A country's development need nurturing and there will be a time to reap the crop. That time is now.

The joint opposition mouth pieces and critics must be hanging their heads in shame.

First choice goes to members of the PPP/Children.

I have a niece working at Princess Hotel at present. When Sun and Sand Hotel is completed, many Guyanese will be gainfully employed as well.

You are saying: "They need not apply."

That's your opinion, Mitwah. I don't want to get into politics on this discussion. I am just the messenger to bring good news.

well..if yuh dont want get political, then post it on social

So what is the name of the investor who was to originally build the Mariott Hotel?

Bhai, you is on a different trip. Let's concentrate on the job openings. I am tired of the daily bashing on GNI. We can all do with some good news.

A little bird told me those jobs are already filled. Advertising them now is a political gimmick and simply perfunctory. Remember, only Chinese were employed to build it?

You have any good news for the lady at Albion who was chopped like meat by bandits, while Rohee and Ramotar say all is well in Guyana...

I once said this building will beautify Guyana's beach line. So said, so done.

Tola, I happen to know the Rampat fella who died.  Cobra is he not your family?

Sure, we can see Jagdeo booking the first room with his best boyfriend..

Where's the beach?

Good to know Mits, we were involved with the girls regarding helping with school.

Single parent women who sell at markets are a good source for those who are needy.

Cobra, are you related ?

The beautiful Atlantic ocean is big enough for all to see. If you travel the seven seas, you will find different colors of waters. Guyana is blesses with black and sweet water creeks, and a sandy brown ocean. 

When it finishing, me want to visit and gamble lil bit.

That's the spirit.

Children are committing suicide in large numbers in Berbice  and elected AHs wants bribes and you are telling us about  development that is only for  the Reich.

Go book a room with Jagdeo...

Cobra, Let's Talk Tourism and Hospitality.

In this little piece of paradise we call Guyana, we hardly depend on the tourism industry yet we have much to offer. Our 83,000 square miles make us the largest Caribbean state, 80% of which is largely untouched forests. From the beaches of the Corentyne to the rolling hills of the Rupununi Savannahs, the marine turtles on the North West beaches to the dense Iwokrama forest – Guyana is no doubt blessed and is a haven for eco-tourism.

But there is a problem. One that is staring at us right in the face. And we should be embarrassed to invite tourists into the country because of this problem. We all know what it is: the current state of the capital.

The practice has been to have tourists land at the Cheddi Jagan or Ogle International Airports and then whisk them off to Kaieteur and the interior to visit our eco-resorts and get their fill of looking at our birds and breathing that clean fresh air. But to have the full Guyanese experience one would always have to visit the capital which boasts a mixture of every culture that kissed this earth. And the same cannot be done when cruise ships dock at Port Georgetown.

Picture this: City Hall, which used to be a gem is now a murky piece of lead. The High Court building is in shipshape, but the broken hand and sceptre of Victoria is an insult to our colonial heritage. The canals that used to be low and shimmering are now pungent, stagnant and filled with garbage. The streets are lined with filth and the air with disgust. I could go on. But you get the picture. It is familiar and it is what the tourist sees.

And after we have fixed the city physically—and only heaven knows when that will happen—we have to fix the citizens. Or maybe we should tackle that first.

Let me list the tasks: We have to fix the often rude and uncaring behaviour that sometimes passes for customer service. We have to straighten out the security forces. Then we must tackle the less-than-average citizens; the ones who delight in standing on the corners urinating, cursing at the top of their lungs; blasting derogatory music from their vehicles or push carts.

Public transportation is a nightmare: too fast, choked, rude conductors and aggressive drivers. Then there are those pedestrians who have no regard for vehicular traffic and cross the roads when they feel like and at their own speed. It is as though we are slipping into anarchy; or have we already fallen?

When did the most hospitable country in the Caribbean lose its charm? Suriname boasted during Carifesta it was the most hospitable and Trinidad and Tobago invites business and tourists alike to ‘the Bridge between South America and the Caribbean’. What is our claim to fame these days? Garbage?

Let’s be grateful that Guyana does not have to depend solely on tourism. Let’s be thankful that we have diversification. Tourism is needed, tourism is wanted but tourism can never be accomplished with how we keep ourselves. Let’s stop pretending that we have arrived. And let’s start working really hard to regain what we have lost. (Jairo Rodrigues)

http://www.stabroeknews.com/20...8/lets-talk-tourism/

For those of you who find my thread offensive, please forgive me for speaking positive about my country of birth. My thread is simply about jobs and it didn't involved suicide, the rich and politics in General. If you wish to discuss any other topic of concern, GNI is big enough to accommodate all of us on any given day. I would be happy to contribute respectfully on any topic that concern you if you would start a thread of your likeness. Thank you!

And after we have fixed the city physically—and only heaven knows when that will happen—we have to fix the citizens. Or maybe we should tackle that first.

