OBA’s Richards On Financial Results
[Updated with video] Shadow Finance Minister Bob Richards addressed the recent financial statements tabled by the Government, saying in the corporate world this type of financial planning would “get the planners fired.”
“The financial results released by the government on Friday stand as an indictment of its stewardship of the public purse,” said Mr Richards.
“First let’s start with the obvious. This is the fourth consecutive report that has not received a clean audit from the Auditor General, meaning that there remain serious questions about the integrity of the numbers. These questions, these doubts and uncertainties about the handling of the people’s money have become the norm for the government. It is disgraceful.
“The figures themselves would make any Bermudian wonder what is the point of the whole budget process because actual results differ so much from budgeted objectives.
“I have adjusted for several large non-cash expenses so that Bermudians can compare actual results to what the government said it intended to do one year ago when it presented its Budget in February 2010.
“Revenues were $62 million less than forecast, while cash expenses were $67 million more than forecast. The Current Account deficit which was forecast to be $67.5 million turned out to be a deficit of $128.7 million. That’s not just a miss, that’s a big miss – a 90% difference, or $61 million.
“The budgeted expectations and actual figures were not even close. The overall government cash deficit was $164.6 million. Expenses continued to be out of control.
- “Employee costs were 16% over budget
- Healthcare 19% over budget
- Financial assistance 30% over budget
- Interest on debt was 50% over budget.
“In the corporate world this type of financial planning would get the planners fired. Voters will get that chance soon. The Auditor’s report raises once again deeply serious questions about this government’s ability to manage the public purse.
“One of them is credibility. Who can believe what this minister will say in her Budget speech this coming Friday when the Auditor for four years running has not approved the numbers, or when the Minister’s directives to cut back spending are ignored by her own colleagues?
“The missed forecasts, the ever deepening debt suggest the government has lost control of the budget, and in the process weakened Bermuda’s ability to control its own destiny.
“Debt continues to rise at a faster rate than anticipated. Despite giving itself $200 million more room for borrowing by changing the definition of Public Debt last year, government debt may be on the verge of piercing the Island’s official debt ceiling of $1.25 billion.
“The stark debt situation explains the government’s eagerness to get its hands on $62 million from employees’ pension contributions to fund its day-to-day operations. Without this diversion there would have been no way to avoid raising the debt ceiling before the election. It may still be unavoidable.
“Government is using employees pension contributions to avoid this embarrassment at this politically sensitive time because even though the $62 million is essentially borrowing from the future, it will not be classified as debt.
“So why should everyday Bermudians care about government budget numbers? Because they have a direct impact on your lives. The deeper the hole the government digs for Bermuda, the deeper it’s going to reach into your pockets to make up for its mistakes,” concluded Mr Richards.
A handout provided by Mr Richards is below, click ‘Fullscreen’ for greater clarity:
Bob Richards,
Thanks for providing a spreadsheet with inaccurate figures. Please get them right. This will be revised shortly…. soon people will completely question what if anything this guy knows about finance.
Bob, refer to the statement from the ministry of finance to get the correct figures.
Soon people will completely question what if anything Paula Cox knows about finance.
I think we all know that Paula, has no idea about finance.. she should resign and the sooner the better…to think we have her as our premier and dopey burgess as our deputy premier…
“Correct” – or ‘those provided’ by the MOF?
what’s your point?
No, these are the accurate figures. Still subject to clean audit though, of course.
I really hope that the average person in Bermuda understands how bad a job the current administration is doing. We are in a global recession, which means we need to be even more financially responsible than ever. It seems that the absolute opposite has taken place under the PLP! You can blame things like failing tourism and loss of jobs on the recession but at the same time you need to make adjustments and good decisions to combat the negative impact that recession brings. The PLP have not done so. Our economic future is in real jeopardy as a result of their poor performance! No way in my right mind could I ever consider voting PLP right now!
