It’s the Economy
Adam Davidson translates often confusing and sometimes terrifying economic and financial news.
Share your thoughts.
Monday, July 30, 2012
GREENLAND ICE CAP DISAPPEARS! ( not global warming though )
The GREENLAND ice cap has melted away. Even the snow that fell this past winter is gone. Is it GLOBAL WARMING? Hardly that! Greenland ice cores down to bedrock, show a cycle of the Greenland icecap melting away on a rough cycle of 150 years. Last time was in 1889. Now it is 2012. It will come back of course on the regular cycle.
Sunday, July 29, 2012
Auxillou party grandkids photo for Diane's wedding on Caye Caulker, Belize.
They are all working for a living and still going to school. No free ride here. Pay your own way.
Friday, July 27, 2012
BELIZE AND CARIBBEAN INTERNET COSTS, DOES NOT INCLUDE CENTRAL AMERICA WHICH IS MORE ADVANCED THAN BELIZE
As
reflected in the Table 2 below, the minimum download speeds offered in
most countries is 1 Mbps, with the exception of Belize, Dominica and
Trinidad & Tobago, where speeds of 256 kbps and lower are still
available. Interestingly, the price for the service plan with the lowest
download speed in Guyana (1 Mbps) is over eight times that of the most
expensive plan in the rest of the sample group (Belize, USD 436.05 for a
4 Mbps package).
| Country | Lowest d/l speed | Highest d/l speed | Price for 2 Mbps/USD | ||
| Speed/bps | Price/USD | Speed/bps | Price/USD | ||
| Anguilla | 1 M | $ 51.16 | 8 M | $ 138.02 | $ 66.62 |
| Antigua & Barbuda | 1 M | $ 54.60 | 2 M | $ 71.53 | $ 71.53 |
| Bahamas | 1 M | $ 29.99 | 9 M | $ 70.70 | $ 39.99 |
| Barbados | 1 M | $ 33.21 | 8 M | $ 99.62 | $ 68.97 |
| Belize | 256 k | $ 51.30 | 4 M | $ 436.05 | $ 256.50 |
| BVI | 1 M | $ 64.00 | 8 M | $ 148.00 | $ 84.00 |
| Cayman Is | 1 M | $ 52.46 | 8 M | $ 145.18 | $ 76.86 |
| Dominica | 64 k | $ 27.60 | 8 M | $ 96.33 | $ 32.76 |
| Grenada | 2 M | $ 29.21 | 12 M | $ 84.65 | $ 29.21 |
| Guyana | 1 M | $ 3,500.00 | 4.5 M | $ 15,120.00 | $ 6,895.00 |
| Jamaica | 1 M | $ 27.97 | 100 M | $ 142.11 | $ 30.70 |
| St. Kitts & Nevis | 2 M | $ 36.44 | 8 M | $ 113.73 | $ 36.44 |
| St. Lucia | 1 M | $ 29.08 | 4.4 M | $ 183.67 | $ 54.84 |
| St. Vincent & the Grenadines | 1 M | $ 33.44 | 4.4 M | $ 211.21 | $ 63.07 |
| Trinidad & Tobago | 256 k | $ 12.48 | 100 M | $ 126.40 | $ 36.18 |
| Turks & Caicos Is. | 1 M | $ 53.00 | 8 M | $ 146.00 | $ 83.00 |
Table 2: Monthly pricing in US Dollars for select Internet plans based on download speed (Source: ISP websites)
BELIZE - Of two abandoned jaguars held in captivity by a tourist resort, one died of starvation, the second was rescued.
WASHINGTON D.C. INVESTOR IN TOURISM, FAILS TO PAY WORKERS, WHO STARVING THEMSELVES, WERE AT LEAST FREE. THE BIG JAGUARS THOUGH WERE LEFT TO DIE FOR LACK OF FOOD AND WATER IN THEIR CAGES. REMINDS ME OF THE VIENNA ZOO IN 1945 -46.--
Rescued jaguar, Lucky Boy, progressing in rehabilitation at the Zoo
Posted By gbtv On July 25, 2012 (10:12 pm) In Environment, Miscellaneous
Two weeks ago, the Belize Wildlife Conservation Network (BWCN) was alerted that a black jaguar was in distress at the Ballum Na Resort in Punta Gorda. The jaguar was frail and deteriorating. A second jaguar on the property had recently starved to death, so BWCN partnered with the Forest Department and the Belize Zoo to transport the jaguar to the zoo. It was a perfect fit for the zoo’s rehabilitation programme which also facilitates studies by international researchers, who claim that the Belize zoo is the only place in the world where they can gather extensive data on the hormones, size/weight and color structure of the endangered species. It took some preparation but tonight, Bosch who is now re-named Lucky Boy, is on the road to recovery. News Five’s Delahnie Bain visited with Lucky Boy today and has this report.
�
Delahnie Bain, Reporting
After being neglected and starved while in captivity in Toledo, this malnourished black jaguar was rescued last Thursday and is the newest resident at the Belize Zoo. He was aptly renamed, Lucky Boy, since he was at death’s door when he was rescued. Animal Management Supervisor, Humberto Wohlers, was among the team that transported Lucky Boy from Indian Creek Village; he says the jaguar was so weak that they could not move him immediately and sedating him was too risky.
�
Humberto Wohlers, Animal Management Supervisor, The Belize Zoo
Humberto Wohlers
“It was a concerted effort between the Belize Zoo and the Forest Department to rescue this very emaciated jaguar, a jaguar that was left abandoned in a resort in Indian Creek. It took us a couple days before we set up the real trap to transport him to the Belize Zoo as we saw the situation, not using any sort of drugs to transport him. This was because of his health conditions that using drugs wasn’t the best way to go. So we designed a special transport box, a trap box, and we took time to train him—it was a one day training—and once he was comfortable in the crate, we closed the door and we started the transport back to the zoo.”
�
Wohler says they made several stops on the long drive from Indian Creek to make sure the jaguar was okay.Six days later, he has settled in at his new home, and the Founding Director of the Belize Zoo, Sharon Matola has started the rehabilitation process.
�
Sharon Matola, Founding Director, The Belize Zoo
“He’s an exceptional jaguar, that’s all I can say. When he came here he was pretty weak and confused, which told me that he had to be in Zoo ICU—intensive care unit—but you know in two days he was readily eating out of my hand and in three days, he learned to give a high five and he knows his new name is Lucky Boy, he’s got his own song and he’s really recovering in good shape and good time.”
�
With advice from a wildlife vet, who specializes in big cats, Lucky Boy was placed on a special diet.
