PLP Respond: OBA’s Economic Plan
The PLP responded to the press conference the OBA held yesterday saying, “they read economic policies that were lifted directly from the UBPs 2011 Budget Reply and produced Fairy Tale Statistics. These UBP/OBA economic policies would result in fewer jobs for Bermudians and put more of our land in the hands of foreigners.”
Yesterday [Oct.6] Shadow Finance Minister Bob Richards suggested a raft of measures to improve the economy including: granting employers a two-year payroll tax exemption for new hiring, eliminate the employee portion of payroll taxes for employees earning less than $50,000 a year, eliminate the licensing requirement for non-Bermudian spouses for the purchase of property, require government to pay its bills in less than 30 days, reserve 20% of government discretionary spending for small business, freeze the size of the civil service, cut consultants and frequent travel, reduce the size of Cabinet, and reduce ministers pay by at least 10%.
The full statement from the PLP follows below:
Today the OBA had a press conference where they read economic policies that were lifted directly from the UBPs 2011 Budget Reply and produced Fairy Tale Statistics.
These UBP/OBA economic policies would result in fewer jobs for Bermudians and put more of our land in the hands of foreigners.
Their commitment to end term limits for foreign workers would be nothing short of disastrous for the Bermudian worker. If implemented, employers at all skill levels would no longer be incentivized to hire Bermudians.
So many of us have seen our resumes passed over not because of skill, but, because the bosses wanted their overseas man in the job.
The OBA/UBP policy would mean more unemployed Bermudians and would cause many Bermudians to give up trying to even look for work.
In his statement, Bob Richards cited the Cayman Islands’ experimentation with term limit waivers. Let’s look to that example.
On October 4th, the Cayman News Service reported on the policy’s critique by independent Caymanian Member of the Legislative Assembly Mr. Ezzard Miller:
The independent member said that since he was elected to the Legislative Assembly, as a result of pressure from special interest groups, the immigration law had been amended several times and each time the government claimed it would help business but this had not proven to be the case…
He said the idea that there would be a mass exodus was unfounded because when people are rolled over they are replaced, which is what would continue to happen if the law was properly enforced.
Miller said he understood that Cayman did not have enough people to meet its labour market demands and he had no sympathy for Caymanians that didn’t perform in the workplace, but his problem was those qualified and experienced Caymanians who were simply not given an opportunity in the first place.
In his experience, the North Side MLA said, employers sometimes go to significant lengths to avoid placing Caymanians in key roles and no matter what guidelines government puts in place to attempt to force them to employ locals, they find increasingly creative ways to circumvent those rules. He also lamented the amount of say government was allowing foreign firms to have over the country’s immigration policy, which would eventually lead to foreign nationals taking over the country.
Is this what we want for Bermuda? Do we want a government that makes it easier for employers to not hire Bermudians? Is this what Bob Richards and the OBA think is going to get Bermuda back to work? It’s not working in Cayman. And, it won’t work here.
The fact is that, unlike Cayman, the PLP has already struck a balance between ensuring that we do not create a new class of long-term residents or a glass ceiling for Bermudians while welcoming international business.
The Party Leader has already signaled that in the next session of Parliament, there will be legislation that underscores our party’s commitment to those who invest in Bermuda.
Unlike the OBA that have up to now have spent most of its time criticizing the Government, our party has been hard at work on the initiatives that it committed to in the Throne Speech and in the Budget, and will not be deterred from its job of getting Bermudians back to work and the recovery of our economy to engage in fighting the OBA.
The policies outlined by the OBA today are exactly the same policies we’ve been hearing for years from the UBP. When you read their policies, it’s clear – now, more than ever – that the OBA is little more than a renamed UBP. They’re the same people. They’re the same backers.
And, they’re selling the same tired old policies to sell Bermuda out to foreign interests. The PLP believes in a balance. We value our guest workers and our international business partners. But, we also believe that we should ensure Bermudians obtain jobs that pay well.
The PLP government welcomes, encourages and supports guest workers and investment in Bermuda, however we will never apologize for putting the needs of Bermudians first.
To blame term limits for job losses in Bermuda is nothing more that OBA electioneering accompanied by Fairy Tale Statistics.
The Bermudian people, however, are smarter than that and they will not fall for the same old tricks from the new opposition with old ideas borrowed from the UBP.
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- Cannonier: ‘PLP Distorted The OBA’s Position’ | Bernews.com | October 10, 2011
An entirely predictable response from the mouthbreathers.
And while the OBA listed a handful of ideas to revitalise Bermuda, the PLP have so far offered nothing of substance. All they offer is xenophobic rhetoric and have a history of failure.
What is the PLP’s plan to pay down the debt? Where is that foreign currency and investment coming from?
The fact that Businesses are still coming to Bermuda are clearly lost on you…
Most of the ideas are old and unworkable. I don’t find them innovative.
I own a buiness, they won’t do anything to help me.
What the hell did they propose that will actually make a difference.
It like both parties talk past each other and can’t seem to be able to work together for Bermuda.
I however agree with the PLP on term limits, I think its needed.
I can’t stand people like you who pretend to be some sort of impartial thinker. You fool no one except yourself. Just change your name to “TIRED OF ANY PLP OPPOSITION AS I WILL VOTE FOR THEM NO MATTER WHAT”
Efforts made by PLP to call OBA the OBA/UBP are pathetic. The tragic irony that has kept our brothers and sistaas down is that the PLP out UBP’ed the UBP.
Quite hypocritical (the PLP are good at that) considering that the PLP/UBP also have a few ex-UBP floor-crossers in their ranks. The repackaged Ewart Brown Party (or the Party Lovin’ Party) hasn’t changed at all!! The Brownites are still in control, Commisong is still deceitful, and Ewart and The Boys are probably still pulling the strings behind the scenes.
A vote for the PLP is a vote into financial slavery. You’re witnessing it now.
Anyway, the PLP is best at being the Opposition – governing is obviously beyond them.
I find the PLP hypercritical! They talk of Bermuda for Bermudians yet hire foreigners over qualified Bermudians.