Glad to see there are more logical thinkers on this site then there are idiot, PLP Kool-Aid drinkers like @Voice of Reason
Sorry to break it to you, however you SPEND more in a recession to maintain demand in an economy. Its economics 101.
Oh right. And we have thousands unemployed, hundreds of houses and apartments empty, shops closing every week, reversals of government policies, and Paula coming up with the ‘brilliant’ long-term move of saving money by ceasing pension contributions. And we have $1.3bn in debt, rising by $280m or so a year. So how has all that spending to “maintain demand” worked out for ya?
Yes but the magnitude of their spending has been too great. These aren’t even audited figures just imagine what the real numbers are. They need to cut some gov jobs and need to reduce their “handouts” Bermuda is not a welfare state and cannot afford to be one.
People keep saying “but where will the people cut go for a job” when really they should be saying that if these people are so bad that they get fired from Gov then do they deserve another job. The world needs plenty of bartenders.
Let me help you out, and this is from the same reports you claim to be unaudited.
“The financial statements present fairly, in all material respects, the
financial position of the Consolidated Fund of the Government of
Bermuda as at March 31, 20111, and the results of its operations, the
changes in its net debt, and its cash flows for the year ended in
accordance with public sector accounting standards generally accepted
in Bermuda and Canada.” – Heather Jacob’s Matthews – Bermuda Auditor General.
Those are Audited figures.
Let me help you out:
“This is the fourth consecutive report that has not received a clean audit from the Auditor General, meaning that there remain serious questions about the integrity of the numbers. These questions, these doubts and uncertainties about the handling of the people’s money have become the norm for the government. It is disgraceful.”
Key words there “clean audit”. Where did your quote come from?
They are audited, but it is a qualified opinion. That means the auditor is telling us all, very plainly, that the figures are not as reliable as they should be.
For any publicly owned company, it would mean a change of the entire management, and possible bankruptcy. For a Bermuda PLP government, it’s the usual state of affairs, and the idiot supporters write on here saying “they are audited, everything must be ok”.
You wouldn’t normally get an audit where the auditor talks about “serious deficiencies of internal controls” for 4 years running. Heads would roll.
Guess it matters how you spend the money and the return on said money also eco 101.
LOL
Seriously – “You spend more in a recession to maintain demand in an economy”? Please explain why that would be the case? If that is so, why do companies downsize and make cut-backs in a recession? Why do people tighten the belt when times get tough, and why are we all being called to “do less with more” if we are, indeed, supposed to be spending more?
Let me help you with that Portia as this is a point that is often missed.
Governments are not people. Business cycles (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Business_cycle) happen where economies expand and contract. When economies contract, government’s deploy typically increase spending to compensate for the private spending that you mention (business cutbacks & household belt tightening).
As Bermuda doesn’t print money, the only way the government can provide stimulus is via spending. That spending must be paid for by borrowing the funds to spend on Stimulus.
Also, a part of that same stimulus is not cutting back on services (jobs) during a recession as you will only make the recession worse by putting more people out of work which reduces private demand which reduces tax revenue which then causes the government to lay off more people.
The Government by and large adopted the right policy, the challenge is the recession lasted longer than anyone in the world imagined it would, and the ability to continue to borrow is questionable.
I hope that helps.
I disagree. The Government’s role is to implement policy to encourage private sector job creation. Their role is not to encourage or support a nanny state, especially considering the fact we can’t print money as a way out of our current PLP predicament.
Govt is supposed to save during economic booms so as to be able to spend and keep citizens employed during busts. This lot spent into debt during the boom and now into the bust. Pretty dopey
You really are clueless Voice of reason. It is quite shocking reading your tunnel visioned teenager level economic idealism. You have no clue.
Educate them Voice of Reason…you make good sense and speak very well. Keep it up.
The key point is that you save in the good times so that you have money to spend in the bad times. The PLP thought the good times would never end despite all the indicators around them. Instead we increased our debts during that time and now have negative cash flows (spending higher than cash revenues) which limit our ability to help maintain demand as you have suggested.