Sharon Matola
�
Sharon Matola
“When you saw him Delahnie, you think let’s feed him, let’s feed him, let’s feed him; he’s so thin. That’s the worst thing you can do because you have to do it on a gradual system so that it’s digested or it also could be very detrimental. None of us really thought about that, but our doc did. So he’s been given, not only a good diet but a strategy on how to take that diet and turn it into pure muscle and good stuff inside. He gets beef liver and beef and boiled eggs and a special cat food that we are so lucky folks brought down for us. We can’t buy it here; you cannot buy it in the United States without a prescription but it’s high protein critical care cat food and he is responding beautifully.”
But it will take months of work before this cat is ready to be integrated into the general zoo exhibit.
�
Sharon Matola
“He needs to get his fur in shape, he needs to get the lesions off of him, we had fecals taken of him, he has worms so we need to clear that up. There’s a lot that—you can’t just say oh he looks good, we’ll put him in. he needs to be medically checked and if there’s anything wrong at all, all of our cats are taken very well care of so that diseases aren’t passed and they have a life that exhibits their care. So I can’t say, I really don’t know. Our goal is to have him out on exhibit as a Christmas present to Belize. So that’s a long time but sometimes that’s how long it takes to make sure that everything is okay.”
�
Matola explains that Lucky Boy was at the Ballum Na Resort for at least ten years, but his temperament indicates that he was not always neglected.
�
Sharon Matola
“He definitely reflects a situation where he was not mistreated when he was in PG. I think that’s import for people to know. Something happened, something unpleasant happened; I don’t know what happened but this is a cat that was given very good care for a long time or else he wouldn’t behave this way. And let me tell you, we have had problem jaguars that come to this zoo and they just charge the fence and charge the fence and it takes days and days and days of intensive working with them—you nearly have to move in with them, carefully, until they really calm down. But with Lucky Boy, it was so much quicker and so much more on a minable level.”
�
With the addition of Lucky Boy, there are now fifteen jaguars at the Belize Zoo, some of whom are still in rehabilitation. He is, however, the only black jaguar, since the one before him, Ellen, died of cancer in 2008. Delahnie Bain for News Five.
�
The Belize Zoo extends special thanks to Forest Officer, Jazmin Ramos, his intern Charles, Tony Garel and Vladimir Miranda who helped transport the jaguar to the zoo.
Article taken from Channel5Belize.com - http://edition.channel5belize.com
URL to article: http://edition.channel5belize.com/archives/73611
Thursday, July 26, 2012
Sir Richard Branson says legalizing canabis is a WIN WIN situation
Sir Richard Branson, says legalizing cannabis is a WIN WIN situation all the way around. Regulate and tax it.
GREENLAND ICE CORE SCIENCE PROVES GLOBAL WARMING AS JUNK SCIENCE.
GREENLAND ICE CORE STUDIES OF THE GLACIER SYSTEM, SHOW PERIODIC CYCLES AND ARE WELL DOCUMENTATED SCIENCE. THE SCIENCE PUTS GLOBAL WARMING PROPONENTS IN THE HUMBUG SCIENCE CATEGORY.
http://www.foxnews.com/scitech/2012/07/26/skeptics-put-freeze-on-nasa-hot-air-about-greenland-ice/
NASA’s claim that Greenland is experiencing “unprecedented” melting is nothing but a bunch of hot air, according to scientists who say the country's ice sheets melt with some regularity.
A heat dome over the icy country melted a whopping 97 percent of Greenland’s ice sheet in mid-July, NASA said, calling it yet more evidence of the effect man is having on the planet.
But the unusual-seeming event had nothing to do with hot air, according to glaciologists. It was actually to be expected.
"Ice cores from Summit station [Greenland’s coldest and highest] show that melting events of this type occur about once every 150 years on average. With the last one happening in 1889, this event is right on time," said Lora Koenig, a Goddard glaciologist and a member of the research team analyzing the satellite data.
-----
“In Greenland there have been many deep ice-core drilling projects which drilled ice to the bedrock,” she wrote. “In the past 10,000 years (the Holocene), there is on average a melt layer every 150 years.”
NASA ice scientist Tom Wagner told the Associated Press researchers don't know precisely how much of Greenland's ice had melted in this latest event, but it seems to be freezing again.
“The belief that almost any aberration in weather and climate today can be attributed to global warming is pure folly,” Watts told FoxNews.com.
Skeptics put the freeze on NASA 'hot air' about Greenland ice
Published July 26, 2012
http://www.foxnews.com/scitech/2012/07/26/skeptics-put-freeze-on-nasa-hot-air-about-greenland-ice/
NASA’s claim that Greenland is experiencing “unprecedented” melting is nothing but a bunch of hot air, according to scientists who say the country's ice sheets melt with some regularity.
A heat dome over the icy country melted a whopping 97 percent of Greenland’s ice sheet in mid-July, NASA said, calling it yet more evidence of the effect man is having on the planet.
But the unusual-seeming event had nothing to do with hot air, according to glaciologists. It was actually to be expected.
"Ice cores from Summit station [Greenland’s coldest and highest] show that melting events of this type occur about once every 150 years on average. With the last one happening in 1889, this event is right on time," said Lora Koenig, a Goddard glaciologist and a member of the research team analyzing the satellite data.
-----
“In Greenland there have been many deep ice-core drilling projects which drilled ice to the bedrock,” she wrote. “In the past 10,000 years (the Holocene), there is on average a melt layer every 150 years.”
NASA ice scientist Tom Wagner told the Associated Press researchers don't know precisely how much of Greenland's ice had melted in this latest event, but it seems to be freezing again.
“The belief that almost any aberration in weather and climate today can be attributed to global warming is pure folly,” Watts told FoxNews.com.
BELIZE EDUCATIONAL CURRICULUM DEVELOPMENT UNDERGOES REVIEW WITH A STRANGE TWIST
A Senator in the Belize government parliament has brought up an old saw, in that he is complaining that our Belize educational system is producing only problem solving, administrative salaried type clerks, instead of the pioneer, economic development, self employed small manufacturing people we need to build our Belize economy.
Apparently he has come to the conclusion ( we did 20 years ago and complained way back then ), that the classical British educational system, does teach problem solving skills, but does not teach APPLIED PRACTICAL PROBLEM SOLVING START UP, LIGHT MANUFACTURING TYPE SOLUTIONS, for in our Belizean society there are no salaried jobs by big manufacturing firms to hire such people. Government salaried clerks are limited in scope for employment purposes. The Senator is quoting 5000 graduates of higher education in Belize a year, with no salaried jobs in sight. Yet academically they have the problem solving skills in paper pushing, but not practically, in applied light manufacturing.
