Premier admits Cayman’s economic success gap widening
(CNS): The Cayman Islands economy is doing well with GDP growth at 3.7% and estimated at US$70,790 per capita, the creation of over 8,900 jobs post-pandemic, an unemployment rate down to 3.6% among local people, a human development index of 0.877 and a $40million surplus for public finances. Nevertheless, there are a number of significant challenges facing this country, Premier Wayne Panton told a business audience on Thursday. In an address at the RF Economic Outlook Conference, he said the cost of living “was staggeringly high and thousands of people here subsist on low wages”.
Panton said that the Cayman Islands was “very prosperous” by any measure. But while salaries in some sectors, especially financial services, were very high, the poor wages of others in the face of the high cost of living and rising interest rates were making it harder for them to make ends meet.
“With the forecast increase in property insurance rates, the reality is that without careful interventions, the gap in Cayman will widen,” Panton stated. He said that the disconnect between rich and poor leading to an ‘us’ and ‘them’ culture could erode “our tradition of openness, inclusiveness and Cayman kindness”. Panton warned of a “vicious cycle of dependency, resulting in demands for government services that in turn demand new taxes and fees that would make us less competitive”.
The theme of this year’s RF conference was “Evolving Risks: The Way Forward for the Cayman Islands”, and Panton stressed the dangers of a rising income inequality against the backdrop of a polycrisis reality of climate change, the war in Ukraine, rising tensions between America and China, the aftermath of the worst global pandemic in 100 years, supply chain issues, inflation and the risk of a banking crisis.
This, he said, was “the perfect cauldron for instability. And that instability leads to the rise of
authoritarianism and a breakdown in our social institutions.”
The evolving risk of income inequality was a growing threat globally, Panton said. “The increased concentration of wealth in the hands of the few and the widening gap between the haves and have-nots leads to an erosion of social harmony and leads to social instability,” he added.
Outlining what he said PACT had done and planned to do to protect Cayman and address its own internal challenges, including traffic issues, housing, a growing population, managing work permits, affordable health care, the cost of living and development, he said the government was going through a mid-term review.
“We are embarking now upon a mid-term evaluation,” he told the audience. “As we reach the mid-term of this government and we prepare for the April policy strategy statement and budget season, I will be challenging all ministries and departments to take their performance to the next level. This mid-term evaluation is looking at progress, results, functions and the human capital, including leadership in the elected government and civil service.”
He said he was taking a hard look at both the successes and challenges with a view to taking bold, decisive action necessary to make sure government accelerates the progress over the next two years. He also urged the business audience to engage with him on this review. “I urge you to tell me what is working and what needs improvement. Let us have these important conversations, even if they must be tough conversations. We need to make some tough decisions for the good of our country,” he said.
Panton said that Cayman had a number of “wicked” problems, and the cost of living and traffic were some of the most urgent.
“Our PACT Government is committed to tackling these problems head-on, and while there are no silver bullets and no magic wands that instantly or easily solve these complex problems, we must do what we can to provide cost of living relief in the short term and take steps to contain and, ideally, reduce costs in the medium term to long term. Similarly, when it comes to traffic, we must make it easier to get around our country without being stuck for hours in gridlocked traffic,” he said.
Short-term interventions were needed, he said, as well as policy changes for the medium and long term, such as changing development planning and zoning laws to create more dense mixed-use communities that are more conducive to walking, reducing the need to drive for every errand and allowing people to cycle or walk to work or school.
To achieve short-term solutions for commuters who live in the Eastern Districts while the East-West Arterial extension is constructed, the government will begin by discouraging the typical pattern of single occupants in the hundreds of cars making their way into George Town by incentivising car-pooling, introducing a subsidized bus service from the outer districts on weekdays, and having a tougher stand on the number and types of cars that can be imported.
“In the medium term, we need to create and resource an effective public transport system that reduces the number of cars on the road. Making public transportation more regular, more comfortable and more available will improve its usage,” the premier stated.
Issues such as traffic and development and the cost of living have all been impacted by the population growth, which is partially fuelled by the work permit system. Panton told the business audience that the conversation about work permits has been and always will be a difficult one.
“The reason it is so difficult is because a balance must be struck,” he said. “On the one hand, we know that growing our population is one way of growing our economy. It creates jobs; it creates demand and customers for local businesses and revenue for government coffers. Fundamentally, it creates economic opportunity for Caymanians. But on the other hand, it also has the potential to price Caymanians out of our own country and make it more difficult to live here. And it has had the effect of fundamentally changing our country culturally.”
Panton spoke about the “many, many, many stories of Caymanians denied opportunities because the employer would rather bring in a guest worker”, which he said was unfair to the local qualified workforce. “Now, how do we balance this?” he asked the audience, made up of many employers. “Go too far in one direction, and we stifle economic activity. Go too far in the other direction, and we lose our country.”
The balance is about preserving the rights of Caymanians in their own country while ensuring businesses have the labour they need to grow, he said. “We need to be diligent and exercise due care in the processing of work permits. We also need to pursue ways to achieve growth through increased productivity and through economic activities which rely less on large amounts of human capital.
“You have heard us say that we are looking to innovate, to grow our economy through tech and healthcare and to be deliberate about diversification. We will be sharing more about those efforts in the coming months,” the premier revealed.
Among the many other challenges that Cayman faces, climate change is one of the biggest long-standing threats, he said. “We see it most in the rising sea levels but also the intensity of the storms that impact our shores. We are a small, low-lying country, which means that we will bear the brunt of climate change.
“It is therefore now essential that we take decisive action to adapt to the inevitable, adverse impacts of climate change, many of which are already being experienced across our natural and human systems, while also doing all that we can to mitigate our contribution, however small, to the problem,” he said.
The government has “nearly completed” the update to the Climate Change Policy, which will “deliver robust strategies for responding to the current and anticipated adverse risks of global climate change on the economy, society and natural environment”. But Panton said building standards would need to be enforced to minimise damage in the face of fiercer storms, and the “incredibly high” local emissions must be reduced.
“Harnessing renewable energy opportunities and democratising access to renewable energy will protect our economy against future shocks in oil prices, shocks that are out of our control,” he said, adding that the government was in the advanced stages of a comprehensive review of our National Energy Policy and producing a draft policy for public consultation.
