The common theme: Incentivise the rich, force the poor
I’m a millennial and I’m in this non-stop grind because in the 90s we saw light at the end of the tunnel. I’m running off of that stupid hope that there is something at the end of all this suffering because I used to see it. The next generation didn’t see any of that. They didn’t see when our parents made $3k a month each and everyone had money to spare and could go to Miami two or three times a year, raise the kids and attend our football games. Now, rent alone for anything decent you don’t want to share with someone else is $2,000 AND you have to deal with the landlord disrespecting you at every opportunity.
Government continues to spend hundreds of thousands, of our money that we generated because WE create the economy, on reports and consultants then can’t even respect us enough to put out the report and tell us why they don’t like it.
I’m sick of being disrespected at every turn. Every member of government and every business speaks to me like I have to do what they say. I’m going to start putting my money in a hole and not spend it. I need businesses and the government to start respecting the fact that my money is not theirs. They don’t just get to reach into my wallet when they want without so much as a reason why.
Government and the older generations are asking us, begging us, to keep up appearances and keep the economy afloat for nothing more than the sacred “GDP” because it’s a number on a screen to lie to themselves and the world. I make decent money. I aimed to make this money when I was younger but I can barely save at the end of the month. Literally everything I spend on is bills, but my hand is being forced and I’m going to be shamed by it from business owners.
The time for conveniences is fleeting. As rents increase, bills skyrocket and food prices go up, I have to give up on anything that isn’t an absolute necessity. I can’t wait for the usual round of “come support local restaurants” ads where they are begging us to keep them afloat. I’m already seeing tons of sales and events for the summer. Nowhere in Cayman gives ‘deals’ unless they absolutely have to. Money is KING, and we learn that every day from our Government.
This comment was posted in response to CIG refuses to release task force housing report.
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Category: Viewpoint
Maybe single-member constituencies wasn’t such a good idea, after all. I am sure the PPM has buyer’s remorse, let alone the people of George Town.
Replying to 3:10 pm post. Single-member Constituencies was the end of Cayman as we knew it. PPM might have buyers remorse ( I doubt it) but UK was so pleased they awarded a knighthood.
Boomers, Gen X, millennial, put yourselves in a labelled box, someone replied putting me in a ‘boomer’ box, luv to meet that ‘person’that thinks he/she can label a free person.
What skills do you have to justify the lifestyle you feel your birth entitles you to?
What a shitty, backwards way of thinking you have been indoctrinated into.
What an absurd comment. It’s called reality. If you don’t have any worthwhile skills no one other than CIG are going to pay you much. If you do,they will. If you think that’s shitty and backwards you are simply delusional.
Well aside from a few fortunate people who are paid far beyond the value they add, most of us are either self employed and paid exactly what we are worth or employed and paid some fraction of the value we add. If, by being born somewhere like Cayman, we expect 5k a month or more we better have some skills that are worth 5k a month or more otherwise the math just doesn’t add up and we’re likely to be disappointed. It’s not CIG’s fault.
It was a fair question… why do you object????
What a disgusting comment!
What skills do you have to justify the lifestyle you feel your birth entitles you to? Answer to yourself!
What exactly do you find “disgusting” about the question? It’s pretty basic “being a grownup” stuff… if you want to make a certain amount of money you need the skills to generate more revenue than you cost your employer. Not exactly controversial unless you’re economically illiterate. Your salary isn’t determined by your living costs but by the value you add.
Well I know many foreign people who make exhorbitant salaries and even though they have a piece if paper saying they’re worth it in reality they’re dumb as a box of rocks.
The writer of this article is not wrong, but also not right. Starting off by pointing out he/she is a millennial and then complaining about how hard they have it is getting off on the wrong foot.
Guess what…everywhere on earth that has experienced an economic boom over a generation or two has this problem. If you grew up in New York in the 1970’s, do you think your kids can afford a townhouse in Manhattan today without being very wealthy? No.
What about Paris, London, Dublin, Singapore, Hong Kong, San Francisco, Boston etc?
Nowhere, anywhere at anytime, has gone through this level of economic growth without the cost of housing and other items also climbing. Now, the alternative is to say we need to control growth and slow it down; tell me how (exactly) you’d do that. Because just as everywhere has this issue of rising costs due to economic growth, Nowhere, anywhere at anytime, wants to slow down economic growth. The only thing worse than inflation, is deflation and again never in history has deflation been desired.
So, you’ve got an issue with the side effect (however frustrating it may be) of your country’s wild and vast success. And you think there’s any logical explanation at all to say “we should have less success”?
