…and the Hezekiah doctrine
Your Eyewitness has been around the block – and then some. So, he’s not easily fazed, especially by politicians in the age of Trump. But this Minister of Natural Resources Raphael Trotman has him thrown for a loop. Discussing the revenues he believes will flow our way from the Exxon’s Stabroek field, he revealed he was operating under the tenets of the Hezekiah doctrine.
What was that, you asked, Dear Reader? Well, your Eyewitness also did a double take…and was forced to google. Seems Hezekiah was a Biblical King who showed off his wealth to a Babylonian ambassador and was warned by the prophet Isaiah. Stimulating Babylonians’ greed wasn’t a good move: even “the children you will beget will be taken to be eunuchs,” said Isaiah.
Now Trotman, deathly afraid of our children becoming eunuchs of some foreign invader, refused to reveal the terms of our oil contract with Exxon since the untold wealth exposed would make some unnamed foreign invader unleash his legions against us. Hezekiah’s doctrine! While the Minister – as befits a man trained in International Relations – didn’t openly name the new Babylonians he just happened to mention the imminence of a possible settlement of the Venezuelan border controversy by the UN or the World Court.
Now your Eyewitness would’ve thought with Venezuelans pumping out oil over the last five decades they’d have a pretty good idea of what we’d be making since the Minister had already revealed that Guyana was getting a 50 per cent share of revenues – after development costs and extraction costs are deducted! The only thing they don’t have to determine our share of the profits is the price we’d be getting four years hence.
So it would appear Trotman’s figured this out – and it’s back in the US0+ range – since he’s predicting wealth to make an invasion a cert if the details of the contract is revealed!! Thing is… if Trotman has an algorithm to figure out oil prices, Guyana doesn’t even need oil. Just plunk down our reserves on oil futures!! And then again, we’re talking about Exxon’s 50 per cent also being threatened by the Hezekiah doctrine.
Their immediate past CEO just happens to be the Secretary of State of the greatest power on Planet Earth, whose president is just rubbing his hands in glee and muttering, “Make my day, Maduro!!” So exactly what is Trotman hiding under the fake Hezekiah Doctrine?
But back to the question of counting our “oil wealth”. Does Trotman know Exxon just plunked down US BILLION to enter the shale-oil business – that can make profits at US??
And that the coming shale glut will temper any price rise his algorithm might’ve projected?
…and private education
Some folks are still trying to square the circle of the Government slapping VAT on private education. One excuse is that private schools are making money hand over fist? Well, as your Eyewitness said before – tax the schools on their profits! And if they were granted “tax free” status, then as with all the other tax concessions that are being stripped from businesses, do the same with private schools that are essentially businesses.
The apologists take the public for fools. The VAT isn’t going to come from the schools – they’ll be merely collecting it from the students and passing it on to the Government. So let’s cut all the BS! What’s really going on was revealed in the very first outburst by the Finance Minister: those who can afford to send their kids to private schools can afford to pay the VAT for the Government.
This betrays the envious reflex of this Government’s functionaries towards those they think have money.
Think parking meters, SARU, etc…etc..
…from sugar
When all is said and done, the Government’s going to sell off the estates – and they’re not going to give it away to cronies.
So are the workers getting their 60 per cent profit sharing?
