by Rick Lowe

On being questioned about Barak Obama and his potential impact on The Bahamas by The Bahama Journal of Monday, November 10, 2008, Fred Mitchell, says:

"I think without a doubt there's quite a lot of talk in the business community about this business of whether or not he's going to shut down the financial services sector and I think that has been blown out of proportion," he said. "I think it disguises some other prejudices which people can't really come out and say but they're using that as an excuse."

However, no less a newspaper than The Guardian in the UK says:

"President-elect Barack Obama plans to crack down on international tax havens, including Jersey, Guernsey and the Isle of Man, within weeks of taking power in January, putting him on a collision course with Gordon Brown."

"There is growing international pressure to outlaw the secretive practices of tax havens as a key part of reforms to the world's battered financial system, as the leaders of the world's 20 most powerful economies gather for a major conference in Washington next weekend."

Read the entire article here…

Besides which, Obama is the sponsor of two Bills before the US Congress attempting to blacklist tax havens.

With all of the evidence weighing in favour of the new US president signing on to OECD initiatives, beside his own bills to attack tax havens, of which The Bahamas is one, it seems foolhardy for Mitchell to make those remarks. To suggest local business people are concerned because they are racist is, well, pathetic.

We must all use our contacts to somehow let the new US president elect know that we need his support, not his animus on this issue. Although we must also realise that he is the president elect of the United States, not The Bahamas.

To paraphrase Mr. Mitchell: I think his remark disguises some other prejudices which he can't really come out and say…