by Edward Hutcheson
Who do we deal with or how do we frame our questions when things go wrong? As a nation less than a month away from celebrating 40 years as a nation, this is one of the questions that we will have to address. It seems that nothing has happened in the last 40 years to prepared us for what we are going through; especially in the last couple of years. For those who think this strange, just think back to how we have chosen to address the philosophical questions surrounding nationhood and what we have chosen to believe by our complicitous compliance in matters that we have allowed the least qualified to take the lead. We have been so hung up on what issues mean to us, we have not taken the time to find out “what it means”. Our leaders have been very adept at getting us emotionally involved in our existence, where we have spent every day pre-occupied with what we should be entitled to as Bahamians, disregarding the fact that truth is an objective measure of reality. Have we finally come to the place where we are going to require of ourselves that this nationhood thing is more that just a series of promises; promises given by persons who think it is enough to tell us how they think we should feel. We have to blame ourselves about us allowing them to mess us over. We have endured almost half a century of pie-in-the-sky theology; and the Public Treasury has had to pay every cent any time a promise was kept. The current 10 million dollar rent question is just an indicator of how Public Money has been spent. If a there are buildings owned by the government that can be used, why seek new landlords?
Being a “Christian Nation” does not mean that we are going to be exempt from the mischief we have created. There are consequences. The children that we have neglected, the over the hill neighbourhoods we have marginalized, the political divisions that we have promoted, the reaping is due and we who have sown wind are reaping the whirlwind.
I am praying that we wake up from this slumber of social expediency. If we do not July 10, 2013 will not be a cause for celebration; we will be spending this occasion looking over our shoulders and barred up in our homes.
June 18, 2013
It is certainly a “Celebration” I look at with a jaundiced eye…
I have been discriminated against, over the years, in the job market, on the street, I’ve been denied employment opportunities by being a white Bahamian.
Wrong Color at the wrong time I suppose.
I have been politically persecuted, for being law abiding in the face of unlawful Government actions politically directed.
I, like all citizens live under lock and key, under threat of all our possessions being appropriated by someone else, with no apparent recourse.
Like a Conch with string tied to its lip to keep it secure under the dock,
Our national Conch has so many strings, tied to different hands, all hidden in the murky water and mud of personal power, profit and benefit.
God forbid they pull the conch up, they will find an empty shell.
Internationally we must be a laughing stock, wanting so badly to play at the big table,
but not wanting to let go of the old shell game.
We treat the funds lent and gifted by the IMF, China, the EU, offered for God knows what in return,as our own stake in a poker game,
Playing like mad without a thought to losing our shirts or payback.
We even call our treasury the “Cookie Jar”!
We watch pontificating buffoons in parliament bickering and reducing the seriousness of governance to something akin to a game of Dominoes, pounding the tables as if to give credibility to their mindless utterances.
It does not.
That they drink and scheme together after their vitriolic performances against each other seem acceptable to the voting public only serves to indicate we are all corrupt, indifferent or worse, play a supporting role in the show.
Immigration policy? We kiss wealthy foreigners asses for as long as it takes to fleece them, while feeding the phobia of the “Haitian boogeyman”.
National policy? we have one alright, buried in secret bank accounts and slush funds.
Pride must be balanced by shame, like Ying and Yang, Good and bad,
but we apparently have no shame.
Our pride is as false as all the political promises we lap up in that 5 year cycle.
That sums it up pretty darn good Oracle!
Oracle, a powerful statement about the great Bahamian delusion.. We fool ourselves daily that everything will be alright, but then we read the popular press and once again realize that we are on a ship of fools with a retarded crew and a captain that has no idea where the ship of state is going..
Our economy is slowly moving in the direction of self-destruction as we are being buried in a tomb of debt as our imprudent government foolishly tries to spend its way to prosperity and debt reduction.. This has been tried by other countries, i.e. the United States and the UK with dastardly results.. Simple common sense should tell us that this “follow the leader” approach is foolhardy at best.. The Gods from Mt. Olympus, the International Monetary Fund and the credit rating agencies, scold us on our fiscal irresponsibility and threaten us if we do not implement programs to increase government revenues with the hope to reducing our national debt.. As we increase the tax burden on our citizens and corporations, we are killing off incremental consumption and corporate investment, the life lines to economic growth.. Short-run solutions from Mt. Olympus will lead us only to greater economic imbalances in the long-run.. We can only question, what the hell do they know of human suffering as they sit in judgement over our imprudent fiscal policies..
As we celebrate 40 years if independence, hopefully our naive leadership will try to take a realistic economic accounting of what is going to happen to our country over the next decade.. Our primary economic sectors, hotel tourism and financial services, are not competitive on the world stage.. We have become a cruise stop destination in tourism and an over priced financial center.. These issues must be addressed and structural changes must be forthcoming as time in not on our side.. Change must happen or we will be passed by the wayside.. Yet, on a positive note, when things are always the darkest, it hopefully can only get better under the direction of an enlightened government and a prosperous private sector.. Can we do it, hopefully so as our children’s future and their children are at risk..
I have nothing to add previous commentators have said it well.
Now we need to get these comments to the present leadership of our nation and see if they UNDERSTAND the dilemma which future generations of Bahamians are facing.
The Oracle is right on the money & so well said.
Like trying to show a drug addict the folly of his actions,
they will only “see it” if they choose to.
This requires them to have some normal standard of assessment.
Good luck with that!
From their position/seat,
they still have money to spend,
and revenue to mine out of the………..
People!
And to suck all business dry !
Hay guys.. Why all the explanation points?? I think we all know that even politicians with single digit IQ’s understand the dangerous outlook our fragile economy is confronting.. This becomes evident when they deliberately mislead the Bahamian public with fictitious statements about the future condition of the Bahamian economy.. Let us not forget that so-called truths today will keep on changing to fit the realities of tomorrow.. Yes we know when they are lying and so do their political propagators and spin doctors.. The real problem here is what do the dumb downed population really believe who a product of an indoctrinated and failing education system??
So I say Yes to the question of do our politicians really understand the economic crisis our nation is facing.. Yet, they are in a bind as they will not undertake rational economic solutions and policies that are necessary to save the country.. Short-term expediencies offered by the IMF and the credit rating agencies have become the order of the day, but lets not forget what John Maynard Keynes said, “we are all dead in the long-run”.. Such piecemeal thinking by our politicians will greatly penalize our long-term aspirations of economic growth and future prosperity for all Bahamians.. It is time to recognize the truth and bring our economy back to financial stability; therefore, stimulating private investment and productive employment.. VERITAS
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I cannot give them that much credit Tradewinds,
I believe the power of office is like a shot of morphine to the brain,
Especially with respect to the absolute power we have given them upon election.
Well beyond the scope of authority the Constitution, General orders and rule of law provide.
Extreme micro-management ala Ingraham, mashing all and sundry to remain all powerful, large and in charge,
or complete individualism, a chicken without a head,
the many headed hydra,
neither serves the country as a whole, only the few of either ilk blessed enough to sit at the head table.