Retirement Fund is doomed—if…

The Retirement Fund will be doomed to extinction if it is turned over to a receivership. I’m sure the judge will have plenty of just causes to turn the Fund over to a receiver if nothing is done to change the present diagnosis of certain death. The analysis has been done and numerous solutions have been offered and the only question is if the board is going to do something or are they going to just let it happen. As you can see, the word “if” can be one of the biggest words in the English language with a plethora of ramifications both good and bad.

I would prefer to focus on the positives of this “if” as the only alternative is the death of the Fund, which is imminent if nothing is done to save the patient. I wasn’t at the court but I did my homework and there were a number of good ideas offered to save the Fund and the willingness of some retirees to even accept a 50-percent plus decrease. I know a lot of the retirees can’t afford this much but everyone will need to pitch in their fair share if the Fund is to survive. So there is hope if a plan can be created that is acceptable by the retirees and implemented.

Like I have said on so many occasions, the CNMI is slow and even nonfunctioning when it comes to doing our homework and getting the job done. Heck, we can’t even spend free money. If it weren’t for the feds I don’t even want to think about how awful things would be when I see “federally funded” everywhere and taya [none] CNMI funded. But back to the point. Creating the plan to save the Fund is going to require doing homework if someone will do it, and getting the retirees to buy into the plan is going to take genuine leadership if there is someone not tied to the politics of the Fund that the retirees can trust to lead. More importantly the plan is going to take implementing, which I’m sure will require legislative action—if we can get our leaders to work collectively and to act expeditiously to fix the problem before the patient dies.

As a retiree, I have a vested interest in the Fund and I truly want to see the Fund survive so I can’t just sit around and watch it die and do nothing. I believe the most important task for the board at this point is getting the right person to lead and oversee the rehabilitation process. The Fund has consultants for advice and crunching numbers but it also desperately needs a consultant that can think outside the box and put a rehabilitation plan together and execute it—if they get the chance. I can easily guarantee this will be another “I told you so” if the Fund can’t bring the retirees together as one people headed in the same direction to help the Retirement Fund board with a legitimate plan to rehabilitate the Fund. The one-people-one-direction that I use so much does indeed have real and severe consequences as we will all find prosperity together or we will all perish like fools. This scenario reminds me of a scene in the Godfather because it is either all retirees help to save the Fund or the Fund will die, which is truly an offer we can’t refuse!