“In T&T, our social protection policies are open to manipulation and are informally enforced as most of them are not enshrined in law. Fuel subsidies also do provide important relief for lower income brackets to achieve social mobility by accessing education and transportation, or pay lower prices for food items …
Read More »Letter to the Editor: Let them drink sorrel; ban alcohol at government functions
“If we’re serious about reducing the foreign exchange drain, why not temporarily ban the use of alcohol at all government functions and on all government premises including the Diplomatic Centre and President’s House?” The following Letter to the Editor was submitted to Wired868 by Dennise Demming, the former TIDCO chairperson: There …
Read More »Sense make before book: Why Colm Imbert made right call with 2017 Budget
“Devalue, the book sense people insist, he must devalue! He has to let the $TT find its true value! “They know book but they don’t know chapter…” Local economist Warren Thompson takes a different view on the Minister of Finance’s 2017 Budget and tells Wired868 why he thinks Colm Imbert …
Read More »Why the T&T Budget always disappoints
“As a people we are not part of any budget preparation which would determine our destiny for the next fiscal year. Why all this secrecy? “Why is there no participation by the ordinary citizens? Why don’t we have a date clearly identified for Budget presentation every year?” The following Letter …
Read More »STREET VIBE: That’s insulting! Condescending politicians are T&T’s biggest freeloaders
“It is sad and indeed ironic that those who have been accusing taxpayers of living off the fat of the land, are the biggest parasites of the offices which they occupy; doing all this while paying no taxes.” The following Letter to the Editor on Prime Minister Dr Keith Rowley’s …
Read More »FATCA or fiction? Live Wire offers perspective on a potential financial Armageddon
Mr Live Wire has heard the questions: “What the arse is FATCA?” “Dem politicians wouldn’t be playing the fool if this so serious, right?” “PNM just trying to scare we again, nah?” “That have something to do with Marlene coming back?” Well, despite the legitimate interest in pompous Pussyfoot’s petty …
Read More »PNM: The UNC is being anti-PNM and not pro-country in FATCA snub
PNM general secretary Ashton Ford has accused the Opposition party, the United National Congress (UNC), of being anti-PNM rather than pro-country in his Letter to the Editor on the Opposition party’s failure to support the Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act (FATCA). The following is Ford’s full release: The United National …
Read More »Strait is the GATE: Is T&T suffering from false sense of entitlement?
Are we having the wrong discussion about GATE? Should the conversation be whether the government should sponsor tertiary-level education at all? “Because strait is the gate, and narrow is the way, which leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it.” Matthew 7:14, King James Version. My 14-year-old grandson …
Read More »Lead, or shut up! Raffique challenges Rowley to lift his game as T&T prime minister
I don’t know what plans he has for his vacation, but I strongly recommend to Prime Minister Dr Keith Rowley that he spend all of it in solitary self-confinement seeking guidance from whatever deity or deities he believes in regarding his leadership capabilities. I don’t care whether it’s an ashram, …
Read More »No civility, much hypocrisy; Raffique Shah points at both sides of the House
It would be asking too much of our politicians that they show some humility in their public lives. In fact, it will be true to say that, with precious few exceptions, politicians across the world are egotistical and arrogant—character traits that distinguish them from most ordinary human beings. Lest I …
Read More »Bwdma… Who running T&TEC? Pinky and the Brain?!
What did Kamla Persad-Bissessar and her PP gang really leave in the Treasury? Two shillings and a pack of chewing gum? Forget VAT, speed guns and online shopping tax, Trinidad and Tobago can have deeper problems if these electricity black-outs continue. And the only excuse Mr Live Wire has not …
Read More »Empty promises! Fixin T&T slams PNM’s campaign finance legislation offer
Civic watchdog group, Fixin’ T&T, today slammed Stuart Young, the Minister in the Ministry of the Attorney General and Legal Affairs and the Office of the Prime Minister, for “vacuous” promises regarding campaign financing legislation. Young vowed to present legislation before the next general election. However, Fixin’ T&T, which is …
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