There’s a difference between real tangible jobs and revenue as opposed to “brass plating” when you say businesses are moving here.
The ideas may well be old but they make sense. You know, if Cog had been a little more controlled she’d have a war chest to buy our way out of recession or at least soften the blow. We are left, however, with few option and PLP tinkering around the edges will do nothing.
Bermuda needs foreign currency and investment now. In my view, the OBA proposals do not go far enough.
With regards to term limits, you are so completely wrong it’s laughable.
“…The fact that businesses are still coming to Bermuda…”? That’s a “fact” is it? Can you give us a list of the new businesses that have set up here in the last 12 months that have hired, let’s say, 30 or more Bermudians?
LOL so exactly like the plp reply, you just brush past all the ideas and go straight to term limits…
no where along the line do you say WHY or HOW something wont work… just meh, wont work for me..with no actual critical thought??
I wish the plp’s reply was writtne by you. Would have said the same thing, but without all the wasted words.
The Legal section of the Bermuda Sun has FAR more company dissolution and liquidation notices than they do incorporations. The ratio must be running 15 or 20 to 1.
Those term limits have created lots of jobs for Bermudians – in Canada, Ireland and Switzerland.
“I own a buiness, they won’t do anything to help me.”
From OBA:
I think there a number of things here that would help a businesses in Bermuda….
In an effort to encourage the formation of new jobs in Bermuda, we would grant employers a two-year payroll tax exemption for new hiring. So, if a company employs 10 people and they add 3 more staff, for the next two years the company will not have to pay payroll tax on those additional 3 employees. Of course we would need proper oversight to ensure that there will be no abuse of the policy.
We would eliminate the employee portion of payroll taxes for employees earning less than $50,000 a year. This would put more money in the hands of those folks who are struggling in this shrinking but still expensive, economy.
We would reform/fast track Planning & the Planning process… currently a factory of red tape.
The process is clogged; preventing blueprints from becoming real projects that create jobs.
We would eliminate the licensing requirement for non-Bermudian spouses for the purchase of property.
This policy is not only blatantly discriminatory, but, like Planning, inhibits the ability of people to buy, build and renovate homes. These are projects that can create jobs in the hard-pressed construction industry.
We would require government to pay its bills in less than 30 days. It pays its bills too slowly. This would put cash in the hands of struggling local businesses.
We would reserve 20% of government discretionary spending for small business. That’s tens of millions of dollars a year going to businesses we know.
Put your money where your mouth is: Name five businesses that have moved here in the last 6-8 months?
No tonly that but did not the PLP just blast the OBA for compairing us to other countries. Oh the irony.
LOL
What about ideas of a payroll tax elimination for employees making under 50K, reducing the size of Cabinet and a 10% reduction in Minister salaries?
Those seem like pretty good ideas.
There was nothing wrong with the OBA measures…as long as you’re not a die-hard PLP supporter. They are all, solid, common sense ideas and as well know, the PLP are not strong on sense, common or otherwise.
I will always have issue with people wanting to get rid of term limits. Unless you are a key employee, you should not be exempt.
What exactly do you think you are protecting with term limits? What have they protected so far?
Jobs for Bermudians! Term limits has little to do with the recession!! You was never for the policy of term limits sandgrownan! All you care about is rolling out the red carpet for expats and their families and make things harder for Bermudians! Go sell your soul, but heck no I won’t!
Yeah, and how has that ‘protecting jobs for Bermudians’ worked out for ya?
It’s about 2,000 jobs lost so far this year. The Citi 100 jobs are nothing to do with recesssion. They’re just moving those positions to a territory that actually wants them there. Less cost, less red tape, less hassle hiring and keeping employees. Those things matter to people who actually have to run a business.
You call that “rolling out a red carpet to expats”. I call it being a good jurisdiction and environment for business. Bermuda used to be that, but it isn’t any more.
Term Limits was so that there would be no more PRC’s issued.
LOL
Finally someone understands the true reason for term limits. Thank you LOL.
It would end foreigners from applying for/obtaining long term status.
Whatever the reason, the effect of it has been to discourage IB.
If you make someone feel unwelcome for long enough, they will eventually take the hint and leave.
And this is the bad emotional argument that the PLP like to play.
saying that term limits are a hindrence is NOT the same as rolling out the red carpet and wanting to flood bermuda with expats. Thats just an exaggeration used to “support” term limits.
some people say we should stop arresting tourists for hvaing weed. That doesnt mean they are openly asking all tourists to come and smoke it, they simply acknowledge it causes more issues than it solves.
Think about it, Term limits are based on the person. When their time is up then another will come over with a new set of terms limits. How does this affect bermudians? It Doesn’t Those positions will continue to be filled. If they are not and the job is eliminated, then a bermudian assistant or something else will also be gone (tickle down affect)….. Come on people think. Term Limtis Shuold be increased or be done with. If you want to make a rule then tell the person that they have no rights and can not live here past employment, You did the to the portuguese years agao and got rid of all the decent portuguese families that contributed to society and brought in a whole new breed in the last few years with your term limits. Expats contribute to the island whether you want to belive that or not!!! They pay rent, pay roll tax, social insurance, bills, groceries, clothing, school fees. They contribute to the same things the bermudians do and help the economy. Term Limits ensure they send their money elsewhere! If you are going to spend less time in a country because you are not made to feel welcome then you will send your money elsewhere. I could go on and on but just wanted to share my brief opinion.
Maybe it’s time to consider succession planning policies which would require companies to invest in the professional development of B’dians and spouses of (high flyer employees)to ensure leaving term limit work permits are filled by qualified and experienced B’dians/S.O.Bs. Obviously not for key positions, but all other administrative and operational roles, even some management posts. #umjustsayin
We need the expats or their deffinately wont even be a sales job in Bermuda cause we wont have jobs or income to go to the shop and buy anything…so welcome the expats..they are providing jobs by moving their companies here to Bermuda. I think the 10 year work permit plan is a step in the right direction. If we dont make it easier on the foreign companies they will pack up and leave. Some have left already!
