Upset about the tax increases?……lets consider the alternatives.

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Upset about the tax increases?……lets consider the alternatives.

“What has been done will actually

soften the blow to all Bahamians.”

In Cayman, salary cuts of up to 15% have been proposed for civil servants!

As government’s throughout the world battle the ravages of the recession, when compared with other nations, the Bahamas should be congratulated for the excellent job that is being done by Hon. Hubert Ingraham and the FNM government.

What has been done will actually soften the blow to all Bahamians. Yes, we may have increased taxes and withheld civil servants increments and even in some cases decrease some budgetary items, but the main goal and objective was to maintain jobs, thus decreasing the possibility of even  harder times.

At the same time the actions of the government has  maintained our debt to GDP ratio thus assisting the stabilization of our dollar and at the same time allowing our borrowing power to continue.

Most Bahamians at one point or another would have borrowed from banks or from other individuals. imagine if you were placed in a position to borrow $500 to pay for outstanding debts and you were told that you couldn’t or you are told that if you borrow you would have to pay unimaginable interest rates.  Every Bahamian knows what this would mean. The governments measures are to insure that our future generation is protected.

Compare  what we’ve done and look at what is being done in other places.  In some US states, ads are being sold on automobile license plates, educational funds as well as funds that support the poor, prisons and the elderly are being cut. Parks are closed and states like California have resorted to paying its bills with “I owe yous”.

In France 100,000 public service jobs were scrapped and business subsidies and welfare subsidies were cut. Taxes also were increased.

In Chicago, thousands of teachers were laid off. Swimming pools in schools have been drained and after school programs as well as medical aid were cut. Here in The Bahamas we have paid off the teachers and rather than cutting health subsidies, we are introducing a national drug plan to assist  the elderly and others affected by chronic non-communicable diseases.
During a recent  parliamentary debate, opposition members were clambering about the subsidy for funeral burial, while in Chicago, funeral home owners are wondering whether they world be paid as they are already six months behind in payment by government. The state would only subsidize the amount of $1103 per funeral Matthew Garrahan of Los Angeles wrote an article recently in the Financial times, published  June 28 2010 which stated that

“Crushed by the recession and falling tax revenues, the city is disbanding its police force and firing all public sector employees.

Maywood has opted for an extreme solution, by contracting out all public services, including the most basic, to save cash. But it is not alone.

States around the US are cutting costs wherever possible as they prepare budgets for the fiscal year that starts this week for most of them. Their combined deficit is projected to reach $112bn (£74bn) by June 2011.

Local government activities, such as funding police, school buildings, fire departments, parks and social programmes, are in the line of fire.”

A city in Illinois plans to close fire stations and lay off fire fighters while others are outsourcing civil servants, police departments and looking

at schools, health and other social entities  as the cities can no longer afford to subsidize them during these recessionary times

Considering what is happening around the world, should we not consider ourselves fortunate to have Hon. Hubert Ingraham and the FNM government  leading the way during these difficult times?

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4 COMMENTS

  2. Ingrum and His Greedy pseudo FNM (Foreign National Movement Government) will have the Bahamas completely destroyed in less than five years, if those goons continue on the arrogant path that they are on, selling off all Bahamian assets to their gangsta friends and their corrupt selves. In 2007 when the Illegal Foreign National Government came to office with a new cadre of pirates, the spirit of piracy grew a million fold, Ingrum said there will be no raids at night or any time on his precious band of pirates from Haiti, for they came from a land of garlic and onion and now they traded places with Bahamians for all the milk and honey. The Bahamas treasury was strong and vibrant, the Bahamas had a bright future until Spite and the master craftsman of division Pharoah, aka Edward Teach or papa arrived now look at what they done to the Bahamas. The Bahamas never went to war or spent trillions of dollars on on continuous bombing raids on other nations like our neighbor to the North, so let us not mention the downturn in the American economy to justify failure on dumb, numb skulls that we call the Foreign National Government, that is destroying the Bahamas as they wish. Everyone of the gangsta politicians in the HOA should be locked away for life under the dungeon at fort Charlotte, and one by one be brought to the torture chamber for a workout on newly refurbished torture devices to relieve them of their arrogant wicked ways. The poor suffering Bahamian pheasants will be the operators of the medieval devices, so Blackbeard you better get use to sitting on a spanish donkey or being lengthened on the rack or thrown down in a deep pit to misery with no food and water, just like how they gat Bahamians thirsty and hungry in a stolen FNM Bahamas.

    “Pirates expelled commerce restored”
    we need a modern day Woodes Rogers to remove the stinking slime the Foreign National Government, that contaminated a pristine Bahamas. I say remove the trash that misgovern us the Bahamian people, so the Bahamian Dream could be restored…

  3. The FNM could very well lose the next general election. But what is certain is that these measures taken are absolutely necessary for the well-being of our future. This is why I respect them. All objective observers agree that while this is a tough budget, it is palatable, and more importantly, essential for the survival of future generations. In this one term, this government has taken on essential projects (relocaion of container port, road developments), they will have completed other major works like the straw market, national stadium, Saunders Beach re-development. They may lose because they came to office on the brink of a worldwide economic depression which neither they nor the PLP could have avoided. If they do lose, we will revert to a time when nothing happens in this town. We will revert to a time when debates on projects like LNG causes our timid leader to stall and do nothing, rather than make a decision in the interest of the people.

  4. Mr. Admin
    Whats goin on with that country further North to the USA. They have weather recession better than alll other countries in the world. They are a shining star, why couldnt the Bahamas be a shining star in this global recession. We are closer structure more to the Canadian than any other country in this region..they are out off the recssion why couldnt the Bahamas

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