Cayman Finance report calls for cuts in public sector
The report highlights the fact that government spending in the Cayman Islands is “totally out of line with its peers, having far higher levels of public spending than any other comparable jurisdiction.”
The report, commissioned by Cayman Finance (formerly The Cayman Islands Financial Services Association), unequivocally rules out the introduction of direct taxation without first ensuring public sector expenditure is balanced in relation to the islands’ population of around 50,000. The financial organisation says it intends that the report will assist the deliberations of The Miller Commission, which is scheduled to be published in the near future. The premier confirmed recently that the Miller report is already completed and he would be travelling to the UK to discuss its findings with the OT minister next month.
Commenting on the report and the growth of the local civil service, Anthony Travers, chair of Cayman Finance, said that the Cayman Islands premier was well aware that public sector expenditure presents the gravest financial problem facing the islands. “This is not a problem of Mr McKeeva Bush’s making. Many must shoulder the responsibility, but it is something he must address without further delay,” Travers stated.
Speaking at a public meeting in front of the courthouse last night, Bush vowed that he would not reduce the civil service and lay off Caymanians and that he would find other solutions. He said that if he reduced the civil service by 1000 people, that would see at least seven to eight hundred local people lose their jobs and he was not prepared to do that.
Travers, however, said he believed that the current CI government has realised the scale of the problem, unlike the UK Government which has not.
“The UK trillion pound public sector obligations are not even on the balance sheet. Despite the talk of regulation and prudent fiscal management, the accounting treatment shows that little has been learned in the UK from the financial crisis,” the CIFSA chair observed. “Now that the true nature of the problem has been identified in Cayman we encourage and support government undertaking immediate remedial action and in good time.”
The Teather report suggests that the alternative to cutting spending — increasing taxes — hurts workers and does not increase private sector jobs but does increase public sector jobs. He says that if a business’s taxes are raised there are only three options for whom to pass the cost on to: owners and investors through lower profits and lower dividends; customers through higher prices; or employees through lower wages or redundancies
“The pain of tax rises on business therefore ends up falling on the workers,” Teather states and adds that institutional and private client funds pooling in a tax neutral environment have been an important element in the development of the financial services industry and notes the success of the indirect taxation method that has been used in Cayman to date.
Category: Business
The fact is that the Cayman government is simply too large and expensive to be supported by the private industry that is here.
Not only is it too large and expensive, its employment regulations drive up the cost of doing business, and therefore the prices business must charge for its goods and services..
Simply put, the Cayman economy is being strangled and is crying for relief.
Government needs to reduce its size substantially, remove itself from trying to run its own businesses, and from trying to micro manage private businesses.
Only then will the economy be able to recover and get going again
Mr. Travers (I hate to say this), but more and more when I see his articles, it looks like he is all for saving the financial industry, but on a social level, he is working hard to get Caymanians relieved from their jobs.
THIS IS SCARY FOR THE HARDWORKING CAYMANIAN!
No wonder why McKeeva has so much supporters! He claims to be looking for the civil workers and small Caymanian business owners.
I know… thumbs down… lol… many Caymanians though agree with me 🙂
This is a very odd comment. What it seems Cayman Finance has done is commission and international tax consultant to advise on the position and he has provided a report .The report seems (CNS do you have a copy available to post) to say the Civil Sevice expenditure is unsustainable .SO what is your solution ?
The consensus is the Civil Service is huge, way too huge. It isn’t any of the so called "Caymanian Haters" that are saying that. It’s every financial expert who is consulted. So why ask them? If the advice is never taken? The Civil Service here, as in almost every other country, is often seen as an over-populated leisure club. The reasoning behind that is interesting, as either the citizens of every other country are as mis-guided as we are, or the over abundance of staff, as compared to the private sector, where most of us are employed, is too obvious to ignore.
Here, there is also another problem. That being that any talk of reducing the Civil Service is seen as an attack on Caymanians. Which it is not. It is simply an acceptance of our reality.
