What is teenage life if not fun as we explore new boundaries? You meet new secondary school friends and, with that, you form new relationships, including romantic ones. You try thinking independently for the first time, even as there is a confusing rush of hormones never before experienced. What is …
Read More »Is subject of fuel subsidy removal a red herring for T&T’s bigger economic problem?
“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 »Budget analysis: Online tax fiasco, ageing population, diversification dilemma and more
Two Tuesdays ago at a meeting in Mt D’or, Minister of Finance Colm Imbert boasted that there were only two people who knew the contents of the budget, the Prime Minister and himself. The subsequent applause for this revelation is symptomatic of the nature of our state. We are accepting …
Read More »The Colm after the storm; and Imbert’s about-turn on the gas subsidy
Minister of Finance Colm Imbert was interviewed by Khamal Georges on CNC3 last week and it was difficult not to be genuinely impressed by his calm demeanour. It contrasted sharply with the agitation and irritation he displayed during his mid-year review in Parliament a week prior, when he announced to the …
Read More »Battle against be-suited bandits: Raffique wades into price-gouging groceries
I find it almost amusing that some grocers who are caught dipping their greedy hands deep inside consumers’ pockets, cry foul when their names and outrageously high prices are exposed through advertisements posted by the Consumer Affairs Division of the Ministry of Trade. In immediate response to being named as …
Read More »Ask Mr Live Wire: Online taxes, gov’t corruption and gas and vehicle price hikes
In keeping with our efforts to engage readers, Mr Live Wire agreed to answer questions from random guests via Skype. The following were the satirical results: Balisier-baby: Mr Live Wire, I understand the reasoning behind all theses taxes eh. It’s because those crooked UNC politicians thief all we money! But …
Read More »Battle of the barra: Trinis get rowdy over doubles price increase
It. Just. Got. Real. The 48-year-old Mahase Kanhai, who, curiously, claims to have been a doubles vendor for the past 35 years, will be remembered for throwing the first blow. “It was $4 but we had no choice but to increase the price (to $5),” Kanhai told the Trinidad Guardian. …
Read More »Is Imbert working with gas or full of it? Live Wire looks at the Budget in brief
The good news is that Trinidad and Tobago citizens are about to have their country open up more than ever before as traffic lights come down, highways continue to expand and sea ports go up. The bad news is we may not be able to afford to drive to see …
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