Gas prices in the beginning of December, 3 months after it had dropped below $40 dollars per barrel on the world market. The Government is capitalizing on the poor, and rubbing the Bahamian people with the high gas prices.
Nassau, Bahamas: When residents woke this morning and headed to the gas stations in the country, they saw an increase at the pumps. Gas has now risen to $3.23 per gallon at Esso stations here in the country.
The price increase is driven by GREED and CORRUPTION and the govermnment according to a gas dealer is part of the robbery scheme on taxpayers. Bahamas Press asked the question in October 2008, how is it gas prices on the world market could have dropped from $140 per barrel in June to under $60 by September 4th 2008, yet prices in The Bahamas remained the same for over two months before a gradual decline.
When prices in the United States had dipped to $1.60 per gallon, because of the low price of oil on the world market around $40 per barrel, here in The Bahamas it stood over $3.76, and not until December came to $2.99 per gal., which was still high!
How come it took from September 4th, when prices dropped, almost 3 months into December to feel the drop in gas prices, but the second it rose on the world market, THIS MONTH JANUARY, THE PRICE IS INCREASED IMMEDIATELY? WHERE IS THE WUTLES MEDIA QUESTION TO ‘DA LACKEY’ MINISTER OF FINANCE ON THIS?
Bahamas Press said last year, the government is RAPPING its own citizens, and again WHERE IS THE VOICE FOR THE BAHAMIAN TAX PAYER? WHO IS SPEAKING FOR US LOCAL CONSUMERS?
This also means not only some people lights will be CUT OFF AGAIN BY BEC, but the prices for the surcharge is going up again!
Here we GO again, BOY, WE NEED CHANGE IN THIS BAHAMAS!
good blog you have mate, keep it up 😉
Whilst many of us ‘Morehands’ agree that it is our system that breathe an archaic breath, it can also be said that the HOLDER OF THE OFFICE OF PRIME MINISTER is equally responsible for the tone and style to which our executive branch function.
For example it is nothing wrong with the fact that the Prime Minister decides the time has come to purge police officers and appoint or allowed to remain in place his favourite. BUT the Prime Minister himself does these things and MANY TIMES without consulting advice from his Cabinet colleagues. The office holder cannot run a modern developing country like a plantation field, being a “LACKEY” and acting on his own. And we must reject that style as citizens of this country!
It is Amazing to see how Mugabe abuses the system in this way, and has supporters, some even on this blog, defending these WICKED actions.
Bahamas Press/Editor
@Joe Blow
It is a wonderful idea, except that it would mean that we need the role of the GG to be more than just a signature figure who makes no independent decisions. I would say more on this but I don’t want to steer the blog in another direction.
The Bahamian political system is archaic, self-serving and ineffective. And, it will probably not change any time soon as the people you can make the changes are the people who are causing the problem.
Awwww poor baby media, feeling all left out of Morehands’ list. Well I did use the tell “PEOPLE like you” which by definition is representative of a group of individuals. Now if I had said “Joe and rb75 make BP worth reading” then I could be accused of prejudice.
Media… its comments like yours above (always trying to stir problems) which prevent you from making my list of “worth reading”. But, its your blog, so I guess you come with the package deal – kinda like the free mini frosty Wendy’s give you when you order a super value combo for $3.99. You really don’t want to drink the bland, artificial frosty but since it comes with the meal and you paid for it, you have to suck it up and eat it anyway.
I appreciate you and BP for being a portal for sound, educated discussions written in plain grammatically correct English without too much slang and profanity. I’ve tried just about all the Bahamian blogs/forums and couldn’t take it for more than a few days. So, consider yourself the lesser of the evils.
Morehands said, “People like you make BP worth reading.”
We hope that this is not a smart remark to suggest or convey that others who come on this blog and make comments are less serious or worthwhile reading?
We at Bahamas Press consider every comment posted on here as a valuable treasured contribution, INCLUDING TIMOTHY PRATT”S comments!
And so we would like to CORRECT what “Morehands” said, and say that, “IT IS contributions like yours “JOE BLOW” AND “RB75″ AND MANY OTHERS THAT HAVE MADE THIS BLOG THE EXCELLENT READ THAT IT IS.”