We can’t afford it!!
We can’t afford to have….what is the number….1 civil servant for every 9 people? It simply is not justifiable. Turned around, it now takes nine of us to support one civil servant. Not only that, what on earth type of financial arrangement is it to have ALL of pension and ALL of health care provided for free? AND guaranteed pension benefits regardless of what happens to the investments of the pension fund? That’s insane!
As an example:
Each and every person here who is employed in the private sector has LOST benefits and value. Due to the economic climate. What makes civil servants bullet-proof to this reality? What makes them special?
The sad reality is…because of these above items the Civil Service is now seen by many as another form of welfare paid for by the state to the tune of 55% of government expenditure.
To worsen the situation any attempt at a reduction in numbers, as many have pointed-out in an attempt to defend members of Civil Service, is seen as creating the hardship of having to go out and look for another job. Join the human race! Because you know what? That’s what everyone else has to do when their employer can’t afford to keep them employed.
It’s past time the Civil Service was given a reality check.
The simple fact is….the government can no longer, and never could afford to keep these numbers of people employed. Without either a reduction in salaries (did I say join the human race?) or, having employees pay their fair share of their benefits.
Like the rest of us have had to do since… Day One. It’s true. Civil Servants have been living in a dream world.
If those were implimented and accepted by the civil servants then perhaps people would have a different attitude. Because right now we feel like the servants.
Vote to Cut the Bloated Civil Service!!!
CONFIRMATION that the bloated Civil Service expenditure need to be drastically reduced through an immediate 10% pay reduction, payment of half of the Health and Pension contributions – thus saving between $50 and $60 million – and progressive reduction in numbers by some 25% over a period of time not exceeding 3 years…
Nobody is asking you – as you pretend – that you should put some 1000 Civil Servants out of work right now, but you certainly can cut theirs and the politicians pay packet right away, besides mandating contributions to Health and Pension funds within 30 days…
Excerpted from today’s Cayman Compass quoting from a report written by a renowned European tax specialist concluded that raising taxes here would devastate the economy and that the only viable way of balancing Cayman’s budget is through reduced government spending.…
“It is therefore important for the Cayman Islands’ reputation that the deficit is dealt with quickly. And since that cannot be done by levying direct taxes or by on-going borrowing, the only option is to reduce spending levels.”
Comparative public spending
Although the report does not propose specific areas of spending to be cut, it does compare the government spending in the Cayman Islands with that of similar countries or territories.
The comparison was made with 19 non-Europe countries and territories with a population between 5,000 and 125,000. About half of those places were in the Caribbean and half elsewhere. All countries in the group are in a similar situation to the Cayman Islands, in terms of having relatively small populations and having the logistical problems of being relatively remote islands, the report stated.
“When that comparison is made, it becomes clear that the Cayman Islands government is wholly out of line with its peers, having far higher levels of public spending than any other comparable jurisdiction,” Teather wrote.
The report stated that based on UN data for the group of 19 countries and territories, “the Cayman Islands are immediately prominent as having levels of government spending massively higher than the other members, both in absolute terms and when compared to the size of the population.”
Cayman’s total government spending is twice the level of the next highest member of the group – Antigua and Barbuda – which has a higher population at 88,000. Cayman’s total spending is also more than two and a half times the nearest jurisdiction with a similar population size – St. Kitts and Nevis – which has a population of 52,000.
In terms of government spending per head of population, Cayman spends more than twice as much the average level for the comparison group and almost 40 per cent higher than the next highest in the group, which is Turks and Caicos.
“…The group overall shows that spending per head is generally lower for those [jurisdictions] with higher populations, presumably due to economies of scale in government operations,” the report stated. “However the Cayman Islands break this trend, by having significantly higher spending per head than both smaller and larger countries"
So, McKeeva, the path is now clear: gather whatever strength and courage you have and face the Civil Service Union head on for the good of this country and for your own good and that of your party in the final analysis…
So how long before Travers is given some sort of official appointment -he appears to be the one calling the shots .
