‘Government Needs To Support Business More’
Government must do more to support Bermuda’s businesses in order to build the economy and tackle rising debt, according to the United Bermuda Party.
The UBP’s Charlie Swan said that international businesses leaving the Island has cost the government tax income, which in turn has sent the Government further into debt.
“Poor government decisions and inaction have had an adverse impact, but the end result is that the contraction of business in Bermuda and reduced confidence within the private sector has caused less taxes to be generated to cover the PLP government’s spending habits,” Mr Swan said.
“When the government starts to operate by functioning within its needs it will become a role model for its own people. And for our own local businesses, the businesses that government depends on for much of its revenue, a recognition of their needs must be forthcoming.
“Payroll tax and social security revenues have unquestionably decreased as international and local companies have either closed, relocated or reduced staff. Government must be mindful of this, and avoid initiating — or overly enforcing — policies that will adversely impact on the operation of businesses, both international and local.”
Mr Swan said that Government should foster an appreciation in the community for international businesses while supporting local businesses, fostering a public appreciation for successful private industry.
He said the public need to understand that in order for the economy to grow, foreign workers are needed, and that Bermudians should dedicate themselves to being the best they can be in the work force.
“With a static population growth, a growing economy will need to import labour,” Mr Swan said. “Our local workforce must strive to be the best at the ‘most desired higher paying jobs’ they take on and seek. However, we can not afford to ignore the ‘less desired’ jobs — and the need for these to be filled with the same zeal.
“When you aim to be the best, it is difficult for an employer to deny you. This island was built by Bermudians, Bermudians who where industrious — both physically and mentally. We built houses and infrastructure, we built an economy based on tourism first and participated and benefited from the growth in international business.
“It is important for all Bermudians to appreciate that our local economy can not grow and be prosperous for all by simply catering only to Bermudians — we as a people must continue to be hard working and industrious — as we compete against the rest of the world in Tourism and international business.”
“Our two economic engines — tourism and international business — can and must be managed in a way that recognises and appreciates why businesses are started, and deemed to be going concerns,” Mr Swan said.
“Private industry is more nimble than governments and are more apt and motivated by profits to recognise shortcomings and quickly respond to periods of bad performance for the benefit of their owners, employees and by extension the wider community.
“That should be respected, especially by our poorly performing government, and also by members of the community who are impacted by government financial management.
“We, the UBP, like everyone in Bermuda would like to see the backside of this treacherous recession but the real indicators of that are within the private sector business. Hence, we reiterate that it will take successful private sector businesses to lead Bermuda out of the recession,” concluded Mr Swan.
The UBP also called on Government to follow the advice of the Bermuda First Report and the Tourism Board by creating an independent tourism authority.
The UBP? The scams up kim we kno your getting paid to keep the “UBP” Alive in order to give credibility to the OBA being a new party.
Actually if you had any sense you would relise it actually works out better for the plp to keep the ubp alive. With the Swan brothers running in their constituencuies along with the oba and plp candidates it leaves the potential for non-plp supporters votes to be split between 2 candidates thus handing the seat right to the plp. Now how about commenting on the actual contents of of the article instead of your own ridiculous speculation.
For the record I too believe the BDA should have kept their distance from the old guard, they’re exactly that, old. We need new, fresh, outside of the box ideas. Only problem is after seeing that andre curtis is running, it seems that integrity is a severely lacking trait on this island. Where are we supposed to find the candidates?
My conclusion: we’re screwed unless things change…soon.