Correct. Because it’s IB that generates the wealth here.
In all honesty, they should at least revise them then.
As far as i know, at hte moment “key employees” get waivers, or passes. They are not technically exempt. This adds uncertainty. If immigration wants to be a pain one day, they can just not give the permit or waiver.
If key employees should be exempt, dont just say “we’ll let you pass..dont worry”
Power trips and utter arrogance!
Essentially Immigration is run on the whim of the Minister. There seems to be no SET policy, protocol, or procedure for the granting of Work Permits and Extensions. IB doesn’t like surprises. Or unnecessary red tape that overly complicates doing business. Or attitudes.
If necessary, new legislation should be introduced, and certainly FIRM policy must be implemented at the Immigration Department so everyone gets treated fairly.
And how about creating a more welcoming atmosphere down at the Airport. For Visitors, Expats and locals. Some of these people need training on how to be nice. Sad init?
Don’t you get it yet most end up “key” employees except at the administration level jobs. Has there been an increase of Bermudian executives no there hasn’t. Term Limits is ok with me but it has only been used to affect blue collar and admin type staff the higher earners nothing has changed. Face it it’s window-dressing for the voters.
LOL
The policy must be better managed to obtain it’s intended value. Thus I can agree on this point LOL ;0)
@LOL (original)- By executive, do you mean AVP and higher? If so, you are wrong. Bermudians are advancing to senior positions all the time. Term limits do not dictate if Bermudians get promoted. Bermudians who are smart, driven and qualified do. You only have to look at a company like Ace that does a great job at promoting Bermudians to senior positions. Do you think they onyl promoted them because of the Term Limit restriction? No way. They promoted them because they understand the business and van generate a profit for the company. Simple.
Agreed Term Limits did not produce the resaults you talk about hard work did but on the whole Ace (also has at least one department that has one of the highest turn over rates out of all the companies listed below) is but one company here what about Aon, XL, Chartis, Willis, Ironshore, Validis Re, Artex etc etc………. all of the top jobs are not Bermudian these days AVP is about as high as it gets with some exceptions that have made the sacrifes that RN talks about in this thread.
LOL not much has changed.
My point was Term Limits was window dressing do you refute that?
LOL
The President of Aon Bermuda is a Bermudian
So is the President of Marsh.
So is the CEO of Endurance, EVPs, SVPs and VPs throughout the industry if you look harder. They lay low because they are working hard.
That is simply not true friend. Jerome Dill is the EVP and General Counsel at Validus. Charles Cooper recently left validus as the Head of the Property Reinsurance Dept and he is now the Head of the Property Reinsurance Dept at XL. He is a Bermudian. I can’t speak for every Company that you mentioned but the reality is that many Bermudians simply didn’t posess the skills at that level. I am not so naive to believe that, that was always the case and Bermudians have been overlooked in instances. However, that is an issue that term limits simply doesn’t address. If it did address it, we would be having this conversation. What term limits does do is create a lot of uncertainty around vital employees. Uncertainty is bad in this business. CEOs need to be able to plan around having their top producers in place for a few years and term limits is highly disruptive to that process. To get around it, they move the key employees to a more stable jurisdiction and all of the jobs that were required to support that producer simply go away. The term limit policy wasn’t thought through before it was implemented and then Govt have been belligerent with IB when they appealed for them to reconsider. In the end, it was the Bermudians who have paid the price with unemployment and a lack of exposure.
Exactly.
There was one point that they critiqued.. and they didnt even critique it with data. They simply tried to twist it into am emotional argument, that OBA favors foreigners.
Its garbage. They have no answer against the OBA’s ideas. Some may be better than others, but they are all “solid, common sense” ideas as sandgrown says.
The question is, do enough peolpe realize that they arent getting jobs anyway under plp to really make a difference?
Under the majority of the PLP governance there has been low, really low levels of unemployment, more money coming into this country and great legislative frame work implementation to expand and accommodate IB! So the global recession provides you OBA/UBPers with a good but pseudo narrative to give to the people! I want better ideas from you OBA!
You don’t want any ideas from the OBA be honest. And can you back you statements “Under the majority of the PLP governance there has been low, really low levels of unemployment, more money coming into this country” where Bermudians are concerned.
LOL
I do find it rather amusing that in 1998 the PLP campaigned to reduce the size of cabinet and now we’ve come full circle……….
The payroll tax idea sounds nice, but it is just not workable without a move to income tax.
As far as reducing salaries, quite odd they haven’t done it yet, but as with the other suggestions it won’t really help the economy!
As I said, it doesn’t go far enough. THe PLP, of course, are like pseudo-socialist governing parties the world over. Bloated civil service, no revenue and spend, spend spend.
Unfortunately, income tax is a real possibility and that point Bermuda makes no sense to anyone. Leave to the feral a%$holes running around shooting each other and get out.
This is the PLP’s mess. They failed everyone.
You say they don’t go far enough. What do you think they are missing.
It seems like both are offering more of the same.
I think we need something crazy like a total relaxation of weed laws or Casino’s something neither party will take a stand on.
How many tourists would flock to Bermuda Coffee shops!
But that’s my thought, what do you think is needed.
with all due respect… cause i do love the idea of relaxed marijuana laws and casinos, can you imagine how our relationship with the US would end up if we had “coffee shops”.
customs pre-clearance would go out the door..visa’s would be required, etc etc
.. we’d be treated like any other country. If people are willing to give that all up.. then sure, lets talk.
I personally am not fussed as i have a US passport as well as bermudian… but the majority of the island are not so lucky.
Given that in Amsterdam they are restricting severely the way tourists can use coffee shops, the weed “angle” isn’t as cut and dried as you might think.
However, I digress. We are in a massive budgetary crisis. We don’t have the revenue to support our debt and bloated civil service. Teachers are being fired, buses and ferries don’t run, charities that pick up the slack have their budgets slashed as do sporting associations. All thanks to a combination of recession and PLP mismanagement, Bermuda is f*cked. We do not have a war chest, only an extended line of credit at a local bank.