The CURRICULUM DEVELOPMENT DEPARTMENT, AS PART OF THE DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION, HAS TO COME UP with APPLIED MECHANICAL, LIGHT MANUFACTURING TEACHING, IN A "HANDS ON" BASIS, for the manufacture of things like solar panels for export to Guatemala, arthritus lotions for export over the internet, cheap cardboard telescope making, of which we are sitting on an order for 20,000 per month for the last three years and unable to find anybody in BELIZE, capable of manufacturing these on a kitchen table. There are hundreds of such things to make here and export.
Apparently, the problem solving education found in our high schools, colleges and University, do not include a HANDS ON APPLIED light manufacturing segment and thus graduates of higher education in Belize are basically useless in a small country with limited salaried paper pushing clerical jobs. Graduates should be able to have the school experience in making things from scratch, from business plans, costing studies and projections, the actual scrounging around and finding suppliers and finding the problem solving solutions to making things for sale and export, within tight budget constraints. For example, cardboard tubes can be bought abroad, for cardboard tube telescope making, but ready made cardboard tubes would probably be prohibitive in import transportation costs, so another problem would have to be solved in buying large rolls of flat cardboard material and then making a mandrel, to form your own tubes thus saving on customs duties and transportation costs, thus cutting your production costs. Same story with the two lenses. Blank sheets of either glass or plastic can be imported, or bought locally and you make a rig to cut the circles and then find a way to make a jig to grind the necessary two telescope lenses. None of this is hard stuff to do. Or expensive; it just takes problem solving skills learned in higher education, turned to PRACTICAL APPLIED MECHANICS of doing things needed, at the lowest cost.
This segment of problem solving so far, has not been tackled by the CURRICULUM DEVELOPMENT DEPARTMENT of the Department of Education. Without this sort of experience, in school, our problem solving clerical human production is limited in scope, to paper pushing clerks, and are not educated to provide the SELF EMPLOYED ENTREPRENEUR our small nation needs, to provide exports and jobs for those not educated.
Apparently he has come to the conclusion ( we did 20 years ago and complained way back then ), that the classical British educational system, does teach problem solving skills, but does not teach APPLIED PRACTICAL PROBLEM SOLVING START UP, LIGHT MANUFACTURING TYPE SOLUTIONS, for in our Belizean society there are no salaried jobs by big manufacturing firms to hire such people. Government salaried clerks are limited in scope for employment purposes. The Senator is quoting 5000 graduates of higher education in Belize a year, with no salaried jobs in sight. Yet academically they have the problem solving skills in paper pushing, but not practically, in applied light manufacturing.
The CURRICULUM DEVELOPMENT DEPARTMENT, AS PART OF THE DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION, HAS TO COME UP with APPLIED MECHANICAL, LIGHT MANUFACTURING TEACHING, IN A "HANDS ON" BASIS, for the manufacture of things like solar panels for export to Guatemala, arthritus lotions for export over the internet, cheap cardboard telescope making, of which we are sitting on an order for 20,000 per month for the last three years and unable to find anybody in BELIZE, capable of manufacturing these on a kitchen table. There are hundreds of such things to make here and export.
Apparently, the problem solving education found in our high schools, colleges and University, do not include a HANDS ON APPLIED light manufacturing segment and thus graduates of higher education in Belize are basically useless in a small country with limited salaried paper pushing clerical jobs. Graduates should be able to have the school experience in making things from scratch, from business plans, costing studies and projections, the actual scrounging around and finding suppliers and finding the problem solving solutions to making things for sale and export, within tight budget constraints. For example, cardboard tubes can be bought abroad, for cardboard tube telescope making, but ready made cardboard tubes would probably be prohibitive in import transportation costs, so another problem would have to be solved in buying large rolls of flat cardboard material and then making a mandrel, to form your own tubes thus saving on customs duties and transportation costs, thus cutting your production costs. Same story with the two lenses. Blank sheets of either glass or plastic can be imported, or bought locally and you make a rig to cut the circles and then find a way to make a jig to grind the necessary two telescope lenses. None of this is hard stuff to do. Or expensive; it just takes problem solving skills learned in higher education, turned to PRACTICAL APPLIED MECHANICS of doing things needed, at the lowest cost.
This segment of problem solving so far, has not been tackled by the CURRICULUM DEVELOPMENT DEPARTMENT of the Department of Education. Without this sort of experience, in school, our problem solving clerical human production is limited in scope, to paper pushing clerks, and are not educated to provide the SELF EMPLOYED ENTREPRENEUR our small nation needs, to provide exports and jobs for those not educated.
Wednesday, July 25, 2012
BELIZE EDUCATIONAL CHANGES NEEDED TO CREATE ENTREPRENEURIAL JOB EMPLOYMENT FOR THE EDUCATED
In a sense what the unknown SENATOR says, is true, but he has a wrong view in my opinion, because he is not defining the problem properly. It is not providing JOBS that is the function of government, but providing the EDUCATION for creation of jobs by the PRIVATE SECTOR.
What is happening in our education system, from high school, up through University, is that students are for the most part getting a European CLASSICAL EDUCATION. Among which, the Science, PHYSICS, and other problem solving skills are supposed to teach students to handle their own problems when they graduate. That this does not occur, is a function, or lack of function of the Educational System.
Students are taught academically, on pencil and paper to do many different roles of THINKING, and PROBLEM SOLVING in all manner of academically classified. They graduate, so one has to suppose they have the problem solving skills, using pencil and paper, or by internet research. WHAT , IN MY VIEW; IS PRACTICAL EXPERIENCE, as a part and parcel, or facet, of APPLIED MECHANICAL PROBLEM SOLVING SKILLS as routinely part of their education.
They lack real world, hands on translation of academic paper and pencil problem solving, using real materials, to make real products.
In Belize, we need ENTREPRENEURS. An entrepreneur is a self guided, problem solving person. The education system needs a lot of practical, invent and make stuff challenges. Hands on stuff. How many students in our higher education system, have competed in school contests, in making ANYTHING? The closest I've seen are science poster projects done mostly by primary, and high school students, on food crops and weather stuff.
LOCAL LEADERS FROM PORT CITY ARE LIVING IN THE HISTORICAL COLONIAL PAST
One of the things, that made the
USA great, is their econonic power and the fact that everything is
dedicated to making stuff mostly to EXPORT. They even use their military as a weapon of economic trade control.
The recent dialogue in Belize on
what the government wants to do with Indian hemp laws doesn't address
the idea that Indian hemp laws should be directed to GDP, economic
growth and making it easy and profitable.
