National Budget 2017-2018 - LIVE STREAM on pg9 @ 1:30pm

[wickedtuna]

Well imagine we back to the days of buy ur cigarette and alcohol and put down but sorry to say some see us as living above our means ......# god help us all

[sMASH]

Since the government looking bad, he may not hit we anything harsh and continue hoping that energy prices will recover meaning the deficit spending will continue. I can hear imbert now in parliament with his mamaguy:

"This government is being fiscally responsible unlike the previous government who spent everything Mr Speaker... everything! Left us in a hole for us to fix but telling us now how to fix it? A problem THEEEYYYY created Mr Speaker! and we nearly reach the IMF! *lifesport* *moonilal* *drink out the money* Mr Speaker... this government is on the road to recovery, it's not easy, but the people of Trinidad & Tobago can have confidence in this government to put the country on the right path to economic stability. *desk thumping* *YES!*

Uncanny

[Redress10]

Don't be fooled...

We don't have a forex problem.

We have a business efficiency problem.

We have a status quo problem

Everyone keeps talking about FDI and singling out areas such as energy and It. But what about food production and supermarkets?

#eatlocal is stupid concept that could never work. This country can't produce the food in sufficient qualities to ensure proper nutrition and economic sense. A simple thing like Fresh local cow's milk isn't readily available to people. Everyone is stuck with powdered milk and UHT. So obviously dairy farming isn't economic as well.

A quick walk through of any major supermarket chain in Trinidad and the option available are already overwhelmingly foreign in nature. The problem is that these items are at times vastly overpriced when compared with their prices in USA or UK/Europe. Obviously our local supermarkets are unable to supply these products at an affordable price to the citizens.

The question is why are we protecting our local supermarkets etc? Why not entice foreign supermarket chains such as Costco, Tesco etc to set up shop here and make available their home products at an affordable rate. We can even offer tax-free imports if they need that. The goal would be to make food as affordable as possible. Our local supermarkets are nothing more than importers who add a mark-up to make a profit. Our food import bill isn't high, it's the supermarkets who are selling food at an exorbitant rate. They are not producers so why are we protecting them and patronizing them? A company such as Costco would also be in a better negotiating position than a company such as Massy etc when it comes to purchasing goods for resale.

Once this occurs we can always tax the supermarket chain with payment being received in US or TT dollars. A significant share of our forex goes directly into food importation by companies and businesses that don't possess the expertise to offer these products at a reasonable price. Once the food price goes down then that should have a trickle down effect for other industries as well....esp if bulk purchasing etc takes place. A couple international supermarket/wholesale franchises can bring increase competition to our country. Remember guys, these people do this on a globabl scale, they understand the synergies that are required to give the consumer the best possible price.

If those local supermarket companies so want to offer international products then they can buy it from the local subsidiary of the "international supermarket" franchise. Remember, franchising isn't just fast food. Most global supermarket chains are franchises.

Realistically, what has the local supermarket chains ever done for the country? Why do we continue to put up with their bs.....Why do we continue with protectionist policies when they themselves go and set up shop in other caribbean countries?

[pugboy]

eat local can work but it requires you to change diet to regular eating of certain items

sweet potato and plenty bhagi

[EFFECTIC DESIGNS]

The problem with local farming is we have no water to grow things like rice etc. We can't get new reservoirs built because the corruption and racket hard to run in something like simply digging a huge lake. The local diary farmers are mainly uneducated and do not have the know how to go about expanding their business and modernizing it with machines etc. Nothing is ever truly done for Agriculture in this country because of both corruption and because Trinidad is an industrialized country. They used all the good farm land in the East West corridor to build houses not to mention farmers cannot get workers because all the workers are in CEPEP looking to work 2 hours a day and get paid. Manning start this trend and Kamla expand it, killing farmers even further. And you also cannot get people to work cheap enough for you to supply the nation with cheap prices either, its cheaper to just buy food from China and be done with it.

Don't blame the supermarkets, their markups are not big most of them sell at the suggested retail price which believe me is very small.

