for crying out loud.....
some one has to give up on this!!!!

and i hope it isnt us!!!:cheers:

This has not helped the Mexicans. It has help though Big Business where they look for cheap labour to exploit them and then sell their goods on the world market thereby making huge profits.



The FTAA requires national treatment for all member states. This means that everybody will be on equal terms. Therefore, if a contract because available in Haiti, Bahamians can also apply and will be allowed to fulfill the contract if they win the bidding process.

BARF
I think that BARF has it wrong. The facts are readily available in the World Handbook. Mexico's Gross Domestic Product jumped dramatically after joining NAFTA. It's wages even though they are about $4.00 per hour are also a big improvement over the poor Mexicans were getting. Prior to joining NAFTA, Mexico was a fiscal disaster. The peso was super devalued and it looked like no way out. The country was broke.

NAFTA has done good things for Mexico. Much of the manufacturing moved across the border to Mexico and previously poor peasants now had at least some sort of a job. The trucking industry was de-regulated and Mexican entrepreneurs made huge inroads in opening their markets to the US. The Mexican economy has done quite well under NAFTA, and most importantly, their productivity shot up.

Here's a wake-up call. Canada is the most wired nation on earth. It currently is connecting all of their communities with broadband internet. They have an unstoppable demand for internet services. Bahamian web companies will be able to bid on lucrative government contracts on an equal footing with Canadian companies.

When one looks at the gross domestic product of the Bahamas, the contribution of Bahamian businesses reserved for Bahamians is quite small, with one exception -- the Bahamian grocery business. However Bahamians are held hostage because there are virtual monopolies on Bahamian run businesses (Rupert Roberts in merchandising, Tiger Finlayson in liquor, Colina in domestic financial services). Monopolies are bad for the economy and bad for the entrepreneurship of Bahamians.

BARF has it all wrong. The Bahamian economy is being run on a model that is outdated. It needs to be shook up and broken up so a new order can arise out of the ashes. The FTAA will do just that. It will be unpleasant for a while. But just imagine the freedom.

For once ordinary Bahamians will be able to get rich through the sweat of their own brow, and not by legitimising narco-dollars that their parents took 20 years ago. Look at the fortunes of the upper crust, and tell me where they came from. The elite Bahamians all made their money in the dark era of our history when the Pindling government was for sale.

It's time to stop the madness. It's time to stop the thinking that our leaders have a monopoly on knowing what's best for us. The government isn't working. Infrastructure is falling apart. The national debt is alarming. It is a proven fact that the most beneficial economic forces are free market economics. It is the foundation of democracy, high standard of living, and of great human achievement.

We Bahamians have waited long enough, with our xenophobia and our blinded view of how the world works. It's time for real change. FTAA -- BRING IT ON !!!!

J. Knowles

Dred i ain typin in proper english...but that doesnt mean i cant.....but still i jes wun kno who nubian goddess is..anyone have a clue..?:friday:

I think it is time to realize that reserving segments of industry for just Bahamians has proven disastrous.The prime example is retail. Bahamian retail is awful and it damages the tourism industry. Tourists coming here would love to get a Starbucks, maybe a slurpee, decent food, maybe even some chicken at a kenny rogers! (They usually run out of chicken because it is run by incompetents). Opening up retail to foreigners would be the best decision the government could make!

FTAA is optional and since it is optional The Bahamas or any country for that matter should not sign any optional agreements with the USA without observing this theory in action. The Americans have shown ways of interpreting and altering agreements to their advantages. After all just look in the Forbes magazine and you can see that more than half the worlds new billionaires are USA made, how did this happen? Well just look into the Americas these countries signed optional agreements subsidizing their resources and traditional products with the US and EU without observation, research or simulation of this theory, now look at the result, not one made the new billionaires list. The Bahamas is no exception, we need improvements and we can do it without the FTAA but we must be left alone to make it so, huge nations such as the US and EU must respect the sovereignty of small nations as much as they echo democracy. The Bahamas is an intelligent race of people and we know what it is that we are after or are in need off. Since no one is sure that the FTAA is the way to deliver the needs of the Bahamian people, then, we are better off sustaining and observing the FTAA up-close in action to see what it delivers to those who enter this agreement. As for now we are far better off struggling in our own way just as we are. Bahamians must cease to sell of their country for their personal ambitions, many countries and leaders are paying the price now. We are getting along just fine without the FTAA, Cuba is doing it, their doing just fine and so are we.