We need foreign cash and we need it now. Term limits need to go, but we also need to revisit and ease up on 60/40 ownership, we need to abolish home ownership restrictions for foreigners and reduce the tax they pay. Get rid of the anti-fronting legislation. Stimulate the real estate market and get the banks lending again. Introduce liquidity into the economy as a result. Get this moving and you will help builders, suppliers, restaurants, supermarkets and so on.
Cut the red tape and make it easy. Cut the racial and xenophobic rhetoric. You know how we look to the outside world? People laugh and shake their heads at how stupid Bermudians are. And you can thank the PLP for that.
I know you will complain about “selling our birthright”, but we are past that, we gave up our choices and that luxury in the last election when we voted based on plantation arguments rather than sense.
“We need foreign cash and we need it now. Term limits need to go, but we also need to revisit and ease up on 60/40 ownership, we need to abolish home ownership restrictions for foreigners and reduce the tax they pay. Get rid of the anti-fronting legislation. Stimulate the real estate market and get the banks lending again. Introduce liquidity into the economy as a result. Get this moving and you will help builders, suppliers, restaurants, supermarkets and so on.”
Isn’t that just a short term fix and unsustainable in the long run?
Back to the days of UBP Ways! He’ll no! nOBA!! Sigh, great way to increase class disparity!!
As if that hasn’t been happening for 6 years already.
LOL The haves and the have not’s have also widened under the PLP.
Just more spin from anti oppositionists
Its sad how people will let this country just sink simply becaues they dislike the old UBP. Their policies let bermuda flourish. Under the PLP the island is falling apart AND class disparity is increasing.
If we can take the old ubp policies, and apply them across the board then i would say we have a winning combo for OBA to follow.
Frankly the PLP is too arrogant to admint any OBA ideas are good, even if it was the golden fix.
Because tinkering with payroll tax and import duty at the airport is sustainable?
We don’t have the luxury of doing anything else – plus birth rates are declining and if the gangsters learn to shoot straight, that will help too.
I do not agree with cutting the 60/40 rule that’s how we got HSBC here and I’m not to happy with how they operate.
LOL the rest has some merit but would need to be restricted some how. Bermuda should be about Bermudians as stated not everyone has other passports.
LOL
How HSBC operates is of no concern. Really.
We need proactive, grab the bull by the horns action. NOW.
@ Sandy… dude you still here? Why oh why are you still here? Move your move on date forward and just sail away..
What many of you have done via your not so subtle hooded rants is to confirm what many of us already knew.. Nothing more pathetic than watching a bitter adult drinking at his own pity party..
Sailon bro..sail on
Funny, no response to their overspending and continued travel.
Probably becuase the travel budget has already been slashed. I wonder what the OBA plans to do to market bermuda overseas, meet via teleconference.
We live on an island for christsakes!
Well, its difficult to coordinate a response from Miami, NYC and Barbados. They need to find a time when they’re all on the island with nothing else to do.
Absolutely predictable response on term limits. The claim that they’re intended to protect Bermudian jobs is absolutely false [and Colonel Burch made that very clear in his letter to employers]
http://tinyurl.com/3jw9bve
I also have to say I find the claim that Bermudians can’t compete without term limits to be horribly condescending (and insulting). The idea that Bermudians can’t make it on their own is flat out insulting.
Interesting point. Seems like a bit of revisionist history.
It is a bit sad when term limits is used as a crutch.
Do you not however see how term limits may assist some Bermudians however in moving to better jobs?
“Do you not see how term limits may assist some Bermudians in moving to better jobs”.
No, not if the employer has given up with Bermuda and moved operations to the US, Ireland, Switzerland, etc.
How could Bermudians compete if there are no jobs in the paper? The only reason why IB companies advertise in the paper is because they have to as a condition of term limits. Get rid of term limits and 90% of jobs in the paper would vanish. So when Bill and Jill return from school educated who will hire them?
That’s incorrect. Companies are required to advertise locally every time they seek the renewal of a work permit (i.e. every couple of years) or seek to fill a new position. Term limits just set an upper limit to the number of times a permit can be renewed.
Noted
Uh, they’ve always had to advertise. That has NOTHING to do with term limits, it’s a condition of work permits, new and renewals.
IB actually prefer hiring Bermudians when they can. We are a lot cheaper than expats.
Seam:
We maybe cheaper, but harder to control….so IB actually don’t prefer Bermudians..
Control = $$$$$$$$
I’m not sure i agree with that, but I can only go by personal experience. The expats around me are here because they bring something to the table in terms of experience and expertise that the Bermudians don’t have (yet). My dept will be 100% Bermudian staffed within the next five years.
don’t get wrong now, all people are valuable some more than others..My personal experience is quite a few years ago, in the Banking Industry, the split was slightly foreigner heavy,however we where expected to start work at 7am and leave at 9pm, 7 days a week.
The pay was good and for the most part the pay was the same for the Bermudian and the foreigner,
I was one of those Bermudians not wanting to be left behind, I put in the hours,in fact I was promoted to Manager…. but the real price for keeping a job in my own country, was my family.. absent from PTA meeting, dance recitals, sports day, you get the picture.
And no I did not grumble, not once, I saw what happened to the other Bermudians,..now Bermuda is paying that price young man running around shooting each other..Kids left to bring themselves up…Mom and Dad out chasing the almighty dollar to survive.
the new story is going to be the Bermudian Mom and Dad that are unemployed, which equals more chaos.
Term limits are seperate from contracts… that will still need to be renewed at particular intervals (1 year / 3 year etc.) As it has been said elsewhere, suspending term limits does not mean that the Immigration Dept ceases to exist. There will still be controls in place.
PLP spin.
LOL what is it they say “get you facts stright”
Yet they still wouldn’t take a 10 percent cut! $224,000 is what madam premier makes and she’d still make over $200,000 dollars after a ten percent cut. The average Bermudian is surviving off of 20 percent of that salary. I’m sick of the PLP making excuses.