The comments section is littered with people suggesting restrictions on foreign ownership or duty concessions and all these other things. Spend a minute to do the math and you’ll realize that none of those suggestions will solve the problem that you’re complaining about. Furthermore, you would be a fool to think that even if it would reduce the cost of housing by 10-15-30% or whatever that should actually be done.
Anything that reduces the cost of housing by that much will have so many bad effects on the rest of the economy.
We are unique in our success in this region and that should not be forgotten. Go to any other island nation in the world and you will not find the overall prosperity we have here. That success is fragile. And if we kill the goose in search of an extra golden egg to keep the millennials happy, then the whole thing is going to shatter and we can live like the rest of the Caribbean.
And, by the way, all the rich people you blame for this will just pack up and leave and go live a perfectly good and still equally rich life elsewhere while we sit and stew in the crap we broke by ourselves.
With your uncompassionate attitude, I can’t wait to see you go. I hope your health insurance carries you through to the end of your days; if not you will come to see where we live.
Compassion has nothing to do with it. It’s economics. And unless you’ve found a new way to achieve your economic goals without other negative and unintended consequences, this is our reality.
Not sure what health insurance has to do with it either. Or if I leave (I’m from here…but actually went to school unlike you).
I would rather go back to smoke pots, mosquitoes infested days that this foolishness we have now Corruption, crime, traffic and the dump.
There are many swamps you could move to, feel free to move. I’d rather work on the problems due to improved quality of life than de-evolve back to poor living conditions. Why do you think folks wanted better living conditions?
Excellent post, but most folks will not be swayed by logic.
Enlightening that there are folks who disagree with logic. Can’t imagine the lack of logic when Caymanians go to vote… And later rue who they elected.
Actually Jamaicans choose our MP’s these days. Caymanians are mostly found in the various Cemetaries.
Excellent comment. We’re complaining about the negative impact that comes with a successful economy rather than putting ourselves in a position to benefit from that success. Some Caymanians want to go back to the days when you could live well in Cayman with just a high school education. If living well in Cayman today means making significantly more effort to educate yourself, then that’s what we need to do. Let’s stop bitching about the downside of success and start readying ourselves to take advantage of that success. You can’t put the genie back in the bottle.
You’ve forgotten about quantitative easing. Many countries deregulated their banks, which started borrowing and lending like crazy. That bubble burst resulting in the 2008 economic crisis (just as most millenials were entering the job market… Unhelpful to begin with). Quantitative easing was implemented to stop run-away inflation. This REALLY pushed up the value of assets. Fantastic if you’re sitting on an investment, awful if you’ve just joined the workforce.
Add to this NIMBYism within communities, population growth (doesn’t matter if you don’t like it, there are more people now) and head-in-the-sand town planners, building new, affordable homes is not up to demand, driving prices up even higher.
This has all led to a house-price-to-income ratio DOUBLING since the 70s. So what would take you 10 years to pay off back then takes 20 years now. That is without mentioning how long you have to rent cheaply trying to save up for a deposit.
This is also clear in the average age at which women first have a baby. In the UK, the average age of first time mothers is 32. Makes sense when it takes longer to become financially stable.
Unfortunately, how we got here has been a myriad of descisions, made by very different people and organisations, in countries other than Cayman and compounded by global population trends. So pointing the finger is futile.
Here’s a poingant article about the situation in Australia: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-australia-67723760
But you can at least acknowledge the facts and sympathise. Then don’t be a NIMBY and support new policies that would help young people start of in life. Such as less focus on building for international millionaires and more first-time homes (that are decent quality).
“Quantitative easing was implemented to stop run-away inflation.” Economics fail.
It has been proven to make the cost of housing go down when the foreigners aren’t buying up all of the houses.
What do we want the Government to do?
It is simple.
• The Government needs
• Stop spending money on frivolous things like $650,000 on the Emancipation Day Celebrations.
• There are numerous incidences just like this when the Government just spend up cash and borrow long term debt causing taxes to be increased, on the citizens to pay for the long term debt, which in turn is used to provide cash for current expenses.
• Reduce the increased port fees and package taxes which directly affect the cost of food prices. food prices are now double the prices in Florida.
• Work on reducing the high medical insurance costs.
• Limit the sale of properties to non-Caymanians, allocate just what properties foreigners can buy as in the Bahamas, Canada, Bermuda and the State of Florida, New Zealand and other similar countries.
• Implement an incentive programme to encourage people to build their own homes.
• Address the road to Frank Sound from Savannah.
• Stop pandering to those who do not want to develop the island because they think Caymanians do not need house lots and roads.
• Reduce the importation of cars and vehicles.
• Limit the importation of materials that go from store to the house and into the garbage dump ( like glass and plastic).