Cuba doing fine??? Prison, No Free Speech, Executions, Poor, etc etc.

I think the referendum call is a bad idea..look at all the trouble the constitutional review comission is having..nobody cares and Bahamians are not interested. What would be the point? I do not want the ftaa to move forward unless the country will benefit by becoming more independent economically and Bahamians empowered.We need a national development plan outling the aspirations of our people, what resourses we need to get there, and a method to measure our progress.It is us against the world so we need Bahamians to come together and grow the pie instead of keeping it the same size and fighting amonst ourselves for the leavings...

IUPDATE you are correct. What most people overlook, is that the USA's economy has not been built on any "free trade" and it has served them well. We must do the same and realize that our economy is not in the league of such countries.

Thanks for speaking out on this issue BARF. The Superpowers and there local house nigggers would prefer we just lay down and give everything to the foreigners but the wise must ask questions and challenge this evil. They are just forcing this on us. Why isn't this agreement negotiable?
Anyway this is just another way for the capitalist to take over the world as with privatization. When we privatized who is going to own our industries- BATELCO, BEC, etc- Americans. They are doing this all over the world. In the end they will own everything.
If you think FTAA is going to give the bahamas a chance to get contracts you are a fool. Who gets the contracts world wide now- Bush's boys: Haliberton, Bectel, etc. They will lore us into FTAA with fake opertunity then change the rules on us so we will never qualify for contracts. They make the rules so they can change them. If we are to afraid to challege them making the rules are we going to have the fortitude to stop them changing them.
There is no choice but to join FTAA. The pressure will be to much to bare. The minute america threatens to remove our Airport preclearance or put us on a tourism watch we will gladly obey their commands.
Plus when you get loans from the world bank your country has to agree to curtain conditions: Including privatization and FTAA. We depend on those loans. What happens when only FTAA countries can qualify for those loans.
Someone was talking about jobs. Don't be naive, Jobs is what is destroying our nation. Remember Jamaica. They have loads of factories, hotels, Lotteries, everything we say we need to improve our economy. So why are they so poor? Cause they don't own any of it. Foreigners own it. So all they get from it is jobs- crumbs. While the foreigner sends all the money out of the country. We are incouraging the same thing. every time a foreigner decides to come take whats left of our land and build a hotel we throw a party. We are being pimped and we love it. For all you house nigggers out there, enjoy you crumbs but remember ftaa is comming and your hotel jobs will be going to the mexicans and haitians who they can pay $20 per week.

BACK DOOR FREE TRADE
Bahamians Agitating for a Referendum on the FTAA


September 18, 2004 Nassau, Bahamas…”Now that the proponents of the FTAA see the resistance they have resorted to sneak the FTAA thru the back door. Their resolve is not as great as ours and we will resist any initiative they seek to hoodwink the Bahamian people” said Attorney Paul D. Moss co-chairman of Bahamians Agitating for a Referendum on the FTAA (BARF). Mr. Moss was referring to an advertisement in today’s Nassau Guardian by The Home Depot which stated that the conglomerate is coming to the shores of the Bahamas soon.

Mr. Moss added “This will displace and obliterate our hardware and building supply stores in the country. Every citizen should be outraged that this is even being contemplated in our economy. Every employer and employee of this industry must have shaken when they read the ad…indeed every Bahamian must have.”

“It is a long established policy that the retail and wholesale of goods are reserved for Bahamians. To allow them in this country is contrary to the policy and indeed the philosophy upon which the PLP was established. If a policy maker has promised The Home Depot a license to operate in this country, it is wrong and our forefathers who struggled for our stake in this economy must be turning in their graves.” said Moss

“We say to our policy makers, The Home Depot, and any other conglomerate, that our rules do not permit your presence here and we in BARF together with ordinary Bahamians will resist this. We call on the Government to confirm the policy that retail and wholesale are unreservedly for Bahamians and we shall not be hoodwinked by the offering of shares to Bahamians in order for such a company to come here unless the Bahamian people are the 100% owners of the stock.”

Mr. Moss concluded that “it will be interesting to see what the local chamber of commerce says to this as many of their members will be swallowed up if this advisement is true.”