Panton added that the government has continued to protect natural habitats through the designation of additional protected areas and was producing Natural Capital Accounts alongside the traditional financial accounts to better understand the value and range of benefits provided by natural assets and track their condition.
The premier also committed to protecting the financial sector in the face of mounting issues by strengthening controls. He said that globalisation had been good for Cayman — and Cayman had been good for globalisation. But he said, “We now appear to be entering a period of deglobalisation, with nations seeking to re-shore economic activity through the application of tariffs and incentives. Fortunately, the signs are that Cayman is resilient to this threat.”
In spite of measures such tax cuts and employment legislation to re-shore capital in the US, the introduction of tax-neutral structures in Singapore and Hong Kong intended to encourage capital to move there, and the return of capital to Russia, Cayman’s financial services industry has continued to grow.
“However, if countries were to impose more aggressive restrictions on the pooling of capital from certain jurisdictions, it could lessen the value add that we are able to provide. To address this threat, we continue to facilitate the development and adaptation of our financial industry, enabling us to offer a wider array of financial services, and we continue to diversify our economy, encouraging next-adjacent sectors such as fintech, as well as new sectors such as healthcare and tech. We believe that such diversification will make us more resilient to the threat of deglobalisation,” he added.
The premier told the business community that overall, even with the numerous problems he had noted that were affiliated with growth, Cayman’s economy was “strong and getting stronger”, with a strong financial sector, unemployment at record lows, a government surplus and investment in people and social programmes to help improve health, educational outcomes and employability.
See his full address below:
- Fascinated
- Happy
- Sad
- Angry
- Bored
- Afraid
The economic output pyramid is shifting as we move to a more knowledge-based and online economy. Those with the rights skills can add considerable value and increasing value, those without are increasingly unable to offer much and are competing with more and more in the lower end of the workforce value pyramid, driving down wages further. Unless taxation of the higher earner is the proposal there is nothing that can be done to reduce this gap or indeed stop it widening more.
Yes, there are problems that could be taken care of with action from our Premier, but it might take ” a while”. Why can’t a little time be spared to abolish OfReg ? It seems to be no more than gifts….. no more than a continuing handout for certain insiders and/or “friends”.
To Realist 20/3/23 @ 9.51..you tell us that our local politicians are “useless” and that we should elect expats. Why? Because ad you say “Facts don’t care about your feelings, neither do we”. So the locals should not elect local politicians because they are useless but rather we should elect expats because they don’t care about us. Wow.. you really are uncivilized. And you trying to act superior..Jackass.
I said that people’s feeling don’t matter. They don’t. What matters is, among other points:
– Cayman doesn’t have a public transport system.
– Mount Trashmore continues with no relief in sight (or smell).
– There’s no development plan for the island (including managing expats!).
You should care about this more than expats, and one way to address start to address the issues would be to allow expats to contribute to Caymanian society by both voting and standing for election. Presently, expats are damned when they do, and damned when they don’t try to contribute to Cayman. I have no interest in politics, but I would Cayman to suceed, and that requires competent politicians and voters, hence my suggestion (or, rather, that of the Foreign Affairs Committee, which I considered deserved a wider airing: Global Britain and the British Overseas Territories: Resetting the relationship”, https://publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm201719/cmselect/cmfaff/1464/146408.htm#_idTextAnchor037.
…You do understand that if you did deign to allow expats to stand in elections, you wouldn’t actually be FORCED to vote for them?
Finally:
1. Why haven’t you addressed my substantive criticisms – because you can’t?
2. What are you alternative proposals to allowing expats to vote and stand for election?
‘Facts don’t care about your feelings, neither do we, and neither do the funds and investment vehicles which are abandoning Cayman’
Direct quote, 8:03, thanks for reaffirming your a jack-ass 🙏
I was going to engage further with some of your posts but seeing as you lie and manipulate the narrative when being called out it be insanity to do so expecting you’d offer anything else but a similar result. ‘Realist’ 😂
1: ‘Facts don’t care about your feelings, neither do we, and neither do the funds and investment vehicles which are abandoning Cayman’
2: ‘I said that people’s feeling don’t matter. They don’t.’
Those statements are both consistent and accurate.
You assert:
“thanks for reaffirming your a jack-ass”
It’s written “You’re”, because it’s a contraction of “you are”.
See below re. “just 40.3% of Year 11 students achieved the national standard target of five or more Level 2 subjects including English…” https://caymannewsservice.com/2023/03/premier-admits-widening-of-caymans-economic-success-gap/#comment-587383
Again:
1. Why haven’t you addressed my substantive criticisms – because you can’t?
2. What are you alternative proposals to allowing expats to vote and stand for election?
You’re a fraud spinning as it you think necessary to salvage an inflated importance and grabbing at straws of gramma knowing full well auto-crect dwells after a post. You want to know why expats shouldn’t vote and run for election ? -because Caymanians stand in the minority by 2/3rds of the population and while you say Caymanians don’t have to vote for expats that run, they would essentially be disenfranchised in their own country by the wants of individuals such as yourself feeling the place needs to be molded in the their own vision. Do you want to also know what I really don’t like about you, it’s the assumption that anyone who disagrees with your ego fluff is Caymanian, – signed an expat.
One more thing, you missed ‘it’d’ a contraction for ‘it would’ also in my previous post. Go home, your boring now 🛌
“You’re”, not “Your”.
The pitifully poor level of education is one of many reasons why Caymanians fail to be competitive…
Stay in school kids, or you’ll end up like this idiot.
Thank you for your comment. I missed however your point by point, logical, evidence-based rebuttal of the criticisms I made of the Caymanian electoral system. Is that perhaps because you don’t have any basis for such a rebuttal? Let’s allow other readers to decide.
