LARRY BURCHALL
Friday's Budget: what to look for
Larry Burchall makes some key predictions about Friday's Budget, which he describes as the most important in any Bermudian's memory.
Why were revenue estimates so far off the mark?
Larry Burchall: Bermudians are suffering as the island sinks ever lower in the soggy swamp that senior financial professionals have helped create or allowed to grow.
OPINION
We'll fail if we desperately clutch at the dreams of the past
Larry Burchall: One of the oft-heard refrains from hard-core PLP supporters is that they are ‘doing what the UBP did’. Another chorus is that the PLP is ‘doing it better’. Fact and truth lie elsewhere.
OPINION
Bermuda is in a self-created, self-dug debt trap
Larry Burchall: With GDP falling, your chances of seeing the economy improve and therefore your chances of improving your personal financial situation or your family's or your business's, is declining. Things are slowly worsening.
Gov't has done more flip-flops than a show dolphin
Larry Burchall: If all [Government's] flip-flopping is normal and ought not elicit any comment, then our normal Bermuda world is a flip-flop world with all things flipping - or flopping - about.
728 X 90 AD
OPINION
Pushing 100 per cent mortages smacks of desperation
Larry Burchall: Last week I suggested that there might be an element of desperation in this Government's response to what is happening now. A couple of people took issue with that, suggesting I was being melodramatic.
Don't that believe our debt to GDP ratio is healthy - it's like a Greek myth
The ancient Greeks believed that Zeus lived on Mount Olympus ruling over the Greek pantheon. In modern Bermuda, today's relationship between GDP and National Debt is believed, by some, to be good. Both beliefs are myths.
OPINION
Why do we throw taxpayers' money at undisciplined sportsmen?
Larry Burchall: Wasting money by throwing millions of taxpayer dollars at the team sports of football and cricket should stop now. It rewards their indiscipline and failure.
OPINION
The 1988 recession myth
Larry Burchall: The latest myth enunciation was by the Junior Minister for Finance, Senator David Burt, who said in Senate that Bermuda had undergone a recession that lasted from 1988 to 1993.
OPINION
Do we really need more rental units?
Larry Burchall: Minister Weeks' announcement of a $36m project to demolish and rebuild rental housing for Bermudians at the West End reeks of mistake, error, and miscalculation.
728 X 90 AD
OPINION
The May 24 tradition has a chequered past
Larry Burchall: 24th May — officially known as Bermuda Day — has a chequered history.
Strange but true - we need more expat workers
"Jobs, jobs, jobs." The newest mantra. What exactly does it mean? Jobs for Bermudians? Or jobs in Bermuda for Bermudians?
OPINION
Day of reckoning will come for the bloated public sector
Larry Burchall: With only 37,399 workers, Bermuda has only two classes. Protected Workers. Unprotected Workers. Bermuda is uniquely different from larger nations.
OPINION
Problem 1: We don't understand the problem
Larry Burchall: Barely half of all Government borrowing went or will go on capital acquisition or capital development.
Can you spot the difference between truth and spin?
Larry Burchall: During this national debate, I've particularly learned a lot more about five things: Truth, Deception, Lying, Spinning, Concealment.
728 X 90 AD