Belize buses need better paint jobs and decorating, like these Haitian buses.

** Our Belize buses need more imaginative decorating paint jobs, like these Haitian buses, to attract the tourists and build pride among our citizens.


HOW ABOUT SOMEBODY IN BELIZE PUTTING UP A PRIZE FOR THE BEST DECORATED BUS IN BELIZE COMPETITION?

BELIZE ECONOMY SHRINKING BADLY - (MINUS 3.5 GDP)

- Minus 3.5 GDP ( negative GDP for BELIZE )

It is certain that our economy is contracting. It has been doing so, since the PUP were in office during their last term. All is not negative however.

There have been some innovative investments in venture capital on the local scene by the private sector. Primary among these would be the BOWEN Wartisila diesel electric power generating plant down in the Placentia area and the Bagasse electric producing plant, to come on line in six weeks in Corozal by BSI and first promoted by Peter Singfield an engineer living in XAIBE in the Corozal district..

For a small population we are not doing too bad, all things considered. There is a lack of new innovative products for export, but that may more be the lack of experience, imagination and simply lack of entrepreneurial personnel. We also lack any kind of venture capital firm, to buy shares in start up hopefuls. Thus giving them funding. The borrowing loans system doesn’t work for pioneer type new businesses.

If you take out the Belize government run by foreign loan borrowing system of the two political parties, in which they have now sold out the next forty years of tax revenues expected to be generated, the – minus – 3.5 GDP sounds even optimistic. The contraction in the Belize economy is still definite and mostly lies on the heads of the PUP when they were in office, when they invested all their energy and marbles, into a one business driven economy ( tourism ), instead of budgeting investment hours and money into different segments of growing a diversified economy. Nothing has been invested yet in manufacturing industry pilot projects. Except for a little bit of cottage industry type efforts by TAIWAN, with their odd bit of food processing machines for demonstration and education, one couldn’t say anything has been done from the standpoint of investing in a diversified portfolio of economic possibilities. Nobody has started teaching machine lathe work to 1/10,000 tolerances for example. Some sort of government budget priority, allocating investment ideas by the government and support hasn’t even been broached yet. The politicians that we have are simply waiting for the private sector to take the lead and absorb the failures that come with such pioneering experimentation. Of course, in a LOAN financed government, there is a lot of activity going on, but this is more orientated to providing work through loans and grants for civil servants to spend, with the usual reports and accompanying jargon justifying the expenditures. Usually this is poverty fighting, or some other latest fad held by the senior bureaucrats. Sometimes these things are to the good, but mostly it is wasted money. increasing our long term debt.

We would need a boost in GDP from private sector, productivity ( not foreign loan borrowing ), of around $2 billion extra to handle the debts these two PUP and UDP governments have given us, as a burden. A veritable chain and ball hung around the neck of the private sector, holding us back We would also need this needed $2 billion extra GDP growth, in the next fifteen years, which is unlikely. Bureaucratic civil service experimentation and pioneering rarely works. Bureaucrats and politicians by their very nature are followers, not leaders.

I’d like to see a prize of $ 150,000 offered by our government, to the first cottage industry manufacturer of a security guard, automatic shotgun, manufactured in Belize. Such product destined for export to Guatemala, Mexico, Salvador and Honduras. Eventually to all of Latin America and the security guard firms that buy them. Can’t do that, until the UDP wipe out the legislation, that Musa and the PUP put in place, making such manufacturing activity illegal. No sign of that yet, though legal business and law suits are a GROWTH INDUSTRY provided by the UDP and the PUP. Unfortunately the lawsuit business is an internal small market and of little use for our GDP expansion that we need.

It is somewhat prohibitive trying to start a small business in Belize. The bureaucratic red tape is time consuming, expensive and adds oodles of costs to entrepreneurs. Mostly the biggest thing is the lost productivity used, in traveling back and forth to government offices trying to complete paper work. We are a lot like INDIA, for bureaucratic red tape and obstructionism from our civil service. When you figure a small start up, has no employees, then the bureaucratic red tape takes on a new dimension in very expensive, lost productive work hours. Very discouraging! The letter to the editor, by Juan Ramon, in the Amandala newspaper of the 22 nd of November said it all. Most small marginal home businesses are closing shop, choked by the bureaucrats and the regulations. Not so much the taxes, just the paper work and civil servants inadequately trained to know how to interpret the laws, that define how businesses can be run. Myself, I am just such a small home business type person, but we are now out of the Tourist Business and have also canceled any future small scale real estate construction speculation in Belize. We might do it over in Guatemala in the near future, but not in Belize, due to the Building ACT, which is actually worse than that we have had experience with in Florida, which is really bad. On the other hand, we are looking forward to a new business pilot program, now encouragingly under way, to be done in Chicago, USA and are gratified that all we have to do is sign a half a dozen forms, pay a flat capital gains tax of 28% and we are home free, to do what we want. Too bad the US Federal government will get the taxes and the side effects of employment, but c’est la vie! You go where business is encouraged. This may help our national GDP a little bit, as we bring back into the country foreign exchange to spend on living costs. This government is predatory by nature and so is the civil service bureaucracy. Consequently, until they learn how to make ways to encourage investment, the party and bureaucrats in power, can only see the GDP shrink.