Yes Mr.Swan,most Bermudians realize that we need international business but why do you have to say Bermudians need to dedicate themselves tobeing the best..If you are going to start comparing and making us compete well there is a problem!!Stop acting like Bermudians are retarded…We are home and therefore should not be expected to be of any other standard outside of Bermuda .. We then would be expected to be on par with BILLIONS of people..Our government needs to understand that foreigners don’t vote!!!Bermudians regardless of their academic or mental/physical challenges NEED to survive in their own country and our interest should rightfully be first and foremost…It should be the ex-pat worker that is told he/she needs to speak proper English and have manners because the Bermudian way of life is what it is.. Lets get some things correct, I do not want Politicians forgetting who are the ONLY people who can put them in any position to get close to the PUBLIC Purse, just as much as we are mindful of the need to attract US$ to the island, it is equally important to remember WHO runs this island!!Bermudians have lost jobs because of both the Global economy and local mismanagement, also we have an influx of expats who have taken jobs that were once closed to only Bermudians so don’t act like we don’t want to do any jobs, we were made to compete!! which is wrong no matter which way you look at it…Go ask those expat truckers, burger flippers,waiters to vote for you and see what happens!
We weren’t competeing for jobs 14 years ago like we are now, with all the IB we had there was enough work to go around. People complained foreigners were taking jobs Bermudians could do so the current government thought it would be a good idea to put policies in place that made the IB companies uncomfortable and leave but yet there’s still Philipinos and Romanians (no offence) everywhere doing jobs we Bermudians can do. Why is this? Well a Philipino landscaper will cherrish their job and work hard because they know they won’t get better in their country. When your steak is under cooked a Romanian waitress will smile and correct the mistake, not roll her eyes and walk away with some type of attitude. I believe what Mr. Swan is saying is that if you want a job and to keep it, showing up to work late because you were out drinking the night before isn’t going to cut it. Now I’m not bashing Bermudians but we all know it happens because we all see it, but its not a Bermuda thing, its an individual thing. If you can’t maintain a job try looking at yourself first. We as Bermudians take living here for granted when we should really consider ourselves lucky we weren’t born somewhere like Cambodia, Russia, or Liberia even. Who feels it knows it and that’s why these foreigners work so hard. Maybe we deserve exactly what is being done to our economy, maybe we’ll all feel a bit different after we’re forced to lower our standard of living.
Thoroughbred – you want the benefits of international business, then you must rise to international standards. There are many smart Bermudians who do and thus they succeed. Don’t hear much complaining from them…
You don’t want to be compared to or held up to the standards of the rest of the world? Too bad, you’re in it.
Bermuda is not another world anymore, get over it. That song is old and so is the mentality of it. You are in the real world now. The ocean can be crossed by a single click on a computer.
The world has changed and you are still the same. No one is going to rescue you like the cahow, you are not that special or unique. So you will become extinct and so be it.
The forward thinking, savvy, hard working Bermudian will not. And if you think they care about you, think again.
VERY WELL SAID!
I do so prefer August and the summer holidays when little people with little to say were quiet. This statement is so trite and lacking in specifics. It amounts to “pet this golden goose and the eggs shall surely come”. Really? Confidence is an intangible thing Mr. Swan and the lack of confidence in Governments is not unique to Bermuda. A CEO on MSNBC said this week that there is about a trillion dollars in investment capital in various institutions just sitting and waiting for the results of the US elections. The same can be said (relatively speaking) for Bermuda. There is loads of money available but banks and others are not lending. Until an election is done and dusted nothing will move and so the calls for friendly policies and fostering public appreciation are just nonsense. Focus on the issue which will inspire confidence. Growing the economy does not mean performing on demand fellatio with international business. It means growing other pillars while keeping those you have strong. This statement is truly old world, tired-ass UBP policy: “buck and bow, accept them as the only show in town and all will be well…”. Or as Bill Clinton put it “its a double down on the trickle down”. Have a meeting with your five supporters before you put out this tired crap masquerading as economic policy.