Remember we can not turn on the printing press with respect to money so soon we will have to pay back the debts…..or take it from our pensioners.
Just to be clear, from 1999 – 2006, the Government debt increased by only $100 million and debt as a percentage of GDP remained (some years it declined, some years it increased) at the same level at 1998
Thought the Government didn’t technically “save” during the good times, they didn’t exactly spend wildly. This fiscal discipline allowed the government to borrow money during the recession that they wouldn’t have been able to borrow if they spent wildly during the good times.
Also, i think its inaccurate to say the PLP thought the Good times would never end. In 2008, both the Minister of Finance and the Shadow Finance Minister admitted that there were dark clouds on the horizon. No one (Bermuda or Worldwide) in Feb of 2008 however thought the entire financial system may collapse.
Our Debt didn’t start its scary (Yes I am a PLP supporter) shooting upwards until 2008, however at that point revenues were already under pressure. I say all of this to say, the myth that the PLP spend wildly during the good times is just that, a myth.
Exactly where and when did Ms. Cox admit there were dark clouds on the horizon? Her actions and decisions as Finance Minister certainly don’t support that observation.
Was she refering to her own presence and the effect of her and her colleagues actions perhaps.
Not true. Debt started exploding after 2003.
That’s balls. The PLP halfwits were told repeatedly this was going to happen and to put the brakes on spending. They didn’t.
Now they are robbing the pension fund.
Spending and being financially responsible are two different things. In a recession you need a government that knows how to spend correctly and run a budget, not overrun a budget! That in the end could be the difference between success and failure as a nation (e.g.Greece). So whats the plan!? Where is our large increase in revenue going to come from? Are we just going to keep running $200m over, year in year out? How are Butterfield and HSBC going to recoup their loan money, and what happens if the government defaults!? The cost of living is going to rise beyond our means because we will be so up to our eyeballs in tax to pay off the debt. Civil service jobs will be lost in future you can be sure. The government knows that, they are just holding out till the election. As soon as the PLP convince people to let them get back in, the floodgates will open. Their present financial situation is unsustainable without cutting considerable costs. Unless we have a huge influx of foreign investment and capital into our Island, the only way is to cut jobs and raise taxes. It is going to be a long hard slog to get us above water again. The question is, are the same people that put us under going to have in intellectual fortitude to pull us out. DOUBT IT!
Unfortunately it’s not until Economics 201 or 301 that you learn that spending your way out of a recession only works when you haven’t suffered a permanent decline in potential GDP as Bermuda has. By implementing term limits the government permanently decreased Bermuda’s reserve of human capital – and therefore permanently decreased its GDP.
The reality is that the government is both holding demand above potential (it will eventually fall) and also reducing future potential by the amount of the interest payable on that debt each year. So the long-run is twice as bad as taking the inevitable fall in the short-run.
Voice very few people believe anything that comes out of the Ministry of Finance…..ineptness…spin and ineptness…..
Rule #1 in the instruction book handed out to the Koolaid gang: Never mind any indesputable facts, try to shoot the messengers no matter how stupid it makes you look.
#1 from the OBA Kollaid gang: Call the PLP “Kool Aid” Gang and never question anything said from OBA while not beleiving anything said by the PLP.
Did I get that right.
Given the record of the PLP, yeah that works pretty well most of the time.
You see the PLP are the Government & after 13 years of hopeless governance, are responsible for the dire financial straights Bermuda is in today, no matter how often they bleat “it is the world recession”. The OBA is just the Opposition. No power. Not responsible for the mess. However, the OBA, in particular people like Bob Richards have been good at predicting the financial mire we are in now.
At the last election something like 47% of us did not vote for the bunch of incompetants 53% of you did. Perhaps the 53% would like to take accountability for the $2b plus debt the PLP has run up?
it is what it is, the current govt cannot control spending, does not have a solid plan for this country future.. either you agree or not..