• Get more serious about recycling.
• Limit the immigration of foreigners, only those necessary skilled labour should be allowed to come here.
• Implement a minimum wage of $10.50 an hour
anything else you’d like?
Nice list for Santa… but the CIG can’t tie their own shoes or change their diapers. Let’s be more realistic and start at the first needed variable – find better candidates to run for office: educated, ethical, not bought-off by monied individuals or corporations. Only then can we return to your excellent wish list.
I can understand the writer’s frustrations and I agree with some but not all of their conclusions. As a Gen X Caymanian, I can relate to the writer’s concerns about the steady uptick of the cost of living here over the years. What the writer doesn’t make clear, and what many Caymanians with similar complaints don’t make clear, is what exactly they want “government” to do about it.
Cayman’s economic and employment opportunities attract people from abroad, which leads to increased demand for local housing, which in turn drives up not only rental prices but property values. Some could argue that the rapid increase in property value is good for those Caymanians that own property. Of course, its not so good for other Caymanians who do not own, wish to do so and but cannot afford to buy.
Caymanian business owners benefit from the increased population numbers as well. More bodies, more business. But they too have to deal with the rising cost of doing business and have to pass those costs on to us. So not so good for the consumer. So what is the answer? What exactly do Caymanians want “government” to do about it?
I don’t have the answers, but what I would suggest, no STRESS to Caymanians, is to put far more value in your right to vote. We alone have the right to vote in our country and that vote carries far more power than we are allowing it to wield. Every election cycle we put more and more incompetent, easily corrupted, unqualified individuals in office to run our country with our best interests at heart.
I’d ask the Millennial writer if they vote. I’d ask all Millennial and Gen Z Caymanians if they vote as well. If they don’t, then they can’t complain. If they do vote, then I’d ask them to use that vote more wisely. Stop voting for candidates because you know them personally, or because they appear to be successful in business, or come from money or because they give you a handout.
Voting should not be a popularity contest. Only cast your vote for candidates who are QUALIFIED to run our country AND they wish to SERVE. After all, elected office is about SERVICE and is not the Caymanian equivalent of royalty that we bestow on our elected officials.
Maybe when we put better people in power to run our country, maybe then “government” can truly be relied upon to make the right decisions and take action to do something about it.
What we want government to do is STOP giving concessions to foreign developers who don’t give a shit about Cayman, just the money they can make here.
What we want government to do is SLOW down or stop the overbuilding, which only causes more minimum wage expat employees with more POS cars on the road.
What we want is the minimum wage to be elevated to a LIVING wage that Caymanians can raise a family on, and thus return hospitality, dive business, restaurant, bar and other businesses that once employed CAYMANIANS.
What we want government to do is stop spending tens of millions of dollars on development that doesn’t help the people ONE IOTA, and invest in reliable, comfortable, safe public transportation, thus alleviating the traffic nightmare, putting more Caymanians to work, instead of falling into the NAU spiral, and greatly helping the environment.
What we want is for government to act like they are working for us, instead of themselves. Government on jollies around the world, actually giving away money, while their own are defaulting on loans, losing their homes, breaking up their lives.
What we WANT is value for money for our investment into government. Government wrings all manner of money out of us without the slightest input from us on how to spend it. Well, head’s up. What we WANT is for you all to do the job you were elected to do, and earn your huge salaries. Most of you make more than most U.S. governors.
WANT, WANT, WANT… How about VOTE, VOTE, VOTE! All comes back to who Caymanians elect.
Agree with you, however we need viable choices. That has not been the case for the past elections. We need Caymanians with a steel heart to rise up and be counted.
7:40 here. I absolutely agree! Where are the educated, ethical Caymanians?
Got 4 in my house. Just saying.
Very well said! I completely agree!
All concessions have a Double Cost-Benefit formula.
The resources sold, given or waived cost the supposed beneficiaries who are deprived of the value and/or benefits; and it fractionally costs the investor or new beneficiary who benefits from the transaction.
The big Double Benefits come to the agent or seller who makes or accepts the deal. They are paid by the new beneficiary, and then paid a salary by the same people of whom they are stripping and depriving these rights.
CIG does not give a flying fig about us folks.
Am I the only one who had to have a housemate 20 years ago? Was that not normal? Are your formative years not for working your butt off? No one is forcing you to spend your money on Cayman’s overpriced restaurants.
nope. lived with 3 friends for the first 8 years of my working life typically 60+ hour weeks. then had the pleasure of paying 9.75% mortgage rates…
Well written, and all so very true…unfortunately. We “paved paradise and put up a parking lot”. All for a quick profit for the already rich and connected….with no thoughtful foresight!