Sorry to be blunt, but apparently it is necessary. Cayman needs expats. Expats do not need Cayman. Look at the Economics and Statistics Office (ESO) August 2022 report about how many banks and trusts moved off island compared to the previous year:
“Banks & Trusts: The total value of international banking assets domiciled in the Cayman Islands declined by 12.9 percent to US$518.3 billion in 2021 relative to the previous year. Similarly, international liabilities domiciled locally fell by 13.0 percent to US$517.5billion (see Table 4.1). The Islands’ financial system had cross-border assets of US$503.0 billion, a decline of 13.1 percent, and liabilities of $470.8 billion, a decline of 12.5 percent relative to end-2020.“
https://www.eso.ky/UserFiles/page_docums/files/uploads/the_cayman_islands_annual_economic_repor-7.pdf, page 27.
See also today’s Financial Times article, “Singapore and Hong Kong vie to be the Caymans (sic) of Asia” which notes:
“The two cities have set up new fund structures to lure wealth away from traditional offshore financial centres… Singapore established the Variable Capital Company, a fund structure that allows a wide range of potential users to shelter large pools of capital in discreet, lightly taxed wrappers domiciled in a well-regulated financial centre… Investor take-up, particularly in Singapore, has been rapid. The bankers, fund managers and lawyers involved in setting them up say their impact could be far more widespread and more disruptive than previously imagined, drawing assets and expertise into the region… The new vehicles represent a direct challenge to traditional offshore finance centres whose success has been built on privacy and low taxes and whose economies are heavily dependent on the revenue generated by financial services… Singaporean authorities, frustrated at the tendency of local fund managers to register investment vehicles offshore rather than in Singapore itself, launched the rival VCC in 2020. It made it easier for overseas and domestic entities to register an investment vehicle in Singapore… For Singapore the rush to establish the new structures has been especially pronounced. “Prior to 2020 the vast majority of Singaporean managers had their funds in offshore jurisdictions such as the Cayman Islands, Mauritius or Luxembourg. Now the tables have turned,” says Mahip Gupta, a partner at Singapore-based Dhruva Advisors.“Since the Variable Capital Company structure was introduced, most have chosen Singapore as their fund domiciliation hub.””
https://www.ft.com/content/88e20280-bb6e-4209-ae76-d7183c60ff62, 20 March 2023.
We don’t need to be here. Financial services don’t need to be here. We can move somewhere else, and take our clients with us. Start performing, or you will become like Bermuda or Jamaica. We’ve all heard Albert Einstein’s apocryphal famous line: “Insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.”. What Cayman is doing is plainly not working: see points 1-4 in my main comment (the one which you were unable to rebut), here: https://caymannewsservice.com/2023/03/premier-admits-widening-of-caymans-economic-success-gap/comment-page-1/#comment-587383.
If we didn’t think that Cayman was salvageable, we wouldn’t bother commenting. We do, so we are. Don’t whinge, don’t play the race card, accept the fact that you’re failing even according to your own metrics*.
In the short term cash will keep coming, but long term best be prepared to deal with an inevitable economic slowdown. Cayman may even consider allowing expats to stand for election then, as your current politicians are plainly useless. Facts don’t care about your feelings, neither do we, and neither do the funds and investment vehicles which are abandoning Cayman. Be careful what you wish for: Jamaica beckons.
____
* In my original comment, I omitted to mention the legion of criticisms from the OAG. See: https://caymannewsservice.com/tag/office-of-the-auditor-general/
Ok 9:51, I think I understand what you’re saying, you’re here for the money and not much else. The opportunity presented itself to make boat loads of cash and if that dries up you’re outta here. You say you don’t need to be here, financial services don’t need to be here, – that’s not entirely true is it 9:51, you do need to be here to take the best advantage of the enriching capitalist environment afforded you to better line your pockets in a pretty unique jurisdiction.
Incorrect. You have wilfully implied the worst motives and done so irrationally (or emotionally – possibly both). If your caricature of an expat were true, we wouldn’t bother either offering proposals for improvement or seeking the ability to stand for electoral office and vote, to implement those proposals. We want to contribute, but people like you, with your attitude, are preventing us from doing so.
Go back to my main comment, here: https://caymannewsservice.com/2023/03/premier-admits-widening-of-caymans-economic-success-gap/comment-page-1/#comment-587383.
Nothing in that implies that we don’t want to contribute. Quite the contrary in fact. I’m explicitly saying that (per points 1-4 in that comment) that the following areas should be rectified:
1. Political incompetence and corruption.
2. CIG dishonesty re. PR applications.
3. Mount Trashmore.
4. Mass transit as a solution for traffic congestion.
The easiest thing in the world would be to keep silent, and let the current mess continue. Instead, we make an effort. It may feel cathartic to contrive conspiracy theories and blame expats, but that poor attitude has got Cayman into its current position. It’s both nonesensical and counterproductive.
Cayman has good and bad points. We appreciate the former, but would like to contribute to rectify the latter. What expats get from people like you is juvenile hissy fits because of your inferiority complex. Get over it. Let us contribute, or accept that we will blame you when you [continue to] mess things up having refused to let us contribute.
12:51, Do you really think we are capable of self government with the social, political and economic mess we are in?
I am afraid that if your so called “colonial master” went home we would be in an even worse state very soon.
I think that comment was directed at ‘Realist who wants to be allowed to run for elected office even though he tells us that he doesn’t care about our feelings. Just goes to show how much he looks down on us. A real snob is that ‘Realist’ guy.
Brainwashing colonial ideology, So am I correct in saying you are calling for an independent state for the Cayman Islands?
Whether you like it or not we are not independent like Jamaica, but a colony.
I agree that the self created mess in the motherland was created by politicians who thought that BREXIT would be so wonderful but now have a serious case of BREGRET.
I agree with you right up to the responsible politicians having any regret. On the contrary they continue to lie through their teeth and blame everyone else for their mess!
No he is not calling for independence, he is saying that Guest workers should not be allowed to hold elected office as this would be a backward step. Realist states in a comment on here on 20/03/23 9.51 that local politicians are useless at the same time suggesting that we support expats who don’t care about our feelings. I can see it now .. Realist on the campaign trail in Central George Town saying” Vote for me because I don’t care about what you feel.Brilliant. Not!!
If climate change and sustainability is such a priority – why is the dump still not fixed? The new mound is nearly as big as the previous “remediated” mound.
Exactly.
I have listened to Mr. Panton speak at three separate events in the past several months and every time he is regurgitating the same speech with a couple of words shifted around and everyone in the audience rolls their eyes and tries to stay awake realizing that every time he talks he offers the same thing: a misleading re-election pitch.