Lacks specifics? So does the entire Japanese language and they have far surpassed most of the western world for ceturies. FYI there’s no more golden goose, the plp killed it and the premier is trying to hatch the last remaining egg herself. See, the problem lies in your partys mentality, they will bow to no one yet want everyone to bow to them. With that attitude ivestors will just laugh at us, especially when some of them own properties bigger than our country. You can hate on everything that isn’t envy green or plp if you want but I’d rather die being one of the 5 that support a man of integrity than live voting based on revenge and hatred. Anything born out of self serving revenge and hate will eventually destroy itself, the only path is that of pure and righteous intentions and that is from no religious point of view whatsoever. Without balance things in life can not co-exist, life has a funny way of balancing itsef out.
I notice you have no specifics either. “growing other pillars”? What, like the Space business that Roban said would be the third leg? That kind of thing?
By the way what other pillars do you suggest we grow? Local export? Moto cross? Do we really need to cut the strong pillars we have in half to bring them level? We dealt a nice blow to IB, the destruction of our tourism product is still underway. I know a third pillar we could grow, literally, that could probably put an end to our enormous debt, only problem is no one wants to hear it, not yet anyway.
The fact of the matter is that Governments do NOT control the economy. Big business does that, with a little help from small business.
I am not sure what THIS Government can do to increase International Business but on an international level, Bermuda is a known quantity. Either companies want to move here, or they don’t. Contrary to what you might hear, it is not that difficult to move (or start) a business in Bermuda.
The problem is that in the past, foreign corporations didn’t care much about the cost of doing business in Bermuda because they were making tons and tons of money. But because of the recent events like the Madoff scheme and other financial market snafus, these same corporations are now watching their bottom lines more carefully.
Today, the places that are benefitting from new business are those juridictions where people will work for “peanuts”, and we simply cannot compete. Can you imagine a Bermudian accountant working for $300 a week?
So please do not believe ANY politician who tells you that he or she has the solution to our problems.
(Have you seen anyone publish a list of ideas that will help our cause?)
This is precisely the kind of thinking that is needed. The math of doing business doesn’t work and that has little to do with the Government. People like to blame the government for the lack of hotel development, but when you can build a 5-star resort in the DR or in the traditional Caribbean for under $100 per square foot and then come to Bermuda and its 2 or 3 times more than that because of the inflated labour costs then is it any wonder we’ve had no hotels? That’s not the Government’s fault, that an economic reality that was fine during the boom years but its our curse in these lean times. People like Charlie Swan demonstrate just how lightweight they are when they make these kinds of statements. Economic policy is more than being nice. As nice as we may be, if the grass is greener for a company’s bottom line somewhere else they will thank us for being nice and welcoming and friendly and open and transparent and happy and the rest while they pack for wherever it is they can make more money. Business is business.
So, the truth is, the PLP has no idea what to do.
It’s lucky for us the opposition has some ideas.
Neither side has a clue what to do. These are unique times in Bermuda. With no real local banks and the inability of the governing party to create a false economy like the UBP did through institutionalized conflict of interest, this government is the first government required to actually have an economic policy. Up to now, Charile Swan’s old-world BS worked; well it doesn’t anymore. The game has changed and economic decisions about capital investment in Bermuda are being made in London (HSBC) and Toronto (Butterfield). The closest thing to a plan for some form of small business stimulus and some economic growth is Andrew Simons’ piece in the Daily. Its worth reading. I don’t agree with everything he says but at least he has suggested some real things that if implemented have a chance of working to turn some things around. Folks, its more than being nice to people; we have to be creative and competitive.
I like Mr. Swan’s approach…formulating a BALANCED (and I can’t emphasize that enough) plan that addresses our need for international workers in the context of strengthening the Bermudian workforce is what needs to happen. This may sound like an oxymoron, but its entirely possible if we’re willing to honestly reform the system and put the partisanship on hold (if only temporarily)
Swan is right, the Government needs to do more to support business in Bermuda, and so do locals. We need to encourage more business to move and stay in Bermuda. I personally know of a handful of businesses that are finding it hard to grow/and or remain profitable in Bermuda due to work permit regulations- these must be relaxed. The other comments are right- the bottom line is key in business and if they aren’t able to hire people to grow their company, they will seek other jurisdictions where they can.
