When most of us hear the term money lender we think of a shady character who lends to persons in distress at predatory rates of interest. These guys were not shy about using intimidation and occasional violence to collect on their advances. You may be surprised to […]
Read moreCredit Union or Money Lenders?
Taking advantage in broad daylight
Today I have a story to tell about Angostura and will invite you to ponder some harsh facts that emerge from that story. But first, a quick preamble. We all know that our national finances are in a state of crisis. We faced difficulties of our own […]
Read moreWhy we lost WI-Pay
There are some matters of economic and financial management that are very simple to understand and on which we all agree. Here are a few items that we would all look at as positive with respect to any company domiciled here – Is profitable and pays its […]
Read moreA CLICO FoIA revelation
People like me who work with data professionally are vocal about the benefits of data for decision making and for understanding complex financial transactions. In T&T as elsewhere, following what is happening in the public sector is impossible without access to reliable data. That is why we […]
Read morePetrotrin – Part 2
The fiasco continues at Petrotrin I’m grateful for all the comments I received for my recent column about the sale of the Petrotrin refinery. I have no idea as to the eventual outcome of the protracted sale. I believe that the government is operating without a plan […]
Read moreA Ring Bang story
A Ring Bang story At the turn of the century an event occurred in Tobago that would change the politics on the island for all the years since then. It is truly remarkable to reflect on the impact of that event and compare it with the lack […]
Read morePetrotrin – losses via interference
One of the big stories of the past fortnight has been the confusion over the sale of the Petrotrin refinery to Patriotic. The deadline for agreement came and went and the sale was off according to the Minister. Then, at well past the eleventh hour it was […]
Read moreOur digital transformation – Part 1
Now that a new administration is being put in place we can discuss what we expect to happen based on the manifesto of the winners of the election. In the current global climate I am most concerned about promises made regarding three critical areas: a definition of […]
Read moreAn open invitation to corrupt officials
I know that its a stretch but imagine for a moment that you’re a corrupt official, always on the lookout for opportunities to feed from the public trough at the expense of all other citizens. I ask you to do this because it is one of the […]
Read moreOur advantage in New Normal
Jeff Jin is the country manager at Huawei TT. In a recent webinar he noted that “digital transformation has become even more imperative for the Caribbean as covid19 has changed the way people live and do business, Jin believes smaller countries could actually have an advantage as […]
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