Ms Gegg of Belize, a natural blonde of Belize

** Ms Gegg. The Gegg family go back several generations and are renowned as business entrepreneurs. Ms Gegg right now in her life is a painter type artist.
** Eat your heart out! This is Ms. Gegg in the age bracket at the prime of her life. She is a natural blond and one of her parents was from Denmark. The Mennonites, a religous farming cult, have a lot of blond haired, fair skin, blue eyed girls. Several thousand of them. They tend to be of Russian genes though, and of farm stock. Due to inbreeding they really need some outside genes in their farming people in Belize. Great for pulling a plow, but homely and stocky. Big boned heavy types.
Not Ms Gegg though. As an artist one cannot figure out if people are admiring because of her looks, or her artistic work.

BELIZE CHIT CHAT going on for 20 years on this listserve.

Chit Chat from subscriber members on the Belize Culture Listserve, with about 150 people from all around the world. Some Belizeans, others just curious.
The listserve is Bz-culture@psg.com To join, you need to send an email that says bz-culture-request@psg.com and put the word SUBSCRIBE in the body of the message. A lot of the traffic is just nonsense between internet friends that have formed on here over the last 20 years. You do get all the early news effecting Belize before anyone else though.
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WELL Bruce and Victoria

Last night on our 2 block walk in the dark, the sky was extremely clear. The moon and stars shone crystal clear. Today started off warm and is getting warmer as the midday progresses. It was clear blue sky early this morning, but we are getting a grey cloud cover coming in from somewhere right now midday.
The wife was up on the third floor doing the internet and I diddled with re potting some vegetables and planted some new seeds. We both admired the view across the two valleys from the third floor verandah, and felt BLESSED that our dreams up in Miami came true. We re retired in a beautiful rural spot. Close to town and shopping, but excellent scenery, calm and peaceful, everything green and a few friendly neighbors. We have everything the heart could desire. Wonderful feeling of being lucky!

--- On Sat, 11/21/09, Bruce and Victoria Collins wrote:


From: Bruce and Victoria Collins
Subject: Re: Bz-Culture: Foggy in the Belize Alps this morning.
To: "Ray Auxillou"
Cc: bz-culture@psg.com
Date: Saturday, November 21, 2009, 10:55 AM

Ray, I really like you postings about the weather and daily life at your home. Thank you for doing this.
Bruce Collins

Ray Auxillou wrote:
> Grey thick fog this morning at 6 a.m. Means a hot sunny day today. Being Saturday, will head for the Twin Towns, Macal River, market this morning.
> Want some yogurt and Mennonite cheese.
>
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------------------

"Western Belize Happenings" is a BLOG and it has over 650 articles, views, photographs, news, and opinions effecting Western Belize and the small nation itself. I believe you can subscribe to the BLOG and get any new inputs when they happen a few times a week.
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Belize Annual National Rodeo

** Western Belize has a lot of cattle ranches. This is the cattle judging at the National Agriculture Fair, held at the show grounds in the capital Belmopan of the Cayo District.
** Blue Creek annual rodeo
** Blue Creek rodeo, up in the Mennonite North country.
National Agriculture Fair held at Belmopan Fair Grounds ( the capital ) located in the Cayo District, Western Belize


For more stories and photos of Western Belize, use the GOOGLE search engine and put in the words WESTERN BELIZE HAPPENINGS ( over 630 articles with photos )

SOCIALISM BELIZE STUDY versus CAPITALISM

If you were a student with a 3.5 or 4.0 grade average and seeking a scholarship - This socialist study just screwed your chances!



http://www.rense.com/general88/simple.htm

SOCIALISM STUDY IN THE COUNTRY OF BELIZE vs THE ALBA COUNTRIES OF THE AMERICAS SOCIALIST GOALS and CAPITALISM.

Simple Analogy
11-14-9



An economics professor at a local college made a statement that he had never failed a single student before but had once failed an entire class.

That class had insisted that socialism worked and that no one would be poor and no one would be rich, a great equalizer.

The professor then said, "OK, we will have an experiment in this class on socialism. All grades would be averaged and everyone would receive the same grade so no one would fail and no one would receive an A.

After the first test, the grades were averaged and everyone got a B.

The students who studied hard were upset and the students who studied little were happy.

As the second test rolled around, the students who studied little had studied even less and the ones who studied hard decided they wanted a free ride too so they studied little.

The second test average was a D! No one was happy.

When the 3rd test rolled around, the average was an F.


The scores never increased as bickering, blame and name-calling all resulted in hard feelings and no one would study for the benefit of anyone else.

All failed, to their great surprise, and the professor told them that socialism would also ultimately fail because when the reward is great, the effort to succeed is great but when government takes the reward away, no one will try or want to succeed.

Could not be any simpler than that.

What a profound short little paragraph that says it all

"You cannot legislate the poor into freedom by legislating the wealthy out of freedom. What one person receives without working for, another person must work for without receiving. The government cannot give to anybody anything that the government does not first take from somebody else. When half of the people get the idea that they do not have to work because the other half is going to take care of them, and when the other half gets the idea that it does no good to work because somebody else is going to get what they work for,that my dear friend, is about the end of any nation. You cannot multiply wealth by dividing it."

~ Dr. Adrian Rogers, 1931

BELIZE VACATION HORSE BACK RIDING!

Horse back riding at Christmas holidays in Belize.
Horse back riding jungle trails in Belize.
Horse back riding in Belize vacation.
Belize horse back riding photo!