With the current dialogue focused
by government solely on street side sales of marijuana, for smoking,
the amounts in the changes in the laws, are only focusing on cigarette
sized amounts in grams. I have a hard time visualizing a gram of
anything, other than gold dust. The whole talks do not seem to be
orientated to forwarding the GDP and economic growth that Belize needs.
For instance, if an entrepreneur wished to export container loads of an
arthritus relief lotion, made from Bay Rum soaked in casks with buds
from Indian hemp SATIVA variety for pain and joint relief, the export
entrepreneur would need, even on a very small scale 500 kilos of Indian
hemp SATIVA in stock inventory. With a soaking time, of 3 to 6 weeks,
before removing exhausted Indian hemp and used for animal feed, or
fertilizer, and THEN bottling the subesquent product as a brand name
lotion, BELIZE ARTHRITUS PAIN RELIEF, bottled, packed in cartons and
shipped by container to wholesalers for homeopathic natural food stores
around the world. ( There are tens of millions of them ), the current
and future changes to the laws of Belize simply ignore any economic
advantage to the nation and business exporting. This stuff has been produced illegally in Belize for the past 55 years for local arthritus sufferers and works. I've thought of this
as an export businss many times over the years, but no government either of the
COLONY of British Honduras, or subsequent independence as BELIZE, has
ever put ECONOMICS, manufacturing and EXPORTING as a priority in
legislation. It is almost as if the small minded people who get elected
to office have no interest in economics and GDP growth? They live in
the colonial past. History as it was 60 years ago.
Indian hemp oil is also an item
to export to HEALTH FOOD STORES AND HOMEOPATHIC CLINICS. around the
world. The oil is a proven and statistical effective way of fighting
CANCER CELLS. Wish I could buy some produced in Belize right now. The
variety of Indian hemp used for hemp oil as a natural herbal medicine is
different as a variety than that used for growing for smoking. It is
much too weak, to be competitive for smokers, looking for a THC high.
In a TV talk show from Dickie Bradley, it was all about ONLY, smokers of strong types of Indian Hemp and nothing about ECONOMICS, MANUFACTURING AND GDP GROWTH.
It is as if the debaters from Belize City cannot see anything other
than the drug trade, as it has existed in Belize forever more, back from
Colonial times. Street sales would move to grocery stores from the
street corners and treated just like taxed cigarettes or alcohol. One
lady by telephone to the show expressed her fears that sales of strong
Indian Hemp varities would flood the port city, and ruin children. I
see no difference economically between addictive low level substances
when properly licensed and taxed.
Tuesday, July 24, 2012
TAX HAVEN STORIES
TAX HAVEN NEWS. OTHER COUNTRIES ARE KEEPING UP WITH THE USA AND UK INVESTIGATIVE NEW LABRINYTH OF TAX HAVEN NEWS.
Earlier this month, I decided to see how hard it would be to set up my own offshore bank account. I figured it would be pretty difficult, because I’m not rich and don’t have a team of tax lawyers to oversee my money and because the E.U. and U.S. governments have been cracking down on tax havens by imposing stricter tax-sharing requirements. So I proceeded with some caution.
Deep thoughts this week:
1. It takes 10 minutes to open an offshore account.
2. But keeping it legal is expensive.
3. It would be better if the rules were simpler.
4. Then companies might spend more on innovation and less on tax lawyers.
1. It takes 10 minutes to open an offshore account.
2. But keeping it legal is expensive.
3. It would be better if the rules were simpler.
4. Then companies might spend more on innovation and less on tax lawyers.
Readers’ Comments
First, I Googled “company registration tax haven” and randomly picked
three firms that set up accounts in offshore jurisdictions. Then I
called each and explained that I was hoping to minimize my tax exposure
and didn’t want anyone to know anything about my finances. Each company
quickly noted that I should consult a lawyer to make sure that I wasn’t
breaking the law. Then they calmly explained how to create an account
that, it seemed to me, was unlikely to be discovered by the I.R.S. or
any other authority.
I ended up working with A&P Intertrust, a Canadian company that I
chose largely because I liked its Web site the best. (The other two
companies’ sites appeared stuck in a late-’90s style with lots of
flashing boxes.) A&P works with the governments of Panama, the
British Virgin Islands and Belize. (Other companies that I contacted
prefer the Seychelles, Cyprus or the Cayman Islands, where Mitt Romney
has been reported to have money.) I decided to start my shell company in
Belize because it would be exempt from all Belizean taxes and, as
A&P’s site explained, “information about beneficial owners,
shareholders, directors and officers is not filed with the Belize
government and not available to the public.” And I’ve been to Belize and
like the place.
Setting up the company was a lot cheaper than I expected. A&P
charged $900 for a basic Belizean incorporation and another $85 for a
corporate seal to emboss legal documents. For $650 more, A&P offered
to open a bank account to stash my fledgling operation’s money in
Singapore — a country, the Web site also noted, that “cannot gather
information on foreigners’ bank accounts, bank-deposit interest and
investment gains under domestic tax law.” And for another $690, it
offered to assign a “nominee” who would be listed as the official
manager and owner of my business but would report to me under a secret
power-of-attorney contract. Then an A&P associate asked me to fill
out the incorporation information online, just so she wouldn’t type in
anything incorrectly. The whole thing took about 10 minutes.
Amazingly neither A&P nor I broke any law in Canada, Belize,
Singapore or the United States. The company required, in compliance with
international legal standards, that I e-mail it a notarized copy of my
passport, driver’s license and some other identity documents. But a
company representative also reassured me that these would not be visible
to any tax authority. Just before they processed the paperwork, I
explained that I was a journalist working on an article about offshore
tax havens, and I haven’t heard from them since. (A representative from
A&P declined to comment for this article, but he did note in an
e-mail that the company was still “happy to serve [me] as a client.”)
Setting up an account may be easy, but managing one is expensive.
Following the law requires a team of lawyers and accountants to
carefully monitor tax laws in dozens of countries and maintain accounts
that stay on the safe side of confusing rules. It’s not really worth the
cost for anyone other than wealthy investors looking to put aside
money, tax-free, for future generations. Or for large multinationals who
prefer to centralize their global cash-flow stream in a place that
doesn’t tax corporations or require a lot of financial reporting. Why
would a huge company like G.E. want to pay U.S. taxes every time its
Spanish subsidiary sells parts to a company in Belarus when it could
avoid them by incorporating offshore?
It’s easy to imagine that most other kinds of offshore activity is
shady, but there is no definitive way to know, because we don’t even
know how much money is in these centers. The estimates, however, are
striking. The Bank for International Settlements, which collects
voluntary reports from banks in 44 countries, offers the best single
source of data. It counts around $31 trillion of foreign-owned assets in
the world’s banks and estimates that about $4 trillion is in offshore
financial centers. An estimated $1.5 trillion is in the Cayman Islands
alone. The country of 52,000, which is about the size of Blaine, Minn.,
has more foreign-owned deposits than Japan or the Netherlands.