Let me list the tasks: We have to fix the often rude and uncaring behaviour that sometimes passes for customer service. We have to straighten out the security forces. Then we must tackle the less-than-average citizens; the ones who delight in standing on the corners urinating, cursing at the top of their lungs; blasting derogatory music from their vehicles or push carts.

Public transportation is a nightmare: too fast, choked, rude conductors and aggressive drivers. Then there are those pedestrians who have no regard for vehicular traffic and cross the roads when they feel like and at their own speed. It is as though we are slipping into anarchy; or have we already fallen?

Guyana's beaches?  If that is how the hotel is going to be promoted its doomed.   Not that the private investor cares as he investment is fully guaranteed.

Cobra, I believe you need to go back to a real life school.. not  a PPP school.

How do you deal with the issues regarding a country without  dealing with those who are most needy.

Don't tell me the crap about other countries, we are dealing with Guyana.

The rich can look after themselves,  who looks after the poor and where does the PPP government intends to put them..??

But if PPP elites and their relatives already got the jobs, of what use is this.  More propaganda for the PPP?  Because when you8 ask the average Guyanese they really seem to be stressed.

Ramada is putting in millions to re-brand the Princess Hotel.

Good news for Guyana = Bad news for the racist Carib.

Propaganda.

US food stamp use swells to a record 47.8 million

By Kate Randall 
29 March 2013

A record number of Americans are using food stamps, known today as the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP). Despite official proclamations that the recession has ended and an economic recovery is underway, families are turning to SNAP benefits in huge numbers. The working poor comprise a growing number of food stamp recipients, and about half of those receiving benefits are children.

Enrollment in the food stamp program has increased by 70 percent since 2008, to 47.8 million people as of December 2012, the Wall Street Journal reported Thursday. The biggest factor driving the increase is the stagnating job market and a rising poverty rate. This means that a staggering 15 percent of the US population receives food stamp benefits, nearly double the rate of 1975.

In 2008, at the onset of the recession, 28.2 million people were enrolled in SNAP. While the official jobless rate, which peaked at 10 percent in 2009, had dipped slightly to 7.7 percent as of February this year, the SNAP program has continued to grow. The Congressional Budget Office (CBO) predicts that food stamp usage will drop only marginally, to 43.3 million people, by 2017. Even this estimate is predicated on the unemployment rate dropping to 5.6 percent over the next four years.

The number of people using food stamps roughly corresponds to the number of Americans living in poverty, which rose to just below 50 million people in 2011. Utilizing the Supplementary Poverty Measure (SPM), which factors in expenses for food, clothing, shelter, health care and other essentials, the US Census Bureau estimates that nearly one in six people in the US is living in poverty.

The average monthly benefit per person receiving SNAP benefits was only $133 last year. In order to qualify, a household’s income cannot be more than 130 percent of the poverty level, which is about $25,000 for a family of three, according to the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities (CBPP).

Enrollees receive benefits on a debit card, which can to be used to purchase cereal, meats, fruits, vegetables, bread, milk and other staples. When food is running low, recipients often seek out 24-hour grocery stores, waiting for 12 a.m. for their monthly benefits to kick in.

The fact that 15 percent of the population must rely on SNAP benefits has received little attention in the media or from politicians of either big business party. Earlier this week, President Obama signed a bill making permanent $85 billion in sequester cuts, which will slash billions of dollars from programs benefiting the poor, including Head Start, special education, housing and many other programs.

While SNAP technically evaded the sequester ax, other nutrition programs are facing deep cuts. The Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children, known as WIC, could be forced to cut almost 600,000 mothers, infants and children from its rolls. About half of all infants born in the US qualify for WIC benefits, and mothers use them to purchase food, formula and other vital necessities, as well as to access nutrition education and other services.

Due to the sequester cuts, about 4 million fewer meals will be delivered through Meals on Wheels programs, which provide daily meals to homebound seniors. For many recipients, it is not only their only hot meal of the day, but their sole connection to others in the community.

Millions of the long-term jobless—who have been forced to turn to food stamps—will also see an 11 percent cut to their extended unemployment benefits. The sequester cuts—which will constitute the baseline of future allocations of federal spending—come as the need for social programs benefiting working families is increasing at a rapid pace due to falling wages, unemployment and growing poverty.

The US government spent a record $74.6 billion on SNAP benefits last year, more than double the $30.4 billion spent on the program in 2007. Rules adopted under the Clinton administration allowed some leeway for states in allowing residents to qualify for benefits.

In 2001-2002, six states eased the income and asset requirements for SNAP benefits, making it somewhat easier for people to qualify if they had a low-wage job, or some savings. By 2009, in response to the recession, 17 states and US territories eased their eligibility requirements. Today, three out of four households receiving SNAP benefits include at least one person who is working.

The Obama administration’s 2009 stimulus bill expanded the SNAP program, raising the level of benefits recipients can receive, and allowing people to keep their benefits longer. This expansion is set to expire on October 31, and there are no moves afoot to extend it. The CBPP estimates that food stamp benefits will decrease by $8 per month per person with this expiration.

