Extent of destruction from disasters

Folks at the helm are scrambling through reading materials, analyzing, crunching, and struggling to understand the combined bleak and hopeless tidings of economic loss in the last month hailing from two disasters. It seems too that hope is a distant memory. But we must come to terms with the real fiscal posture of the NMI before resetting our buttons.

Be that as it may, I’m still interested finding out from economists and other experts what’s the total loss, knowing we’ve been hit with the fiscal crisis long before the two disasters pummeled these isles. We all know there’s something seriously wrong when we can’t pay CUC over $30 million in debts, limit to $5 million per year the operations budget of CHC that requires over $40 million and other big ticket items like PSS waiting for funding in the wings.

Devastation: The domino effect spells devastation, e.g., over 10,000 announced visitor cancellations; a protracted business operation and everything else waiting to restart like CUC’s operations and collections. It isn’t like picking up the slack from here and moving on. It’s all start from the very beginning, people! It would be hard lessons to draw from. Do we give up now?

Would the projected $145 million remain intact or how much would remain? PSS and CHC need nothing less than $86 million. Would casino and other propped-up plans be poised to ease the mounting dire fiscal crisis at home? The debate shifts every so often to other non-issues. But at the end of the day all roads fork into a single artery: bankruptcy!

PSS is one agency that has successfully secured fund earmarks for its needs over the often-contentious normal budgetary exercise. The authority to appropriate is solely the preserve of the House of Representatives. Such should be sustained and jealously guarded by lower chamber legislators.

The exercise may be cumbersome but a necessary evil in pinning down the performance rating of departments and agencies. In brief, if you’ve failed in the last fiscal year why would you still be asking for more money? Shall we subscribe to rhyme and reason? After all, it’s the taxpayers’ money and they want their representatives to guard their interest full square.

Excuse me! These and other continuing and ballooning fiscal obligations require tons of money to pay them on time. For instance, CUC needs about $14 million per year to buy fuel for the power generation plant at Lower Base. Definitely, there would be a lot of juggling funds up ahead. Would there be sufficient revenue collection to pay retirees or medical referral obligations? A fiscal crisis looms ahead; brace for it.

How would U.S. Immigration 2019 deadline deal half-cocked plans for economic expansion? Ever thought of the impending mess and how do we navigate it? Candle in the wind?

As we assess what’s coming down the pike, the greater question is: Does the NMI have the leadership to navigate the tough financial times ahead? Ooops! Don’t even brave an answer now, please. Just think about it quietly. It calls for the long thoughtful process! For now, I get that nagging troubling feeling something’s bound to get derailed big time that would adversely affect pocketbooks of households everywhere. Perhaps, this should roll out the red carpet of another decade of economic depression and stagnancy. It would be quite an interesting legacy!

Looming: Beyond what’s easily discernible in terms of direct impact against taxpayers are questions like big-ticket items we haven’t critically looked at that could spell financial meltdown for the NMI in the near future. Paying the settlement fund monthly pension for over 3,000 members would remain a challenge. What if we’re required to carry some 20-40 percent of the cost of subsidy by the feds on Medicaid and food stamps or SNAP? The feds may be generous today but what if the mood in Washington shifts in favor of passing more of the cost to states and territories? On Medicaid alone, more than 85K of our people would be adversely affected.

Ooops! Did someone say “self-government”? Doesn’t this entail real responsibility in how this government is run so it spends within its means? With revenue generation headed south how would our illustrious and esteemed public sector managers dispose of this disorienting dilemma? Do we still need all 3,000-plus drone government employees? No fun trying to crunch numbers that have turned mushy, huh?

At some point, the financial aspect of self-government would have to come to full view for all the guys and gals to see and ponder upon. Then we sit back and listen to their allegedly “educated” views how do we divvy up funds that are, at best, projections. How much would pay for debts of the NMI that includes some $789 million in the settlement fund’s unfunded liability, what are those debts, anything for basic infrastructure; if so, where would these facilities be emplaced?

Yes, the more I press the issue the taller the goose bumps on my neck. It’s no fun dealing with a leaky ship whose destination has never been charted. So how do we navigate the heavy sea of debt? Do we rearrange the chairs now or wait until the ship topples over and we begin clapping our hands at icebergs ahead of us?

Da Yeeps! With an impending and mounting fiscal crisis would there be novel solutions to our seemingly intractable problems? Or do we just sleepwalk it again as though it never existed? Or do we shift attitudinal paradigms and seriously look for real solutions to real problems?