TO ALL BERMUDIAN’S if this was your person financial report in 000″s of $$$, would you be proud of it?? and in the current economic status would you do something about??
Just Curious??
Personal people don’t live by the same rules as governmnets. If govts followed those rules, we’d all be screwed.
If you wanted a balanced budget you’d have had to deny healthcare to seniors, fire teachers and police, and about 500 civil servants.
Would that have made the economy better?
If you wanted a balanced budget you would have to set a balanced budget and run your financial house properly. Tax structure to wage structure! Mismanagement, wastage, over-employment and a whole heap of inefficiency. That is to blame. You set a workable budget and make it work. If you can’t do that then you simply don’t know what you are doing. It is clear, the present finance Minister does not know what she is doing. $200m odd overrun is beyond poor. It means you got it very, very wrong. What do you think will happen if the Government keeps overspending and not paying off it’s debts!? It cannot just continue year in year out.
Fiscal prudence from the begining is not in your assumption here. If it was there would not be a need to do the things you list in the first place. Coupled with giving jobs to some who do not have the qualifications is the other thing you have not taken into account nor if the employee is processing the work they are hired to perform.
LOL
So, in your world the Civil Service is where you go when you are so useless that you can’t get a job in the real world of private enterprise where employees have to be productive to keep their jobs. Is that the way it is?
You’d have to deny healthcare to seniors? Is that the nonsense you’re spouting? No. Here’s a few things we could have done differently. We could have done away with about 200 unnecessary government cars for the last 14 years. We could have reduce unnecessary luxury travel, which is still first class, and still takes place. We could have done without multimillion dollar vanity projects, like $3m music festivals several years in a row. We could have avoided the $28m wasted on Global Hue, for which we got nothing in return. And the same for all the useless (but well-connected) “consultants” who got millions during the Brown years. We could have collected the $7m Performance Bond that the government was entitled to, rather than letting off the entity that collected a $700,000 premium with no intention of ever paying. We could have had proper competitive bids for large building contracts, rather than the “boys club” of PLP insiders we’ve had for years. We could have managed debt and lived within our means. As little as 7 or 8 years ago we were a rich country, with resources, and choices. What did we do? Alienate and decimate the tax base, and spend like drunken sailors.
What a mess you lot have made. And you have no idea at all what to do about it.
so you want us to be in debt, to save who???
We simply cannot afford these lot any more… the PLP/BIU Party fairytale fantasy is almost over. Karma is real, you can’t escape it. Thank the Higher Forces for that.
Can’t dispute Bob over what is provided.
Get real you lott.
Ok. Now where do we go from here and how do we get there. Can someone tell me please.
I believe the opposition is saying to clean house of the inefficiencies it see in Government 1 Tender contracts to insure value for money, 2 curve unnecessary Government spending note I said unnecessary spending.
Personally I would put a cap on gas allowances for GP’s unless provided with valid reasons as to why an over spend occurs.
LOL I do not speak for the OBA but I think that is what they are saying in the first point the second is mind as you see GP’s all week and weekends including Sunday.
The only place we can go from here is to vote this flip flop PLP government out of office. The Cog and the rest of her team don’t know what they’re doing and has run out of ideas. This flipPLoP needs to go – we cannot have them ruin us any further. More PLP people are beginning to realize this every day. More PLP people are beginning to see that right now the OBA way is the only way to go. The Cog is finished. Shes ruining the country… Wake up people!!!!!
Cancer,
I woke up in 1998 and I’m not going back to a place where government bows to front street and forgets about court street. Both need to be successful.
What you view as ruin, other view as grow. There are a lot of people in this country who’s life has gotten better over the last 13 1/2 years. I’m sorry if yours has gotten worse. Blame it on your own poor choices, but try not to insult the Majority of people in this country who have supported the PLP since 1998.
