ebo
09-10-02, - 05:23 AM
Let BISX die.
BISX is supposed to be the bastion of the free enterprise system. BISX is owned by the elite few. BISX is not going to benefit the average Bahamian. Like any other business with problems, BISX should be allowed to die with dignity.
BISX wants the government to inject 2 million dollars to bail them out. For 2 million dollars of the people's money we can do a lot better. How many houses can we build for 2 million dollars? How many computers for schools can we buy? What about contributions toward our national health insurance program? I bet the same people who want us to throw our money away in BISX are the same people who are opposed to National Health Insurance on the basis that we cannot afford it. I bet they are the same people who think we should not subsidize farming. I bet they are the same people who think we spend too much on social programs. Well the attention we spent on BISX so far is too much.
Initially when they thought BISX was going to be a huge success they set up a closed shop. Only large investors could be shareholders in BISX. Well now that they are in hot water, let the large investors bail them out. Whenever they feel the risk is too high to use their own money, they come us with these clever schemes to get the public's money. Mr. Christie and Mr. James Smith have already let us know that the treasury is broke. Most of the country's earnings go to pay civil servants and the national debt. If we have 2 million dollars to spare we should pay all those teachers and nurses that we owe - who are unhappy. Let's start by taking care of the Bahamian people. This way they will be motivated to go out and work, providing good products and services so we can grow the economy. If we do not want to use the 2 million dollars on our people, we can use it to repair Harold Rd. If Mr. Smith or Mr. Christie drove over Harold Rd. recently, they would not be considering wasting our money on "iffy" venture like BISX.
Can BISX command the confidence of the business community? If BISX can command the respect of the business community, they can easily raise 2 million dollars there. If they cannot raise 2 million dollars from the business community, they should be allowed to fail - gracefully. If people die, I do not see why businesses cannot die.
BISX is blaming government for their failure. They say government promised them there would be stocks from privatized utilities to trade on BISX. Well woopsidoo! A promise is a comfort to a fool! Fundamental to any business plan is the SWOT analysis. Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, Threats. The BISX organizers should have done their homework and noted the strong opposition to privatization, the uncertainty on the issues, that governments are unseated in elections, that if you exploit people too much they might revolt, and that privatizations of public utilities have a poor international track record all posed significant threats to their venture. More significant than all of that is the culture of the Bahamian people.
The key people in BISX must be somewhat removed from Bahamian people or they would know that Bahamians like to own things and hate to sell them. Bahamians hate to sell land or businesses (or any part therof). They want to leave these for their children. Before BISX can be successful, Bahamians must be educated on the value of cashing in their stock to realize their capital gains (increase in value of a stock over what you paid for it), cashing in their stock to stop the bleeding (heavy losses in stock value), or selling some of their stock to buy other stock that may have a higher growth rates or dividends, or provide greater security. If they knew Bahamians, they would have known that for the most part Bahamians would "buy and hold". This being the case, BISX needs a source other than regular Bahamians to trade stocks until Bahamians can be educated to the fact that they cannot gamble in the casinos but they can gamble on the stock exchange. In both cases the house always wins!
Once you make the connection that putting your money in BISX is the equivalent to gambling in the casinos, you might get Bahamians to flock to buy stock. Personally I look forward to gambling in the casinos. At least I will have fun while I lose the money I worked for in the casinos.
Another impediment to trading on BISX is the high trading fees. When you figure in the fees, it is difficult for normal people to trade shares on BISX and make money. It is cheaper and better to trade over the counter. BISX is missing the point of volume. They have to generate the volume. Without the volume, BISX will surely die and lose any money the Bahamas government injects into it to prop it up. BISX should be allowed to die gracefully. BISX should be allowed to die with dignity. It is unbecoming to see high-powered financial experts going to the government with cap in hand begging for a bailout. What happened to all the vaunted financial expertise? Surely with so much knowledge they can get themselves out of this fix without trying to take poor people's pension funds!
Now they want our National Insurance money to put into BISX. Do they have any idea what the word insurance means? Insurance is all about making sure. National Insurance money is there to make sure that when we need it the money will be there. When we are old and cannot work, the National Insurance money should be there to provide us with some income. We poor people need that so we can ill afford to risk it by putting any of it into BISX. Given the track record of BISX, how sure can we be that our money will be there when we need it if we invest it in BISX. National Insurance money should be invested widely in secure situations. BISX is anything but secure. We should let BISX die gracefully.
