Hashtag: #LarryBurchallColumns
“Continued Shrinkage Is Slow Economic Poison”
[Opinion column written by Larry Burchall] As though hit by a poisonous gas seeping into the air that we breath, it has happened. Bermudians have begun heading for extinction. Dying off. Bermuda has entered a new era. Stumbling towards it for over fifteen years, in 2014, Bermudians began dying faster than they were being born. In 2014, Bermuda’s... Read more of this article
Column: Govt’s “Half-Time” Financial Report
[Opinion column written by Larry Burchall] This is the 130th week-in-power for this Administration. It is the halfway mark in a five year, 260 week term that must, for all practical purposes, end by December 18th 2017. What has been achieved since kick-off on December 18th 2012? [All the observations refer to matters that are specifically in the actual... Read more of this article
Behind The Statements: Airport Development
[Opinion column written by Larry Burchall] The Airport Itself L F Wade International Airport is a small airport. Based on Airport Departure Tax revenues, about 393,944 people passed through in 2012/13, and 383,143 in 2013/14. Could be around 380,000 in 2014/15. These airport user numbers are much lower than the annual 550,000+ of the 1980’s. The... Read more of this article
Column: Burchall “Nanci Is The Real Issue”
[Opinion column written by Larry Burchall] Once you’ve studied the chart, you should be able to work out all of Government’s strategic management problems. If not, here is a set of facts – just facts – that will help you see and understand. Fact One – Few people talk about this. “This” is the obvious and large – humongous, even –... Read more of this article
Opinion: Burchall On “Zombie Economics”
[Opinion column written by Larry Burchall] Several years ago, in Seattle, I attended a lecture on economics given by a Czech economist. He used the term “zombie economics”. From all that I see and hear in my Bermuda, I reckon that we are almost practicing a form of “zombie economics”. In horror movies, zombies are depicted as ugly big-eyed,... Read more of this article
Opinion: “When One Plus One Equals Eleven”
[Opinion column written by Larry Burchall] Numbers don’t lie. From April 2004, Debt began rising. Debt has continued rising. The rising bars show the consequences of Government’s fiscal management and policies since 2004. Despite a change in political administrations, there has been no change whatsoever in Government’s pattern of borrowing and... Read more of this article
Analysis: What Story The Budget Numbers Show
[Opinion column written by Larry Burchall] In the furore over the Budget, no one took a clinical and dispassionate look at the numbers to see exactly what story the numbers tell. I’ve done that. Here’s the full backstory and it is all in the numbers. Financial Management: Financial control There are severe long-running problems within Government’s... Read more of this article
Column: Listen, Look, Calculate, 2015 Budget
[Opinion column written by Larry Burchall] When the Finance Minister delivers the 2015/16 Budget Statement, there are really just three key things to listen and look for. Where has he put the KEMH payments? Does he acknowledge Nanci as a major problem? What is his assessment of GDP in 2014 and his GDP projection for 2015 and beyond? Everything else... Read more of this article
Opinion: Do Not Run And Borrow Money Again
[Opinion column written by Larry Burchall] Don’t select a small temporary political and financial aim over a much bigger long term national requirement. A band-aid over a cure. Politics over arithmetic. Scuttling back to the money markets in 2016 will rapidly create a disastrous long term national consequence. One from which Bermuda, like Jamaica,... Read more of this article
Opinion: Win? Lose? Bermuda Races The Raters
[Opinion column written by Larry Burchall] There’s an invisible race on. But nothing to do with the America’s Cup. It is as simple as the 100 metre race that Usain ‘Lightning’ Bolt owns. By 2020, Bermuda’s sovereign credit rating either finishes above “B” grade, or it does not. It is that simple. The Government and Union Friday to Wednesday... Read more of this article
Recalling My Experience On February 2nd, 1965
[Opinion column written by Larry Burchall] As a twenty-three year old, I lived through the ‘BELCO Riot’ day of 2nd February 1965. In the days before small cheap radios, I had knocked off from my job on Darrell’s Island. Around 5:30pm on that Tuesday [Feb 2], I stepped ashore from the ‘special request’ ferry at the Ferry Terminal, in Hamilton.... Read more of this article
Analysis: Govt Plans To Borrow Again This Year
[Opinion column written by Larry Burchall] Earlier this week Minister of Finance Bob Richards dropped a big bomb! Speaking on on Gary Moreno’s Let’s Talk show, he told us that he would be back to borrowing in this year. That is bad news. That’s where Government Debt stands on this day as you read this. You’ll see that between 6th August and... Read more of this article
Opinion: What Does Cuba Mean For Bermuda?
[Opinion column written by Larry Burchall] “Events, dear boy, events.” Reputedly, that was UK ex-Prime Minister Harold MacMillan’s response when asked what he feared most. For Bermuda, two events have occurred. On 2nd December 2014, we learned that Bermuda would host the 2017 America’s Cup races. Fifteen days later, Bermuda learned that US... Read more of this article
Opinion: Where Exactly Does Bermuda Stand?
[Opinion column written by Larry Burchall] Where, exactly, does Bermuda stand? What needs to happen between now and July 2020? Lots of numbers get tossed around, but, as with any arithmetic problem, there is really only one answer. Here, exactly, is where Bermuda’s public debt stands, on this day, as you read this. Basic Facts The current total for... Read more of this article
Opinion: “2014 Was Another Year Of Change”
[Opinion column written by Larry Burchall] Like the thousands of years before, 2014 was another year of change. A ‘palace coup’ took out a Premier; changes in the way news is captured and disseminated took out the 50 year-old Bermuda Sun and eliminated VSB from television; my great-niece Sophie started ‘big school’. After 71 months of continuing... Read more of this article
Opinion: Christmas Is Ever Fresh, Always New
[Opinion column written by Larry Burchall] Over time, Christmas does not and has not changed much. Every year, there’s the new excitement of young children just beginning to grasp the magic and wonder of it all. Every year, there’s the singing of centuries old traditional ‘Christmas carols’. This annual celebration of the birth of Christ is... Read more of this article