The government surplus has absolutely 0% to do with any government policies from PACT or PPM or anyone else for that matter. It is 100% the result of more people and more consumption occurring in our country at the same time that costs of consumption are at an increasing high point. The whole notion that this country needs some sort of critical mass of people (often noted as 100k people) is so that the fees and taxes levied on that number of people are enough to spread fixed costs across the population and therefore reduce the cost on each individual consumer/taxpayer.
We’re seeing the effects of the population increase right now without the commensurate lowering of taxes by the government. We have an all time high population which means all time high work permit fees and consumption-based duties which resulted in a government surplus to the tune of $40m. If you assumed a population of 80,000 that’s $500/person per year in excess fees and taxes and it’s time to come down.
In general it’s good that the government isn’t running a deficit, but neither should it be a profit center. Governments should by definition not be profiting off their people; it should be helping its people to be profitable on their own.
CIG is a massive waste pit as the AG has said repeatedly with virtually no movement to improve. Read the articles on the studies in BVI and tell me how different we are?
Wayne talks and does nothing. Chris talks and does nothing. They can’t manage anything properly and are constantly in campaign mode. Their platform is just fluffernutter and empty buzz words. PPM not much better but at some point stop talking and listen to people and industry who are telling you what they need to make this work and then do it.
Agreed, but nothing will change without competent politicians. That requires an overhaul of the electoral system: https://caymannewsservice.com/2023/03/premier-admits-widening-of-caymans-economic-success-gap/#comment-587383
I haope you are not from the mother country! You should be hanging your head in dismay at the state of politics there! In fact the same could be said of the state of politics around the world!
Yes, the wealth gap / income gap is continuing to widen. We all know this and have been hearing about it as long as we have been hearing about the need for a proper and accredited trade school. Yet government leaders take forever to do something as simple as implement a minimum wage, which was much too low when finally done, and currently being “studied” again! Meanwhile government leaders took no time in early 2021 to increase their own salaries, and salaries of other top government staff, by some 15 – 18%!!
We have gridlocked traffic daily, while watching the rich get richer and the middle class and poor get poorer and poorer! People are internalizing the stress, resulting in a plethora of health-related issues. Or taking their frustrations out on others. Somethings need to change! And soon! Continuing on as we have been doing, with the usual “leaders” is clearly not working for the betterment of our Cayman Islands.
It is nearly April 2023 – and you have still made ZERO progress towards signing the Regen contracts to fix the dump. Why do you keep kicking this can down the road? Please take that binder out from under the pile on your desk and move this forward. Thereafter, we can maybe take what you say about anything else seriously.
You know nothing of what you have commented on! This Government was left with a nearly impossible task by the last Government who took 8 years to get things to a point where they rushed to sign an agreement 3 weeks before the election which required 25 or 30 more documents to be negotiated and signed and it was all supposed to be done in 7 months! Think of that – 8 years to sign a single agreement and 7 months to negotiate and sign all the really hard stuff in 25 plus documents! Ridiculous! You should have a better idea now why it is taking longer.
This doesnt even take into account the supply chain and inflation problems!
The difference between those who learned a skill, worked hard and long and those who have not is widening. The opportunity to change is always there as is a reason for not taking it. Choice. You choose for yourself just as everyone must. Your lives are your choice.
I am a red man. If the Great Spirit had desired me to be a white man he would have made me so in the first place. He put in your heart certain wishes and plans, in my heart he put other and different desires. Each man is good in his sight. It is not necessary for Eagles to be Crows.
– Sitting Bull
One of the many reasons for not taking it. Either way the experience of your choice is yours and yours alone.
12:40 & 4:21 both make valid points but the underlying truth is there really isn’t a free ‘your choice.’ In present day Cayman there’s a forced requirement and hence the Sitting Bull quote. What happened to the Native Americans is beginning to resemble very much what is happening in Cayman. The expats have progressively moved in with the the Caymanians (before mass grants) becoming dispossessed of the homeland, previous treasured way of life and forced to play to the hand of the expat wealthy, the developers, and those that want to turn this country into how it should be aligning with their own expectations. So is there a free autonomous choice, no not really. I’d like to go back to the way of life that first allured me here, but that’s a choice that doesn’t even exist.
Unfortunately, that’s the truth. I can’t speak for most people but my problem was proper guidance and horizon scanning. I make a pretty decent salary now even though I’m relatively early in my career. But if I had foregone all of my education/university/post university professional courses and just started working out of high school in a compliance role, with the amount of time I spent in Uni/education, I would be making a lot more. So even without a uni degree the financial services sector is an amazing industry to work in here.
As for non-fin service jobs, no one EVER told me how much money people with a trade make, its actually insane. Just be semi-competent and have good customer service and you’re clearing minimum 6 figs a year.
All that to say, I know that financial services/trade skill isn’t the path for everyone. But you honestly can’t go away to uni for a non-viable degree and expect to come back here and find a job. In an ideal world, you would be, but the reality is there is a proven path to succeed in Cayman and become upper middle class with *average* effort and competence. Finish uni > job hop every 2 years > roughly 100k USD after 5-6 years easy (close to if not 100k USD after PPC/LPC if taking traditional legal route and assuming you get a 2:1).
TLDR: telling my children to study something business related/law (but not accounting because I don’t think anyone should be put through the big 4’s auditing trial of fire lol) or pick up a craft
-An0n
This is it right here…nail hit on the head. You need a skill and work ethic to succeed. Doesn’t matter if it’s carpentry or accounting. You need to add value in order to be paid a high amount. There’s details and nuances to debate that push this up and down a bit and we can debate until the cows come home but the bottom line is you need to add value to get paid.
Or being white and male.
Do not agree. Opportunities in Cayman for young school leavers are limited. We need more trade schools. Not everyone can or wants to be a lawyer, doctor or accountant.
We need a decent education system first. The current one is archaic and not fit for purpose. System failing our children miserably, and for that matter so are many parents.