@voice of reason -your words smell like vomit -the PLP experiment is a failure
Let’s see how good you and all the other ‘will never vote for anyone else’s peoples’ lives are when you find your PLP government coming after you for the MORE than $200,000 you owe them. I bet you’re better off now than you ever were …yeah , I’ve got a bridge for sale too . I bet you have an unneeded $250,000 sitting around that you just want to part with because you’re doing sooo much better now and want to give it away .
Ya’ll just don’t get it .
But are their lives better because they took advantage of an opportunity and earned it, or because it was provided? The cost being that it will be unstainable for anyone’s children.
Regardless, cannot buy the arguement that there are lots of people who are currently better off. Some – I have no doubt.
53% is barely a majority. Sorry to say this but Front st. does way more for Court st. than the inverse. Lose Front st. and both go! Undeniable fact…
The PLP are the real insult here.
And the PLP are those for whom life has gotten better. No-one else. Every conceivable measure points to failure.
Doesn’t government have an internal audit department? Shouldn’t any anomalies, inaccuracies be caught first by the internal audit department prior to any findings by the Auditor Generals department? If this is the case than a lot of discrpencies should be raised prior to any findings by the Auditor General and passed on to the relevant Directors of those departments to address any concerns or issues. If these matters are not dealt with, than any subsequent findings by the Auditor General should reflect those concerns and people should be made accountable. Maybe I have it all wrong. There was a former PS of tourism that was told they did not follow financial instructions for the Global Hue situation. The Public Accounts Committee said financial instructions were not followed. Another PS was accused of not following FI for the emissions and faith based tourism and mocking up contracts, than was appointed PS of national security. I could go on and on, but am I missing something?? Where is the confusion with all these educated persons, either financial instructions are followed or they were not.
I agree with you 100%. I would also add the Accountant General to the list of civil servants who do not seem able to follow well established financial instructions. It is time some people get fired!!
Or were told not to worry abount them…..
LOL
No confusion. Just cover ups.
we are sunk
The challenge for all of us is to make the overall financial results of government relevant to Mr. and Mrs. Bermudian. In my opinion, the current discussion is not meeting that goal.
In the first instance we need to be factual. The Accountant General is responsible for producing the Government Accounts and the Auditor General is responsible for reviewing the accounts and providing a professional opinion on how they were prepared. It would be interesting to know if there were any significant changes to the accounts that were prepared by the Accountant General and the final accounts that the Auditor General gave an opinion on.
Secondly, it is clearly important to know the level of government debt that arises from their investment in various infrastructure projects over the past several years. On this basis, we can really decide whether the expenditure was reasonable or not and how it impacts us individually.
Thirdly, certain facts including the healthcare and financial assistance overspends are a direct result of how the government has provided more assistance to residents than originally anticipated. Such overspends are clearly good for the recipients. Persons who claim otherwise are not being honest and may have to retract any criticism as they go on the campaign trail for more votes.
Fourthly, who benefitted from increased employee costs? Do you think it was the same public servants that are now refusing (or at least stalling) to agree to the requested suspension of pension contributions? We need to be careful who we criticise since we ‘may be living in glass houses’.
The interest on debt appears to be a necessary evil – govt has a choice. Borrow money to provide support or cut the support. Which woud you choose? Our individual opinions will clearly differ, especially if you or your family members are one of the persons in need.
Finally (for now) can anyone state when the government accounts were first qualified?
@ Vote for Me- “The interest on debt appears to be a necessary evil – govt has a choice. Borrow money to provide support or cut the support. Which woud you choose?”
Unfortunately this question addresses where we have ended up. If fails to address how we got in this position and that is the source of people’s frustration. How you have framed it suggests that the Govts hands are tied and somehow gives the impression that they are victims who are trying to make the best out of a bad situation.
The truth is that they have very much caused these issues that we find ourselves in and there is no accountability for it. The reality is that no one can live beyond their means and if they do, there is a reckoning. When a Govt lives beyond its means, it had to make meaningful cuts and I believe that those cuts should start with the Govt. What is happening at the moment is that the cuts are being spread over the people yet little is changing in the spending habits of this Govt.