Bahamas Press
Morehands: Please join in with us with your ideas and suggestions. Something I see, as sorely needed, is the removal, to a greater degree, of the “Election Bahamas” Department from on-hands politics. By that I mean, the Department should be mandated to: receive information on an on-going basis as to the demi-graphic changes as to population shifts; to continually up-date their files so that if a surprise election is called, they are ever ready; to (with the mandated co-operation of those who grant new home occupancy) provide written info to new home owners as to the constituency in which they reside along with information about that constituency and contact numbers for their representative; to report directly to the Governor General : to receive directions only from the Governor General: to decide on boundary changes without deference to the P.M. or any elected official. Since they will have criteria to follow we, the voting public, will no longer be subject to the changes in boundaries that are inspired more for political reasons than demigraphic necessity. The Bahamas Elections Department will then be responsible for any “glitches” and persons responsible can be more easily removed at the will of the G.G., for cause. What do you think?
Joe Blow and rb75 I commend both of you for such high level of dialogue, insight and vision. People like you make BP worth reading. Thank you.
Yes, Joe Blow, make it more like a BEAUTY contest.
rb75: I cannot dispute anything you have said in your most recent blog. Now, just what can you and I and other similarly-minded persons do to change things? I can suggest one way to start and that is with the election reform process. And I realize this will require some legislation and perhaps even a constitutional ammendment. I would like to offer that a candidate for the HOA must be required to own property AND have lived in the community at least one year previous to the election date.(And continue to live there while in the HOA) That all candidates must have attended and passed a course in constitutional law, ethics and rules of order. That all candidates meet in the consituency to express their reasons for wanting to participate in office and to present their credentials to all the people. Once that has been done, all Parties must hold mini- conventions and only card carrying members of the Party vote on the candidate they want to represent them in the general election. This puts the power, to some degree, back in the hands of the people where it belongs and out of the hands of the Party Power Brokers who should not dictate who will represent any constituancy. Further, if we are to continue to have a Senate, they must be elected in a similar fashion. Now I send it back to you and others to comment and make further suggestions.
Joe,
The problem is that we say one thing and do another the religious lobby or fundamentalists have and will continue to hold a grip on our country to the point of the dismantleing of our soceity as a whole ….Iam not against the religous right or an ateist but I strongly feel that our country has to be pulled more into the middle our ideology as a people and a nation has to be changed and come into the morden view of most liberial soceities if we do not do this we will continue to fail.
In this contry we do not know it but we sit in one of the best locations in the world we have a good infrastructure and we have a democratic government that has been elected every 5 years without any bloodshed or civil war therefore makeing the Bahamas the most succesfull majority black nation in the world …..to this end we have to allow liberial politics and principals to make inroads into our soceity that is why we have what we have today our laws are outdated…… the way we run our public system is outdated and the way we conduct or public affairs are outdated .
This is why we have high crime a crumbling road network a NIB that will be bankrupt in a few years and an inadequit public service system …that is why we need change that is why we need to wake up.
Fact: what is true or existant,reality
Publicity: the business of advertising
Propaganda: organized scheme for propagation(disseminate) of a doctrine
Saying something publically: putting a sign up denoting something; wishing something is so, does not make it a fact.
The BEC surcharge is a fact because it appears on our billing and if we want the service we will pay it. HAI made a statement, that we heard. That is a fact. The interpretation that that scared away an investor is an opinion that has not been substantiated and so it is not a fact. Investments “in the pipeline” are not reality until they are actually being physically acted upon. Agreements “in priciple” give a certain understanding that a project will be given consideration if all requirements are met. We all must start understanding that not all things are as others would have us believe. We are all endowed with an ability to observe what is happening around us and use good common sense and logic to discern what is truth (Fact?) and what is suposition.
Altec: I agree with you that there should be a flat rate income tax. All who earn a living in a country should pay this tax. We need not to have grid tax because the more you earn the more you pay anyway. eg, @10% earning $12,000 would net a tax of $1200.00: $100,000. would net $10,000.00. We just have to be careful of the “loopholes” that will develop. If instituted we must demand a proportionate deduction in duty on non-luxury goods. Successive governments have not responded to the cries of the people who want the “numbers” to be legalized because of the religious lobby group who seem to have more sway than the majority.
ALTEC,
They all are …The thing that get’s me is why haven’t our tax revunue collection be changed to a flat tax on people’s income let’s think of it you have many people making hundreads of thousands of dollars in this country and the only thing they pay is NIB this is crazy even if they came up with a differant proportianate tax bracket system that will bring in more revenue to the government…along with legalising that old number system that will also full up the treasury but this is where we need change and vision.