Where is the other lady I voted for in Savannah? Ms. Heather where are you? How can you agree to this extension that will destroy the way of life in Savannah? The water lense to be destroyed forever, the flooding of nearby low laying properties caused by this extension road, country life we used to now becoming more urban, environment (flora and animals) impacted severely by the extension and lastly, when are you going to tackle the flooding created by the sea during storms and hurricanes that impacts neighboring properties in Savannah/Newlands?
Where are you?
Here waiting on instructions from Wayne
The fact that we can’t recycle glass just says it all
Solid waste situation in general is a mess. Sister Islands even worse. What is the holdup negotiating the ReGEN contract with Dart?
For-profit developer, with no waste management experience, are already in control of landfill even without a signature-ready deal. There’s therefore no reason for the glass crusher not to have been ordered months ago and commissioned before the expiry of the last one. Municipal separation conveyer with glass crushing aren’t even high capex in the context of waste management running costs. Maybe the cost of a single dump truck we have trouble keeping working – ie. $250-300k. Or the price of a single fire incident. As with most things, CIG is not content until we pay twice or three times for the deliverables. Meanwhile expect smoke at the dump as unsorted glass lenses bend and focus light into volatile substrate. Franzies for everyone.
Cayman is presently incapable of self-government. Expats should be allow to both vote and stand for election. Four examples of incompetence/corruption demonstrating this fact:
1. Squandering public funds, claiming that there is a budgetary surplus, while borrowing money and allowing food import costs to skyrocket. See https://caymannewsservice.com/2023/03/cig-gets-failing-grade-on-managing-public-cash.
2. Unlawful delays processing permanent residence applications, and lying about it. CIG make the rules, people obey them, CIG acts dishonestly, then lies about it. This is both irrational and a breach of legitimate expectations. It doesn’t broadcast “Rule of Law” and “Stable investment location”, it proclaims “We’re going the same way as South Africa and the ANC”. See comments beneath https://caymannewsservice.com/2022/11/deputy-premier-pr-is-a-privilege-not-a-right.
3. Mount Trashmore. This should be the emblem of the Cayman Islands’ future if nothing changes: a tribal parish-council-with-delusions-of-adequacy doing nothing as a stinking biohazard pollutes the air next to their capital city.
4. Overdue mass transit system. Local politicians are determined to make money by building roads to allow them to develop and sell land they own. Call it what it is: corruption. Quite aside from the transparent dishonesty, it’s nonsensical: more roads won’t reduce traffic. Nor will buses: they use roads, too… Look at Hong Kong, Singapore or Dubai: what’s required is a light rail system (e.g. DLR), tram system or monorail. Yes, it will be expensive. No, there’s no alternative unless you want a permanently-jammed hellscape for everyone living east of Hurley’s (What’s that, MPs? You don’t care: you just want $$$$. Of course.) EVEN BANGLADESH HAS A LIGHT RAIL SYSTEM. CAYMAN IS FALLING BEHIND THE THIRD WORLD… https://bdnews24.com/metro-rail/xinc4i0jh1
A complete overhaul of the political system here is required. As the 2019 Parliamentary report* re. Caymanian status / ‘belongership’ warned, expats should have the right to both vote and stand for election:
“…those who do not have [Caymanian status], or the equivalent, cannot vote or hold elected office, even if they are permanently resident British Overseas Territories or UK citizens. …Cayman did not respond. In its written submission, the FCO points to its 2012 OTs White Paper, which expressed the hope that the OTs would extend the franchise to [non-Caymanian status holders] …the size of the electorate is small compared with the overall population, with ‘[Caymanian status]’ a constitutional prerequisite to qualify as an elector and to stand for election. The 2012 White Paper stated the UK Government’s belief that people who have made their permanent home in the OTs should be able to vote… [The Caymanian status requirement is] wrong. While we recognise that the OTs are small communities with unique cultural identities, we do not accept that there is any justification to deny legally-resident British Overseas Territory and UK citizens the right to vote and to hold elected office. This elevates one group of British people over another and risks undermining the ties that bind the UK and the OTs together in one global British family. The UK Government should initiate a consultation with the elected governments of the OTs and work with them to agree a plan to ensure that there is a pathway for all resident UK and British Overseas Territory citizens to be able to vote and hold elected office in territory. In its response to this report the FCO should lay out a timetable for this consultation process and set a deadline for phasing out discriminatory elements of [Caymanian status].”
Relatedly, businesses WILL hire Caymanians who are suitably qualified and experienced, because they don’t need to pay for work permits. If a Caymanian is applying for a job and is not being hired, they lack the qualifications and/or experience. Businesses aren’t charities, they won’t pay work permit fees if they don’t have to. It may feel cathartic to contrive conspiracy theories, but it’s both nonesensical and counterproductive. The equivalent of the obsessive navel-gaving about Caymanian affirmative action is the Black Economic Empowerment legislation in South Africa. As with all attempts to impose racial preferences/unmeritocratic tribalism, it has been a failure: https://theconversation.com/only-south-africas-elite-benefits-from-black-economic-empowerment-and-covid-19-proved-it-189596. If people want better jobs, they must perform better. That starts early. See “Almost 60% of Year 11 students miss 2021 exam targets, 19/04/2022, …according to the Data Report for the Academic Year 2020-21, just 40.3% of Year 11 students achieved the national standard target of five or more Level 2 subjects including English and maths.” https://caymannewsservice.com/2022/04/almost-60-of-year-11-students-miss-2021-exam-targets. Businesses are not welfare schemes for the unemployable (that’s what the World Class Civil Service™ is for). In Cayman, the private sector is meritocratic and successful, the political system is race-based and self-evidently a failure. If you want successful politics, allow people to vote and stand for election based on merit not skin color.
To be clear: I am specifically pinning the blame on Cayman’s continuing failure to address points 1-4 above on the fact that both the electorate and all political candidates are drawn from an extraordinarily shallow gene pool. This has created – and will continue to maintain – a worsening cycle of failure and corruption. The closest comparison to Cayman now is South Africa towards the end of the Mandela years. The initial optimism has worn off, and xenophobia, jingoism and corruption are beginning to corrode the foundations of the state: https://www.afr.com/world/africa/eskom-boss-told-police-he-survived-murder-attempt-20230108-p5cb4r. The only people who really suffer in the end are Caymanians. In 10-15 years, once the wheels finally fall off, the expats can simply go home, or move to another country with better governance (ie most places). By definition, expats who secured work permits and status here have valuable skills**. They can therefore escape. Caymanians have nowhere to go. Be careful, or the fate of Bermuda/Jamaica beckons.
