Why the retirees?

When will we wake up? Wake up now! Wake up now! Do not be fooled! The pain of fixing the Retirement Fund belongs to all the people of NMI. I lie awake at night trying to figure out how to survive when and if my pension is diminished. I have yet to figure it out. I actually do not think I can survive with my pension. I already have financial problems with my full pension.

What I have figured out is that the whole idea that the retirees should take the pain of the collapse of the Retirement Fund is ludicrous at best. Why the retirees? The retirees did nothing to cause the Fund to collapse! The fault goes to an administration, or administrations, that failed to uphold their oaths of office. They used money that should have gone to the Fund for other purposes. There was nothing legal or moral about their actions. Now we are a few years away from seeing the results of the actions of the CNMI government. Government of the people, by the people, and for the people.

The responsibility for acts of government belongs to everybody, not the retirees. When elected officials are allowed by the electorate to run wild and do whatever they want, someone will eventually have to bear the pain of correcting the situation. Why the retirees?

The Governor was re-elected for a second (extended) term fully aware of the problems of the Fund. If you voted for him, you voted for the demise of the Fund. His opponent swore to try to fix the Fund. The voters did not elect the opponent. The voters are ultimately responsible for what an elected official does in office. Not the retirees. The officials were elected by the people of NMI. Not the retirees. It is the people of NMI collectively that should bear the pain of the sins of the government. I am not implying that no one should be prosecuted for their wrong actions, just that that is another problem to deal with later.

The electorate has known for years that the officials were neglecting their duty to honor their oaths to uphold the laws and the CNMI Constitution. They did not keep that oath when they looted the Fund. I use the word looted because that is what you are doing when you take money belonging to the Fund and use it to hire new people, or whatever you do with it. You had already committed that money to the Fund when you hired new employees. The idea that more employees can be hired if you use the contractual benefits of other employees is criminal. It is criminal.

I also hear the dirty little secrets like the $117,666 pension being paid to someone! That sounds like something to be looked into. If that is true and there are unreasonable things like that, and double dipping, and double pensions, these things should be eliminated immediately. What are they waiting for? It is a good time to be cleaning up the Fund.

The way this should be seen is the CNMI government has a few years to prepare to pay the retirees out of the general fund (or find a way to bail out the Fund, or take the SSA’s offer, or whatever). That is the only reasonable solution. That may well mean laying off people from the NMI payroll, along with other painful actions. That may mean turning off the air-conditioning! Parking some vehicles. Selling some land. Not the retirees!

We all need to keep foremost in our minds that the retirees did nothing to get here. Why would anyone think they should bear the pain of this correction? Three years is plenty of time to figure out what will need to be done to pay the retires. Stop passing the blame to the retirees. The blame goes ultimately to the people of NMI. Not the retirees.