Tsunami of bankruptcy

The CNMI has never had to face serious fiscal disaster until recent past. The pile of debts versus revenue or income is oceans apart. The elected elite is wary there’s serious trouble ahead: a tsunami of bankruptcy to which there’s no silver bullet.

Perhaps by a stroke of luck, there were intermittent infusion of funds somewhere along the way, i.e., Micronesian War Claims, federal help for houses destroyed by super storms, hefty tax returns, land leases, and land compensation, among others.

Then came the boom years where every corner of the island was smoldering with barbecue smoke. We had so much money we even told Uncle Sam in 1993, “No more appropriations for NMI government operations.” Or did we open our big mouth a bit prematurely? Shouldn’t we be asking Uncle Sam for SOS to scaffold the economic disaster at home?

Today, there’s nothing out there but vicious sparks of increases, from health premiums to food commodities and cuts to pension pay that “we the people” must endure. As we count pennies, nickels, and dimes, there’s nothing left. So we engage in insanity—counting the same pennies again and again and hoping for different results. The derivative remains the same. A`Saina!

Budget hawks are now rehearsing a nursery rhyme, Swing Low, hoping government managers understand they can no longer splurge on “nice-to-have” items but zero in on “must have” only paradigm. Is austerity now in the wings? How about RIF? I’m not being facetious, knowing the fiscal mess at hand is a lot more egregious than meets the eye. We’re broke, di ba?

Perhaps we ought to ask private industries to move into government if only to take critical ocular review of how they would run departments and agencies and if there’s a need for that many people on the bloated public payroll. The goal is to instill efficiency and efficacy in the delivery of public services. Shall we try this just for the sake of determining if the NMI government isn’t larger than it need be?

I recall a desk audit undertaken at DPL about nine years ago. The effort slammed wasteful spending to zero. It’s an audit that revealed employees’ credentials and qualifications for jobs they occupied, basking in salaries paid for with political gratuity. Realignment was instituted, reconciling salaries commensurate with qualifications. No fun but had to be done forthwith in the interest of taxpayers.

The public sector just lost its biggest incentive—retirement program—that lured a lot of locals to government jobs. Moreover, a government job doesn’t require turning in a profit at day’s end. Thus the special incentive to specialize in coffee shop visitations that sometime include breakfast and lunch eating off a single menu: “do-nothing” plus overtime. Furthermore, they still get paid at least three dollars more than comparable jobs in private industries. Why pay non-productive public sector employees more at the expense of productive private sector employees?

Recalled downsizing the Saipan Tribune from a monthly subsidy of $20,000 to zero by year’s end. Hence, it stood on its own feet financially. Having been a fiscal conservative, I know that you could only spend what’s in your wallet. Otherwise, you’re stealing from Jose to feed Juan. Nah! In private industries you’re hired for your expertise and productivity. You chance specializing in coffee shop visitations and you’re shown the front door before lunch break. Yes, earn your dues with integrity.

Is there any other largess that could ease the hardship on the islands today? There’s nothing up that alley. Hence, it’s time to tighten our belts and learn to live within our means, including cutting the luxury of spending on spending. The tsunami of bankruptcy is here!

The call for renegotiation of our relationship with the feds ignores the legal fact that the Covenant Agreement is under U.S. Public Law 94-241. It’s now subject to the U.S. legislative process, not our usual fume-off-our-chest call for change in instant soba fashion. We failed due diligence once more, di ba?

A quick glimpse into the agreement would also reveal that it is a permanent arrangement. Is there room to rearrange the chairs on the deck when the boat has toppled over?

The appropriate course of action is to seek amendment to prevailing federal law. It means formal submission of issues to the CNMI non-voting delegate who in turn translates it into proposed amendments. But this undertaking needs everybody speaking off the same page. We must take up refresher courses on “Purposeful Organization 101” so we define the usual disorientation down to common decency and purpose. The usual fire sparks into the heavens only feeds the ego but defeats attaining real mileage in aspirations.

Otherwise, the 902 provision calls for consultation every 10 years. Have we proactively sought use of this vehicle? It’s foolhardy aspiring for something that is already federal law. Unless we succeed in seeking changes via the U.S. legislative process, it’s all blather.

The perennial blame game never ceases. Perhaps this is because we blame everybody else for our own inadequacies in the exercise of strengthening our democratic institutions. I think it’s called self-government often taken as synonymous to sovereignty. Therein lies the adolescency of our vacuous and feel-good posturing. Covenant Section 101 settles this score once and for all.

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The nuts, bolts, and cogs have come off our wagon every so often. It’s the usual blame others for our inadequacies. Reminds me of a man who insisted on meeting the late Russian Premiere Nikita Khrushchev. He was raging and ranting, kicking the premiere’s desk saying, “All this mess at home is the fault of President John F. Kennedy.” He missed the target by oceans apart. Seesuzzzz!