UBP: Borrowed Money Costing $100,000 a Day
[Updated] Shadow Finance Minister Bob Richards commented on the financial aspects of overtime bans, saying “Government for years has been spending the public’s money like a drunken sailor,” and that they borrowed so much money it now “costs them more than $100,000 a day just to pay the interest on the borrowed money.”
Mr Richard’s full statement follows below:
Before commenting in detail on Government austerity measures, it is important for everyone to recognize how we got to this point.
For any worker who has to explain to his family why there is less money to spend on groceries, he can tell them it’s because the Government for years has been spending the public’s money like a drunken sailor, showing little care when building projects went wildly over budget and spending up to $100 million a year on outside consultants to help them govern.
He can tell them it’s because the Government did not prepare the country for recession despite widespread warnings it was coming.
And he can tell them it’s because they borrowed so much money it now costs them more than $100,000 a day just to pay the interest on the borrowed money.
Finally, he can say the Government emptied the cupboard, so now they’re coming after guys like me to make up for their mistakes.
We will have more to say on what Bermuda needs to do to pull itself out of its economic tailspin in the days and weeks ahead.
Update 7:17pm: Government’s response is below:
The Government of Bermuda’s strategy in these challenging times is to preserve jobs and income for families at the least cost to the taxpayer.
The cost-saving measures have been similar to measures taken in many other jurisdictions in North America and Europe. Government’s handling of the economy and its finances has been prudent and Government’s strategy for 2011-2012 will be laid out in the National Budget Statement in February 2011.
I used to be able to put some money aside in my savings account for retirement. These days I am almost living from pay cheque to pay cheque. This year I shall be cutting down to the bare minimum, and when the gov. Taxes increase again I shall do away with the luxuries. No car, no public trans, no cellphone, no eating out, minimum electricity, no flat screen, no vacation, boy it still feels good to be middle class! Then when I retire at 65 I can start all over again.
And that’s the exact existence I’ve always had to live … so much for that wonderful , mythical ‘white priviledge’
As for Bob , he’s preaching to the choir . The rest of the congregation doesn’t have a clue.
Bob is getting out his message!
It is simply not enough for the Government to say that it’s handling of the finances has been prudent. It clearly hasn’t. Unfortunately, the people who should be the most outraged are also the people who feel the pinch the most and ironically they are the ones that are most loyal to this Govt and/ or most apathetic to the financial failings of the PLP. We have to connect the dots if we want better Government. For the PLP to be a better party it’s supporters have to hold it accountable. Until that day……
The only thing that is going to come from this article are comments of peoples political stance on which party they support instead of looking at the facts of the matter. And the unfortunate fact right now is what the government is doing with our monies; and hello, we are our own government, North America is suffering dramatically and doing extremely poorly in this economic climate – why not look at other continents that are succeeding in such times. Australia’s $ is much stronger than the USD currently and have had less of a struggle albeit still a struggle than America. So why not try a different approach or further research?
But at the end of it all, its only going to be about what party caused what, instead of the issue at hand and looking at ways out than someone to blame.
The thing is, it IS a party issue. Government debt was much, much, much smaller an issue under the UBP, and skyrocketed under the PLP. While the PLP was spending like there was no tomorrow, the world was in a recession and they should have been responsible enough to make the appropriate changes before the mess got to this point.
Someone once said on here that on voting Paula Cox in, we replaced the CEO of a failing company with the CFO, and it’s so true. One can only hope that with that CEO gone, she will use her new increased authority to better the situation. The government simply needs to spend less. It might be painful to initiate, but it’s not rocket science to know that that’s the solution.
If a company was failing financially would you, as a shareholder, be happy with replacing the CEO with the CFO?
Of course not, that’s my point. But apparently a number of Bermudians are.
So true, but don’t hold out any hope for improvement. What we have is essentially the same product wrapped up in the same packaging. The only difference is that we now have a below the radar, a stealth, Premier. Brown was an ‘in your face’ don’t you dare question me Premier.
The incompetence is still there. The sheeple still don’t have a clue. To them the $1B debt is not real. $1.50 per day interest for each & every one of us clinging to this rock is something that the sheeple have no understanding of. The fact that the PLP, especially under Brown, squandered away millions when the evidence was there of tough times coming, is beyond the sheeple.
Too bad those who voted the PLP into Government cannot be held liable for the massive financial mess their votes have put Bermuda in.
Contrary to popular & PLP promoted belief, the US IS turning around. They have hit bottom & are climbing out. The bottom is nowhere in sight yet for Bermuda.
I agree with everything in this comment. Just yesterday it was announced that unemployment in the US had shrunk to 9.4%. Can we think of any similar improvements for Bermuda? I don’t think so.
WAITE TO THE BUGET COMES UP IN FEBRUARY THAT WEND YOU WILL NOW ABOUT THE PLP GOVERMENT???
???? Am I the only one who cannot make any sense whatsoever of this posting?
x2
x3. Is this the same person who had visions of becoming the Mayor of Hamilton?
The USA is not really coming our of the long recesson as pointed out in an earlier post, while it appears unemployment is coming down the real numbers point to a starkly different number. Read the excerpt from a website in the USA below:
Friday, January 7, 2011
Key Numbers In Unemployment Report Not So Good
Needless to say, administration supporters will be touting that the unemployment rate released by the Bureau of Labor Statistics this morning dropped from 9.8% to 9.4%. Politically, this is good news for Obama, at least in the short run.
Dig just a bit deeper, and you will see that 0.2% of that drop (or half the total drop) was from a decrease in the “participation rate” from 64.5 to 64.3 of the population. So half of the good news reflects that people have dropped out of the work force and have given up looking for work.
To put this in context, I ran a chart from the BLS website historical statistics database, showing the participation rate over the past 20 years, which shows that we are at a 20-year low:
No chart available
The other disheartening statistic is reflected in the chart combining the unemployment, marginal and discouraged workers (in short, everyone who is not working but currently or at one time wanted to work, or who is employed part time because full time work was unavailable). Combine all those and the total is 16.6% up from 16.3% November not seasonally adjusted (seasonally adjusted it is 16.7% down from 17%). This is the highest number since 1994 (first year data available):
Chart not available
Spending by Americans will continue to be tight and our major tourism market will continue to see tough times, which will translate into Bermuda’s economic condition continuing to be difficult. i would expect we have not seen the end of our difficulties and would expect it to take at least 18 months for things to turnaround fi we are lucky.
18 months would almost be a miracle.