Archive for May, 2010
MLAs retreat on big pay cuts
(CNS): The country’s politicians say they are no longer prepared to take the major pay cuts originally proposed in the Legislative Assembly earlier this year. The premier has confirmed that he will not be taking the 30% cut in his own salary as stated in the LA and his fellow legislators will no longer lose 20% of theirs. Instead, all members will be taking a 3.2% reduction on their average $120,000 annual salaries, in line with the cuts impacting the wider public sector which begin on 1 July. McKeeva Bush originally announced in the LA that he was cutting his own pay by 30% and his colleagues by 20% and that the MLAs would all be paying a 50% contribution to their health insurance.
No objectors to talks release
(CNS): The elected arm of government, the opposition, the churches, the Chamber of Commerce and the Human Rights Committee have all said they want to see the transcripts of the Constitutional Talks released to the public. However, the Cabinet Office has still not made the documents available, despite the ruling by the information commissioner last week. CNS contacted each of the parties involved in the talks to find out if any objected to the freedom of information request by the Human Rights Committee for the transcripts to be released and none of them did. Following the revelation by the information commissioner that the UK is not objecting either, there no longer seems to be any legitimate reason for the transcripts to remain under wraps.
Cayman registered super-yachts warned to avoid Italy
(FT.Com): Rome’s crackdown on suspected tax dodgers has unsettled owners of super-yachts considering Italy as a summer destination, after the tax police seized the 63-metre Force Blue owned by Flavio Briatore. Some legal advisers are telling their worldwide clients, 90 percent of whom have their yachts under a Cayman Islands flag, to take care before venturing into Italian waters. A spokesman for the Guardia di Finanza tax police said three similar cases of super-yacht tax evasion were under investigation. “The seizure is sending shock waves through the super-yacht community,” Quentin Bargate, senior partner with the London-based law firm Bargate Murray, said.
Woman mugged at gun point
(CNS): Police said today that George Town detectives are now investigating a robbery which took place in the Queens Court Plaza area in the early hours of this morning. At about 1.15am a 20 year old woman was walking with two friends through Queens Court in West Bay Road, when they were confronted by a masked man. The man threatened the young woman with what appeared to be a handgun before grabbing her handbag containing a camera, a small amount of cash and personal papers. The suspect who wore a mask over his face had black hair and was wearing a white t-shirt and denim jeans.
Young politicians take time for young moms
(CNS): Members of the Young United Democratic Party took five young moms from the Young Parents’ Programme out to lunch to celebrate Mothers Day recently. YUDP President Richard Christian said that, while everyone was running around getting gifts for their own mothers, the YUDP wanted to do something special for those who sometimes get forgotten. The YPP is a government run agency which provides education to mothers aged 15 to 20 during pregnancy. “Being a youth focused group, it was a no brainer that we should treat and encourage these young mothers and mothers to be,” said Christian.
The YUDP Leader believes that it benefits the politicians of tomorrow to understand the issues in the community by getting involved with and supporting the needs of young people.
"I am pretty sure that none of these teens planned to have a child at such a young age,” he said. “That alone can bring an incredible amount of stress on them in a society where some people may even look down on them and automatically write them off as a failure. Our message to them was simple, we have all made mistakes and we have all made wrong turns in life. However past mistakes and wrong turns doesn’t have to determine your destination in life. These young ladies are still precious in God’s eyes and therefore should be in ours too.”
To contact the YUDP call 943-3338 or email YUDP@udp.ky
Letter reveals billing rates for Cayman’s lawyers
(CNS): The firm recently hired by the Cayman Islands government to represent the country’s interests in Washington, London and Brussels will not be coming cheap, according to an engagement letter filed with the Washington Justice Department earlier this month. Sidley Austin, which has served as counsel to the government of the Cayman Islands in the past, will be charging as much as US$950 per hour for the work its senior partners do on behalf of the CIG. Cabinet recently confirmed that it has retained the firm, which has a long relationship with Cayman. Sidley Austin has supported the CIG on a number of occasions, including the $312 million successful note offering last year.