By the B.I.S.’s own estimation, the data — which do not include reports
from Belize, the Seychelles and other offshore havens — are quite
incomplete. The Tax Justice Network, a global research firm that
advocates against such havens, suggests that the amount hidden offshore
is between $21 trillion and $32 trillion. If properly taxed, that could
yield more than $200 billion in revenue around the world. Furthermore,
because a 2010 McKinsey & Company report estimated the world’s
financial assets at about $200 trillion, somewhere around 10 percent or
more of the world’s wealth is effectively invisible. And it’s also
almost certainly in the hands of the people and institutions that most
actively influence major investment decisions.
Lately the United States and the European Union have expressed deep
frustration with the international system of sharing tax information. In
order to investigate my Belizean company’s bank account in Singapore,
for instance, the I.R.S. would need to identify my bank and bank-account
number, prove I had broken the law and then petition judges in Belize and
Singapore to issue court orders forcing the release of my information.
It’s a nearly impossible standard. It can also be easily undermined by
enlarging the web of new accounts.
Next year, Washington will enact the most ambitious tax-recovery plan in
history, the Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act. Under Fatca, foreign
financial firms will have to proactively identify every American account
holder with assets of more than $50,000 and report details about their
financial activity or face a significant penalty. The move is very
unpopular among foreign banks, governments and Americans living abroad,
but the more complex rules could actually mean more business for
offshore centers. By the time Fatca is in full force, in 2017, truly
wealthy individuals and corporations will almost certainly have used
their resources to find more intricate loopholes.
One often-overlooked lesson of the financial crisis is that shenanigans
don’t happen in the absence of regulation; they happen when regulations
are exceedingly complex and involve confusing, overlapping regulatory
authorities. Collateralized debt obligations and credit-default swaps
were designed to squeeze through a labyrinth of laws, rules and taxes.
And most of these toxic assets were formed in offshore jurisdictions,
far from prying eyes and stricter reporting requirements. When Lehman
Brothers collapsed, it took regulators and creditors more than a year to
find out that the company comprised nearly 3,000 legal entities spread
across 50 countries.
My colleagues at NPR’s “Planet Money” recently polled several economists
of all political stripes and found that while they disagreed on the
right level of taxation, they generally agreed that the overly complex
taxation of rich people and corporations was disastrous. It all but
guarantees that those people and companies will spend an inordinate
amount of money figuring out how to game the system rather than come up
with new ideas that improve the economy. Economists generally agree that
the best tax system would be simple and strict, offering little
incentive to lobby for loopholes. The big problem, of course, is that
many of the people and corporations with the most influence over
Congress don’t want it that way.
Monday, July 23, 2012
HOW TO MAKE HEMP OIL FOR FIGHTING CANCER CELLS.
HOW TO MAKE HEMP OIL, FOR HOMEOPATHIC STORES, IN NATURAL FOODS AND HERBS, IN THIS CASE TO FIGHT AND KILL CANCER CELLS.
Indica buds for cancer and sickness. Sativa is used mostly for people who need energy and that will make them high rather than sleepy. It's dependent on what result you want from the oil. The information is all in Rick's book. Keep in mind that the different strain types are for different illnesses. I know people who have taken Sativas for anxiety and it helped tremendously. Indica buds for cancers, however. Thanks to the user who pointed this out.
Never mind what the stupid UDP GOVERNMENT say. You want to be an entrepreneur and export to millions of HOMEOPATHIC HEALTH FOOD STORES around the world, or online, HEMP OIL for fighting and killing cancer cells. Rick Simpson's U TUBE video will teach you how to start. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KZXGH6mYr3Y
View a simple kitchen ESSENTIAL OILS DISTILLER ON U TUBE. YOU can make perfumes too if you wish as a business.
Indica buds for cancer and sickness. Sativa is used mostly for people who need energy and that will make them high rather than sleepy. It's dependent on what result you want from the oil. The information is all in Rick's book. Keep in mind that the different strain types are for different illnesses. I know people who have taken Sativas for anxiety and it helped tremendously. Indica buds for cancers, however. Thanks to the user who pointed this out.
Never mind what the stupid UDP GOVERNMENT say. You want to be an entrepreneur and export to millions of HOMEOPATHIC HEALTH FOOD STORES around the world, or online, HEMP OIL for fighting and killing cancer cells. Rick Simpson's U TUBE video will teach you how to start. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KZXGH6mYr3Y
Organic pressed hemp oil for sale on the internet
Why my interest? Well I don't smoke at all. But the doctors have diagnosed a tumor surrounding a lymph gland node in my neck. Lots of pain and they say nothing medical science can do, but I read that HEMP OIL will cure me! When you are threatened with death by cancer and in a lot of pain all the time, every day, it kind of spoils your life. Taking pain pills continuously is short term relief. I'm also taking GINGER in every meal, which is also supposed to kill cancer cells. If I could buy hemp oil, locally, would take that too and fuck the Belize government not giving me the legal choices to prolong my QUALITY OF LIFE issues.
HEMP OIL FROM BELIZE EXPORTS TO HEALTH FOOD STORES ABROAD
GOVERNMENT OF BELIZE BUREAUCRATIC FARCE OVER MARIJUANA CRIMINALITY
BELIZE GOVERNMENT HAS NO INTENTION OF DE-CRIMINALIZING MARIJUANA LAWS
Weekend newspapers filled us in; to the trickof the current so-called consultation on changes proposed to the marijuana sentencing laws. The government is not consulting the public. They are basically telling us what they are going to do.
Apparently the prison population is too much and too expensive, on small amounts of marijuana for personal use. So the idea of this consultation being jammed down our throats, to quiet those of us who clamor for removal of Indian Hemp product criminal laws; is to snow us under with a smokescreen. The government's mind is made up, and weekend newspapers clarify, that the intent of the government of Belize, is solely to subtract prison sentences for small personal amounts of marijuana and instead substitute, parole, and some kind of counseling classes to those apprehended. Paid for by the victims of this nonsense.
The object of the new criminal laws, will be to reverse the cost of incarcerating smokers of the herb in the National Prison system at an expense to government, and instead create a revenue stream by hiring more bureaucrats ( providing more government financed jobs ) to teach classes, for marijuana smokers to reform. FAT CHANCE OF THAT. Going to be another academic intelligentsia, salaried ne'er do well, bureaucratic boondoggle, looks like.
Weekend newspapers filled us in; to the trickof the current so-called consultation on changes proposed to the marijuana sentencing laws. The government is not consulting the public. They are basically telling us what they are going to do.