The election needs to be called now, and I truly hope that voters will do the best for Bermuda as a whole rather than just vote on race/by habit. This will be an extremely difficult year for Bermuda. No cruise ships coming next year to Hamilton, inevitably more restaurants closing and other businesses relocating to more accepting jurisdictions.
We need to start looking at the big picture, and work to earn/keep our jobs rather than feeling entitled to one. I did 8 years of university/professional designations in order to place myself in a competitive position returning to Bermuda. It’s time for others to do whatever they can (working hard, showing up on time, be willing to put in the extra hours) to stay competitive in the workforce and stop complaining that other people are taking your job. If you work hard enough that shouldn’t happen.
Sorry I am just a high school drop out so excuse me if I sound a little off but Government needs to support Business,well lets do a littele math in as much earlier comments made above,one stated that government does not run the economic front here the business sector does,well rightly stated but only we must take into account that our legislators through government makes the laws that govern our busineses,so that being said I think right across the board there is to much damn greed in this country period.
Private sector is no different from the government and that is clear just by the cost of doing business in Bermuda,rentals within the city limits is outrageous not to mention the cost of merchandise,everything from the latest in technology to groceries,that is the private sector and the banks do we see them lowering there interest rates during these hard economic times,Chase bank in the U.S and others that are now following suit has reduce their interest rates by more then half for struggling home owners,why cant we see a sizeable reduction in interest rates here locally.
The government sweets me when we go license our vehichles it is different classes from A to H and would someone tell me what the heck is the difference and why,because of engine capacity,that is the biggest rip off yet,Business Vehichles should pay higher because they are making money off the people but private cars should all be the same rate for license fee regardless of engine capacity or size or cost of the car.
So in short from government to private sector they are ripping us off blind and until they both decide to bring relief to each other,there is no way we will be able to see or expect the same relief.so I say no government dont need to help businesses but rather help the people that are suffering because of the greed cost by themselves and these same businesses. I left school at 14 and a half so excuse my dumbness if I sound stupid,but that is o.k because I fit right in with people just like me who call themselves educated with degrees.
Paula is over there getting her Executive Orders so all of your preposterous banter is just THAT!…nothing you say will ever go any further than here….
There is one thing we can do but it will probably upset a lot of people – cancel the work permits of those guest workers who currently hold jobs that many Bermudians can fill. As an example, there seems to be an inordinate amount of guest workers driving vans! I could be wrong – or does it just seems that way?
Moreover, in the IB sector there are many employees who perform clerical functions for which no professional qualification is required and for which I know we have many capable Bermudians. Additionally, there a many functions which DO NOT require a professional qualification even though the Company says the opposite. How do I know this? Because I have worked in this area for almost 40 years!
Most of the internation companies here a pretty good, and do have the interest of Bermuda and its people at heart. There are those, however, who want to have a presence in Bermuda but have no interest in hiring Bermudians. Even withing the “good” companies, one can encounter a boss who can make an employee’s life a living hell. In such cases, the employee often has no redress.
Our own government can be our enemy at times. I remember a few years ago an International company placed in the local paper for a particular position. Myself and at least one other Bermudian (whom I happen to know) applied for the job and were invited for an interview. Upon seeing that there were several locals qualified for the job, the company promptly cancelled the interviews, and replaced the ad with another carefully worded ad that I assume fit the description of the person (non-Bermudian) which they wanted to hire.
I decided to call the immigration department to complain. The response I got was: “Why would you want to work for them anyhow??
So my friends, do not expect government to come to your rescue – exempt companies have free reign!
So we are each on our own, and we may have to do anything and everything just to survive.
That’s just the way it is!
“Anything born out of self serving revenge and hate will eventually destroy itself, the only path is that of pure and righteous intentions, and that is from no religious point of view whatsoever. Without balance things in life can not co-exist, life has a funny way of balancing itself out.”
This.