Can’t these meetings take place via satellite? Why do they have to travel all the time? We are trying to curve the Government spendings are we not?
LIME has the services and products to help govt reduce travel cost for meeting purposes.
Videoconferencing Feature on an IP SYSTEM over a DIA or MPLS Circuit
Have staff (where available) work from home save on office rent,this feature would also be available on this system
Interconnect voice traffic over IP system across different govt agencies(you have an oppurtunity to eliminate all fixed to fixed call cost if entire govt would get on board with this)Im sure this savings alone will help tremendously This feature also available on this system
Many Many more features…..
Save money whilst improving the efficency of your operations, invest in your local economy
Point of this post is not cheap marketing for the phone companies but to highlight that we have options.
For the record i dont work for LIME
Thurs 9:42:
Has it improved over the version I used out at their Safehaven office 5 years ago? It was totally crap-useless, uncoordinated sound and vision.
Quality may have been affected by poor data connections however the local providers are now boasting serious bandwidth especially in that neighbourhood, recommend you schedule a sit down with a corporate representative to speak on your options.
Mitel,Nortel (my favourite) and Cisco are all brilliant solutions.
They do not have to travel and the only expenditures they are interested in cutting are the ones that do not affect them travelling like royalty. Mac and his all expenses paid cronies LIKE to travel. XXXX
There are systems such as Skype , Mac (as in apple mac) which offer video conferencing – companies the world over use this medium to avoid travel expenses and time lost getting to and from meetings . It also cuts out having to cater for people .
What are we willing to give up, should we reduced expenditures? if not be prepared to get TAXES, income and property. We must choose, as we cannot have our cake and eat it too!
I am not a supporter of either party. I am willing to give up the following:
1) Beloved Leader spending most of his time travelling and partying all over the planet first class with his cronies. I simply do not believe that his trips have anything to do with what he NEEDS to do or the way he NEEDS to travel – only what he has fun doing.
2) Beloved Leader’s personal staff that are paid for by my tax dollars including his chauffeur, his housekeeper, his cook, and XXXXXX any other people in his entourage.
3) Every one of the cronies, consultants and advisors that have been appointed by Mac since May 2009 to suck hundreds of thousands of dollars a month from the government coffers that do nothing that provides any benefit to my country.
4) All the UDP propaganda paid for by my tax dollars including any recent TV broadcasts that fall into that category.
5) Every corrupt deal done by any politician, whether as a duty concession, a payoff to a buddy, relative or otherwise, that has occurred in the past and will occur in the future that costs my beloved country money.
6) Half of every politician’s salary.
7) Every inefficiency in the civil service including every expensive government vehicles that senior civil servants think is their right to drive even when they don’t need such vehicles as part of their desk jobs.
8) Every benefit that civil servants get that those of us in the private sector don’t get.
9) Every other inefficiency in government.
Those are the things I want ended.
If the financial services really wanted to help , they would make a big effort to employ and train more Caymanians, instead of trying to keep their golfing and rugby playing chums gainfully employed by any trick then can when applying for work permits. You cannot sack hundreds of Caymanians from the Civil Service without providing alternative employment.
Obviously this will not apply to Caymanians who have rich parents, and instead of having to work can spend their time on the ski slopes.
well Cayman certainly serves its purpose with regards skiing – those who represent the island are given a far easier entry into the olympics -so there will be going forward perhaps a few more rich kids representing cayman – what junior wants junior gets ……
" an exotic stream of stragglers will be hoping to keep fans on their side — in spite of their comparatively poorer performances.
Thanks to the International Ski Federation’s (FIS) ‘B standard’ rule, skiers from the most geographically diverse countries can qualify for the Games thanks to FIS-organised races.
If skiers get below the magical 140-point barrier, and competed in the alpine ski world championships in 2009, they can qualify for the Olympic giant slalom and slalom races.For FIS official Sarah Fussekit, it is more about helping athletes from developing countries live a little bit of the Olympic dream."
