Hello Bermuda. I am worried about the impact of the economic downturn on persons who are struggling, unemployed and/or just having a hard time paying their bills. Many people are in that predicament. Earlier this week I heard that Belco is increasing their rates. You just have to wonder what some companies are thinking. Like who do they think can pay more? Certainly not the middle, working and lower classes! More on this after the top 20.Making the big jump to #1 is She Will by Lil Wayne featuring Drake. L'il Wayne is one talented cat. He's a l'il weird, but you cannot deny his talent as a rapper. Drake is also a really talented artist and many others want to collaborate with him. There is a nasty naughty version not for the PG crowd. Make sure your kids don't access this one. While we're on the subject, parents need to censor the music their kids are listening to on a regular basis.Climbing to #2 is Party by Beyonce featuring Andre 3000. Beyonce is back! This is a true R&B song which will take us older folks back to a time when music was real. The harmony in this song is impressive. You can't fix good singing in the studio. Well you can but not the harmony. Beyonce and her backup singers can really blow. Tumbling to #3 is Put Your Hands Up (If You…) by Kylie Minogue. Down one space to #4 is Rolling In The Deep by Adele. Falling to #5 is Chris Brown's hit entitled She Ain't You.Making a monster gain to #6 is a former essential new tune and one of DJLT's faves, Moves Like Jagger by Maroon 5 featuring Christina Aguilera. Christina Aguilera can sing too. This is a well produced track that keeps the masses dancing in the clubs. Way Up to #7 is another former essential new tune, Mr Saxobeat by Alexandra Stan. You have to like the punchy use of the saxophone on this track, combined with a fast paced and energetic beat. This track also keeps a DJ's dancefloor full.Slipping to #8 is I'm Into You by Jennifer Lopez featuring L'il Wayne. Sliding to #9 is Fly Away by Mavado. Shifting gears to dance music, down to #10 is Party Rock Anthem by LMFAO featuring Lauren Bennett & GoonRock. Down to #11 is another hit by Mavado, but this one is entitled Pepper. Motivation, by Kelly Rowland featuring L'il Wayne, tumbles to #12 this week.Up to #13 is Sexy And I Know It by LMFAO. So who are these LMFAO guys? They are an American electro pop duo that formed in 2006 in Los Angeles, California, consisting of rappers, producers, dancers, and DJs Redfoo (Stefan Kendal Gordy, born September 3, 1975) and SkyBlu (Skyler Husten Gordy, born August 23, 1986). Redfoo is Skyblu's uncle. Their music incorporates a theme of partying and drinking, and the group commonly refers to their music style as "party rock". It is an appropriate name because when their music is played at a party, it rocks.Falling into the #14 slot is Give Me Everything by Pitbull, Neo, AfroJack & Nayer. At #15 is Enrique Iglesias' current hit Tonight I'm Loving You. Slipping to #16 is I Wanna Go from Britney Spears.And now this week's essential new tune. New at number 17 is one of Beyonce's best songs ever, Love On Top, and it just might also be the best song produced this year. Seriously! This track is HUGE. It's not often that I dedicate this much space to a new track, but this one is really special. The track is a bit of a throwback to a time when songs featured an artist's voice. The song is really well written and produced. It takes you back to the time when real instruments were used; it could be performed in a concert and sound exactly as it does on TV, video or cd.The song has a solid 1970s-styled R and B beat and an amazing vocal performance by Beyonce, possibly her best ever. Here's why. Nearly two-thirds of the way through the song, after she has already delivered an awesome vocal performance, she takes the key up FOUR TIMES in succession! I've sung in my church choir since I was a little boy and I am here to tell you that this is HARD to do. Each time I listen to it, like on the third uplift, I'm thinking there is no way she can take it up higher and she does. By the fourth time I'm listening in disbelief. It seems that she has had a little break from performing for about a year and the time off has perhaps allowed her to hone her craft and improve even further an amazing voice.She is a clear soprano and I was stunned that she was able to pull off taking the key up four times. Anybody who thinks (as some have done over the years) that Beyonce cannot sing is dreaming, and needs to hear this track. On this track her voice is powerful, strong, soulful and her range is unbelievable. Full marks to Beyonce and her production team. This song is BADD!In at #18 is We Found Love by Rihanna featuring Calvin Harris. This is yet another monster dance track from the Rihanna repertoire. This one features catchy lyrics atop a bouncing beat with cleverly used keyboards. Joining the list at #19 is Pumped Up Kicks by Foster the People. The Captain at Mix 106 plays this one daily. It's a catchy but unusual track.New at #20 is Countdown, also by Beyonce. Beyonce is showing maturity in her music. This track is quite creative and offers some lessons to women about how to keep a man.Now back to this week's topic, companies raising prices in a recession. I understand that companies are struggling in this recession and in Belco's case, they claim that they have not increased their rates in a few years. Well that is a decision that they made and now they have approached the Government requesting permission to increase the rate they charge per kilowatt hour.I get the fact that people must save, conserve and cut back, but if so many people are unemployed, laid off, on reduced hours or otherwise struggling, who do Belco and other companies that are raising prices think will be able to afford to pay for such increases? In most economies, 95 percent of the wealth is owned by five percent of the population. Bermuda is no different. So if 95 percent of the population is poor, working class or middle class, one can conclude that 95 percent of the population cannot afford increases in expenses at this time.The unions get a lot of flak and sometimes it is deserved. However, one day I heard [BIU president] Chris Furbert put a profound question to employers and the captains of industry. He basically asked how they expect workers to accept making less money whilst the cost of everything else is going up. Food prices are going up and other expenses are also increasing. How are people supposed to pay more with less? Granted rents are coming down but in reality our rents were inflated and are now probably self-correcting to more appropriate levels.This situation is a recipe for disaster and I'm telling you Bermuda, unless this trend is arrested we are headed for a revolution.It happened in Karl Marx's time and it has happened throughout the history of mankind, whenever the working class reaches its breaking point, feels it has nothing else to lose and feels overwhelmed and oppressed by the upper class to untenable levels. So we better do something soon, or it is going to get really bad.We are trying to encourage people to buy Bermuda but it is becoming increasingly difficult to justify doing so when the cost of items keeps increasing and/or when the variety of options is not satisfactory. This is a bad situation because the other side of this is that local businesses cannot offer adequate variety if they are not generating sufficient revenue! It's really a delicate balance but ultimately the customer is king and chooses where to spend their money.Even the least intelligent of us will conclude at a point that it becomes a simple question of economics. And that, ladies and gentlemen, is why people shop overseas.It has nothing to do with new initiatives introduced by any Government department or anything other than the fact that irrespective of the causes, in many cases, even if you purchase an airline ticket and pay for hotel accommodation, you can save enough on a shopping trip to justify the cost of travelling. Plus, in most cases, you get better variety. Sorry local merchants but those are the hard, cold, facts. Peace ... DJLT