@rb75
truth be told, name one government corporation that isnt robbing the people blind?
Joe, the Bec surcharge went way out of wack in the last 18 months and yes when Crystal Palce was first opend up the headline was that it was the jewel in the crown of what was being called the then Bahamian Riveria if history serves us right there was even a sign’s back in the 80’s and early 90’s that stated this ….this is just the facts and if the investors have to pull out it is because of HI that put the wrench in the Bahamar deal and this fact is just that the facts
To rb75: The BEC surcharge did not just begin 18 months ago! Crystal Palace was never “a jewel in the crown”. We have always been subject to the whims of the fuel “power brokers” and of course successive governments have received revenue from the taxation of fuel. It is not a new thing! As to Crystal Palace I predict this announcement is just a prelude to the present investors “turning tail and running”. Wake up Bahamas! We are in for a very rough ride! “We have met the enemy, and it is us.”
My fellow bloggers this is the only way that the government can make up the shortfall in the revenue collections let’s face it the report has custom revnue down by some 10% and the government has expended some 30% so far this year we must realize that the government has no other means for taxing the people ….since the BEC tax scandal where we where being charge a fuzzy fee that nobody ever same to have worked out and tell the people how did BEC arrive at such a surcharge when the charge suppose to reflect the price of oil .
Folkes it is as easy as this the fuel surcharge was a back door tax that ran the treasuary for the past 18 months they cannot tax that anymore there is hardly and big projects in town for the customs revenues to be up and therefore a shortfall in collections.
There is a saying that” when a government fails to protect it’s people from hardships and from pain then that governement has lost the trust and the faith that was placed in them by the people and therefore they should be removed by all means that are available via peace and liberty”
This FNM government has reduced our country to begger lines and to it’s knees for god sake Crystal Palace once was the jewel in the crown and now its lights will be put out for the first time in 25 years I cry shame on the FNM and I say that when they are removed from power they will never be allowed to get their cancerous paws on our government again.
It dosen’t matter…they dont care. Duty on petrol is a percentage is it not. Would that not mean that when the price goes up, so does their revenue?
Are you kidding me? its obvious that some kind of price fixing is going on between the oil companies.
Why would the government look into this? They make revenue from petrol sales!!
Hey BP the Guardian Business section has a small story on the increase in the price of gas. its on the front page. Both Texaco and Esso has raised their prices without explanation.
I guess they are reading this site but the media in this country is profoundly under serving the public. Where is the government? why arent they looking into this?
Esso price going up really pissed me off this evening when I stopped to put gas in my car. I had already told my wife that when it went down one more time (from $2.99) I was going to fill up a 55 gallon barrel container we have and store it in our outside shed because I knew gas was going back up by March. Well mudda sick it went up within two weeks!!
I guess Esso say if Texaco and Shell ain bringing theirs down, why should they get less profit. It is so difficult to compute a $0.30 jump in price. And if Esso could have, even for two weeks, drop their price to $2.99, why didn’t Texaco and Shell force to do the same? They all buy fuel from the same market.
MY bad Altec…
Rupert, Texaco’s price was below $3.29
Altec, i don’t think the price went up at Texaco service station, it just hasn’t come down under $3.00 yet.
BP i swear, i went to get some gas when i went out 30 minutes ago. I went to Texaco on Wullf Road by Commonwealth Bank. Texaco’s price is $3.29 a gal. When i saw that i ask the pump attendant when did the gas go up and the attendant said he dont know.
Something is going on BP and the media is turning a blind or just doesnt care. The government didnt even announce it. Something is going on. BP you have to get to the bottom of this. The issue is how quickly the price goes up compared to how long it takes to go down.
This is soo depressing BP. No one is looking out for us.
I assure you WE here on BP ‘Altec’ is looking out for the small man. We told you how Hubert is one LACKEY of the HIGHEST ORDER! Didn’t we say when you hear him speak, look out cause someone powerful gave him the GREEN LIGHT to talk to us? NOW LOOK he gave his bad news to reporters MONDAY and look, Wednesday Baha Mar Closing their doors in August for two month. Even the UNION sitting around the table plotting against the workers of the hotel sector, and NOT A WORD TO THE PEOPLE FROM THE UNION LEADERS!
WE NEED CHANGE!!!!!!!!!
“Goin down Cable BEACH, Goin down Cable BEACH…..”
Bahamas Press/Editor
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