THE P.M. HIS FINANCE MINISTER: FNM BUDGET LIES

The Budget Communication by Peter Turnquest unleashed a plethora of memes across all social media platforms excoriating the budget and accusing the government of being senseless and clueless.  The FNM for its part was stunned by the response.  Peter Turnquest, the Minister of Finance, spoke at the after the march rally for Labour Day in Freeport and spent one hour trying to explain away why he made the policy choices he made.  The tax increases are widely reviled.  That has not stopped the FNM from unleashing their propaganda arms.  Carl Culmer, their nitwit Chairman, was saying that it’s the PLP’s fault, that the PLP caused them to have to do it and that the PLP had no shame.  In the PLP response by talking point, the PLP said the only thing they were ashamed of was Carl Culmer and how dumb he is. Then the FNM started a campaign that the reason they had to increase the tax was because they would have to devalue the dollar.  That is stupid on the face of it since the import of goods to support the tourism sector all come from the US and are paid for in US dollars so if we devalued the dollar we would simply drive up prices.  That would not make economic sense.  Peter Turnquest tried his best to argue that the FNM is making the hard choices today to make the world better tomorrow. The only problem is Grand Bahama is suffering in the worst way with five FNM MPs and nothing has happened after a year in office.  People are moving from Freeport at a rapid pace every week, businesses are closing.  The Vat tax was the final nail in the coffin for many businesses in Freeport.  But the FNM got elected on a stream of lies and deceits, so they are good at that.  The lies continue now in their justifications for the Vat increase.  The PLP says and we agree: no lie lasts forever.