BahamaPundit

BahamaPundit 11 years, 10 months ago

The Bahamas should never have privatized its telecommunications sector, because it was a cash cow and the only bread winner it had (other than the two other dead horses, tourism and financial services). The problem with intellectuals is that they often adjudge situations based on their comparative analysis of other situations. The problem offered by The Bahamas as a point of comparison is there aren't any comparisons. We have zero income taxes. We have 300,000 people. We have zero natural resources to speak of. Given the above points of peculiarity, it is a grievous misjudgment to compare us to other market economies where telecommunications are liberated. This grave mistake is made because we reside so close to the United States, and it's easy to get caught up in the glorious capitalism of our peer.

The truth be told, telecommunications was the only game in town for The Bahamas. It is now gone, so there is no game in town and likely wont be for a very long time. You can't have your cake and eat it too. I'd agree with privatization, if we had a population of a million or so, had income taxes and were pumping barrels of oil out of the ground. Given our situation, it was ill advised to privatize the one asset we possessed and pretend we would still have the ability to provide for our citizens.

Now they're talking about reducing the deficit. With what? We could have leveraged the cellular monopoly and provided for our 300,000 for decades to come. Now we'll likely go broke. So, you get your privatized telecom and a bankrupt nation to go with it. Enjoy. Had I been in charge, I would have nationalized the Port too!