Though i agree that Minister’s should take a cut (Actually all civil servants should especially the top level ones yet I digress).
How does this idea, as the OBA say, “Help the Economy”. It will do nothing for the economy and therefore it is correct that its just politics.
That alone might not, but if you look at everything they’ve proposed, there will be an improvement. The PLP in their response offered nothing in the way of solutions, just the same old emotional BS on one single proposal out of many. Why? Because they are out of ideas.
You don’t call a 10% proposed cut emotional? Now that’s BS because that projected savings won’t get me a job or put money in my pocket for food! Unless you’ll be giving out food stamps!!! Get real!
It might counter the impression that the members of the current Govt are in it for personal gain. One Cabinet Member even said he voted against his conscience on an issue because he “didn’t want to lose his Ministerial income”. Amazing. He puts his own interest in maintaining his elite personal income above the interests of the country.
Reduce Minister’s salaries, and you demonstrate that Ministers are thinking a bit broader than just their own financial gain.
You call it ‘emotional’. I call it reducing a conflict of interest, showing they are not just in it for the money, and showing they are willing to chip in the way everyone else has to.
And let’s not forget another certain minister , who upon becoming demoted from the position , in an interview later on was asked what she missed most about not being a minister anymore.
Her response ?
‘I miss the car the most ‘ ..
Yep , that ‘talent pool’ is sure deep …
Like I said, that alone will not but it is one of many suggestions that they put forward yesterday.
The PLP in their response did not refute any facts with facts. They are drumming up your emotions and fear/hatred of expats saying that they will take your job. We need to remember why the term limits were imposed in the first place, and it has nothing to do with jobs for Bermudians. The PLP said it themselves, ask the Colonel, that term limits were put into place to stem the number of expats that come here, stay too long, and end up looking for PRC or status. This ‘they’re going to take all our jobs’ business is emotional election time nonsense. Show me one actual FACT in the PLP response above. Just one. They say ‘fairy tale statistics’. Well then what are the real statistics? Show me how the OBA are wrong. If they don’t release statistics to rebut the OBA statement it’s one of two things – They either don’t know them or they are afraid to tell us. Neither one of those possibilities are acceptable for a Government.
Shhh…dopn’t overload them with facts…they only like emotional substance…
You’re speaking intelligently. PLP supporters can’t understand what you are saying.
even though it will have little effect on increasing the overall revenue stream, it shows that govt ministers are also willing to cutback when everyone else has had to because of the climate we are in. It is a leading by example case and shows the people who voted them in that everyone is in this together.
Exactly. I agree
It doesn’t help the economy per se, but it is a show of good faith to the citizenry at large. The current government pontificates about tightening the belt and the people doing more with less, yet they seem to hold themselves as exempt from these measures.
I have to agree that in the end, it’s all just politicking, but should our leaders not lead by example? Consider it a symbolic olive branch to be extended to a disenfranchised electorate.
No raise for me in the last six years! How much has the cost of living and all of governments increases gone up in that time!
I ask myself, am I better off now than ten years ago…………..or fifteen years ago………the answer is NO! I was earning more money and expenses were a hell of a lot less.
Why ask yourself are you better off? The answer is why do we listen to the hot air that they are talking. This how I see it Eexcution:having just a vision is no solution. OBA is making some type of sense at this time and most of all people are tired of the Bull that is being dish out from the cog and the coglets. I would rather be a toilet bowl when I look up at lease I can see whats coming at me flush!!!
OBA/UBP are feeding us Fairy Tales and if you can not see it, then that is sad. PLP always avoid the cut in pay topic. “PLP and OBA are two sides of the same coin”
I would like to know OBA/UBP’s stand on Gambling, Marijuana, and Independence hmmm
While all three are worthy of some debate, neither is important at this instant. We need foreign revenue in substantial amounts.
Gambling and Legalized Marijuana would bring in foreign revenue in substantial amounts and independence would be about ‘Putting Bermuda First’
So what tangible and REAL benefits (not emotional and irrational nonsense) will independence bring about? Please do tell…bet you can’t find one.
Independence??? So these fools (PLP/OBA/UBP reps) can turn Bermuda into a third world country??? The other two ideas need further review, discussion and consideration. But independence we are far, far away from that. We need leaders we can trust; and IMO I haven’t identified one on either side of the fence.
If OBA are the fairy tale, then PLP are the Horror Story.
+1
BINGO!
Why Marijuana the PLP have had it in their power to relax this law for 13 years and still young men and women get caught up in the moment and suffer consequences to them and their families for life after wards this is a mute point, independence not going to see that in the next 50 years or so that’s mute. Gambling still need to see how exactly this will generate revenue for Bermuda and then I would need to know how said revenue would be used in writing like in a budget and how it would be regulated.
LOL
Term limits have killed investment in Bermuda.Companies including the one I work for are sending hundreds of jobs in Information Technology,Finance,Marketing and customer service to offshore business centers.There they can invest in long term employees who they know will still be in their jobs 2,3 or 10 years from now.All that will be left in Bermuda is a shell with a few internet connections to the US,Canada and the UK.These empty buildings don’t rent over priced apartments,pay $6.00 for a loaf of bread or pay double tips for over priced dining.So keep your head in Houseshoe Bay sand if you think the expat community is something you can do without.We know we’re not wanted here.So we’ll go home.Won’t be long and the term 3rd world will be added to your vocabulary.
+1
Ahh yes, and the USA has term limits which then have companies in the USA send hundreds of jobs in IT, Finance, Marketing and Customer Service to Outsourcing business centers… Oh wait they don’t have term limits do they! Stop blaming the recession on term limits!
With that attitude, don’t let the door hit you on the way out!
Curious to be clear the Government blames the recession for Bermudas woes while others blame the Government and term limits is just part of Governments failure to address something that IB people have felt is an impediment to their business…predictable response would be “they never say that when asked” and we are close to IB….you are not close to IB or you would know when they leave and what motivates them…Bermuda now has a higher unemloyment rate than the US….of course that is unofficial since your Government has no statistics since August 2010 but do know how many tourists came in last quarter from Latvia….and how is that census coming along from May of 2010….