I am an expat working in the financial services industry. For the past 10 years I have been actively involved in the training and mentoring of many Caymanians. I have had the privelege of being part of the development of quite a few bright and promising Caymanians. However, I do not distinguish between expats or Caymanians. I am willing to share my knowledge with whoever is willing to learn.
I can honestly attest that the financial services industry is doing everything it can to train Caymanians. For example, the firm that I work for awards a scholarship to worthy Caymanians each year by inviting Caymanians to apply for the schoalrship. In the past 5 years we have had only one applicant for the scholarship and it was subsequently awarded to the applicant.
With so many firms out there tripping over each other to allow a promising Caymanian the opportuntiy to pursue a professional career, one would think that there would be more folks grabbing the opportunities by the horns! No, the same folks who are complaining about expats are the folks who realise that in order to hold that professional job would require actual elbow grease and a bit of sacrifice to empower themselves with the knowledge and skill in order to do the job properly. It is all too easy to lay the blame squarely at the feet of the financial services industry. But, Mr Realistic, what are Caymanians doing to help themselves succeed?
There are only so many in a population of 25,000 who can do high end job. A fact of statistics XXXX. Add the negative impact of a truly third world education system and the limiting effects of Caymanians inexplicable urge to attend third rate Floridian tertiary education establishments (one explanation may be the poor secondary education here) and there is only so much that can be done.
As an employer I love employing good Caymanians. But absent a cloning machine there is a natural cap on who I can credibily offer jobs to in my business.
Why was a reference to the IQ bell curve censored in my post? IQ distribution among a population is a fact.
You are presumably equating my comment with hysterical overaction to mid-1990’s analysis of that bell curve by Herrnstein and Murray which, it was said, implied potential race-based deviation to the curve. That debate, and it was a "debate" based upon interpretation and misintepretation of academic analysis, is irrelevant to the validity of the point made on my post. In no way did that Bell Curve book impact upon the unarguable and long established fact that there is a bell curve distribution of IQ amongst any given population.
Therefore in Cayman there will only be a % of the popluation with the intelligence to handle specific jobs. More jobs which require that level of intelligence will not result in more Caymanian employment in those jobs if the pool of available Caymanianemployees is already employed.
I assume your censorship is based upon a lack of understanding of the core science and misplaced knee-jerk reaction to the mere phrase "Bell Curve" based upon a misunderstanding of the issues in the mid-90’s debate. There is definitely a trend towards increased censorship on CNS.
CNS: The connotations of words andphrases changes over time and sometimes what was benign becomes fraught with offensive overtones. As a result of the book mentioned above and the ensuing debate, the phrase "the bell curve" is often used with a racist undercurrent — it makes no difference that it was hijacked by the authors for their own ends. In some circles it will be taken in its original meaning but in a general audience, without the clarification added here, it can be deeply offensive. Work round it and don’t assume so much.
Prejudice based on ignorance should not be pandered to. There is nothing remotely racist about the term "bell curve", just poorly informed hysteria in reaction to misreading of an academic text at the height of PC. We should not be censored because others perceive offence out of their ignorance. Another example is people who criticise the use of the word "niggardly" believing it to connote some form of racial epithet. When we regulate our behaviour because of the reactions of the illiterate and the ignorant then we have reached a sad sad level of common denominator.
Why can’t you get rid of none productive staff….because they are Caymanian? In which case stop whining about "rich Caymanians". There are a lot of "rich Caymanians" who became such because THEY WORKED FOR IT!
They did not sit ontheir fat lazy A%*** in air-conditioned comfort spending the majority of their time talking to friends on the phone.
The majority of civil servants (and I have first hand experience of this) work for the civil service because they could not make it in the private sector..yes even here on Cayman, where if you turn up for work alive it is a bonus for the employer.