Sad!!
Colonization and Gentrification.
No! Self imposed sale of your territory; all avoidable.
The Bonny Moon with its 18 dollar cocktails is a clear example.
Totally agree with what you’re saying. Food prices going through the roof, especially on the healthy food items and Digicel just announced another rate increase for post paid customers, but too me the service has been totally crap for a while now.
We are expected to stomach all this earning what was once a good wage. By the way have you seen what most employers are paying for 5 years + experience job positions nowadays, it might as well be just above minimum wage if you aren’t paid hourly.
This can’t continue for another 4 years like this, people will revolt eventually. See what’s happening in UK, well it’s coming here, that’s our future if nothing changes for the better.
You mean the far right fascsists terrorizing innocent people?
God bless the antifascists for fighting back!
Idiocy made plain.
Sixty years ago there wasn’t a Caymanian economy. Men couldn’t get a job locally and had to go to sea. Women stayed home and bought up the child. No electricity and mosquitoes so bad they would suffocate a cow.
Tell me again how terrible your life is with air conditioning, flat screen TV, internet and good medical care.
Come better than that now…you missed the whole point of the writer’s article…Read it again.
If no money is left after paying rent/mortgage, how can one afford to enjoy tv, air con, etc if no money to pay for them.
We are all struggling, the bills are more than the paycheck. Supermarkets can do better with prices. CUC and the samples of elected members should be ashamed of themselves.
Lord help us.
As an expat who deeply loves this island and it’s people, I just want to say I completely agree with the viewpoint and completely resent ignorant morons like you. 60 years ago was Boomers and Gen X, you’re speaking to a millennial born at some point between 1977 and 1996. Grow up you silly prat.
Older generation here, and I’m not asking you to do anything, except stand tall and speak your mind, and I will stand with you. Completely share your view. I have for a long time.
You may not remember, but I recall a time when banks wanted our business; they encouraged our deposits so they could make loans and pay us a little interest for the mutually beneficial association. Not any more. Now, banks know that we have to use them if we want to do business, and they charge for every. single. little. “service”., whether an actual person is involved or not.
Something that I wonder if you’ve thought of — and I hope you don’t have to deal with for some time — the cost of insurance has gone over the moon. Health insurance (unless you work for government) is profound.
This is one elderly person who worked all their life, lived simply and supported my family, and here I am barely subsisting. I’m sorry we’ve allowed the place to get to this sorry state. No doubt about it, it is OUR fault. All I can say to you, is that I’m sorry. We really did our best against ever-increasing bad odds.
Putting your money in a can in the ground will net you more money than putting it into any savings account here, once you deduct all the yearly charges. Ain’t that a sad state of affairs. I hope places still accept money by the time you and me both need them to.
+1 (Boomer).
so not true. banks lose money on most of these bank accounts….
Boo hoo.
Because they are inept.
Do you feel happy on your bank’s Customer Appreciation Day? Do you think they have been your partner? Or do you think they have used you, given you the bare minimum allowable by law?
Are you happy with the service from the Caymanian customer service that won’t get off their phone? Give me a break. Banks are a business, and give a service just like every other business. You want money for free. You want them to pay more, but how do they make the money then. Just like every business. Have everyone lower prices. Banks are an easy target. What about fosters….caymanian owned and operated. $36 a pound for tenderloin….. not even prime. That is choice. Ask woody to drop his profits. Don’t forget the brewery. Cayman owned. $9 for horrible beer. Ask them to drop the price as well. See what they say
Don’t want money for free. None of us do. Want value for money. Banks used to give loans, and pay depositors a good part of that interest. Now, they charge for everything, and pay next to nothing for having deposited with them. They have become users, not partners.
Fosters have toed the line for decades. You should have chosen a target that wasn’t so defensible. Fosters delivers and always have, from the time Mr. Steve and Mr. David began it.
I would never ask Mr. Woody to lower his prices. He protects the wherewithall of all his employees, and charges a fair amount above what his cost is. The Fosters are the salt of the Earth, and the heart of the Cayman Island commerce.
and they give back so much to the community.
Go broaden your mind and do some research!
Thank you sir or madame for a constructive response. I came from the UK in 1968 and found it such a fantastic country I never went back. In those days there was certainly hardship which was alleviated by the birth of the financial industry and a bit of tourism. I should pay tribute to the population at that time. Many Caymanians held done two jobs to make all ends meet. For example my receptionist worked at a restaurant in the evening.
Where did it all go wrong. Certainly the almighty dollar but successive governments let the side down. We can only blame ourselves for our choice of politicians.
