What in the world is he saying? Let's be clear some work permits are issued in some sectors where there are tons of qualified Bahamians available. The government plays these games. Everyone knows that a lot of jobs will not be given to Bahamians. I'm not referring to construction or landscaping. I'm referring to high end white collar jobs. The government spends too much time pretending to protect Bahamians while condoning the flagrant abuse of the system by foreign employers. There are even cases where the government itself is employing individuals (expats) for roles they locals can fill.

I think there exist a gap in the thinking of Minister Bell. Let's cut the nonsense and address the whole situation shall we?

We don't have labour data but the Minister believes unemployment is likely high but declining. 🤣🤣🤣🤣 Someone say "banana" and I'll say "republic".

Every five seconds there's a proposed resort. I thi bnb k there's one for Exuma, Long Island as well, also there are plans for Grand Bahama. So much projects in the works. Lol. Like some of you have said already, let's see what they deliver.

They said for the police to become involved a compliant is required, so how do.they know this was happening? I doubt someone being charged $10,000 for a $5.00 T-shirt is sitting at home overseas thinking, I'm simply not going back there again. If you live in the US or some other country and you get your bank statement weeks or even a month after your trip, is Mr. Munroe expecting someone to Google "Bahamas Police" and send an email to some random email address. And knowing our police, some genius gets the email and takes weeks before they read and months before they do anything with it, if they di anything. Then an investigation may start and that drags in forever, then the AG office may get involved and that drags in forever. Then a court case is filed and the courts take a million years to set a date. Then you arrive in court and a lawyer doesn't show or makes some excuse why they can't start that date and the courts schedules another date for some distant future date. After all of this, the plaintiff is left with the idea, just let the criminals have the $10,000.00 or $15,000.00 because it will.cost you 10 or 20 times that amount plus tons of frustration to solve it by taking action. Someone say "banana" and I'll say "republic".

We have a consumer protection agency? Is this agency working to help Bahamians as well?

It's interesting the article is about how this negatively impacts the tourism product but no one bothered to check with the AG's office to see.what criminal charges should be brought and where the police are in investigating this crime. Maybe I'm wrong. Maybe fraud ain't a crime. Lol. This lil country! And we wonder why we're looked at as a banana republic.

Why are we only hearing every so often about a tourism deal? Even if it is above board and adds to the nix we are still not diversifying our economy. When a recession hits, is tourism something that will not be impacted? No. If our tourism numbers dwindle because we can't compete with other destinations at a later date, will it matter how many resorts we have open? We need to co.e up with new ideas. Even looking at tourism (forgetting about diversification for a second), our tourism product is deficient. What are we really giving visitors? Are we showing them a great picture of our history? No. Are we giving them a good slice of our culture? No. A Junkanoo rush out at a hotel, isn't a great display of our culture or the two parades on Bay Street per year. We have nice beaches, but so do many other countries around the world.

Let's step outside of our little box for a second and realize we need to diversify our economy by starting new industries and with the tourism product that we have we need to bring it up to par with other countries around the world. We deliver a "D" product but expect to charge "A" prices.

While it is difficult to shed a tear for a career hardened criminal, some police officers are overly aggressive and have no respect for most people they encounter. To a previous commenters point, the courts need to do their jobs. It can't be possible ALL of these guys on bail met some minimum standard to be out. It can't be. It appears pretty much everyone gets bail and while they are out they do the same crimes they are on bail for. Simple solution, fix the court system and officers accountable.

More time is better, however, it doesn't solve the issue. The government providing assistance isn't necessarily the answer either. A lot of us in this country were babysat by aunts, neighbours, grandparents, etc. The answer may lay in the village raising the child. Of course, there are issues with the village.

Childcare, particularly for infants, will be a challenge for most even those with the resources to afford care. A conversation on this topic needs to happen, but the proposal here are ideas not necessarily the best solutions.

The Securities Commission may have done the right thing with regards to the collapse of FTX, but did they do their job in regulating FTX while they were operating? Should the Central Bank have a say in this as well? We hear funds were moved and there was a run by clients and FTX collapsed as a result. Wouldn't this be something the Central Bank should speak to?

Were the right people in place at FTX? Did they have a Money Laundering Reporting Officer? Did they have a CPA handling their books? Did they have qualified bankers/finance people working for them? These are very basic things needed to run a legitimate financial institution. If you're doing trades, you need someone or a team to handle settlements. Did the Securities Commission and Central Bank ask the right questions? Did they go in and do an examination of FTX? Based on what is said in the press, they didn't as it seems a high school student would have picked up some of the issues brought to light.

Do we continue to pretend mistakes were not made here?

This is wild to say the least. How do you get into a crisis in hours that forces a sale? Also, why was there such a huge run (withdrawals)?