PIGS at the TROUGH won’t give up easily in spite of the overwhelming evidence that they’re overfed and their numbers need to be culled…
Here is an excerpt of a post I wrote a while back on this very subject that received 69 endorsements against 3 thumbs down: I will now quantify the savings obtainable through these recommendations:
PRIVILEGED CASTE = Civil Servants…
Here is the proof:
In last Friday’s Compass there was an ad for a garbage truck driver: salary CI$16.50 to $18.00 per hour…
Not a pleasant job you may say?…
Then compare to what the private sector is offering:
Truck driver to empty septic tank and portable toilets, shift and weekend work: salary CI$9.00 per hour!!…
I wage that if Civil Servants with similar qualifications were made to work in the public sector, they would lose at least 30% of their paycheck and ALL of their PERKScosting hundreds of millions…
If the current situation continues, the Civil Servants, like a parasite vine, will strangle Cayman to DEATH and there is nothing the politicians are willing to do about it because they won’t take any cuts in salary or benefits themselves!…
As Travers said, NEW CIVIL SERVICE LAWS have to be passed urgently to loosen the death-grip that the union-like Civil Service have on their welfare – exemplified by the ongoing INTERNAL REVIEW – as the islands’ economic viability and future is at stake…
Here are a few facts to bear in mind:
– Not counting the Statutory Authorities, which make a LOSS in the aggregate, there is 1 Civil Servant for every 14 residents, consuming ~55% of the entire Cayman Budget in perks and salaries.
– Including the Authorities owned by government, the number climbs to 1 in 9, based on 6,000 total Civil Servants and 55,000 inhabitants…
http://www.compasscayman.com/caycompass/2010/01/26/Duguay–About-6000-working-in-government/
– In California, Civil Servants number 1 for 120 and Puerto Rico is the next most bloated Civil Service location in the Caribbean with 1 Civil Servant for every 23 residents: thankfully many have been laid off recently, as funds run out to pay them…
Here is how we can save around $130 million and balance the budget in one fell swoop:
– For starters, make Civil Servants pay their 1/2 of pension and health contributions currently forked out by Cayman’ citizenry: save about $25 million…
– Reduce their numbers to be more in line with other islands in the Caribbean, say no more than 1 Civil Servant for every 20 residents, or a ~25% reduction: save about $80 million…
– Bring their salaries down a notch – say 10% – more in line with the realities of other sectors of the economy that have had to tighten their belts in this recession: save about $35 million…
– Stop guaranteeing their pensions: there is great inequality in having the citizens of Cayman obligated to make up any shortfall for any reasons – including recession and mismanagement – in the Civil Servant pension funds, when their own funds are going down the drain…
– Stop paying them to do nothing: there is no reason why they should be guaranteed a life-long salary if they no longer have a job to do. However, neither should they be dismissed at the whim of politicians without good reasons…
– To show a good example, let’s cut the salaries of the all the non-ministers and opposition members who are actually working part time by 40%, the ministers salaries by 10% and grant pensions according to time and position served: ie, a back bencher who served 2 terms would get 25% of full pension and a minister who served 3 terms would get around 50%…
Of course, McKeeva famed courage falters totally when it comes to tackling the Civil Service problems or his own salary and pension: he’s scared of Donovan and the Civil Service union-like status. Either, all the non-Civil Service members of the public will have to form their own larger UNION to force the issue, or the UK will have to take control if we’re ever to see a fair and balanced Civil Service, instead of one that’s eating Cayman alive…
Btw, if these measures are not taken ASAP, they will be imposed by the force of circumstances, as the government will soon run out of assets to sell and willing lenders to bail out the Cayman Islands, as this recessionis far from being over…
To me the answer is simple. Cayman needs to overhaul its education system. We need to have a system that trains and educates Caymanians for the jobs here on island that are being filled by expats. Why do we not have a Teacher training program, a medical/nursing program, tradesmen training to mention but a few. Ifwe filled these sectors and the financial sector with Caymanians then at least there would be somewhere for Caymanians to go when the Government has to cut its staff. Caymanians need options, career options, good jobs that offer good pay, decent working conditions and based on a good education and good training.
