TAXMAN COMETH
IN rolling out a series of money-making measures in the 2016/2017 National Budget, both the rich and poor were touched by yesterday’s Budget presentation.
Continue reading Budget Presentation for Fiscal Year 2017 – Friday September 30, 2016
Monthly Archives: September 2016
Carmona denies employee’s company used: ‘Wine from Italy was cheaper’
September 29, 2016 – guardian.co.tt
President Anthony Carmona says “contrary to false and incorrect media reports, neither Ms Pramati Noe, former private secretary to the President, nor Antonio Piccolo purchased, nor imported quality wines on behalf of the Office of the President.”
Additionally, he said, Italian Import/Export Limited, a registered local company and/or its directors, neither purchased nor imported any wine on behalf of the office of the President.
Continue reading Carmona denies employee’s company used: ‘Wine from Italy was cheaper’
Never lose human compassion
By Raffique Shah
September 28, 2016
You think we have problems in this country?
With days to go before Finance Minister Colm Imbert delivers the Government’s 2017 budget, Trinis by the thousand sit in bars across the country sipping beers or whisky, and amidst the din that is common to such establishments, shout to be heard: “Breds, we better drink up, yes…from Friday, we may not be able to afford Johnny Walker Blue!” Big problem, that.
Continue reading Never lose human compassion
Integrity and Probity
By Dr. Selwyn R. Cudjoe
September 27, 2016
I am an old timer. I believe integrity in public life predates the establishment of the Integrity Committee. My mother, born in 1909, used to say: “When ah dead, if anybody say ah owe dem any money, tell dem dey lie.” Her word was her bond. She believed each of us possesses an innate sense of what is right and wrong which tells us when we have transgressed those boundaries. Such a credo was part of an ethical value system that we, as black people, learned from our nineteenth-century ancestors. In those days, we did not need an Integrity Committee to tell us what constitutes ethical behavior.
Continue reading Integrity and Probity
America is a Big FATCA Liar
By Ted Baumann
March 4, 2015 – thesovereigninvestor.com
When I was a kid I once got the better of a bully in a schoolyard scuffle that he had started. With workmen on the school roof cheering me on, I chased the guy halfway across the playground before he turned around and raised his hands in surrender. Needless to say, with the whole class watching, he was terribly embarrassed.
Continue reading America is a Big FATCA Liar
On this “Dress” Code for teachers
THE EDITOR: I can NOT believe that a new dress code for teachers is an issue. Really?! Wasn’t the existing one clear-cut enough?
Be that as it may, if true, it is welcome. Welcome in the sense that it serves to illuminate some of the elephants crowding the room that conservatives and the wilfully ignorant among us – i.e many of the over-40 age group – have no intention of discussing. You see in the wording of current guidelines (and no doubt the new one) there is a distinct gender bias, but that’s apparently okay with many people, including radio talk show hosts and their callers.
Continue reading On this “Dress” Code for teachers
Every Cook Can Govern
By Dr. Selwyn R. Cudjoe
September 19, 2016
On Wednesday, Thursday and Saturday of this week, the Trinidad and Tobago Film Festival shall premier “Every Cook Can Govern: The Life, Impact & Works of C. L. R. James,” a film that was produced by Worldwrite, an English non-profit or charity organization. The producers describe this documentary as “The world’s first film on the life of a fearless and uncompromising revolutionary.” There is much truth in advertising here. “Every Cook Can Govern” is a well-crafted and informative film about one of Trinidad and Tobago’s most distinguished intellectuals and Marxist theoreticians.
Continue reading Every Cook Can Govern
Pay the Devil
By Raffique Shah
September 17, 2016
Anyone who believes that this Government can continue to spend money to fix the country’s many problems the way successive governments have done, seemingly forever, is either a fool or someone who regards us as a nation of fools.
The harsh reality we face is when the good times rolled, most of us, from politicians and the business elites to plebes and philistines, intoxicated by the flow of petrodollars, felt we could and should spend, spend, spend, and let the Devil take tomorrow.
Continue reading Pay the Devil
The Monumentality of it All
By Dr. Selwyn R. Cudjoe
September 14, 2016
It’s Sunday, September 4th. I am in Rome, Italy. The sun is ablaze but it is not a Trinidad hot sun. There is no breeze and the heat radiates from the earth, making you feel as if you are being roasted alive. I visit the Palazzo Barberini, the National Gallery of Ancient Art that was conceived to celebrate the artistic passion of Maffeo Barberini who became Pope Urban VIII in 1623. As a cardinal, he sponsored many artists with his patronage.
Continue reading The Monumentality of it All
Remember the FIRST Sept 11th
THE EDITOR: September 11 marks a profoundly tragic event in world history. On this fateful day and in the coming years, thousands of lives were lost or permanently destroyed. So many people were disappeared, to date unaccounted for. The events of that day so many years ago continue to affect the lives of countless people and societies to this very day.
Continue reading Remember the FIRST Sept 11th