In summary, expats built Cayman*** but local politicians are ruining it. Expats can contribute further if they are permitted to vote and stand for election. What are you afraid of – competence?
________________
Footnotes/further reading:
* “Global Britain and the British Overseas Territories: Resetting the relationship”, The Foreign Affairs Committee, https://publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm201719/cmselect/cmfaff/1464/146408.htm#_idTextAnchor037
** Any country has strengths and weaknesses, as does any population. Cayman has the advantage of being able to select workers from the world. Only those with positive attributes who can contribute to the country are allowed. Therefore, e.g. sexually incontinent teenagers with no societal value don’t get work permits to move here. By definition, all of the c40,000 expats here were deemed by Caymanians in WORC to have something that Caymanians themselves do not. That is not a criticism, merely a reflection of the fact that a tiny population of 30,000 like Cayman, with a relatively poor record of educational achievement, will inevitably need to recruit externally or ‘do a Bermuda’ by committing economic seppuku via protectionism, jingoism and xenophobia.
*** Freyer, Tony, and Andrew P. Morriss. “Creating Cayman as an offshore financial center: structure & strategy since 1960.” Ariz. St. LJ 45 (2013): 1297. https://scholarship.law.tamu.edu/facscholar/23.
“As real estate booms, Caymanians question who their islands are building for.” https://periodismoinvestigativo.com/2022/01/cayman-foreign-investors-identity-crisis
“Cayman Islands – What the brochures don’t say”:
Part 1 – https://h2g2.com/entry/A4503665
Part 2 – https://h2g2.com/entry/A4503683
Light rail transit (LRT) policy considerations: https://policy.tti.tamu.edu/strategy/light-rail-transit/
I must reluctantly agree with Realist concerning his points.
We really do need direct rule from London as we seem totally incapable, as a people, to rule ourselves efficiently like a modern state.
Three years of direct rule is needed to get the ship in order as we cannot continue this way. If we do not get our act together soon we will become nothing more than another Jamaica.
London/ U.K. Can’t help us, they have their hands filled with their own problems!
We do have problems that need urgent and thoughtful attention, yes! But any day we can turn on any news channel concerning the UK and very quickly see they are not the answer – they have numerous issues of their own coming up daily, with no solutions. And most there couldn’t care any less about Cayman.
There are a plethora of valid and serious criticisms of the current PACT government and the previous PPM government but NOTHING could justify reverting to direct British rule.
I don’t know how British Empire nostalgics like you, are not disgusted in yourself. Not only is the colonial mentality rooted in a sense of superiority (discrimination) but most UK MPs would need reminding that Cayman even exists so what makes you think they would have any interest in improving Cayman for the average person. From the perspective of the average Caymanian living in Cayman, the UK has very little to do with them aside from the odd royal visit or colonial style ceremony, despite Cayman’s BOT status.
The UK retaking direct rule of Cayman would be as absurd as them recolonizing India and would be no less absurd than any other country taking direct rule of Cayman, say the USA.
11:33, Yes, let us just continue down the road to the social and economic abyss.
I am disgusted as a Caymanian, how we are incapable of dealing with any of our serious issues politically. Has nothing to do with superiority.
Better yet, why not cut all our links with the Crown and see this place go to hell and a hand basket. Independence now. You cannot have it both ways.
The Spirit of this letter is ok but I agree with all but NONE of the pedantic points.
You say “I am specifically pinning the blame on Cayman’s continuing failure …. on the fact that both the electorate and all political candidates are drawn from an extraordinarily shallow gene poo”. Well the UK has a much, much larger gene pool and look at the mess they created recently..yhey elected good old Boris and then replaced him with Liz who lasted a month. Do much for that gene pool idea.
You can include all the footnotes and references you like. The real basis of your comment is racism, pure and simple. If you’re so anti Caymanian, if we are so incompetent, then why are you here and not in your home country?
Why are we here? Because you have a nice beach (except at Easter). Cayman has positive and negative points. The positive points are due to expats, the negative points are due to Caymanians… Ha ha! Only joking…
Look at points 1-4 above. Plainly, Cayman is not above criticism. It is intellectually incoherent to suggest otherwise. E.g. political incompetence, corruption, teenage mothers, educational failure and socialism are indicators of societal failure. They are not unique to Cayman, and those of us criticising the phenomenon do so similarly in our home jurisdictions. On a tiny island however, with immense wealth, it should be possible to deal with issues far more effectively.
Look at the disaster that is the UK. Last week’s budget introduced the highest taxes for decades, to subsidise the types of people who the comments above criticise. Welfare states are Ponzi schemes, based on an unsustainable orgy of intergenerational theft (tax/borrowing/money printing).
Greedy post-1948 generations and failed families bleed countries dry. All the sources of funding are however now exhausted, so the UK and other so-called ‘social democracies’ (e.g. socialism with euphemisms) are in a high-tax, no-growth, high-emigration death spiral. Cayman’s issues are relatively minor in comparison, but that does mean that they should be far easier to fix. That requires competent politicians, something you very plainly do not have. Hence my proposals.
Expats have seen the mess that wrong-headed policies in our home countries created, and we are doing our best to warn you. Unlike you, we have many opportunities to escape. It would therefore be very easy for us to say nothing, do nothing, earn money, and silently leave you continue making avoidable mistakes. We don’t, because that would be nihilistic.
In summary therefore, the trope of “If you don’t like it here, go home” is lazy and incoherent. First, we’re offering valuable advice that you apparently need, and second, if we all went home you would no longer have an economy. You’d miss us then! 😉
You make some valid points. It’s likely your tone that many find offensive, even arrogant – not unheard of, of too many “1st world locales”. Try ratchetting that down a bit and chances of success at getting others to listen and consider your input may improve? Which should hopefully be a win for us all.
In your dreams. What other country in the world does this? Cayman will and should always be run by Caymanians. Its citizens will have the best intentions for their homeland. And we won’t run away to our backup country when shtf.