As of November 1, SNAP benefits will be returned to the level of the so-called Thrifty Food Plan, the lowest of four nutrition estimates calculated by the US Department of Agriculture. The four plans—Thrifty, Low-Cost, Moderate Cost, and Liberal—vary widely in cost. In February 2013, a family of four with two children on the “Thrifty” plan was expected to budget $636 a month for food at home, while the same family on the “Liberal” plan would spent $1,257—almost double the amount.

As with all aspects of social life in America, there is one standard for the working class and another for the wealthy. In this case the divide is between those who struggle to provide adequate nutrition for their families under conditions of rising costs for housing, utilities and other necessities, and the tiny elite who think nothing of splurging on a restaurant meal with a tab far in excess of the “Liberal” monthly budget for a family of four.

Almost half the children presently receiving SNAP benefits—some 10 million—already live in extreme poverty, which means household income is less than half the official poverty level, already set an unrealistically low level. Another 9 million receiving food stamps are elderly or have a serious disability. The cuts in SNAP benefits will quite literally take food off the table for millions of American families at a time of deepening poverty and burgeoning social inequality.

Scientist admit that when you know everything life becomes boring. The unknown always keep you thinking and learning.

So what is the PPP/C doing to curb the increasing rate of suicides in Berbice? Black Bush has been identified as the Suicide Capital?

We need to clean up the Bay area. Some of the current Tigers don't have teeth, only hard gums. We need some young Tigers for the Tourists.

Mits, I been around long enough to know that even good news will come under attack to score political points. With all the bashing on the opposition in shamble, I still believe they have Guyana's interest at heart, but at the same time, I refuse to speak ill about my country.

Me and all will visit the hotel and stay there and gamble also.  Hurry up and clean up the place and finish the hotel.   No more protest, let us progress with the PPP.  

Feel nice now Cobra.

Now Fruck off because I was just joking.

This Hotel was a big fraud with all the money going for fat man brazzy and jag-deo-hoe.

Why cry over spilled milk? Let the cat lick some too nah. The hotel is already built and soon to be commissioned. Would you like to mobilize your folks and destroy it?

do not underestimate the might of a people.

I never did.

Chinese Labour at Marriott Construction… Sun and Sand’s use of BK Intl. exposes Brassington’s contempt for Guyanese – Harmon

By Latoya Giles

Parliamentarian Joseph Harmon

The Government’s contention that local lack of skills is one of the reasons why they picked a Chinese firm to build the Marriott Hotel is completely laughable, according to Parliamentarian, Joseph Harmon.

Harmon in an interview with this newspaper yesterday, pointed out that while the Government couldn’t find a local contractor, an Indian investor has hired BK International to construct a US$54M hotel with the same room capacity. BK International was retained as the local contractor for the multi-million dollar Sun and Sand hotel at Turkeyen.

BK has not yet started construction, which was slated to begin the week after the sod turning ceremony last month.

Government had also defended its decision to refuse Guyanese employment in the construction of the hotel by saying that having a local labour force would contribute to a language barrier between the Chinese contractors and the workers.

According to Harmon, government’s reasons are always laughable because they have always held the position that Guyana does have the skill and ability to build things. “The first time I spoke about the Marriott construction I spoke about the hundreds of Guyanese workers throughout the region,” Harmon said.

He explained that the decision by the Sun and Sand entity was nothing new to Guyana. In fact, there are persons in Georgetown who are building major hotels and don’t require Chinese labour exclusively, Harmon told Kaieteur News.

Harmon said that this blatant act shows the contempt which the government holds for its people.

“It’s like they could tell people anything and feel they could get away with it and ultimately they will have to pay for this level of contempt,” Harmon told Kaieteur News.

You cannot take the country’s money and come with “wishy washy” excuses because Guyanese are becoming less tolerant of these excuses, he stressed.

Harmon said he believes that there is still a level of opaqueness about the Marriot project. He explained that taxpayers’ money which has been spent on the project has never been accounted for.

According to him, “this is where you can see that the contract for the construction was flawed; since they did not have a requirement for Guyanese labour to be involved at any level.”

Executive Director of the National Industrial and Commercial Investments Limited (NICIL), Winston Brassington, in an exclusive interview with the State’s news agency, had said that the use of Chinese labour force to construct the multi-million-dollar Marriott Hotel was just one of several conditionalities necessary for the facility’s efficient and speedy construction.

However, even though Brassington had stated this, the construction is still behind time. The completion deadline was expected to be July month end, but was not met. President Donald Ramotar at a recent press conference, could not say whether there are any cost overruns for the project, and if so, the amount.

Brassington, as Head of NICIL/Privatisation Unit, which manages Government assets, had explained that Shanghai Construction Group (SCG) won the bid from 23 other firms to carry out the construction of the Marriott.

In defending SCG’s decision to hire Chinese nationals, Brassington said that the company indicated that “(it) had examined the level of skills available (locally) for the project as well as the levels of productivity.”

They were not impressed with the skills available locally to efficiently complete the project on time.