No worries mate.I expected that response and I appreciate your fond au revoir.I’ll be back though in a few years to play some black jack in your casinos with complimentary rooms and dinners.I’ll probably even stay in your Morgans Point gated resort and if Port Royal is still open,play a round of cheap golf with you as my caddie.Cheers
you mean you will not be going to the Park Hyatt in St George…Mr Bizarian is very close to breaking ground…..the same grouond that Brown promised would be broken in 2007…..
Not sure what your point is. Bermuda has exported hundreds of jobs to Switzerland, Ireland, Canada, USA. None of which have term limits. You can’t hide behind the recession for everything.
Hundreds!!!?? Wow, I want that OBA/UBP powerade!
No powerade needed. Just open your eyes. Citi was 100 jobs exported to the US. XL has rented out half its building. ACE has floors of under-utilised space. AWAC redom’d and its senior managers are leaving or have left. 1,500 expats have left since the beginning of the year, and they didn’t go elsewhere to be unemployed.
Thats the sad thing…
jobs are outsourcing from the states, as you mentioned, and yet we are putting up ways to stop them coming here….. letting them pass on to our competitors!!! real nice!!!
just like soon leaving, im waiting patiently for my chance out of here.
Hope you are on the first thing smokin’ m8. OBA/UBP let you in and PLP is letting you out….. Good Bye
Actually work permits increased year over year under the PLP.
LOL put the urban myths to rest
I am so done with this government. In oh so predictable fashion they once again shoot the messenger and offer very little in the way of their own plan for addressing our economic woes (which in spite of the global economy were in part created by our present government overspending and underestimating negative population growth due to their own poor PR).
I have actually in the past supported term limits as a way to protect Bermudian jobs and the job market but also know that with the global economy being what it is we need to be prepared to be flexible if we are to continue to attract people to our shores (job losses aside, retail is down largely because the population is down).
In any event, I’m done. Burt or Butterfield can skip my house altogether.
Former PLP Supporter
It was my understanding that the main reason for Term Limits where to prevent Long Term residence, to protect land for future Bermudians, and by extension generate an incentive for employers to invest in Bermudians, the result being more jobs for Bermudians.
Nobody cares about a job or a house until they don’t have one.
Also does anyone know if the increase that the UBP/OBA MP’s got in 2006 it they indeed donated it to charity as they stated they would.
I also implore them to lead by example and donate 10% of the salary to charity now.
That would be a start.
I figured since tons of people come on here, that SOMEONE can help me! I really need a job..and I’d be so grateful if someone would help me…I work well with people and I’d make a great receptionist…someone please help me!!
Here is a simple task for any of you haters (figure I would use the typical PLP rebuttal language):
Show me ONE actual rebuttal to the OBA’s suggestions. And as a FYI drumming up your inner hatred for anyone different is not a rebuttal. But your party knows how easy it is to play your emotions without actually having to provide any actual substance to their arguments and knows that your hatred for anything different is so ingrained that the actual facts do not matter to yourselves.
So show me ONE actual rebuttal within that “attack the messenger piece” that actually states why the proposed ideas are just hogwash that would not help the local economy. Just one.
Also, why don’t you guys ask your beloved Govt what the real unemployment stats are since they claim the OBA’s to be nothing but fairytales. If they were why didn’t they state the real figures to shut them up. Interesting that they didn’t inna? Nah of course it isn’t they spoke you listened and consumed. Ahh gotta love democracy sometimes.
What we seem to have in the Government is a group of people who, possibly even unknowingly, seem motivated by something other than building a strong country for all Bermudians, and for those who we NEED to help to make and keep our country strong and participating effectively in this global era.
Instead what I honestly feel that we have is a power struggle within a group of people who heretofore were united against a common enemy. Given that they are now having to make the decisions that will result in the dilution of that former unity, much effort must also be invested in the preservation of the ‘enemy’.
The problem is that THERE IS NO ENEMY, the people are being deceived and we need something to change so that we can avoid getting to where we are very clearly headed.
I don’t see that any significant change is possible with the current state of our party politics. It’s time to consider how to empower elected independent candidates to affect change… unless you enjoy spinning around and around in circles!
I wish I could post a picture here because the one I have in mind truly speaks to exactly what is happening amongst the electorate here.
In a nut shell there are two films playing at a theatre and two box offices. At one box office there is a long line of people queueing at the other there is no one. One film is An Inconvenient Truth and the other is A Reassuring Lie. Guess which one the long line of people are queueing to see?
All those standing in the “A Reassuring Lie” line, thinking their part of the ship won’t sink are absolutely only fooling themselves. All of their self serving greed, blind quest of me, me, me, and as long as I get mine, continue to get mine, and I will find ways to get more, will not protect them. Nor will their emotional, empty, misplaced tapping of ‘fellow line’ people’s emotions that are filled with no lots of hatred and ignorance, but no substance. When the ship goes down, ALL OF IT GOES DOWN, and that includes the part you are standing on! And when it does, it will largely be their own fault for refusing to see, against all odds and years of clear objective evidence, the light of truth, inconvenient or otherwise. There are none so blind as those who will not see.
That is why it is call politicks. just talk nothing but utter s—- before voting to make themselves look good, then once the party gets in they are all for themselves. how can one survive in these economic times if it is a fight to get your pension you worked hard for. So what if at the end of the day you use it all and there is nothing to fall back on, this country is becoming a control state and if we don’t open up our eyes we maybe left with nothing but dictators that don’t have nothing to offer this country but utter bulls—–. i have a terminally ill child who can’t get employment because he is a high risk insurer, has a pre-existing condition an all they tell me a hard working black mother who is willing to pay the extra dollar for insurance is that as long as one is not in school full time there will be no Coverage so you try to get your hardworking money your work for to assist a ill child and they tell you no. So as far as I am concern none of them will be getting my vote. Then the want to know why ppl are leaving to reside else where. This place calle bermuda is gone to the dump and until the see that as long as they ar fully employed paying their bills to hell with the rest that is how i feel because that is what they have showed me for the last few years trying to get my daughter insured for her terminal illness and all they can tell me is that they are sorry. No don’t feel sorry for me i am employed feel sorry for the child who needs health care and has a parent willing to pay.