Apparently the prison population is too much and too expensive, on small amounts of marijuana for personal use. So the idea of this consultation being jammed down our throats, to quiet those of us who clamor for removal of Indian Hemp product criminal laws; is to snow us under with a smokescreen. The government's mind is made up, and weekend newspapers clarify, that the intent of the government of Belize, is solely to subtract prison sentences for small personal amounts of marijuana and instead substitute, parole, and some kind of counseling classes to those apprehended. Paid for by the victims of this nonsense.
The object of the new criminal laws, will be to reverse the cost of incarcerating smokers of the herb in the National Prison system at an expense to government, and instead create a revenue stream by hiring more bureaucrats ( providing more government financed jobs ) to teach classes, for marijuana smokers to reform. FAT CHANCE OF THAT. Going to be another academic intelligentsia, salaried ne'er do well, bureaucratic boondoggle, looks like.
Sunday, July 22, 2012
Lemon grass found in Belize heals nerve damage and cancer.
MARIJUANA PROOF KILLS CANCER CELLS
WHAAAAAT! Prime Minister's wife, Kim and me, better get some buds and put it in vegetable soup as seasoning then. RIGHT AWAY MON!
Diane Auxillou gets married on Caye Caulker, Saturday, July 22, 2012.
As Cap'n Ray Auxillou, I performed a few marriages on my charter boats in my younger days myself. The difference being, that they were valid for the duration of the charter only. ( grin )
Saturday, July 21, 2012
When he moves finally to Belize, this will be true!
When he moves finally to Belize, this sign will be true!
BELIZE NOW UP AND RUNNING WITH FIRST OPEN HEART SUCCESSFUL SURGERY OPERATION
courtesy of Channel 7 T.V.
First Open Heart Surgical Procedures Done In Belize
posted (July 18, 2012)
The first open heart surgery in Belize's medical history was performed this week at the KHMH.
It is a great leap forward - and one that was only made possible with
the collaboration of a team of medical partners from the United states.
But, don't get it wrong, it was a Belize mission - and today we found
out what was required to get it done - and why it matters - even if
you'll never need open heart surgery:
Jules Vasquez Reporting
Dr. Bernard Bulwer - Echo-Cardiologist
"This huge undertaking of a cardiac surgery, which - in the words of
CEO in the Ministry of Health, he said that he did not believe he would
see the day in his lifetime, cardiac surgery in Belize at the KHMH. Now,
it has happened."
And this is the team - or at least some of them that made it possible - participating in the first two open heart surgeries in Belize's history.
Dr. Francis Gary Longsworth - CEO, KHMH
"Certainly, it is cutting-edge surgery, and the surgery that was done
here is no different or no less than the surgery that similar patients
will get in the USA, Canada, Europe - anywhere in the world."
And anywhere in the world, it would cost about one hundred thousand US dollars - but for these first two patients, it was free.
But the real miracle is that it happened at all - the team was led by Mr. Adrian Coye:
Mr. Adrian Coye - Cardio-Thoracic Surgeon
"I trained both in Jaimaica and in the UK, and I qualified in both
countries. I experienced both what it is to be pioneering already, and
what it is to work with everything in place. What I did on Monday, is
virtually impossible because I made these gentle folks work in 94 degree
temperatures to do a case that we know had to be done, and anywhere
else, they would have just cancelled the case."
But they soldiered on and pulled it off - the first surgery lasting about three hours, the second about four hours. Two history making procedures performed without a hitch by Coye with support from a team of international partners led by the legendary Dr. Francis Robicsek and assisted by Dr. Robert Stiegel, as well as a team of many others.
Open heart surgery is especially complex because - as the name implies - they have to open the heart which means stopping it - while this machine continues to feed oxygenated blood to the brain and the rest of the body:
Mr. Adrian Coye
"Open heart surgery involves making a generous incision - or in some cases, small incisions on the chest - to access the heart. The heart ailments may be variable. The valves may be tight, leaking, not working so well, or we may have blockages of blood flow to the heart muscle, of what's called the coronary vessels. We arrest the heart with a special agent, and in that light, it allows us to make incisions on the chambers, to see the valves, to take out the valves, and putting in new ones."
Dr. Bernard Bulwer
"Open-heart surgery is the only type of surgery that requires that your heart and your lungs go out of operations. That's why you have to have a heart-lung machine, and so that has been the thing that has bedeviled, or made heart surgery so challenging."
Mr. Adrian Coye
"But, to do it well, you have to have people who know what they're doing, and there is a team effort. This is what we were able to demonstrate, that by having the right people in place, the right team, then it is possible here, even at the KHMH."
And that is a theme they kept coming back to - that the high accomplishment of this surgery can be the impetus that lifts the much-battered institution out of the morass of public accusations and bad press:
Dr. Bernard Bulwer
"It is about the impact that it has on the entire institution, on the art of what is possible - on moral. The KHMH has strived - and in my recent tenure - it has strived because we said that the way to get an istitution that is beaten up, week after week in the media - the way to get an institution which has to operate on the same budget, how can we take that status quo, and take it to what we see now? It is because of the good will of the Belizean people, the good will of the international community, and the good will of everyone who has been involved. And we pray that the entire services of this institution, across the spectrum, will continue to grow, and the moral of all involved. We remember the KHMH, not for stuff which sounds juicy in the media, but for an indispensible institution, worthy of all the help and support."
Whether the surgery can transform the culture at the KHMH is left to be seen, but it can save lives:
Mr. Adrian Coye
"There are a lot of Belizeans with coronary artery disease, and you hear in the media sometimes that young professionals falling down from a massive heart attack. Now, that is treatable; that's what we're getting at, the fact is that they are treatable conditions."
But don't expect the next open heart procedure next week - we're not quite there yet:
Dr. Francis Robicsek - Chair Emeritus, Department of Cardiovascular and Thoracic Surgeries
"I want to say that we are extremely lucky on one end to have a
high-level trained cardio-thoracic surgeon, but you will need to fill in
the holes. You need some additional training for some of the personnel,
and you need personnel - especially Belizean invasive cardiologists."
Mr. Adrian Coye
"The whole purpose is not for just 2 surgeries to be done. We're saying that we're building toward having our own local team, and to be independent in our own way. But, we have a beautiful partnership that will nurture us and help us with training and all of that. Everything is a process. This is the first part - the first step, as they say in the thousand-mile journey. But we have to be responsible in the steps that we take, and we don't want to embark on something that we cannot maintain. So, every step along the way, we have to build the foundation."