But they are the reason and the government do nothing about it. The most stupid thing I heard recently was to reduce cars on the road – stop car imports. So stupid. You need public transport. There is no public transport in cayman except dangerous illegal buses stopping where’ve they want and not indicating. Third world public transport = traffic congestion. Third world education = caymanians can’t do high paid jobs. Stop blaming others and do something. Without expats and PR holders this would be a third world poor country.
7:36, So continue with around 8,000 cars added to Grand Cayman every year?
Not sustainable Bobo.
The problem is adding 8,000 people a year who each need a car because there are no other options, not the cars themselves. Banning importation of cars or making it more difficult and expensive just makes it more expensive and a hassle for all of us.
7:36, So stupid? Try this one on: Why are we told we are running budgetary surpluses and then borrow money from Butterfield when interest rates are so high?
Suggest we bring some accountants from Deloitte or PWC abroad to run our finances and financial administration for 3 years as we are incapable of doing it ourselves. They can train Caymanians directly.
We simply do not have the brain power in our civil service or from our politicians.
Government secured long term funding when interest rates were historically low from a consortium of local banks. They then put that money on deposit (US Tbills) until they will need it. They are earning as much as they are paying in interest. You can critisize them for many things, but that is not one of them.
12:53, That made sense when interest rates were historically low but makes no sense this year when interest rates are so high.
Why did they borrow this year with high interest rates?
Hi bigot.
Go home thennn.
Let’s see.
3.6% unemployment rate is very low. Canada and USA are well above that and most the world is too. But WORC or MLAs don’t get it.
Please set a MONTHY LIVEABLE Wage ASAP.
Not a fake $/per hour that can be manipulated by adjusting shifts and hours.
Workers need a reliable Monthly Minimum!!
No less than$4,000/month sir.
and food, gas, water, phone will go up as someone have to pay for minimum wages
Please lower the unrealistic taxes on everything that comes into Cayman islands and makes this one of the most if not the most expensive place to live on Earth. The only downside to this is CIG can squander less money on itself. The upside is Everyone can get by with less money. P.S. not possible with Caymanian leadership.
9:36, You do realize that the Cayman Islands is one of the few places in the developed world where we pay no personal income tax or property tax.
Perhaps that is what is unrealistic here?
Cut // eliminate the import taxes and have either property taxes or personal income taxes though not both.
Before long, if it hasn’t already happened Caymanians become the minority in their country. The Island is becoming a concrete jungle, importing more labor. The government is just hot air and no action. Traffic situation is diabolical and getting worse every day. Meanwhile locals and long standing expats are leaving. We all know of people doing this. The people who replace them have less incentive to stay but people will always come and leave, further eroding the quality of the workforce and way of life. I am surprised people aren’t living on the beaches given the extortionate rents. What does this government do, pass the buck, hire a few committees maybe to kick the can down the road. I fear we will look back on these years as a huge negative turning point where nothing was done.
The government & its leaders are happy to ignore your points because 1: Tourism is at an all-time high in post pandemic recovery mode we are currently in, what could be wrong?
All they see is the 7 day roll-over until the next batch of visitor’s fly in and spend money. One day for Cruise.
2: Financial services and development stamp duty continually flows money into the coffers, along with imports. What could be wrong?
They think that the long-term outcomes of the points you raise here really won’t affect THEM, or the territory as a whole, purely because it’s not affecting THEM today.
The current cost of living isn’t PACT’s fault — it is a reflection of the rising prices mostly caused by the U.S. and other global entities.
I disagree with many of this current government’s policies, and am actually quite angry about some of them, but the COL isn’t their fault.
Cost of living has increased everywhere, true. But explain to me why – if it’s a universal problem – the cost of groceries is massively higher than the States, where most of them come in from. Sure there is additional transport cost, but I was just visiting BVI and groceries are way cheaper there. Government duty, and the failure to have any form of consumer protection from cartel price fixing.
Joining the rest of modern civilization with Sunday shopping might be helpful, even if it was just the grocery store.
Halfway through their first (and last) term and still no sign of People-driven mechanisms, acceptance of Accountability, core Competency, or Transparency reporting. Resounding fails on all four.
You make it sound as if PACT don’t really know what they are
They have demonstrated all of that from what I have seen so the fail is on you. The Government has been working on all the hard things that have been kicked down the road for too long. Free breakfast and lunch in public schools. 2200 homes supported with their CUC bills last year. Elected members being held accountable. Summaries of all Cabinet decisions being published. I dare you to show us where any of that has happened before!
People are just mad that Caymanians are finally the focus to benefit from changes being implemented by a pro-Caymanian government for once. Shame they never get mad enough to leave, “innit”?
A direct and foreseen consequence of a wholesale selling out of the Caymanian people by their so called leaders, aided by an inept and self serving group of key civil servants, some of whom are not from here. A tragedy, unfolding in plain sight.
Widening of success gap, or aka: leaving people behind, no consideration for the little guy, pandering to commercial interest groups, and bending to exploitive Chamber of Commerce lobbyists.
Second hand Range Rovers for all! Oh wait. Everybody already parading around in them. What about second hand Bentleys then?
Bentleys? Don’t be silly.
Second hand Isuzu Elfs and Mitsubishi Titans for us all. After all, we, the people, are usually tasked with hauling the freight of the elite.
Most of cost of living issues stem from the high cost of energy on island. As long as nothing is done to reign in CUC’s predatory practices that led some of the renewable energy participants to pursue business on other locales in the CARICOM not much will change.
Regarding the traffic issues , how come pray tell is the Airport connector road still isn’t completed to this day?
Constraining car imports isn’t IMHO the best way to go, restraining demand never worked as intended and led to dire situations in the past. All you obtain is scarcity and lowers the overall quality and state of maintenance of the vehicle pools.
Technology to grow in Cayman needs a few things:
1) Easily accessible capital through a strong retail banking system, cheap interest rates (not happening anytime soon, you just have to take a peek at the mortgage rates and conditions on island to witness that).
2) Cheap energy and in that aspect we are way below par compared to other nations.
3) Good and resilient infrastructure (I leave everyone to their best judgement on the matter).