Example- I can only imagine what the cell phone bills are all who have a Black Berry on and functioning during international travel. Data packages are extremely expensive but there are things that you can do to minimize that cost ..like turn the data off until you have a wifi signal to utilize. Obviously that wouldn’t work for all members travelling but certainly everyone travelling doesn’t have to incur a $500+ bill for the sake of recieving emails 24/7. That would be an example of cutting costs with the Govt. I would LOVE to know how much the cell phone bills are…
This is the fourth set of Government accounts that have been qualified, so 2007 to 2011.
It was before 1998, that much i can tell you.
What are you talking about the first time we ever saw a qualified audit was well in the PLP’s term. Prove me wrong.
LOL
Well put Vote for Me,…your the only one who makes such insightful comments.
Beautiful “straight up” words spoken by Bob Richards.
@Voice of reason – maybe you should change your pen name because I see no reason in your statements. First let me tell you this (which your not going to take heed to anyway). The times when we had a government that you say only worried about front steer are gone. Those were the days under the old guard of the UBP. The OBA is about inclusiveness, direction and moving forward with good governance. No one wants to go back to the days when there was no level playing. You need no apologize to me because you think my life has gotten worse under this government and hood for you if yours has gotten better. Were you one of the ones that got “hooked up” like every other friend of this government? Because that’s what they are all about – taking care of their friend like you.. Instead of caring about all of Bermuda! That being the case, most people have gotten poorer, small businesses have been ruined, we can’t find anyone that would even dare invest in a hotel in
Bermuda, every policy the PLP has tried to introduce it’s been controversy and the policy had to be pulled and revisited because it wasn’t thought thru properly by the PLP, and most of all the country is damm broke! So how dare you say your life is better when the majority of people (bermudians) are out here struggling. Your definitely a PLP blind loyalist to even dare make your comments and think that people are better off. The PLP have embarrassed Bermuda internationally and we are the laughing stock of other counties so you need to take your blinders off and see exactly where we are. Paula “the Cog” Cox and the PLP are not the one that can pull us out of this depression and it’s time for a change with new leadership and a new government. If the PLP are voted back in to run his country then we as Bermudians deserve the beating we are currently getting and deserve the beating we will continue to get in the future. Im happy for you because you were one of “the ace boys” !The time for change is NOW!
yawn mate..learn some history before you type the plp has passes many policies
yet only 2-3 policies have been revisited
foriegn spouse/land thing
payroll tax increase
maybe one other
you need to get a grip and stop being such a cheerleader with out knowing the facts papa
do some more history mate ubp took care of thier own
oba doing the same thing
you all cant even address your fellow bermudians who support the plp with any respect
do these figures
5000 persons work for bda government
these 5000 persons support on average @ least 2 other persons
so just hazarding a guess
thats 12-15000 voters
with the degrading comments spewed on here about government workers
how many of those 12000-15000 will vote for oba?
@d-reader- What does people expressing their displeasure with the Govt have to do with the OBA?
Your assumptions:
1. Everyone who critiques the Govt MUST be an OBA supporter (False)
2. Everyone who is supported by an individual who works for Gov (not the PLP) will vote for the PLP
Many people are able to think for themselves, irrespective of your assumptions above. You make a serious mistake in thinking that everyone here who is dissatisfied with the PLP must be OBA.
Think on that.
OBA have nothing against government workers. That is all in your head !
d-reader surprises me everytime with his comments. I supported the PLP and will not in the future. I have my own mind and see what my vote has done to our country. Can’t you feel what is going on? Can’t you see what has happened? I know, you just can’t have persons that don’t look like you have a chance to make things better for all. Can’t you see that without unity and a government that seeks incluesion we will continue to get worse. We have given them a chance and they failed. Our failure started when Mrs. Cox and the rest of the cabinet failed to control Dr. Brown. His administration lead us to where we are. He allowed the hate calling against the ones creating the jobs. He spent the money that we now need so dearly. He drove up the debt that we can’t afford. He grew the civil service that half of our government purse waists in payrole. and our present leader allowed it to happen. Anyone with a concience would apologize for allowing this to happen and retire from parlament. I am sorry, but they need to be the opposition again and prove to the people again that they can do better. Until then I will not vote for them again!!!!!