You must accept that Trinidad is a banana republic 3rd world sh!t hole. Farmers cannot even get license for fire arms to protect their livestock and crops, the praedial larceny squad is a fcking joke, when I went to them to complain about a man cow eating my coconut plants in my estate them telling me how this is not the area they deal with even though my land 3 houses away from their police station. You can see how lazy they are, they just sit around all day, do nothing and get pay. They supposed to do patrol in the back roads where people have land and planting to keep an eye out for thief, but the only thing they do is drive to KFC and come back to the station.

[rspann]

ED we have water, but not harnessing it, letting it go to flood the surrounding villages and out to the sea. You are right about the workers, oil and freeness spoiled our people. Destroyed our agricultural economy. Corruption causes everything to cost more ,and makes every state enterprise unfeasible. Yeah you right , banana republic.

[Redress10]

No such thing as #eatlocal. That is nothing more than propaganda fed to us by the "higher ups". The same people telling yuh to #eatlocal driving luxurious foreign vehicles that require way more forex than the average person would need for basic necessities including food.

The world doesn't support #eatlocal. That is why there are things such as free trade agreements etc. It's ecnomically beneficial to produce what is in demand by the world etc. You can benefit from econonomies of scale and specialised skills. All of this is beside the point.

A quick example to show how much price gouging is taking place on the local market. A box of mac and cheese cost $14tt. Our minimum wage is $13tt. A box of mac and cheese is more expensive than our minimum wage.

A box of mac and cheese on amazon costs $4.50 USD for a box of 5 which works out to 90c usd or $5.67tt. Minimum wage in the US is $7.25usd. A box of mac and cheese there is 1/8th the price of minimum wage.

How does the price move from $5.67tt to $13tt locally? Shipping and handling? Storage costs? Remember that these supermarkets are buying in bulk as well so that $5.67 that the single consumer would spend would not be the same price that the supermarket will be quoted when purchasing thousands of items.

What exactly are we protecting again? Why are we protecting these companies?

[pugboy]

damn right about banana republic
any banana republics ever improved out of banana republic state ?

ED we have water, but not harnessing it, letting it go to flood the surrounding villages and out to the sea. You are right about the workers, oil and freeness spoiled our people. Destroyed our agricultural economy. Corruption causes everything to cost more ,and makes every state enterprise unfeasible. Yeah you right , banana republic.

[sMASH]

We do have water and land and some know how in the older generations.
Problem is the cost of production is too high to make a profit and compete with foreign imports.

There is economies of scale with foreign goods as well as low paid labor.

That break down above is a good way to look at it.


I've been a aging that if we increase the price of the USd, we can then change the compete with some foreign goods.
But that would mean paying more for everything, local and foreign. We can continue to Import the lower cost foods, but people here need jobs and the businesses with out contacts are struggling to get USd.

Raising the USd allows for the reduced demand on USd, incentive to get back into farming the staples, incentive to be employed in the ago industry.

They would rather prevent normsl citizens from getting good USd prices, than raise it outright and let everyone pay more for it.

[The_Honourable]

Since the government looking bad, he may not hit we anything harsh and continue hoping that energy prices will recover meaning the deficit spending will continue. I can hear imbert now in parliament with his mamaguy:

"This government is being fiscally responsible unlike the previous government who spent everything Mr Speaker... everything! Left us in a hole for us to fix but telling us now how to fix it? A problem THEEEYYYY created Mr Speaker! and we nearly reach the IMF! *lifesport* *moonilal* *drink out the money* Mr Speaker... this government is on the road to recovery, it's not easy, but the people of Trinidad & Tobago can have confidence in this government to put the country on the right path to economic stability. *desk thumping* *YES!*

I actually heard his little whiny nasty voice!

yeah that quote sounded like Imbert himself lol

you sir deserve a cold beer of your choice whenever we meet ......tek win !!!

Uncanny

LOL thanks gentlemen

[MaxPower]

Hi darlings...

Hows the carnival prep coming along?

[shake d livin wake d dead]

men done start applying for carnival loan^

[nick639v2]

Nuff sufferers wining on hungry belly this carnival...

bam bams will look small because of the sacrifice we make to gyrate instead of eat with our money.

Could imagine for Christmas into carnival the amount of crime it will have, gotta thief or kill for da paper yea

[sMASH]

^^ thanks for reminding me.