4) Qualified workforce (why then do our public schools actively recruit their workforce from choice locales with similar or worse problems ?) (Buildings don’t educate anyone).
I would refer to the following CNS article regarding the state of our schools:
https://caymannewsservice.com/2019/09/school-standards-gap/
As to the number of vehicles on the island, how come car dealerships on island do not even plan to support Electric Vehicles? If you want to buy one, you are left pretty much to your own devices or face a very poor selection. If your are planing a transition to sustainable energy how come no one wants to address the issue?
It is becoming pretty obvious as time goes on that there is quite a widening gap in between the “talk” and the “walk” when it comes to policy on our tiny little island.
Please Sir Alden come save us!
He had eight years and did bugger all to address the same issues.
What Alden and PPM did very well was give away the country, sellout Caymanians and give millions in concessions to rich developers.
Every deal shows no value for money including the Regen project.
Congestion, cost of living, environmental concern, vehicle/fuel/maintenance prices, and widening class divides are all reasons for Cabinet to hire a credentialed international urbanist and deliver the missing bicycle commuter lanes. Must be waiting for more people to die.
Wayne spouting financial headliners to the national and international attendees when the finance ministry hasn’t ’posted any of its annual reports on its website since 2019.’ 🙄
Lots of sound but how will the situation be changed? All the high dollars earners want things done cheap. All the developers want the work done cheap and cheaper, forcing the contractors to hire cheaper and cheaper labor since materials are costing more all the time. We search the world for cheaper and impoverished labor so can maintain this “economic success” our Premier speaks about. When will we wake up that this is all a smoke screen and the majority of people here are living in extreme poverty. Why do you think our social structure is now so broken with crime rising. Until the base problem is solved this is only going to get worse.
Good news about the economy – so buy a glass crusher! Little actions like that go a long way in showing the population that you actually are using the surplus for something they want and need.
They are waiting for Dart to complete the waste to energy or new landfill or whatever name you give the high dollar, open end dollar fiasco they have agreed to with boss hog!
Dear Mr. Panton,
Your statement that the current economic situation has the POTENTIAL to price Caymanians out of our own country made me roll my eyes. WE ARE ALREADY THERE!!! If I had $1 million for every young Caymanian I know with a university degree and a good job who can’t actually afford a home on their own, then I could afford a comfortable retirement in my own country.
Sincerely,
Mr. C from West Bay
There are also those who are locked out of the workforce – both public and private – due to retaliatory actions against individuals who exercise their right to make a complaint.
Whatever happened with “Operation Cealt” anyway?
The fact that this has gotten any downvotes at all speaks volumes. To force unemployment on someone is trivial and acceptable? Good grief
it’s like that everywhere in the world. From Kenya to Canada
It’s like that everywhere
No we don’t. That is the point of view of some of the Johnny come lately Brits ( not the earlier Brits) who want to turn Cayman into to a replica of Britain without the weather. These are the ones, (like ‘Realist’ above) who I belive want the second colonisation of the Cayman Is.
“To achieve short-term solutions for commuters who live in the Eastern Districts while the East-West Arterial extension is constructed”.
“It is therefore now essential that we take decisive action to adapt to the inevitable, adverse impacts of climate change, many of which are already being experienced across our natural and human systems, while also doing all that we can to mitigate our contribution, however small, to the problem,” he said.
Wayne you talking from both sides of your month. Seems the road is going ahead without the EIA report and you need to mitigate our contribution to climate change. Which one is it Bo Bo.
I think what he’s done is, he’s taken individual public statements, melded them together here and has no idea of the systemic contradiction he flounders in
2 years 2 late. I guess this will be like his apology to Newlands people that he would be more accessible…ps Im still waiting on that one.
I’m a simple layperson, is it right I feel like I’m hundreds of yards in front of our Premier ? 🤦🏽♀️
It appears that the Premier is certainly aware of the problems and issues that we have to deal with daily. I will speak on behalf of fellow senior citizens and the CINICO Insurance. Those of us who worked in the private sector was unable to pay in to any pension fund until 1986 so we were unable to accumulate a meaningful pension. My pension expired last year and there are many of us in the same situation. Perhaps the government could take a look at CINICO to reduce the cost for those of us who has no income and are paying as much 500 dollars per month. We might soon have to choose between paying CINICO! Paying utilities or buying groceries.
Based on past precedent there’s a reasonable chance ‘they’ll look at it’ – job done
Min-wage people(Caymanians) making 12-25K per year is high too you CIG?
Because of Cayman so dirty with legal money laundering certain people make over 30-60K per month.
GDP is flawed and skewed because of the industry Cayman is in.
Politicians are just as corrupt as the financial industry.
Completely b.s and certain people keep lying to the public over the years and we starting not to believe it anymore.
Mini-wage people=mini-work people. Work more, work harder, or work smarter or be happy working less than most and enjoy your max time off more.
Can someone direct me to the $70,000 job market. In a good field with steady employment, but Bobo, not even close.
assistant manager at a hotel, store manager in retail, experienced office admin in finance or legal.
basically anything that can be attained with a high school diploma and a few years work experience. should be attainable for most people before they’re 35.
Held for expats or their cousins until they are eligible forPR. After a few hours dog walking
Yeah, climate change… that’s the main problem here
Ummm, what did you expect to happen with countless status give-always, the mass importation of poverty, the failure to enforce pension and health insurance laws where expats were victims of unscrupulous employers, and other widespread non-observance of Cayman laws?
I had no idea the BBC were scouting talent here for a new series of ‘The Office’, – Wayne improvising a little with the the script but comfortable in material he’s used frequently before, – Mr Premier Sir, as leader its not a good a look regularly plagiarizing the communities established awareness
Fix the damn dump.
In the meantime, buy a glass crusher and a large chipper. Give away the wood chips and compost. Give the glass to the asphalt plant. Short term real improvements until the waste to energy ReGEN gets sorted.
Matthew 7:15-20. Even the simplest of measures seem entirely beyond them, 2 years in and what have they actually done about any of these problems? Come out with grand speeches, pay consultants to tell them what they already know or to carry out basic functions the civil service could handle. Anything difficult or potentially unpopular – nada.
Saying all the right things. No sign of any action being taken to resolve anything.