Will St. Maarten finally leave the monetary union?
PHILIPSBURG — The Social Economic Council advised the government more than ten years ago, in February 2013 to leave the monetary union with Curacao as soon as possible. Politicians may have read the advice, or maybe they did not but the result was that they did nothing at all with it. The Council’s advice to introduce dollarization also fell More...
Laughing all the way to the bank
By Hilbert Haar Much has been said but little has been done about the generous pension plans for politicians who miss the cut during an election – and it is costing the country, and by extension the tax payers, More...
The art of critical thinking
By Hilbert Haar Is it the role of the media to educate as some politicians seem to think? I strongly disagree with that idea. Schools educate. Parents, if you’re lucky, educate as well. Serious news media inform. Back More...
Department of Statistics optimistic
~ It is highly anticipated that the country will surpass the 2016 record in the coming years ~ By Hilbert Haar Our tourism industry is not out of the woods yet, not by a long shot. This appears from data provided More...
Wasteful spending
By Hilbert Haar If you thought that the government and its elected officials are careful when they are spending your tax-dollars I invite you to think again, because these people are a lot, but not careful. The More...
The old normal
By Hilbert Haar Nothing surprises me anymore about politics in St. Maarten so the coalition-agreement the URSM signed with the DP, NOW and PFP did not come like a bat out of hell either. The four parties have eight More...
Bold promises
By Hilbert Haar It will take some time before the Netherlands has a new government – with or without Geert Wilders, leader of the PVV (Party for Freedom) and winner of the Dutch elections. Wilders has to More...
Counterfeiting
By Hilbert Haar Tee shirts, watches, booze, pharmaceuticals, cosmetics. There is hardly a product for which consumers cannot find cheaper (and therefore counterfeited) alternatives. Stores in St. Maarten are stuffed More...
Good grief!
By Hilbert Haar What is the world coming to? What happened to the process of logical thinking? Those thoughts hit me like a hurricane when I read that the Council of Ministers asked the Integrity Chamber whether More...
Wishful thinking
By Hilbert Haar The prime minister listening to his own fairy tale. That is how comedian Wim Kan once described the traditional speech by the Dutch Queen (at the time) during the opening of the Dutch parliamentary More...