And that foundation finds its cornerstone in Mr. Adrian Coye - whose vision has been realized against all odds:
Dr. Bernard Bulwer
"Dr. Coye did, in my opinion, one of the craziest things. Less than 2 years ago, he came back to Belize to start cardiac surgery, when at that time, we did not even have a proper cardiology service. We did not have the type of echo-cardiograph support, which was reliable. We did not have a cardiac catheterization laboratory. So how can you even talk about doing cardiac surgery? We have seen - because of a dream and a desire - all of the different pieces come into place."
Mr. Adrian Coye
"Yes, we rose to the challenge, and what I had to do is what I was trained to do. It was fairly straight-forward, but what was difficult was to reach that point. And that was really where you literally were carrying mountains on your shoulders, just to reach that point. To make that step - I think - took, personally, great courage for me to just say, 'Let go ahead and do this case.' I am living the dream, and I'm very honored to be here to serve my people, and I hope that this is the beginning of greater things to come."
The 86 year old Dr. Robicsek was also the one who spearheaded the donation of the Cardio-Cath Lab in February.
First Open Heart Surgical Procedures Done In Belize
posted (July 18, 2012)
Email
Print
The first open heart surgery in Belize's medical history was performed this week at the KHMH.
It is a great leap forward - and one that was only made possible with
the collaboration of a team of medical partners from the United states.
But, don't get it wrong, it was a Belize mission - and today we found
out what was required to get it done - and why it matters - even if
you'll never need open heart surgery:
Jules Vasquez Reporting
Dr. Bernard Bulwer - Echo-Cardiologist
"This huge undertaking of a cardiac surgery, which - in the words of
CEO in the Ministry of Health, he said that he did not believe he would
see the day in his lifetime, cardiac surgery in Belize at the KHMH. Now,
it has happened."
And this is the team - or at least some of them that made it possible - participating in the first two open heart surgeries in Belize's history.
Dr. Francis Gary Longsworth - CEO, KHMH
"Certainly, it is cutting-edge surgery, and the surgery that was done
here is no different or no less than the surgery that similar patients
will get in the USA, Canada, Europe - anywhere in the world."
And anywhere in the world, it would cost about one hundred thousand US dollars - but for these first two patients, it was free.
But the real miracle is that it happened at all - the team was led by Mr. Adrian Coye:
Mr. Adrian Coye - Cardio-Thoracic Surgeon
"I trained both in Jaimaica and in the UK, and I qualified in both
countries. I experienced both what it is to be pioneering already, and
what it is to work with everything in place. What I did on Monday, is
virtually impossible because I made these gentle folks work in 94 degree
temperatures to do a case that we know had to be done, and anywhere
else, they would have just cancelled the case."
But they soldiered on and pulled it off - the first surgery lasting about three hours, the second about four hours. Two history making procedures performed without a hitch by Coye with support from a team of international partners led by the legendary Dr. Francis Robicsek and assisted by Dr. Robert Stiegel, as well as a team of many others.
Open heart surgery is especially complex because - as the name implies - they have to open the heart which means stopping it - while this machine continues to feed oxygenated blood to the brain and the rest of the body:
Mr. Adrian Coye
"Open heart surgery involves making a generous incision - or in some cases, small incisions on the chest - to access the heart. The heart ailments may be variable. The valves may be tight, leaking, not working so well, or we may have blockages of blood flow to the heart muscle, of what's called the coronary vessels. We arrest the heart with a special agent, and in that light, it allows us to make incisions on the chambers, to see the valves, to take out the valves, and putting in new ones."
Dr. Bernard Bulwer
"Open-heart surgery is the only type of surgery that requires that your heart and your lungs go out of operations. That's why you have to have a heart-lung machine, and so that has been the thing that has bedeviled, or made heart surgery so challenging."
Mr. Adrian Coye
"But, to do it well, you have to have people who know what they're doing, and there is a team effort. This is what we were able to demonstrate, that by having the right people in place, the right team, then it is possible here, even at the KHMH."
And that is a theme they kept coming back to - that the high accomplishment of this surgery can be the impetus that lifts the much-battered institution out of the morass of public accusations and bad press:
Dr. Bernard Bulwer
"It is about the impact that it has on the entire institution, on the art of what is possible - on moral. The KHMH has strived - and in my recent tenure - it has strived because we said that the way to get an istitution that is beaten up, week after week in the media - the way to get an institution which has to operate on the same budget, how can we take that status quo, and take it to what we see now? It is because of the good will of the Belizean people, the good will of the international community, and the good will of everyone who has been involved. And we pray that the entire services of this institution, across the spectrum, will continue to grow, and the moral of all involved. We remember the KHMH, not for stuff which sounds juicy in the media, but for an indispensible institution, worthy of all the help and support."
Whether the surgery can transform the culture at the KHMH is left to be seen, but it can save lives:
Mr. Adrian Coye
"There are a lot of Belizeans with coronary artery disease, and you hear in the media sometimes that young professionals falling down from a massive heart attack. Now, that is treatable; that's what we're getting at, the fact is that they are treatable conditions."
But don't expect the next open heart procedure next week - we're not quite there yet:
Dr. Francis Robicsek - Chair Emeritus, Department of Cardiovascular and Thoracic Surgeries
"I want to say that we are extremely lucky on one end to have a
high-level trained cardio-thoracic surgeon, but you will need to fill in
the holes. You need some additional training for some of the personnel,
and you need personnel - especially Belizean invasive cardiologists."
Mr. Adrian Coye
"The whole purpose is not for just 2 surgeries to be done. We're saying that we're building toward having our own local team, and to be independent in our own way. But, we have a beautiful partnership that will nurture us and help us with training and all of that. Everything is a process. This is the first part - the first step, as they say in the thousand-mile journey. But we have to be responsible in the steps that we take, and we don't want to embark on something that we cannot maintain. So, every step along the way, we have to build the foundation."
And that foundation finds its cornerstone in Mr. Adrian Coye - whose vision has been realized against all odds:
Dr. Bernard Bulwer
"Dr. Coye did, in my opinion, one of the craziest things. Less than 2 years ago, he came back to Belize to start cardiac surgery, when at that time, we did not even have a proper cardiology service. We did not have the type of echo-cardiograph support, which was reliable. We did not have a cardiac catheterization laboratory. So how can you even talk about doing cardiac surgery? We have seen - because of a dream and a desire - all of the different pieces come into place."
Mr. Adrian Coye
"Yes, we rose to the challenge, and what I had to do is what I was trained to do. It was fairly straight-forward, but what was difficult was to reach that point. And that was really where you literally were carrying mountains on your shoulders, just to reach that point. To make that step - I think - took, personally, great courage for me to just say, 'Let go ahead and do this case.' I am living the dream, and I'm very honored to be here to serve my people, and I hope that this is the beginning of greater things to come."
