REPORT #357 August 2000
MORE SUMMER VACATION CONDENSED DEVELOPMENT REPORTS OF BELIZE!


Produced by the Belize Development Trust

I had meant to suggest our Prime Minister, Said Musa, organize a conference of the 40 + tax haven countries and the threat of Economic War from the G-7 countries. But I see that regionally, somebody beat Belize to the organizing effort with leadership already. St. Kitts and Nevis Prime Minister Denzil Douglas said that CARICOM has agreed to form the Caribbean Association of Regulators of International Business to fight the attacks by the Financial Action Task Force allies with the French, Paris based 29 nation OECD. The association is going to coordinate a legal defense against the black list of 15 jurisdictions in the global war for control of the economic financial services pie. The OECD charges that tax havens are attracting money that would be taxed in their countries and have given an ultimatum, for tax havens to go out of business, or face sanctions in the World War for Economic Financal Services. Threatened sanctions are loss of ability to do business with their nation's banks, restrictions imposed by the IMF, World Bank and other loan programs and other threats in this war.

In the USA, composed of 50 states, each with different State Governments and tax regulations. Delaware is the most notorious for companies to register in, for tax haven benefits internally in the USA. But Nevada is famous also. Some of the 50 states in the USA could be likened to this war going on worldwide now. The competition for tax breaks to encourage business and industry even filters down to counties and towns. In some cases, towns eliminate all taxes and often donate land to encourage industry to come to their locations. The business of Tax Haven countries worldwide is to supply those services that give tax breaks for international business, similar to the different state government tax laws in the USA.


BELIZE GOVERNMENT POSTS THE ECONOMIC GROWTH TASK FORCE RECOMMENDATIONS ON THE WEB!
The WISH LIST for the task force given to the Government of Belize is now on the web at: http://www.belize.gov.bz/library/task_force

Some of it is very explanatory, and some of it falls short. A few ideas seem missing.


THE BAHAMAS ARE GOING TO CAVE IN TO THE OECD, SAYS P.M. HUBERT INGRAHAM!
Prime Minister Hubert Ingraham of the Bahamas has announced new legislation to take away the secrecy aspects of managing companies holding funds in client accounts. The result will probably be a huge capital flight from the Bahamas and loss of their Financial Services Industry. The ability to obscure ownership of a company is paramount to offshore tax havens. Many owners are in countries that require such interests to be declared. But secrecy laws in tax havens enable an individual to store money, or do International Business out of a third country as an International Citizen for world trade. Taxes are not so much the problem in the home country, as the onerous paperwork, auditing and other bookkeeping regulations expenses and the ability for home country lawyers who feed like sharks off various litigation fads as a business, can tie up funds for many years. Tax Havens are often protection for some other country citizens from various types of legalized extortion scams. The question is, should there be International Business type citizens, free to do business around the world outside of the jurisdiction of home country laws and subject to another tax haven country laws, that may be more favorable? If one uses the 50 states of the USA as an example, the answer would be yes! The State of Delaware would be the prime example as a favorable tax state to incorporate a business operating in others of the 50 states of the USA.


JAMAICA HAS THE SAME EUROPEAN STYLE BANK REGULATIONS AS BELIZE!
Four years ago, there was a collapse in Jamaica of dozens of Banks, Insurance Companies and Securities Houses. The shaky financial industry left behind by the collapse and economic shambles is going to be resolved by a merger between the $500 million Manufacturers Bank and Sigma Investments. One of Jamaica's richest families with politcal influence, the Matalons will control 57% of the new organization.


ST. LUCIA GETS A RUDE SURPRISE!
Caribbean nations are known to have well designed protective socialist labor laws adopted from England. Belize is no different. But when a business becomes unprofitable and the owners try to keep things going, to the point they operate for months out of their own savings and receiving no salary at all, simply to try and turn things around and keep their long time workers going with their families. When they fail, it is a disaster to all concerned. Not least of all to the broke indebted owners of the business. The workers of course lose their jobs. Two American small companies that tried to make it in St. Lucia, Belle Fashions and Palmar Lazar and Ulch, made sensory devices for export. But the business declined and they went kaput. Because of the debt and there being no money to meet labor legislation requirements for severance pay, or giving notice and vacations money, the companies had to leave in the dead of night. Hundreds of people lost their jobs without notice. St. Lucia does not have the financial resources to persue litigation in the USA. It is doubtful if there would be any money to litigate about anyway. Insurance might cover it, in St. Lucia if there was such a thing as Severance Insurance. It is a common problem around the Caribbean and I've noticed it in Belize also. What do you do, when your business is going broke?


