barely two years and solve all these problems. It would mean many Bahamians needing to re-train to gain the skills they have never been given. It would mean some painful adjustments in certain areas - but labor laws could be kept overwhelmingly protective of local labor for the most part. It would mean some more foreign faces. It might also mean grocery prices less than the now - where we are charged three times Miami prices.
It would mean becoming a real economy and not a glorified beach bar of a nation
On From ‘burners to earners’ as debt at 100% of GDP
Posted 27 May 2021, 5:02 p.m. Suggest removal
oceantonguer says...
Are you kidding? The Bahamas is the most closed economy in the world, go to any other country and you’ll find a workforce in which foreigners comprise a large part. Go to London and you’ll struggle to even find an English person these days
On Mexican hirings ‘a slap in the face’
Posted 6 July 2020, 11:16 a.m. Suggest removal
oceantonguer says...
Bahamians are on the whole unproductive and poorly skilled which is why all the hardest work in this country gets done by immigrants and any employer would hire a foreigner over a Bahamian in a split second given half a chance. Our education system is a disaster and our economy is so closed it shelters our people from competition - which was fine when the hotels were full of tourists but leaves us completely exposed to one industry as no other country would ever risk
On Mexican hirings ‘a slap in the face’
Posted 6 July 2020, 11:14 a.m. Suggest removal
oceantonguer says...
Maybe its time us Bahamians woke up and thought about why employers are willing to go to such lengths, costs, risks to hire foreign workers
We all know the truth, even when we won't even admit it to ourselves, that we have become a pathetically under-skilled and under-educated workforce that can't compete with the outside world........with all of us terrified of foreign workers like they were invading martians from some science fiction film and with our politicians all too wiling to stoke our fear of the outside world to win votes
Its left us completely dependent on tourism as we cant make anything or perform any useful service to sell to the outside world. We simply rely on selling the beaches and cays year after year with no imagination for anything else. A ridiculous one-trick strategy that has now left us high and dry and facing economic collapse
On 'Why aren't we being put first?'
Posted 4 July 2020, 11 p.m. Suggest removal