When revenue generation plunges

By
|
Posted on Apr 28 2000
Share

The combined effect of the triad: Asian Crisis, instability fanned by federalization, exacerbated by self-inflicted protectionist measures, have all contributed to the substantial decrease in revenue generation since four years ago.

It’s appalling how we have nurtured the attitude of “business as usual” or gone picnicking when our house was on fire. in the midst of this condition, politicians and bureaucrats contend that we should revisit the minimum wage issue. Nice try! What a sterling display of one’s ability to don the role of a royal ostrich.

So we don’t persist revisiting an issue we can’t afford at this juncture, policymakers who advocate salary increases ought to be asked exactly what measures have they undertaken that in fact encouraged substantive revenue generation in recent years? Can you please answer this question once and for all?

To illustrate a point with respect to major revenue degeneration, isn’t it true that you approved a law providing for a salary increase, but has since been shelved because it will require more than $8 million dollars?

If you have blindly approved a law without real funds, why do you think it hasn’t been implemented?

Sure, minimum wage is a very popular issue even for those making more than $10 an hour. But you ask if they’d surrender their $10 an hour so they start all over at $3.05 an hour and they come roaring back with the fattest quizzical “NO”! This apparent misguided compassion is the forte of shallow or hollow politicians who have no inkling of all that have gone wrong with mandated wages.

If policymakers who once held the helm never lifted a finger to encourage expansion of current investments to cover at least the basic needs of the Northern Marianas Community, then it ought to dawn on them that they have royally failed the very people they have promised to help. In other words, the usual politically correct issue of another shot at raising minimum wage would land no where in much the same way that the current law has been shelved prompted by a major drop in revenue generation.

Stop lying through your teeth! Current economic conditions–now at the brink of a total meltdown–can’t scaffold band-aid solutions that lack reasoned analysis. This wonderful prescription of the political season has lost its gusto. If you still doubt it, review what has happened to the current law you approved since 1991 that proposes to raise the salaries of overpaid and drone public sector employees!

****

It isn’t surprising that politicians and bureaucrats have jerked (and continue to do so) public emotions at a time when hundreds can’t find meaningful employment to support their families with some sense of dignity.

This habit has become so myopic as to blind the very people who discuss it without an inkling that these are bad economic times. And, gentlemen, spend time calling industries to find out recent cuts in work hours for their employees as a result of a major drop in the volume of business.

Your oblique view of this situation is a tale of your, well, very immature sense of the real definition of responsible leadership. How could our tiny canoe make headways when our sails are torn and the alleged navigator can’t even see the rips fluttering loudly in the wind? Gee, what new innovation in vision, yeah? Is it 20/20, cyclopic, blurred, blind, or just what is it?

****

On the lighter side: A military veteran renounced his US Citizenship advocating sovereignty for the indigenous people. Quizzed what happens when full honor guard is rendered when he dies? Said he: “Eh, bro, `at’s da day da kine for reinstate my US Citizenship, yeah?” Seeeesussss!

Disclaimer: Comments are moderated. They will not appear immediately or even on the same day. Comments should be related to the topic. Off-topic comments would be deleted. Profanities are not allowed. Comments that are potentially libelous, inflammatory, or slanderous would be deleted.