It seems that we have run out of creditable options and we have moved from the sublime to the ridiculous.
Can you imagine having a Duty-Free Day for people who shop in Bridgetown alone for up to a limit of $1 000? What has the Fair Trading Commission got to say about that? Do you realize that stores that have paid taxes and duties on their goods at the port are now competing, not for tourist dollars, but for Barbadian dollars with stores that have not paid taxes and duties? How unfair! What a stupid idea!
Have we reached the end of our tether, and where could such thinking have originated? To think that some people credit this as a bright idea! It reminds me of the popular saying “all that glitters is not gold”. The businesses that have been “unfaired” have every right to protest and wonder why such a move has been made and who really benefited in the short run or even the long run.
Stores, having been cleaned out, must now replenish at a cost of foreign exchange or reduce their business for a while.
Throughout history Barbados has been known for fair dealings. Yes, there is hypocrisy but that has to be accommodated in the Christian principles that we say we espouse. However, (except for Mr Barrack) our justice system has prevailed.
For example, while the majority of Barbadians favour popping the necks of heinous murderers we seem to have gone along with the world (except America, China and several Muslin states) with their view that the state should not participate in “murder” even if the murderers do so. We lock the perpetrators away for life or ten years.
But this blatant infringement of fair play must be something dreamed up and should not be repeated. It must be a one-off aberration, done to show that we can think outside the box, given that the box may be empty and that we are searching for ideas in the nether world.
But thinking outside the box does not mean thinking politically; it means searching for new, bright ideas.
But, Wild Coot, you know that it could really be thinking outside the box. It could be a way of giving back Barbadians some of the taxes that have been extracted from them over the past three years. This would make it a clever move dreamed up by a mastermind. I applaud it! Could it make up for the increases that Barbadians have had to pay for gas, food, petrol, electricity, water and services or is it a way of refunding tax refunds? This then could be genius at its best and Barbados should be complimented.
Mr Wild Coot, are you saying that we should make it a Friday move, just as the Muslims pray in the mosques each Friday?
Maybe, just maybe, we have underestimated the genius of the powers that be and are getting a real Christmas present. I should really have captioned this article A Christmas Present From Santa Clause.
If this beautiful idea has been driven by politics, would the ultimate beneficiaries of this bounty be required to reciprocate at election time? If so, are the ultimate beneficiaries the stores or the people? What about those stores or people who did not benefit or who were not taken into account? Which group is numerically superior?
Here in Barbados one man has only one vote.