The 86 year old Dr. Robicsek was also the one who spearheaded the donation of the Cardio-Cath Lab in February.
UDP CABINET OF BELIZE HAS NO COMMON SENSE!
You can't say any of the Belize UDP Cabinet, other than Elrington, have any common sense. They may have education, but no common sense. I guess common sense is not so common?
Friday, July 20, 2012
SELF EMPLOYMENT IN BELIZE IS ORDINARY PROBLEM SOLVING!
I GET TIRED OF HEARING FROM OUR TV TALK SHOWS AND CERTAIN PEOPLE FIXATED ON THE UNEMPLOYMENT PROBLEM AND JOBS. RECENTLY THERE WAS MUCH CASTIGATION ABOUT 30,000 UNEMPLOYED AND 5000 A YEAR COMING OUT OF HIGHER EDUCATION THAT WILL BE ADDED TO THE UNEMPLOYMENT LINES.
I THINK I WOULD LIKE TO DIFFER ON THIS OPINION AND ASSUMPTION HERE IN BELIZE, from the cry babies and overeducated looking for salaries with the government.
Higher education in Belize, in High School, College and University is filled with MATHEMATICAL SUBJECTS, SCIENCE, PHYSICS AND CHEMISTRY. Each of these HIGHER EDUCATION DEGREES attempt to teach the student PROBLEM SOLVING. To graduate they had to learn to solve problems. Whether it is chemistry formulas, electrical solutions, or simple algebraic computations, or how many apples and oranges are available if Johnny sells some on the way to market.
THAT SAID: These 5000 graduates coming into the market place, are expected in THIS PIONEER SOCIETY, to be self employed. They are supposed to solve the self employment problems, just as they did when they graduated higher education. Are you telling me they graduated without being able to solve problems?
Give you an example. Got a market for 20,000 cardboard telescopes a month out of Belize at a base production price of $6 bz each. You tell me, that all this HIGHER EDUCATION PROBLEM SOLVING SKILLS, cannot get on the internet and find a source of cheap cardboard tubes, glass, or plastic sheet and learn how to grind the lenses. You need a cooperative of six people may be. To go into this business. There is nobody teaching how to form a cooperative here? Like they have done, by the tens of thousands of cooperatives throughout the nearby nation of the Republic of Guatemala.
SOLVE THE PROBLEMS! Make your own cardboard tubes, one person grinds lenses from cutting out blanks from a sheet. One person paints the cardboard tubes with black latex paint, another uses a sheet of aluminum and cuts out, or makes with a car hydraulic jack ( they have them at Spanish Lookout ) to punch out metal collars for the ends, bit of simple hand work here, nothing expensive needed, just labor. Start producing cardboard cheap telescopes. The problem solving comes with finding material sources, and costing your production labor, per a back kitchen assembly line piece work. Say you make 20,000 a month and earn net $1 per telescope. That's $20,000 a month divided between 5 or 6 people. Can't our HIGHER EDUCATION TYPES solve these simple problems for self employment?
http://www.stormthecastle.com/how-to-make-a/how-to-make-a-small-telescope.htm
DOUG SINGH BLOWS SMOKE AND MIRRORS AT VOTERS OF BELIZE!
THE INTERVIEW COMMENTS ON TV BY DOUG SINGH, A MINISTER IN CABINET AND SPOKESPERSON FOR THE POLITICAL ARM OF GOVERNMENT AND THE CEO'S OF OUR BUREAUCRACIES, SHOWS JUST HOW AMATEURISH AND IMPOTENT THEY ARE WITH THINKING OUTSIDE THE BOX, REGARDING THE MARIJUANA ISSUE THEY ARE CURRENTLY THROWING AT THE PUBLIC, FOR THEIR OWN AGENDAS. READ BELOW TO SEE SOMETHING FAR BETTER AND WHICH BELIZE COULD BE DOING, RATHER THAN THIS PATCH AND REPAIR, DIDDLING WITH THE EXISTING MARIJUANA AND OTHER INDIAN HEMP PRODUCTS THEY ARE FILLING THE AIRWAVES WITH IN BELIZE. STUPID! STUPID! STUPID HERE AT HOME IN BELIZE.
Salem, OR: A statewide proposal that seeks to allow for the regulated sale of cannabis to those over age 21 will appear on the November electoral ballot.
A spokesperson for the Oregon Secretary of State's office on Friday confirmed thatproponents of The Oregon Cannabis Tax Act (OCTA) had collected sufficient signatures from registered voters to qualify the initiative for the 2012 ballot.
If
passed by voters this fall, OCTA (Measure 80) would allow for the
state-licensed production and retail sale of cannabis to adults. OCTA
campaign proponents estimate that retail sales of cannabis would yield
approximately $140 million annually, 90 percent of which would be
directed toward the state's general fund.
The cultivation or possession of cannabis for non-commercial purposes would not be subject to state licensing or taxation.
The
measure also seeks to allow for the sale of cannabis for therapeutic
purposes to qualified patients "at cost" and allows for the production
of industrial hemp. Oregon voters in 1998 approved legislation by voter initiative legalizing the use, possession, and cultivation of cannabis for medicinal purposes.
A June 2012 survey of 686 Oregon voters conducted by the firm Public Policy Polling reported that Oregonian's were divided on the issue. Forty-three percent of
respondents said that they supported legalizing marijuana, while 46
percent of respondents opposed the idea. Men, self-identified Democrats
and Independents endorsed legalization, while women and self-identified
Republicans opposed it.
Voters
in at least four other states - Colorado, Massachusetts, Montana, and
Washington - will also be deciding on marijuana-specific ballot measures
this November. In Massachusetts, voters will decide on Question 3, a
statewide proposalthat
seeks to allow for the possession and state-licensed distribution of
cannabis for therapeutic purposes. Montana voters will decide on Initiative Referendum 124, which seeks to repeal amendments enacted by lawmakers in 2011 to restrict the state's 2004, voter approved medical cannabis law. Colorado voters will decide onAmendment 64,
which would immediately allow for the possession of up to one ounce of
marijuana and/or the cultivation of up to six cannabis plants by those
persons age 21 and over. Longer-term, the measure seeks to establish
regulations governing the commercial production and distribution of
marijuana by licensed retailers. In Washington, voters will decide on Initiative 502, which seeks to legalize and to regulate the production and sale of limited amounts of marijuana for adults.
SO WHAT YOU GOT TO SAY TO THAT, HON. DOUG SINGH AND ( HIC! ) INTELLECTUAL LEADERS OF OUR GOVERNM
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
Posts