[Cantmis]

Not me....
https://youtu.be/1ohYsK5Y8Dc

[SR]

Diesel subsidy not gonna get touched. Vat however possibly back to 15%. Expecting utility rates to increase soon as well

[wickedtuna]

Revenue at 38 billion. .....expenditure @ around 50 billion .....that imps going and do something and laugh after saying "well they ain't riot yet " .....ric done dealing with t&tec and worser (wasa) .... breaks guys hurricane impsbert Oct 2nd .....

[matr1x]

Things about to get a lot worse.



#1%notaffected

[Monkey Man]

How can i convert myself into a 1%

Ah FED UP AH FED UPPP

[Ben_spanna]

I really wish all of you idiots who keep hammin on the 1% would just shut the heck up and live in the real world......... make your own life and forget about the concept of the Privileged percentage as you will never be part of it.

[MaxPower]

Use the 1% as motivation..do not hate them, do not jealous them...stop using them as an excuse for your failures...

[Monkey Man]

i love dem. They gave me pilsner and now stag lite.

And 6 for 45. Better yet!!

[eliteauto]

Use the 1% as motivation..do not hate them, do not jealous them...stop using them as an excuse for your failures...

[desifemlove]

raise vice taxes by 100%.

all businesses pay a flat rate per size. SMEs pay 0%, big firms pay 15%

and some other stuff people may find too offensive, cos T&T full ah slackers.

though i would publicly fine anybody pissing on the highway $1.000,000. and have them placed online and on TV for a month continuously. That would be a good deterrent. #firstworldby2050itellyuh

[Monkey Man]

raise vice taxes by 100%.

all businesses pay a flat rate per size. SMEs pay 0%, big firms pay 15%

and some other stuff people may find too offensive, cos T&T full ah slackers.

though i would publicly fine anybody pissing on the highway $1.000,000. and have them placed online and on TV for a month continuously. That would be a good deterrent. #firstworldby2050itellyuh

what flickin kornt hole you are girl. im sure u take 4 d!ciks at a time in that huge stink twat you call a brain.

u want to charge people what seems to be a dollar. but i think u mean a million (learn the difference between a period and a comma) for peeing on the highway. But for a person traveling from port of spain to point fortin, what PUBLIC rest stop/facilities are there for this person to use?

[desifemlove]

people who resort to animal behaviour should be treated like animals. most people i know who does have heealthy bladder never resort to that level of sheit. go in a bush, plenty bushes/trees around. go in an alleyway. For a person travelling from port of spain to point fortin, stop off at gulf city and go. or on freeport and etner a wood, or in el socorro and do a number 1 (or 2 nobody would know...) there.

[De Dragon]

people who resort to animal behaviour should be treated like animals. most people i know who does have heealthy bladder never resort to that level of sheit. go in a bush, plenty bushes/trees around. go in an alleyway. For a person travelling from port of spain to point fortin, stop off at gulf city and go. or on freeport and etner a wood, or in el socorro and do a number 1 (or 2 nobody would know...) there.

So what about little children? Are they supposed to have a "healthy bladder?" What if you're elderly and have incontinence?

[Specialist Baboons]

raise vice taxes by 100%.

all businesses pay a flat rate per size. SMEs pay 0%, big firms pay 15%

and some other stuff people may find too offensive, cos T&T full ah slackers.

though i would publicly fine anybody pissing on the highway $1.000,000. and have them placed online and on TV for a month continuously. That would be a good deterrent. #firstworldby2050itellyuh

And wtf is a healthy bladder???

[pugboy]

He still not gonna tax them casinos properly
He will leave the peanut tax they pay and make back in a week

[Monkey Man]

raise vice taxes by 100%.

all businesses pay a flat rate per size. SMEs pay 0%, big firms pay 15%

and some other stuff people may find too offensive, cos T&T full ah slackers.

though i would publicly fine anybody pissing on the highway $1.000,000. and have them placed online and on TV for a month continuously. That would be a good deterrent. #firstworldby2050itellyuh

And wtf is a healthy bladder???

she must be comparing it to her boyfriends bladder capabilities