That is so unfortunate. It must be very frustrating for you. Maybe someone with a heart will help you.
Sorry for the type errors just had to put it out there.
At this point when I look up I still see bottom, when will we see the top soon I hope.
All I have heard from the PLP is ‘we are working hard’. Anyone can say that! Actions speak louder than words.
Ask the companys that have left Bermuda and most will tell you they were tired of being mistreated by Bermuda Immigration and did not feel wanted in Bermuda or equal.
Just ask them
After they have left as they are scared to talk while they are here,worried they will have there permits revoked
Why does the PLP not want wealthy people to make there lives here perminatly in Bermuda to contribute to our economy?
Who do you think contributes the most to charities in Bermuda?
Hate to say it but because the majority of those wealthy people are white and have white children. The PLP want the white population to diminish, they want Bermuda only for black people at the end of the day. The truth is we need all people of all races and we need foreign investment in our Island both economicaly and intellectually. It is unhealthy to have Bermuda 100% Bermudian, marrying Bermudians and their children marrying Bermudians and so on. But if you marry a foreign spouse then you can only own 1 house and that economically disadvantages you. It also has a negative imapct on the property market which will continue to decline with the lack of rents and sales. People will not be able to pay their mortgages without rent. There needs to be Jobs for Bermudians that can do those kinds of jobs 100%, but they need to be of a global standard in order to do so. At present our public education system does not bode well for preparing Bermudians for high end business jobs. On the other hand why are there so few Bermudian waiters?? and people in the service industry in general?
“Rolfe” exist because of people like you……you are in your owe clothes…state your case without race.
Rolfey-baby exists because the PLP pay him to exist. Without the PLP Rolf would be essentially unemployable. What ya gonna do Rolfey when the OBA take over? Buh-bye!
I am going to vote OBA and not because of the debt/recession but because the PLP has been in to long and look at this country…in a huge debt with no signs of it being paid off. We need change ! The PLP is stuck in a rut and dragging us deeper and deeper into a “muck” hole with no escape. We cant control the PLP or the OBA but anything is better than what we have right now. If I saw some sign of the government stopping spending the money we dont have I might change my mind but there are already too many politicians travelling on our purse and if they are cutting services its time they cut their travel. I for one would like to know if my Bermuda Pension even exists anymore.
Has anyone read what has been written above?
Just scroll through comments.
Your all so frustrated and wanting in making and stating a view/comment.
I wish you well.
Your doomed. The sun will rise for sure. Stop looking west…thats where it ends.
Judging from this press release one would conclude that the UBP is alive and well.
Really!! And I know of a situation where bermudians are getting shafted and they are protecting a foreigner!!
Really.If most Bermudians had the same work ethic as guest workers they may have a chance at some of those jobs.
Expats don’t call in sick every second Monday.They don’t take day’s off because their child has a runny nose,they don’t show up late for work because it’s raining and they don’t waste 2 hours a day on their BlackBerry dealing with their “ace girl or ace boy” issues.
Terms Limits have killed the economic engine of Bermuda.
There is no light in the tunnel. Bermuda has been ruined by xenophobic policy. It has been plagued by the use of the Race Card as an excuse for attacking opposing political parties, employers etc. TOURISM is on its knees, in large part because there was so much turmoil, attitude and piss poor productivity. We successfully chased hoteliers outta here: Marriott, Holiday Inn, Loews, Club Med, Trust House Forte, Sonesta plus over 80 other closures.
You do NOT grow an economy by shrinking your work force. There are more BERMUDIANS out of work than EVER before as businesses leave Bermuda, or International Business quietly walks away OR shifts jobs overseas BECAUSE of the current government’s attitude & policies.
BERMUDIANS always come first is the ONLY rule you require.
To send so many people packing after SIX or TEN years is INSANE……Then when you cannot find a replacement locally you rehire from overseas. This is NUTS and EXPENSIVE.
BERMUDA still has no plan for tourism and carries on in an AD HOC manner. This is no way to run a country and indeed we are in DIRE TROUBLE and there is no VISION or LEADERSHIP to save our beloved Bermuda.
The PLP spew the “enemy mythology” and are using every trick in the book to smear the OBA ( a new political entity ) by tying them to the UBP e.g. “The OBA-UBP policy”.
What the PLP have tied Bermuda and Bermudians to is their chronically failed Tourism policies and now International Business has shrunk (empty office space everywhere) resulting in collective massive job losses in Bermuda. Term Limits has resulted in businesses quietly saying, “We have had enough”. The evidence is clear as many CEO’s opt NOT to live in Bermuda or shift the headquarters to other friendlier climes, whilst outsourcing other jobs overseas because of the hassles and costs in Bermuda.
The PLP policies have caused Bermudian landlords to lose tenants. Caused schools to lose enrollment. Caused less people eating out in restaurants. Caused over 1400 job losses and counting. The PLP have BANNED Bermudians from being able to sell their BIGGEST ASSET (their home) to whomever they please. They have discriminated against locals who marry a foreigner by requiring an expensive “LICENSE” to own a home together. Crime has exploded in the past 13 years. Guns, guns and more guns…..
Right now the country is facing an economic “BLACK HOLE” with over a $ quarter of a MILLION in interest on the debt DAILY – they have created $ 1.2 BILLION in debt – but closer to $5 BILLION when you dig deeper.
The country is in trouble allright.
“The OBA’s proposal to suspend term limits for work permits would be “disastrous” for Bermudian workers, the ruling PLP said today”.
The countrys workers are in dire straits because of the PLP, not the OBA or any other former political party. The past 13 years have been more that UNLUCKY for the fortunes of Bermudians. It didn’t have to be that way, but it is. The PLP will do everything to deflect the failures they have created. The people need to see through the rhetoric and the obvious lust to hang on to power at all costs – the people have been sacrificed sadly.
