17 July, 2014

Dear Sir,

Bloomberg reported today that their Global Poll has found that two years of uninterrupted gains in US stocks are sowing anxiety among financial professionals, with three in five saying the market is on the verge of a bubble or may already be in one.

Some analysts have estimated that stocks could be overpriced as much as 80 percent.

If this is the case it will stymie the minuscule improvement in Bermuda’s economy and most likely put us back into deep recession if world financial professionals are correct.

While I totally support reparation for, what appears to be less than ten Bermudians families whose land was either stolen or paid less than market price for their properties in Tucker’s Town during the 1920s as well reparation when black Bermudians were not allowed to work in certain industries during segregation up to the 60s, I am wondering if this will be a detraction from getting people back to work NOW.

The Progressive Labour Party was in power for 14 years and could have properly attended to the reparation cause at that time. Is the PLP raising the topic now for political short term gain? Germans postwar reparations programme has paid $89 billion in compensation mostly to the six million Jewish victims of Nazi crimes over six decades and still meets regularly to revise and expand the guidelines for qualification. South Africa’s Truth and Reconciliation Commission, established by President Nelson Mandela and chaired by Desmond Tutu after apartheid, is popularly considered a model of truth commissions. Reparation for lands and economic disadvantages as well as a Truth and Reconciliation Commission are noble causes that need to be implemented.

But they will not help out of work Bermudians NOW.

Taxes need to be raised on high earners and wealthy landowners as I have suggested in a previous article. In turn the money raised from these taxes needs to be used to offset our national debt and a portion set aside to help those out of work financially as well as possibly fund technical and hospitality training and paying for college tuition for those out of work Bermudians, as well as interest free loans for Bermudian entrepreneurs with sound business plans. The PLP was quick to implement legislation calling for Commission of Inquiry into stolen lands shortly after “I gave my daughter ganja tea” episode.

Has this legislation been expedited as a smoke screen to detract Bermudians from the fallout of this idiotic statement from its leader? It would benefit out of work Bermudians for the PLP to table legislation on taxes in the House of Assembly expeditiously just as they did for the call for a Commission of Inquiry.

Furthermore, the referendum on gaming needs to be properly addressed by both political parties. Our tourism needs to be resuscitated and we need to stop relying heavily on international business that does not provide sufficient job opportunities for Bermudians and requires great investment in college tuition to get young Bermudians qualified.

Yours sincerely,

CHERYL POOLEY