I was intrigued by comments made by a fairly regular visitor to this site called Creg who is, I think, based in Cayman. He has said in response to my suggestion that Cayman is insolvent (I have tidied his spelling):
Do you actually know what you are talking about, it seems you are making stuff up to fill in the chasms of your lack of knowledge.
There are very very few Caymanians in Cayman, look at the living conditions report in their website. The poorest people in Cayman are expats who do the menial jobs for the locals (cleaning, house keeping, basically indentured servants) for little pay and who then sent what little they have back to their families in their home countries as they are not allowed them in Cayman.
This is a minor blip, basically due to old government over spending their resources and not keeping proper records.
Cayman is not looking for money from the UK, please try posting the truth. The loans are from local banks
Well, I don’t claim omnipotence, but I can certainly read between lines. And as i see it Creg you’re saying:
- Cayman is institutionally racist;
- It abuses immigrant labour;
- The government can’t account;
- Despite that it’s credit worthy.
It’s really not a pretty picture.
It actually gets worse. I have to say that on this occasion my usual enthusiasm for Cayman Netnews fails. Their proposal for a tax to alleviate Cayman’s insolvency is a tax on these very poorest in the community. They say:
One suggestion in particular we have advanced on a number of occasions has been a proposal for a government levy on the transfer of funds to and from local financial institutions.
Some countries have already been alert to this means of raising revenue and have been contemplating the imposition of a charge based on a percentage of the transfer fee charged by the financial institution concerned. Anywhere between 10 and 50 percent has been mooted in this respect.
Thus, if a bank charges $40 for a wire transfer to an overseas account, the government would receive an additional $4 to $20. Similarly, if the money transfer companies operating here, such as Western Union, Quik Cash, Money Express, Moneygram, National Business Society of Cayman, NCB Remittance, Money Transfer, and others, including the retail banks, charge $20 to make a transfer of funds, the government would receive $2 to $10 each time.
With Jamaican nationals sending back home at least $150 million and Filipinos and other nationalities adding to that figure at least another $100 million, if each transaction averages, say, $500 it means that the money transfer companies alone are raking in a minimum of some $10 million annually. And guess what, if this fee was made mandatory by the government, they will add that to their normal transfer fee anyway.
If such a levy was to be at the lower end of the scale, it could well be that the financial institutions would absorb such charges so that customers would not be affected at all.
I added the emphasis. Cayman Netnews thinks such a tax — payable only by the very poorest in Cayman (and Creg — I am blind as to a person’s place of origin when it comes to poverty) would bring in 10% of the government deficit.
This is appalling. Any society that can suggest that the world’s banks be allowed to continue to avoid all taxes whilst charging their ‘indentured slaves’ for sending their earnings home to their families is rotten to its core — which is no doubt why crime is rampant.
The fact that it cannot account just proves why it should not be allowed to host a financial services industry.
It’s time to call a halt to the abuse in Cayman — and I mean the abuse of all sorts.
The UK has taken over Turks & Caicos. I really do not doubt Cayman is next.
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This is one of your more preposterous posts. Banks charge for providing services such as wire transfer because there is a cost to doing so.
Cayman obviously attracts a lot of immigrant workers to work as casual labour in their leisure industries, just like every other similar economy. I doubt very much that there is anything akin to indentured slavery.
Alex
A local said so
I have heard that attitude in Cayman
A local paper seems to be supporting
And I ‘m not saying banks should not charge
I am saying Cayman should not impose the most regressive tax it can find
Richard
These British Caribbean territories were all founded on piracy and slavery so it’s not surprising that these abuses continue. The obvious solution would be for the UK to make them all part of metropolitan Britain just as New Caledonia, French Guiana etc are part of metropolitan France. The tax abuse would be abolished at a stroke. Some of the islands might have to be subsidised by London but at least they wouldn’t be a drain on revenue the way they are now.
I myself find it quite disturbing that the Cayman gov. have got into this mess, but I think it boils down to a civil service/government that has grown far too big for 50-60k people. I guess all of the accountants controlling the budgets are ‘yes men’, which is never a good situation, especially within a small community where everyone knows everyone and politicians have their pet projects which they can use to help their relative’s business get more revenue etc.