Death toll mounts in Jamaica
(CNS): The man at the centre of the current violence in Jamaica remains at large as the killings mount in the West Kingston area. Official police reports state that some 40 civilians, two police officers and one soldier have been killed during the outbreak of violence. Many more have also been injured as the hunt for Tivoli Gardens’ strongman, Christopher ‘Dudus’ Coke, continues. On Tuesday National Security Minister Dwight Nelson confirmed that Coke had not yet been found, despite the three day security operation. Coke who has close connections to Jamaica’s ruling Labour Party is wanted by United States authorities on firearms and drug trafficking charges.
Students get exposure on additional school year
(CNS): Young people who will be moving into year twelve will have unprecedented opportunities in this additional year of compulsory education Chief Education Officer Shirley Wahler said at the recent Year 12 Expo. Scores of students and their parents attended the event hosted by the Ministry of Education and Department of Education Services and gave students a glimpse of the myriad options available for them to pursue in the mandatory last year. The year 12 programme is part of a major restructuring, which will see the implementation of two “all-through” high schools. These schools will replace the current middle- and high-school arrangements, come September, 2010.
Miracles and Mirages
A recent NY Times column, "Irish Miracle – or Mirage", written by former IMF Chief Economist, Simon Johnson (I vaguely recall Cayman Finance quoting him earlier in the year, so I guess they would consider him to be both credible, informed and wise) and Peter Borne, Principal of Salute Capital Management Ltd, had this amongst other things to say about Ireland:
“The Celtic Tiger’s impressive reported growth over past decades was in part based on its aggressive attempts to help major corporations in the United States reduce their tax bills.” They further suggest, “The remarkable success of this tax haven means roughly 20% of Irish Gross Domestic Product is actually ‘profit transfers’ that raise little tax for Ireland and are owned by foreign companies.”
Such is the reality of the so-called economic success of Ireland, a country where the Government sets corporate taxes at an internationally attractive rate of 12.5% and now finds itself in dire economic and financial straits.
The authors go on to point out that Gross National Product, which excludes the profits of foreign residents is for most countries nearly identical to Gross Domestic Product, but not so in Ireland as a direct consequence of the “profit transfer” element.
Cayman’s reality is Ireland’s mirage much magnified.
In the absence of any corporate taxes or any suitable alternative fiscal mechanism, it is safe to suggest that the portion of Cayman’s GDP attributable to “profit transfers” is, at a minimum, double the Irish figure of 20%.
As I have stated in the past, this is not a reality that was lost on our leaders and planners. As far back as the late 1980’s the then Financial Secretary publicly lamented the fact that the per capita GDP attributable to the Cayman portion of the population was 50% of the heralded world class headline number.
As nations around the world grapple with the challenges of the current global economic conundrum, it is clear that the smoke and mirrors economic machinations of the few (the financial elite) who have been the primary beneficiaries of the three decade old scam, will fight tooth and nail to ensure very little in the way of fundamental change is permitted anywhere in the global financial architecture.
We can be assured that the reflexive response of the self-interested captains of the industry here, as in every other major financial centre, will continue to bemoan and decry any and all suggestions for enhanced regulation and greater contributions on their part to the fiscal solutions which must be found in the face of the deficit problems that plague most nations, large and small.
We should see these responses for what they really are.
Naked unadulterated greed.
Ordinary folk in the Cayman Islands would do well to begin to understand that what has been labeled as OUR economic success would be more accurately described as meretricious.
Acceptance of this fact is a necessary first step to seeking the formulation of an alternative developmental model that would place the local population at the centre of the process.
Bracker takes young entrepreneur title
(CNS): The 2010 Junior Achievement President of the Year was awarded to Zachary Jones of Sea Breezes Ltd, which produced wind chimes made with Brac driftwood, shells and glass. His company, based on Cayman Brac, was also awarded the coveted Company of the Year award. One of several students honoured at the weekend’s JA gala ceremony for their achievement during the programme, Jones said, “Working together as a team is the most important thing for the company. "It doesn’t matter how much work you put out as president, if you don’t have your team working behind you, you’ll get nowhere.”