We’ve seen how great you are at figures, and how you can’t tell the difference between “revenue” and “expenditure”, but let’s put that to one side and humor you for a minute.
First, it’s about 6,500 working for government. It was about 4,500 until about 7 years ago, but now under the inefficient PLP we “do less with more”, so it’s 6,500.
If you think each civil servant is supporting more than 2 adults who otherwise have no income, that means there are 13,000 unemployed Bermudian adults in Bermuda. If you are right (and we all know what an intelligent and clever person you are), shouldn’t you be going after the current government for understating unemployment by 12,000 or so?
workers have children 18 and older mate
workers have senior citizen parents
workers have spouses that rely on a joint income to pay bills
add that up and see how many people your party keeps insulting by saying lazy government workers etc etc
Sounds to me you are making a threat d-reader. In that you are telling those that do work for Government that if they don’t continue voting PLP if they did then their families will be hurting. Guess what if the PLP continues it’s spending we will be hurting anyway. I guess at lest we all be hurting together One Love…………
LOL
i am one guy mate i cannot threaten anyone
i am merely giving you oba supporters a valuable lesson
you cannot insult 6500 government workers by calling them lazy
then months later expecting they and thier family to vote for you
but given the history of your party
it doesnt surprise me
And vieled threats are the PLP’s mo and has been for years trying to scare those same people to continue to vote for them. Que plantations, shackles, white man, your post above who you trin’ to scare. My point stands cause guess what, no matter who wins civil servants whom may help to support families as you have disscounted the spous or assumed that both husband and wife are either both in the civil service or one is unemployed, will have to be cut in some way to curve spending like it or not.
LOL
Have they ever come in on time and in budget ever?
Have they ever come in on time and in budget ever? There are only so many ways u can cogulate the debt then what our pensions,must be crazy!
Truth original – your words are so very true! The PLP blind loyalists think that any one that criticizes the current government are just people supporting the OBA ! I know several people that were loyal to the PLP that are now tired of them who have decided they just wont vote – and yes that is their privilege. Many of those same PLP supporters say “yes I think it maybe time for a change”. Blind loyalists like d-reader who support the PLP certainly cannot take criticism. He shud take note that many other of their hard core supporters that used to comment on this site don’t even contribute presently probably because they are too embarrassed to do so. They realize the PLP have made a lot of mistakes in the past and continue to do so. In my opinion the last five years are the worse years Bermuda has ever seen because of the useless efforts of ruling by this PLP flip flop government !
yawn mate
you are forgetting one valuable lesson here
you cannot call people blind sheep one day
and expect that they will forget this on election day
But you can take their children’s future away…………….. I think you got it wrong it’s you who are insulting people…………
LOL
of course like your web-site however you have to check the spelling on several of your posts. Many of them are rife with spelling problems and I find it very bothersome to inform the truth on the other hand I’ll certainly come back again.
I remember many years ago Bob Richards had warned these fools about what was coming, but they laughed at him calling it scare tactics. Well who’s laughing now Paula?
Last time I checked Court st didnt look any more developed than under the UBP, nly difference now is you need to wear a bullet proof vest.
I was told by a PLP insider that Paula Cox could not say no to Ewart Brown on $ for the sake of the party she has put party before country and now she is the Premier. Come on people if they get re-elected it would be criminal..
History will judge Ewart Brown as the worst, most destructive Premier Bermuda has ever had. History will also find Paula Cox as the most inept Finance Minister Bermuda has ever had.
@d-reader you made one mistake in one of your phase above which I’ll fix for you…
“ubp took care of thier own PLP doing the same thing” that’s how it shud read.