I met a Caymanian lawyer who once said that he understood why the majority of lawyers hired were expats, he said that foreigners trusted the expats more and they would not do business here if they heard a Caymanian accent on the other end of the phone. Those were his words, he understood it, I was shocked that he didn’t see this as something that could and should be changed, if Caymanians are instilled with this way of thinking what hope do we have for the expats and potential investors to feel any different.
Why not start out with a good vocational college which trains young caymanians to be nurses, mechanics, engineers, plumbers, etc etc. This would seem to be a far more sensible place to start seeing as there are far more expats employed in these jobs then in Financial services jobs. not every caymanian needs to work in a bank, there is nothing wrong with other career paths.
That and cut the civil service of course. two absolute no brainers.
Who paid for the "Caymanian Lawyers" education? I think it’s a safe bet that he worked his but off for a year or two.
Stop making excuses, and be the best you can be with what you have. He did!
Blame the parents not the system!!
Caymanians in business do not want workers at the other end of a telephone who are incapable of speaking "business english" This is the serious break down in schools, the drama, poetry and such like same to be the local dialect only. There is nothing wrong with local dialect among friends, but proper speech should be taught in the schools. The younger generation is very lacking in proper speech and this goes for the politicians as well. Mac and Kurt, generally speak very well and are clearly understood by all, but of course they went to school when it was important to learn and was taught to speak properly. Those that are suppose to be more educated than them (with university degrees) and of the younger generation speak poorly. One such obvious example is Mark Scotland. His speech is awful.I am a Caymanian and I heard him on the news speaking to a televison reporter some time ago and I did not understand one word he said. I was ashamed and embarrassed and shocked at his very, very poor speech. This is what we are sending out to represent us!! We deserve to be laughed at, but unless more emphasis is placed in the schools on proper speech, how will Caymanians communicate at a high level in the business world.
The cutting of the Civil Service will begin on March 8th, following the viewing of the video footage of the March 6th march.
Hey, I think March fourth would have been a better date.
Another self-serving report by the arrogant financial industry, who refuse to take responsibility for their contribution to the economic collapse. This is basically a “public bailout” thinly disguised. Rather than cutting bonuses, profit margins or charging appropriate fees, they now want others to make the sacrifices.
Slowpoke – an apt name to put to such an idiotic and ignorant response! Or did you mean to put the word ‘government’ where you actually typed financial industry? (The latter contribute 60% towards the local economy – what do you do for it?)
Please do tell us how the ‘financial industry’ has contributed to the massive over-spending of successive Governments.
Thank God there are people like Travers around who are willing to speak the truth. It’s a shame the Government (regardless of which party is in power) will never have the cojones to trim the Civil Service… we can only home that the UK does it for us.
It is so much fun being a Librul in the Cayman Islands, you never have to worry about dull conversation because everybody agrees with you. That said; let me be clear that I in fact support downsizing the Civil Service.
However, my point is, that the current predicament the Western economies face (including Cayman) are not the result of a few overpaid, lazy, etc. government employees in the US, UK, Germany, Canada or the CI’s. The economic crisis is the resultof the unbridled and unregulated greed of the banking and financial industry and their paramours. While many an Average Joe have lost their jobs, health insurance, pensions… the wealthiest have benefited incredulously during this same time period. It is our local financial industry, who have aided and abetted these few, to their own benefit.
I would be much more open to their “reports” and “suggestions” if they first accepted responsibility and then made an open and heartfelt apology. They should also feel free to reduce their fees (do you really need to make CI$ 100,000.00 per month to live here?), bonuses, incentives, etc.
