[xml][/xml]
The Bahamas Weekly Facebook The Bahamas Weekly Twitter
Bahamian Politics Last Updated: Jul 31, 2017 - 1:11:52 AM


The opposition exposing themselves with their blah, blah blah...
By Rick Lowe - www.weblogbahamas.com
Jul 31, 2017 - 1:04:35 AM

Email this article
 Mobile friendly page

weblog-bahamas.png
An Official Opposition (PLP) member has exposed his party’s Achilles heel when expressing contempt for the newly elected Prime Minister’s national address.

The spokesman’s comments that follow confirm the last government lived in an alternate universe.

PLP Comment: “What concerned me about the speech is why do they keep talking down this economy?”

Response: Providing an honest assessment of the state of the economy is not talking it down. Those of us that live in reality understand how long the economy has been on a downward trend and this must be reversed. The policies of the former government were compounding the economic problems.

PLP Comment “This is a rich country. This is not a poor country.

Response: Yes, by many standards this is a rich country, but was being made poorer each passing year by government spending more than it takes from the taxpayer all the while expecting investors (both local and foreign), businesses and the taxpayer to support the leviathan that has been created.

PLP Comment: “But everything that comes out of their mouths is woe is me...doom and gloom.”

Response: It obvious now that living at the expense of the taxpayer insulates one from the reality of the economy.

PLP Comment: “I was surprised when I was minister of immigration the extent to which major businesses depend on government spending.

Response: This shows a complete lack of understanding and is the opposite of how the economy should be structured. The smaller the government is in relation to the economy the better it is for economic growth and job creation.

PLP Comment:

“And now you say you’re going to take 10 percent off government spending and in addition you’re laying off staff in an economy which is consumer driven.

"Custom duties depend on consumers spending money.

“VAT is a consumer tax so the more people buy the more government’s coffers increase.

“So now you’re going to take measures to suck life out of the economy and now on top of that you’re talking down on the economy?

Response: The burden of excessive government spending has placed the current administration in this position as a result of spending beyond the taxation capacity. These measures, government spending within its means, are long overdue.

PLP Comment: “So every investor who is looking out will say ‘Oh My God. We can’t go to The Bahamas, things are terrible there. Its’ falling apart. The government said it’s not going to happen and so on and so forth’.”

Response: Let’s ponder this. Investors are happy investing in a country where governments increase deficits and debt and implement unfriendly business policies as the PLP were doing? Not to mention the allegations of corruption by government officials that have surfaced since the PLP lost the election. Once again, the PLP spokesperson shows an obvious lack of economic understanding.

PLP Comment:

“There’s a reason they said when you put a moratorium on hiring, you develop a skills gap.

“So when I came back to the foreign ministry in 2012, you had senior officers on top, junior officers down at the bottom but nobody in the middle.

“So you don’t have the experience, you don’t have the institutional knowledge so what you try to do is you get some from every birth cohort every year.

“So even if you can’t hire six, you should hire three.

Response: Here again, this issue has been known for at least a couple decades. Why wasn’t this fixed in their last term? Or even the term before that? Packing government payroll with the unemployed is not a solution to unemployment or economic growth. Rather, creating an environment where people are willing to invest to create jobs and economic growth is the idea.

What would be useful, since the Opposition consider themselves so learned, is offering some ideas that might improve the economy. This rhetoric only confirms why the economy is in the state it’s in.

But keep talking. It exposes the shallowness of your policies when your party was the government.

I am no fan of politics nor big government for that matter, but I must give the new government some credit at this point for at least mouthing that they will attempt to rationalise spending. The taxpayer cannot bear any more of what took place during the last administration.

__________________

Note: Quotes from the Official Opposition are from The Nassau Guardian, Saturday, July 298, 2017.

Yours in Liberty,
Rick Lowe
www.weblogbahamas.com

Bookmark and Share




© Copyright 2017 by thebahamasweekly.com

Top of Page

Receive our Top Stories



Preview | Powered by CommandBlast

Bahamian Politics
Latest Headlines
DNA PR: It's time to change the system
DNA on Extension of Emergency Orders
DNA on shanty town demolition court order
DNA on new lockdowns on Family Islands
PLP Candidate for North Andros and The Berry Islands on Lockdowns in The Berry Islands and Andros