April 23, 2011Dear Sir,In 1998, I voted for the PLP, because I believed that the Party could bring about the social and economic changes in Bermuda, that would make the playing field more level. Alas, this has not happened so far.When Paula Cox took over from Ewart Brown, I believed that she would acknowledge the mistakes that she had made as Finance Minister under Brown, and attempt to do better. Alas, this has not happened so far.The wanton spending goes on, as evidenced in the parking lot next to the old Magistrates’ Court building. Every morning as I walk pass this lot I see relatively new Kia Ceratos, Kia Souls and Suzuki APVs sitting there. For the price of one Cerato and one Soul, you can purchase five Chevy Sparks. Why are these large cars needed? Is it that those that drive them need more space for their groceries or to take the children’s toys to the beach? From what I see, they are used much more for personal chores than work related duties.I am sure that the full-time Ministers do not spend every penny of their $168,000 salary, so they must salt some away for rainy days. These rainy days have hit quite a number of Bermudians who have lost jobs or have had work weeks reduced. It is raining quite hard on some of them and I do not mean those wall sitters who expect to be given everything. I am talking about those hard working Bermudian people of all ethnic origins who finding it very difficult to provide for their families.The Premier suggests that these people use this time to retool, and learn new skills. If they are not able to provide for their family because of money shortage, how can they pay for school fees? Some of these people are not fully conversant with computers and associated services, thus making it even harder to learn a new skill.I implore you Madam Premier to impose a ten percent pay cut across the board and put that money into an account that can be used for social services to help those that really need it in Bermuda.BILL NEARONPembroke West