The writer is plain wrong on two counts:
1. Please explain how you think the Financial Sector in Cayman c ontributed to the problem.
2. The private sector in Cayman has taken a lot of pain. We have had to cut our costs, slaries,and , yes, bonuses.
Get real
Totally agree with you they destroy things and then point for Governments to cut cost …i guess so they can ask for bailout money :-0
Im not a civil servant but i truly believe our Governments choice to employ these people are a blessing.
Lets think for a second though …cut jobs and pay, people become desperate and hungry ,they have no choice besides taking on 2-3 jobs, children are ignored,they do as they will perform poorly in school become invloved with criminal activity, crimes rises we all suffer.
Our Govt just needs to monitor their spending a little tighter build tighter relationships with the private sector allowing easier and cheaper exchange of services,stop outfitting their staff with the latest Blackberry evertime they come out,take better care of equipment,buildings assests…perhaps if anything our government rather than cutting jobs and pay can simply ask more where possible from our civil servants.
ANTHONY,
Lol… as clearly seen…
The number of THUMBS-DOWN’ RATING that your comment has generated, just shows us the amount of people who are NOT REAL Caymanians.
I for one, care alot for my family and what happens to our Civil Servants, because many of their families I know, would suffer at the hands of what Mr. Traver’s is recommending. These foreignors who pry this site to score their points and make mockery of our affairs, have no conscience, and apparently don’t know what a community is!
To them, I would advise, GET A LIFE!
Gena, you probably should take your head out the sand and have a look around. For the thousand’s time, there is no conspiracy against real caymanians. What you are abdicating is like allowing your child to keep on maxing out their credit card in the knowledge that they will never be able to pay it off, because why shouldn’t they spend more than they earn, they are Caymanian after all. The thumbs down probably has more to do with both caymanians and expats alike not agreeing with the stupid and idiotic comment made. just becuase a caymanian doesn’t agree with your childlike economic knowledge does not mean that he is not a ‘real caymanian’.
WOW!
39 THUMBS DOWN or people against CAYMANIANS keeping their jobs!
It’s amazing they come here and benefit from us at the same time!
In other words…put Caymanians out of jobs.
why not lay off underworked, overpaid personnel?
it’s basic common business sense, if you don’t accept basic business principles then we have no chance
Fine, lets name names and shine a light on these underworked overpaid positions, middle management is a good place to start.
You could start with the ex-pat civil service employees, they have to go home!
But then the production of civil service would go way down.
This might not be such a bad thing.
Really? The expats make you belive they doing the work because they have the Caymanians on the bottom doing their work and then they take credit for it.
Really? The Caymanians make you believe they are doing all the work because they are the ones that give you the impression that they are responsible for the productivity of the ex-pat who is doing all the work. [I am posting a satire alert on this post because some of you might think I meant what I just wrote]
Can we just stop all this name calling nonsense and cut 25% of the civil service now? The rest of the world is slashing public spending but somehow Cayman is special and different.
yes, it is the caymanians on the bottom doing all the work. i’ve seen it myself. they do it over and over again because they just can’t get it right. they take a whole day to do something that normally takes one hour, and even then it’s just not right. by the end of the day, the expat is so fed up that he/she does it himself/herself, and takes credit for it. in the meantime, the caymanian returns from his or her four hour lunch break and asks to be promoted.
I thought the top civil servants were all Caymanian
Deputy Governor, CFO, etc
Clearly you don’t understand that if there was no need for the ex-pats they would have been sent home already. The FACT is that they ARE NEEDED as there are no Caymanians to fill those positions, FACT. And if you are to send them all packing, the civil service would be even worse than it already is, FACT.
at last some straight talking and common sense…. but unfortunatly it will be ignored by caymans gutless politicians
There is a well known and extensively used method of reducing civil services and other organizations painlessly (at least as far as staff are concerned). It’s called "attrition". You don’t lay people off, you simply don’t replace those who leave for natural causes (promotion, transfers, death, retirement etc). It takes time but not as much time as people might think. The problem here in Cayman is that we expect to have all these services provided by Government with less staff and without us paying for them! We (including politicians who are VERY guilty of this) need to learn to do without some services and pay/pay more for those we do have.