BISX is supposed to be the bastion of the free enterprise system. BISX is owned by the elite few. BISX is not going to benefit the average Bahamian. Like any other business with problems, BISX should be allowed to die with dignity.
BISX wants the government to inject 2 million dollars to bail them out. For 2 million dollars of the people's money we can do a lot better. How many houses can we build for 2 million dollars? How many computers for schools can we buy? What about contributions toward our national health insurance program? I bet the same people who want us to throw our money away in BISX are the same people who are opposed to National Health Insurance on the basis that we cannot afford it. I bet they are the same people who think we should not subsidize farming. I bet they are the same people who think we spend too much on social programs. Well the attention we spent on BISX so far is too much.
Initially when they thought BISX was going to be a huge success they set up a closed shop. Only large investors could be shareholders in BISX. Well now that they are in hot water, let the large investors bail them out. Whenever they feel the risk is too high to use their own money, they come us with these clever schemes to get the public's money. Mr. Christie and Mr. James Smith have already let us know that the treasury is broke. Most of the country's earnings go to pay civil servants and the national debt. If we have 2 million dollars to spare we should pay all those teachers and nurses that we owe - who are unhappy. Let's start by taking care of the Bahamian people. This way they will be motivated to go out and work, providing good products and services so we can grow the economy. If we do not want to use the 2 million dollars on our people, we can use it to repair Harold Rd. If Mr. Smith or Mr. Christie drove over Harold Rd. recently, they would not be considering wasting our money on "iffy" venture like BISX.
Can BISX command the confidence of the business community? If BISX can command the respect of the business community, they can easily raise 2 million dollars there. If they cannot raise 2 million dollars from the business community, they should be allowed to fail - gracefully. If people die, I do not see why businesses cannot die.
BISX is blaming government for their failure. They say government promised them there would be stocks from privatized utilities to trade on BISX. Well woopsidoo! A promise is a comfort to a fool! Fundamental to any business plan is the SWOT analysis. Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, Threats. The BISX organizers should have done their homework and noted the strong opposition to privatization, the uncertainty on the issues, that governments are unseated in elections, that if you exploit people too much they might revolt, and that privatizations of public utilities have a poor international track record all posed significant threats to their venture. More significant than all of that is the culture of the Bahamian people.
The key people in BISX must be somewhat removed from Bahamian people or they would know that Bahamians like to own things and hate to sell them. Bahamians hate to sell land or businesses (or any part therof). They want to leave these for their children. Before BISX can be successful, Bahamians must be educated on the value of cashing in their stock to realize their capital gains (increase in value of a stock over what you paid for it), cashing in their stock to stop the bleeding (heavy losses in stock value), or selling some of their stock to buy other stock that may have a higher growth rates or dividends, or provide greater security. If they knew Bahamians, they would have known that for the most part Bahamians would "buy and hold". This being the case, BISX needs a source other than regular Bahamians to trade stocks until Bahamians can be educated to the fact that they cannot gamble in the casinos but they can gamble on the stock exchange. In both cases the house always wins!
Once you make the connection that putting your money in BISX is the equivalent to gambling in the casinos, you might get Bahamians to flock to buy stock. Personally I look forward to gambling in the casinos. At least I will have fun while I lose the money I worked for in the casinos.
Another impediment to trading on BISX is the high trading fees. When you figure in the fees, it is difficult for normal people to trade shares on BISX and make money. It is cheaper and better to trade over the counter. BISX is missing the point of volume. They have to generate the volume. Without the volume, BISX will surely die and lose any money the Bahamas government injects into it to prop it up. BISX should be allowed to die gracefully. BISX should be allowed to die with dignity. It is unbecoming to see high-powered financial experts going to the government with cap in hand begging for a bailout. What happened to all the vaunted financial expertise? Surely with so much knowledge they can get themselves out of this fix without trying to take poor people's pension funds!
Now they want our National Insurance money to put into BISX. Do they have any idea what the word insurance means? Insurance is all about making sure. National Insurance money is there to make sure that when we need it the money will be there. When we are old and cannot work, the National Insurance money should be there to provide us with some income. We poor people need that so we can ill afford to risk it by putting any of it into BISX. Given the track record of BISX, how sure can we be that our money will be there when we need it if we invest it in BISX. National Insurance money should be invested widely in secure situations. BISX is anything but secure. We should let BISX die gracefully.