The lack of records Creg refers to is I guess the fact that many gov. departments have not submitted accounts for a long time… which is unacceptable.
Why the Guardian thinks the Cayman gov. asked the UK for a bailout is beyond me. As far as I am aware it is a matter of the UK FCO not allowing the CI gov to borrow funds privately (in line with the constitutional fiscal covenants).
You have to take everything published in the Cayman Net News with a massive pinch of salt… this is after all published by Desmond Seales, someone who is a convicted criminal, doesn’t pay their bills nor employee health/pension benefits. He uses his paper to try and influence people for his own benefit.
I am aware Cayman NetNews is not beyond reproach. I have criticised it today
Re the accounts – shows the place is out of control
Re the loans – irrelevant where they come from – as I have shown in other blogs – the buck for liability stops with the UK – so whether lent by Uk or borrowed makes no odds – it would be a UK bail out either way
Hence the Guardian is right
Richard
These British Caribbean territories were all founded on piracy and slavery.
Really? just shows the ignorance. Cayman was not founded through provacy but colonised by members of Churchil’s army after the invasion of Jamaca.
They used to trade Turtle meat and rope to survive as well as sending it’s men off to sea eworking for the Merchant ships.
Savery, yes there were slaves, just like their were in the US, so if Cayman was founded on Slavery, the US was also.
in reaponse, my actual thoughts:
Cayman is institutionally racist;
Nope, it is one of the most unracial places I have been, racial intergration is way further than the UK. Caymaians are a proud and nationalist people for the most part and soem expat, local friction will always occur when 50% of the population are short term workers. Thus some polices are protectionist, not racist.
It abuses immigrant labour;
This does occur, although not frequently as it occurs in every country in the world I might add.
My point was the poor in Cayman are made up by those you stay poor mostly through choice and send there money overesas to their families. The do this as they would earn more in Cayman than at home so can provide a better life for their families. This is also a worldwide activity, look at the remittances to Jamaica last year and the countries the money comes from.
The government can’t account;
Can’t argue with this one, Bermuda is the same, It seems the new Finance Law is to blame on this one, no Government accounts for a while
Despite that it’s credit worthy.
As it should be, I believe this is the first year of a deficit in the last 20 odd years.
Now it is obvious some Caymanians want to tax remittances, as it means they are avoiding any taxes themselves, taxing the expats, and making it less attractive for expats to come to Cayman.
But direct taxes will not work in Cayman. The Cayman model is not broken and Cayman, much to your depression I am sure will live on.
Richard, you may be right bout the number of civil servants, but this is hardly a mess. Cayman has a GDP of US$2billion, so a CI$81 million deficit (US$70million) is about 18 days GDP, which is hardly a mess, particularly as the total net debt of Cayman would only be about 14% of GDP.
The UK will add 14% of GDP to its net debt every year for the next 4 years and that ignores all the other unrecorded obligations such as public sector pensions.
Creg
“My point was the poor in Cayman are made up by those you stay poor mostly through choice ”
REALLY?
You say that and you ask to be taken seriously on your other comments?
You are quite obviously blind to abuse
Richard
and you obviously don’t live here, so you are making assumptions
The expats doing the “menial” jobs are the majoirt and to finish my sentance a
“and send there money overesas to their families. The do this as they would earn more in Cayman than at home so can provide a better life for their families. This is also a worldwide activity, look at the remittances to Jamaica last year and the countries the money comes from.”
Here is the survey done on Living conditions in Cayman
http://www.eso.ky/pages.php?page=surveyoflivingconditionshouseholdbudgetsurvey
So most of the poorest expats in Cayman are from Jamaica:
Stastics
in the last 4 years US$3.3 were remitted back there in 2008, the bulk or which are from Canada, US , UK and Cayman.
SO many Jamacans in Cayman minimise cost of living in Cayman by living in poor conditions (many to one house, etc) so send more money home totheir families.
This is fact not your quasi assumptions from 6000 miles away
Creg
To be fair to Richard, he has a job that he likes and feels motivated by. So he fails to understand that most people, whether well paid or not, don’t much like their job and are only in it for the money. Same goes all the way from the Jamaican cleaner to the expat lawyer.
I thought you were in favour of Tobin Taxes Richard?