CIFSA seems to be arbitrarily suggesting that we "lay-off" Caymanians.
I HOPE THAT’S NOT THE CASE, BECAUSE THAT WOULD MEAN THAT CIFSA ARE BEING RUN BY NON-CAYMANIANS. If they call themselves Caymanians, they don’t represent the hardworking people!
There are other options available than arbitrarily laying off Caymanians!
You are absolutely right, it’s called taxation. If the Caymanian people are so determined to maintain the profligate public sector, let them pay for it.
You are absolutely wrong…
We don’t have to go taxation! Go back to the drawing board with the FCO and DEMAND more time to balanced the budget. They have did, and they can do it again! The last thing the UK wants is for a financial industry like Cayman to fail! And don’t tell me that Cayman Islands serves no importance in the UK’s financial industry, because I would laugh you to scorn.
I work in the financial industry. We have no importance in the UK’s financial industry, they can happily do without us. "Demand", it’s unfortunately such a Cayman characteristic, just like "entitle". Cayman should be bending over backwards to try and please the UK, not "demand". The UK will have no problem in letting Cayman go and that would be a disaster for us.
You so fool fool… Some time ago, last year, Parlaiment was visited by so many government experts, saying that it would be a grave mistake if the UK brought direct tax to the Cayman Islands. What effects the Cayman Islands industry could have repercussions to the UK…
You need to wake up and read for yourself. I don’t care if you work in the financial industry. I work in the financial industry, and I can tell you, you have alot of ignoramous people therein!
So you can dream on if we don’t play a major role in the UK’s financial affairs!
Who you calling fool fool? You are totally delusional if you think the UK, US or world economy needs us, the finance industry can pack up and go in a moment’s notice and settle somewhere else.
I agree that we definitely don’t need direct taxation.
Q, although I can agree with you saying that the U.S. and U.K. can pack up and go anytime they want, do you seriously think that their clients and investors would do likewise?
The U.S. and U.K. governments don’t represent the clients that we have in our banking industry. In fact, I know many UK clients who are at odds with their own government.
Former minister alden mclaughlin admitted this morning on rooster that the civil service had significantly grown in size and cost under the PPM administration, but yet he also said this morning that the solution to Government financial problems was to drastically cut the govt operating budget (how else can this be done without affecting the civil service???).
The PPM also are proposing that the other answer to our current problem is to increase borrowing and loosen our debt service ratios.
In summary then the PPM proposals :
1. Cut the civil service and/or benefits
2. Keep their majorcapital projects going
3. Increase govt borrowing
4. Convince the UK to allow us to weaken our financial controls in Law
Wow – So there you have it folks.
Yes, but time issomething Cayman does not have. If expenditures aren’t cut immediately, the UK will force taxation.
It is true that Government can utilize the bilions of dollars that are sitting in dormant bank accounts. This is a real joke for a country that is a leading financial center accommodating billions of dollars especially sitting in dormant accounts.
Mr. Bush what about getting ahold of the UNCLAIMESD FUNDS sitting in these dormant accounts!
Since we are world financial leading center. We should act like. How can we accommodate the whole world’s money and we can’t even bail ourselves out when in a financial predicament.
UTILIZE THE MONEY SITTING IN DORMANT ACCOUNTS,
THERE’S YOUR ANSWER. YOU’RE THE LAW ITS TIME TO PUT IT TO SOME GOOD USE.
Hey, I hear there’s pirate treasure in a cave somewhere about. Maybe we can use that! If we can’t find the treasure, there’s this prince in Nigeria who’s been emailing me and he wants to give me a lot of money. I’m a nice guy, I’ll give that to the government. Oh, what the heck; why don’t we just nationalize foreign assets. I mean, we don’t really have to be responsible and feel any pain in all of this, do we?
Simple: We just have to get more time! Anytime we have to rush to get something done, it is not done properly!