The news this week that 14 jobs are being shed by HWP and 25 are likely to go at the Bermuda Telephone Company was a timely reminder of the economic problems Bermuda faces.

To be sure, BTC's job cuts are caused in part by the movement away from fixed lines to wireless connections for phones and computers, but there is no doubt that the recession has contributed. And in the case of HWP, the recession is almost wholly responsible. Almost but not entirely; HWP chief executive officer Jonathan Brewin also admitted that the tax increases in the Budget also contributed to the decision.

The betting here is that more jobs will go as a result of the Budget, which far from launching Bermuda on a road to recovery, will deepen and extend the recession through the rest of 2010 and beyond.