BELIZE ECONOMIC SCORECARD!
a) Government Debt Ratio/Earnings Ratio
------------------433%

The debt ratio should be an average for successful political management at 12% average and not more than 20%. ----FAIL ---

b) EPS Earnings of the government should increase year by year for last 5 years. ---FAIL ----

c) DECLINING DEBT the external foreign debt should be declining each year. --- FAIL ---

d) Population Growth -NA- not available

e) GDP DEBT RATIO Should be decreasing year by year for last five years. ---FAIL ---

f) Government Annual Income should be increasing each year. -NEUTRAL- no reliable statistics available

g) TAX CUT PROGRAM - NEUTRAL -


GUATEMALAN OLD GUARD STILL IN POWER, JUST PLAYING MUSICAL CHAIRS!
President Alfonso Portillo on Sunday appointed former military Intelligence Director Byron Barrientos as Interior Minister.


PRESIDENT BUSH THE OPPOSITE OF MUSA AND FONSECA!
Bush was originally surprised shortly into his term as Governor of Texas, to find out by the POLLS that he was considered a front runner for the Presidency. He grabbed the ball and is running with it. The game is in play! Lacking some verbal skills and basic International knowledge, he has promoted himself as the Education president. He knows more about Education than anything else. His wife was a teacher and a librarian. The latest test results in Texas show that 60% of graduating High School seniors read at a higher level than Governor Bush / Presidential Candidate. For this Texas Governor Bush is apparently taking political credit.

On the home scene in Belize, we have very well academically educated, knowledgeable skillful bull artists in the Cabinet as our leaders. Yet the opposite could be conceived as being true. They are better educated but have less business skills than a cane farmer, or lobster fisherman. Go figure!


PERUVIAN TUBERCOLOSIS MEDICAL TREATMENT IS SUPERIOR TO THE USA!
Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation has donated $45 million to Harvard Medical School to fight antibiotic resistant strains of tubercolosis. The World Health Organization doing a pilot project in PERU can cure patients with drug-resistant TB at a fraction of the cost taken to treat patients in the USA at Harvard. There is apparently similar things going on in Belize by native practicioners, but which receive no acknowledgement by either our Government, or outsiders.


WHY DO SOME COUNTRIES SUCCEED ECONOMICALLY AND OTHERS DON'T?
A number of professorial academic studies and new books on this subject have identified some of the reasons. One is that percentage wise, temperate zones are more productive places than tropical areas. Must be the cold! Besides the geography, culture is another influence. The biggest item in the study though, was the political structure on the local scene. Nice to see the professors are catching up to the Belize Development Trust conclusions. We have been saying that about Belize for 13 or 14 years now. Policies and political structure re-organization can turn countries around. Chile is a temperate zone country, but was a failing country until what happened? The business people were finally given a chance and economic opening to start exporting and they took advantage of it.

In some countries, like Cuba, the Eastern Bloc and Roman Catholic dominated countries, economic development is difficult because the poor feel justified in their poverty, and the rich feel like sinners. In Protestant countries and Confucian cultures, people celebrate success as evidence of God's blessings and the poor see poverty as a condition of God's condemnation.

A web site that tackles this is at: http://members.tripod.com/~speculation/surrender.html Explaining how to get GOD to help you become successful and rich through working system of prayer using technical science advances!

Some argue the case of Korea, which has cultural values that encourage thrift, investment, hard work, education, organization and discipline. If geography is so important, why is Costa Rica doing so much better than Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua, El Salvador and Belize? Why is tropical Singapore doing well? Or landlocked resource scarce Switzerland doing so well in wealth, while rich Bolivia in resources is still in landlocked poverty?

In Belize, we know it is internal political structure. Like most African ex-colonies, our town academic elite are allowed to run and dominate the national political process. This is holding back progress and economic success legislation in Belize. Selfishness and greed take precedence over geographical national consensus. Most ex-colonies have evolved with one town dominating the countryside around the world. This has led to disaster for most of them economically. This includes Belize.


PRISONERS IN HATTIEVILL JAIL SAY IT IS NOT FAIR!
The prisoners charge that the gang in the PUP that stole $3.34 million the last time they were in office and wrote off the court ordered repayment of the embezzlement this time they are in office this year, should be in the Hattieville Prison with them, not controlling the prison. It's like the pot calling the kettle black.

The inference is in relation to the scandals of the alleged theft of $3.34 of poor peoples retirement social security funds much ballyhooed in the paper.

It would seem not all crooks are created equal!

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