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No sacred cows
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Posted on Sep 29 2011
The CNMI government averted a government operation shutdown again this time. The Legislature achieved what they thought of as a balanced budget, but somehow some serious issues still linger. The continued disregard of past delinquent and tardy payments to the Retirement Fund is one matter that would render this budget an unbalanced one. Then again, what about those land taking claims that are not settled and paid for. We could not celebrate a victory for how this budget will affect the general public of the CNMI. But I would say this to all the legislators and the Executive Branch. Thomas Pain said over two centuries ago: “The public money ought to be touched with the most scrupulous conscientiousness of honor. It is not the produce of riches only, but of the hard earning of labor and poverty. It is drawn even from the bitterness of want and misery. Not a beggar passes, or perishes in the streets, whose mite is not in that mass.”
We could expect that for the foreseeable future, the CNMI government should be thinking contraction of governmental operations amidst a poor and dismal expectation of economic recovery here and in the United States. The earlier we acknowledge this phenomenon, the better prepared we would be to adopt and adjust to the level of financial resources within our reach. Sacred cows like PSS, Department of Public Safety, NMC, CHC, the Judiciary, and the Legislature should all check reality and do the unthinkable by reducing expenditures to the level that all should be sharing in the struggle that is certain, i.e., no money to protect the sacred cows of this government.