As I see it nothing is going to improve unless young Caymanians come forth. Cayman needs several new brooms and ones with integrity. At the moment corruption and nepotism are alive and well.
Remember when FLOW begged you to install a phone. Now they charge $20.00 just to have a landline that rarely works.
When the local population is outnumbered by expats and newcomers who happened to love Cayman and decided to stay, what would you expect?
You are omitting the facts on the dismal education system, post secondary education, collapse of families, and necessary soft skills to compete with applicants from across the earth in a global economy.
In other words: Jamaica.
Do you vote? Do your friends vote? Make sure you exercise that right and make sure that people get elected that will give you opportunities.
LOL Potato, potahto.
may I ask what you want from your boss? are they paying you for a service? did you accept that pay? what have you done to better yourself? what money is yours that the government is spending? you did not create that income, the money from the absorbent duty the government charges did. the government has created thousands of make belief government jobs for those that are unemployable to make a living. its all a wash really.
Shame on you for saying this.
It is our money. The rich get breaks on duties, the poor Caymanians don’t. In a nutshell, Cayman is for the rich. Decent Caymanians don’t want handouts, they want hand ups or at least don’t push us down. We’re building an airport to cater to the rich, marina Cayman Brac for the rich, all the tourism properties for foreigners and who do you think own most of the tourism properties? Not Caymanians. It’s building for the rich that is destroying Cayman.
It is the politicians spending our money like it’s water that is destroying Cayman. Govt spent 650,000 for emancipation day celebrations????!!!!!!!!!! WTF do they think they are!! Make up a holiday and spend that much money on it?? We MUST demand accountability from our politicians, this is not a free for all trough
Meantime they fly around carrying cases of cash to give out to who knows who and why. Nobody asked for donations and Jamaica is not Haiti. You can’t deposit $50 in someone else’s account these days, yet $200,000 cash is practically given away with no accountability. Did Jamaica need laptops and air matresses?
The person in charge of all this is invincible.
There is huge systemic impropriety in Cayman
Our politicians have just spent 650,000 !!!!!!! on emancipation day celebrations. Say what!!!! How the heck did they think that is okay when people are struggling to put food on the table?
She is not invincible – she is blind deaf and dumb
Cayman has turned into an ugly experiment in Social Darwinism in which the Kleptocracy hoards wealth and the middle class goes begging.
I’m sick of my boss speaking to me like I have to do what they say, too. It’s so disrespectful. I’m going to start putting my money in a hole, too. Don’t tell my girlfriend.
Start your own business and be your own boss buddy. Then you can live in a real echo chamber and tell off your boss at all hours without fear of retribution.
To live a good to excellent standard of life in Cayman, that is to say what we might consider a middle class life with the services that you describe (trips, school fees, mortgage etc), has required at minimum $10,000 a month since the late 90s. And, even at that level, there is little prospect of saving anything meaningful for retirement or balloon payments.
As the country song says, Mamas make your babies be accountants and lawyers and such. Or Chief Officers.
Gen-X’r here, and I 100% support this message!!
Very well said and good luck to you. May God help us all overcome this greed cycle that our country has been stuck in!
Our kids literally have ZERO future here at this rate.
“Our kids literally have ZERO future here at this rate.”
And this is exactly why I as a 29 year old generational Caymanian decided at age 25 I will live the rest of my life happily child-free.
Talk to me about birthrate when there’s a limit or tax on land/properties owned by people who haven’t been in the Cayman Islands for the past year.
Listen here. Your Momma wants a grandbaby!
Unfortunately, that means less Caymanians and them foreigners procreating like rabbits.
Fantastic.
Well said, totally correct!
Kleptocracy in a not shell So bad now banks have join in to fleece us too because their elitist mindless kleptomaniacs decide that’s it’s a good idea to rob the people too to increase their wealth.Yes and since our so call political elite are operating with the same impunity and getting away with it . Just like the government they don’t have to comply with the regulatory body or the law and will not be held accountable or responsible for their criminal actions. Reports are for them to justify their unlawful or corrupt actions but when it fails to do that it is just toilet paper to be disposed of quietly even though we bought the most expensive rolls so they can wipe their huge bum bums with it.
Well all I can tell you my friend is that Big Mac, Ju-Ju and Jon-Jon will not be happy with those type of comments after all the hard work they have been putting in. When they come back from their latest boondoggle spending trip, they may come looking to get that money you were planning on putting into the hole because they have lots of holes they need to put it into. You better hope they don’t tie you behind the donkey and drag you around!
Man that poor old donkey sure is getting his behind worked off! Hope Jon-Jon gives him some extra sweet feed.
Well written comment. Thank you!