Bad tidings inundates paradise

Like a monsoonal superstorm, this archipelago is drenched to its wits with bad tidings on every corner. I need not recount them for you know what they are by heart; it would be risking redundancy at this point. The condition we see today is apocalyptic in magnitude never before seen in the developmental history of these isles: bankrupt to the marrow of our bones!

About the only fair tidings is an all out effort by Delegate Kilili to defend grant fund cuts in view of national Republican determination to control Obama’s unbridled spending habits. This is further compromised by the loss of our strength of representation attributable to the decrease in population, not to mention major loss in foreign investment funds. Wow! What trophy for posterity destined to become the Disneyland of Joblessness and ultimately, Hopelessness.

Is there a way out of this mess? Yes, however a day late and a dollar short. Let’s see what our men of wisdom on the hill have in store for us other than half-cocked measures like casino, more taxes, and moral dictates on panty-drying in Garapan and bicycle regulations. It’s the economy and what perfect alibi in casino as the ultimate pill destined to ruin these isles over the long haul. It’s the non-obvious, i.e., social ills it brings that cost more than what’s generated. But such is the wisdom of our arrogant bunch on the hill.

Casino industry isn’t the Holy Grail or savior that would serve as the single magic pill that solves all financial ills that have brought the CNMI to its knees. The global recession washed ashore in tsunami-like fashion. We responded with the usual acquiescence of “whatever will be, will be, que sera, sera.” Now the flash flood remains stationary and fatally inching upwards. Did anybody prepare for this by, i.e., filling up sandbags or did we just recite the usual “que sera”?
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Census: Story behind the story

The drop in the CNMI population is a tale of a decrease in the number of people (over 15K who left island) that included 700 from Rota and 400-plus from Tinian, including the deployment of major foreign investment funds to the tune of $3 billion to $7 billion.

However unsettling, most understood the specific decision of our people who sought greener pasture elsewhere. What is known as the “chaiguan,” the metaphorical seawater grass or feed for fish has slowly dried up during a prolonged drought period of snoring on the job.

Those who saw the grass wilting into parched brown fields of hopelessness quickly decided to withdraw their retirement contributions and left. It was the only option. Did our leaders lift their fingers to stave off the onset of the towering inferno that turns paradise into the hellish hole of our people? Heard some half-cocked punditry that fizzled quicker than the morning dew across playgrounds everywhere.

I feel for these folks who once had plans of raising their children in our tiny island paradise much closer to home. But they can’t stand the approaching hellish fire, moving in like magma from a volcanic eruption ready to turn them into ashes in their presence.
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Cost of doing biz/new wage scale

One of the larger issues facing presidential candidates is the cost of doing business across the country. It includes federally imposed minimum wage of $7.25 an hour.

Michele Bachman had something to say about it pointing out the relocation of U.S. businesses to other countries forced by the prohibitive cost of doing business at home.

The federal minimum wage here has shut down opportunities for any other form of manufacturing. It’s gone, it’s history coupled with policies that have forced the withdrawal of foreign capital here.

It’s an issue that merits critical review as real planners work out a blueprint on what needs and must be done to give the CNMI greater latitude to lure foreign capital. Without it, it’s back to basics of toiling the soil to meet family dietary and other needs. Fishing in the lagoon is also basically history.

So can the real leaders please step up and save the NMI from itself? Governance thirsts for real leadership and they’d pound all those who plan to enter the political arena with real hard questions. It won’t be easy as it used to be.

Cost of Success

Some of the NMI’s most intractable problems come not from its failures but from its successes. Often you can’t get a good thing without paying a bad price for it.

During the incipient years of our constitutional government, there was a period of guaranteed funding and millions of dollars in foreign investments further cushioned by real fat land leases, public and private.

The good times were here and we allowed our successes to turn us into lifetime alcoholics, sleeping contently each night interminably convinced the good times will never end.

Well, it did, right? And we’re caught with our pants down, clueless as to where we go from here, right? The seemingly permanent theme is “bankruptcy” from local government to the Retirement Fund. Did i say that? Ssshhhhhhh! The boys are planning a mea culpa session in hopes of redemption. A bit too late, yeah?
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Finally, Kilili’s declaration for another term isn’t news. That no one could defeat him isn’t news either! I say it’s a given! That he will someday step down as a tenured member of the U.S. Congress may be newsy. Then the scouting for his replacement begins anew.