The most coveted seat!

We are at the crossroads to determining the future of these isles this November. The option is either shift to new leadership or prolong the status quo. There’s about 34 days left before we step forward to making that final determination.

Indeed, we’ve followed and listened to gubernatorial tandems make their pitch. A lot of what has been expressed is the usual garbage that doesn’t offer any sense of hope for brighter tomorrows. Their radar screen is blurred, even the person who designed the modern social contraption is confused, can’t decipher anything on it.

Who among the four is equipped with a vision and value system poised to take the CNMI out of the slavery of abject misery in poverty? I’ve heard two of the four discuss the essence of lasting investments where we eventually scaffold future public services with sufficient funds, implement 100 percent renewable energy, reduction in healthcare cost to cash-balanced retirement programs.

Indeed, many of us have spent hours on end trying to endure the hardship fostered by the lack of vision and leadership. This has gone on far enough. Hope our vivid daily experience doesn’t give memory a slippery hold. Must bite the bullet proactively for real time change!

It’s time to reset our buttons of determination with conviction to help our people by taking the proverbial first step in a thousand-mile journey replacing political dinosaurs. We owe it to our children. We owe them brighter and secured tomorrows. We must responsibly do it on the 4th of November.

Fiduciary literacy a must!

It’s vital for the elected elite to understand that they have gone AWOL on fiduciary literacy. It doesn’t have a clear understanding that a democratic republic is what Lincoln famously declared a government “of the people, for the people and by the people.”

You failed “we the people” when you decided to trash their participation on the casino law for reasons only you know, suspiciously. You exceeded the limits in the exercise of power railroading an issue that would eventually destroy the cultural traditions of these isles.

Obviously, you need a refresher course on fiduciary literacy. Not only did you usurp the rights of “we the people” but displayed dysfunctional disposition on a matter soundly shot down twice via direct representation or plebiscite by “we the people.” You took a leap of arrogance and incoherence that we would treat with reciprocity this November! Trust me, we’re ready for it.

Fletcher’s culpability

The $23 million owed CUC by the NMI government didn’t just pop out like Jack-In-Box a day or so ago. It goes back several years and I’m sure the CUC boss knows about it. Did he push for payment in recent past? Or is he fearful of falling out of the grace of his boss on the hill? Obviously, there’s no room for this incompetency! Fletcher is equally culpable of allowing this mess to pile up unnecessarily.

Redundancy

You listen to political dinosaurs spout on issues they’ve skipped by simply failing fiduciary responsibility saying, “Something must be done.” It pacifies our browbeaten faces temporarily, hearing dinosaurs threatening to pull their heads out of the sand of self-imposed ignorance. For instance:

• High power rates: “Something must be done!”
• High health premiums: “Something must be done!”
• Health deductibles: “Something must be done!”
• Increased cost of living: “Something must be done!”
• Underemployment of 52 percent: “Something must be done!”
• Salaries stuck for 20 years: “Something must be done!”
• Hardship all over the NMI: “Something must be done!”

Interesting that as they spout a woefully redundant “do-nothing” sound bite, they simply turn around and kick the can down Capital Hill, singing, “In the midnight hour.”

Candy shops: Some government employees are out on orders to shut down candy stores across the archipelago. “We’re starting with the Settlement Fund, CUC, CHC and PSS.” Is the NMI really literally bankrupt or is it only on paper? Did I say “…only on paper?”

In a disastrous economy

Money! It’s what we talk about all day, seven days a week, 365 days a year. It’s something some folks have more than others. I am sure most folks are without it, daily.

You know what it is—currency. You’ve disposed of it in umpteen ways—transactions. At day’s end your wallet is empty—bankruptcy.

For future retirees who are basically non-retirees in conventional wisdom, you quiz what happens when you leave service and there’s nothing to look forward to for familial maintenance.

For those marching into their golden years, you ponder if the retirement fund (settlement fund) would survive beyond 2019 or would it recede into the tidal shift of bankruptcy. You settle for a simple answer: the only thing certain is uncertainty! But there’s no avoiding the fact that you need about 60-85 percent of your total household income today to sustain your current lifestyle. Is this income anywhere in sight?

For folks who are still actively employed, you quiz if your income is sufficient to cover incidental cost of college education for your kids while paying for the first family home and other obligations.

Troubling too that of the entire NMI workforce, some 52 percent are underemployed. These are folks with jobs earning federal definition of poverty income level of $15K to $24K for a family of four. Definitely, one could only assume that they live paycheck to paycheck, whose income has remained stagnant for 20 years too. This setback while everything else has gone up by at least 24 percent or more.

Have you seriously thought of your fate when you hit your golden years? Did you know that most of us would sail into the sunset after suffering a massive heart attack or stroke? Are you prepared for renal or kidney failure, thus a three times a week visit to the dialysis center? I suppose uncertainty is the only interesting surprise these days.