If you want more of the same then in my view you need to check into MAWI.
“WHATCHA GONNA DO BERMUDA”?
More blaming others by PLP. No solutions or accountability, just finger pointing at the old dead UBP. People wake up you are are being bamboozeled by a group of black elitists who are paying themselves massive salaries, travelling all over the world while you sit and suffer and watch foreign workers brought in by THIS mostly black PLP elite, take jobs from yourself, your children, grandchildren, nieces, nephews, uncles, aunts, cousins, friends etc..
So many are accepting behaviour from the PLP Govt. that they would have marched & rioted over if the same behaviour was exhibited by the former Govt.. Which can only mean that many people would rather suffer under their own kind than take a chance that the new OBA might actually be able to improve opportunitites for their family. The PLP elitists understand this so they will not improve the education & keep bringing in foreigners & foreign consultants pretending to improve things because they do NOT want the common man to figure things out for themselves…
@ Terry – Stop with the silly get the vote out rhetoric..Failing to include the fact that the world’s economy is in the toilet and could just possibly be a contributing factor to job reductions makes your argument way slanted & biased, albeit in keeping with most of your rants.
I was always told never to trap a rat in a corner. The PLP are liked trapped rats right now and can only rely on attacking the OBA as they cannot possibly win at defending their own seriously flawed policies. If you listen to them, Bermuda’s recession started in 2006 when they began racking up the additional 600 mill in debt. Now we owe so much and our Govt revenues are so low they cannot even pay the principal let alone helping those who need it. And yet there are still those that suggest that policies such as term limits has been good for Bermuda. Are you ignorant to the facts? Even the Economy Minister has stated that jobs in the Int’l sector are down by over 1500 in the last year and who knows how many have left in the past 2 years. Good for Bermuda, really?
Attack the UBP if you like, but there are only a few Bermudians who can say they are better off today than they were in 1998!
“Attack the UBP if you like, but there are only a few Bermudians who can say they are better off today than they were in 1998!”
Yep, and I’d reckon most are PLP Ministers, friends, associates, and Dr. Brown cronies. The island’s going down the toilet for everyone else.
What difference does it make that good ideas come from people who used to be members of the UBP? They are good ideas. In the eyes of the PLP, which has very few ideas, anything coming from the OBA is useless just because it is the OBA. No need to justify the critisism.
Look around the PLP bench. See any successful business people? Nope? You see a bunch of people on the payroll of somewhere. They might, just might have a mid management position but only a couple have made a name for themselves by their own.
Look around the OBA. Losts of people who who are professionals or have their own successful businesses to run.
Now where do you suppose the best business ideas are going to come from?
Shhh….stop speaking logically. You’ll confuse the diehards.
I applaud this posting by Senator Dr. K. Michelmore (OBA) from another forum:
“Unlike the OBA that have up to now have spent most of its time criticizing the Government, our party has been hard at work on the initiatives that it committed to in the Throne Speech and in the Budget…….” Quote from the PLP’s statement in response to the OBA economic press conference.
I believe that it was President Obama who recently said that “The practice of listening to opposing views is es…sential for effective citizenship. It is essential for our democracy.”
One of the roles of the Opposition is to highlight areas in need of change, to challenge decisions which are felt to be incorrect, and to attempt to hold the Government to account where necessary. Since delving into front-line politics, I have found that it has been common practice for the Government to avoid an actual defence of their actions by accusing the Opposition of being “too critical”. This is deflection and is a weak response.
As politicians and as a community we should be doing more “listening”. To dismiss an opposing view as “criticism” wastes a valuable opportunity to consider the issue from a different perspective, which could possibly move us all towards more common ground for the good of our country.”
The UBP/OBA are the same people, same voters and same ideas. Uncle Bob did say several times and on talk radio, “no term limits” He does represent the UBP/OBA ? So it is no surprise that the ideas are the same. How can one change, just because of a “name change”? Looks like some back-tracking to clean up its message by the OBA. Most of the comments reflect that the UBP/OBA are rearing their ugly heads once again.
Mr. Cannonier stated a few months ago that he was more “PLP” than “UBP/OBA”. He also was not in support of the current ideas of the UBP, so how can he do a 90 degree turn so fast? He must be hungry for “Power”. Mr. Cannonier the UBP/OBA put you there for one purpose, to gain the “Black Middle class swing vote”. Be careful Mr Cannonier, your time will be short lived, as Mr Dunkley is waiting to take over the leadership. It may be sooner than you think????
From 35,000 feet above, the term limit discussions are a waste of energy for a number of reasons.
1 – Businesses are here to make money first and foremost.
2 – Businesses really do not give a damn about Bermudian/Local workers. In many regards the local workers are considered the cost of doing business in any particular jurisdiction.
3 – For locals to think that the company is really interested in promoting them to executive positions is pure folly. No.
4 – The local government in exchange for the payroll and other taxes it receives also wants a little something for the ‘people’ for appearances sake and that is where the bartering of term limits applies. Think about it, how likely is it that a government would try to enforce a ‘locals first’ policy at the risk of biting the hands that feed them? Then, look what happened when the government did try to invoke more stringent term limits. International companies spoke with their feet and moved elsewhere.
5 – A smart government would remove obstacles for companies doing business here, with minimum term limits of 10 years for agreed upon definition for ‘key personnel’. With the payroll tax invest heavily in education in the Hospitality Industry and International Business by mandating that these courses are taught beginning as early as Middle/Junior School. At the lower levels of management, there would be a more educated, properly trained workforce both male and female who could fill these positions. More people working means more contributions to the public purse for taking care of the country’s needs, maintaining and improving the infrastructure, increasing the country’s revenue generating activities.
In short, let businesses make lots money; utilize the taxes from these activities to benefit the island and rebuilt the primary industry tourism and do this wisely without the corrupt and inept politicians with their hands in the cookie jar.