Dear Editor,
What is it that they say about insanity? That it is doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results? Is that what government is about to do with Sunwing and Spadaro? Seems so to me, but let's grind the question down to its nuts and bolts and see.
Sunwing and the Spadaro group make some deals and a resort or two changes hands for a lot of millions of dollars. Fair enough. That's how big business is done. One company has a lot of money and thinks they are getting a good deal and buys another company that they think they can turn a big profit on. How does that actually work? Easy. The bean counters sit down and grind on the numbers and in the end they say “Yup. We have enough cash and credit to make this work no matter what happens.
“We aren't talking about some fly by night developers so well-known on this Island that buy and build with other people’s money and then mysteriously somehow get rich and go broke simultaneously, screwing all the clients. No. You are talking about real companies with real track records. Spadaro, like him or not, does a great job of doing what he says he is going to do when he says he is going to do it and Sunwing has been around for a long time and is well capitalized. No amateurs or scammers there.
So, that begs the question, why do they need some sort of sweetheart deal from the government to do what they were going to do anyway before the storm? Surely they had all this budgeted anyway and just as surely they had insurance that is already writing them some sort of 8-figure check. No... This is those same bean counters rubbing their hands together with glee, saying to the directors, “Look we have a great chance here. The Dutch are going to ship cash in by the container load, and if we look and act particularly pathetic, we can con government into paying for what we were going to do anyway, and we can keep the insurance money and everybody gets a new Mercedes and Audi.”
In this regard, I ask Government simply and directly, “In every case before where you have given the Tax Holiday, sweetheart loans to big business, in the end, when all the figures were in, how did that work out for you?” You know the answer as well as I. Government and the Island lost their shirt, and big business got rich. My prediction is that that is exactly what will happen again. The insanity thing.
Now let's talk about fundamental fairness. There is a whole island full of real businesses that already exist that have slaved and busted their butts to whip themselves back into shape or are trying. Is Government saying, “Ok everybody, line up here and get your loan to exactly the same terms that Sunwing and Spadaro are getting, because we know you guys are the REAL backbone of this island and need the same help the big guys do?” Somehow I doubt it. I think the guys that are already here know full well how this game is played. You hunker down and take care of yourself because when push comes to shove, you can only rely on yourself.
Government doesn't want to hear from you in any way, shape or form except to collect the taxes. It's a one-way street and everybody knows it and is stuck with it. Witness Pelican resort. Devastated like everybody else. So what happens? As soon as the winds stop, an aircraft shows up with the owner of the resort on board. He looks around, gets the management and engineers together, they make a plan and he says “Go ahead.” And he writes a check. A BIG check. And in 24 hours, everybody is working their butts off to get the place up and running.
No whining to Government. No begging for handouts. Just like so many on this island, he just brought to bear whatever resources that he had to whip his investment back into shape. My understanding is that Oyster Bay and Belair did essentially the same. No sweetheart deals. No tax holiday. Just honest hard work by the people that understand what self-reliance is all about.
I have met Mr. Ferrier and he seems like a straight guy to me. So I say to him, “Look... if these guys had enough money to do this project before, then they certainly still do right now and if they don't, then the implication is that they are poorly capitalized to start and doomed to fail anyway which makes Government's investment seem like a really bad idea.” Failing that, I say to him, “Look Mike... if you really want to do this, then make those exact same terms available to everybody, because they are at least (and probably more) as deserving as the Sunwing/Spadaro operation. And, by the way, do it at retail bank rates and conditions so when the whole deal goes belly up in a few years, you at least have some security to grab.
If Sunwing and Spadaro are so certain of their success, then they should have no trouble pledging the hard assets as collateral.” Here's your chance to demonstrate that this newly-minted Government actually has its feet grounded in the real world. A novel concept, perhaps, but worth a shot if you have the courage. Your people will notice. I promise.
Steven Johnson
