Forte: Policy instability

The casino law is a perfect example of how we’ve consistently ruined the CNMI’s credibility with investors on policy matters. We shift positions midway down the stream.

For instance, voters twice shot down casino but legislators simply trashed the direct will of the people and replaced it with its warped wisdom. Nobody saw the breadth of negativity on such quick fix policy.

In the process it derails Tinian’s efforts while leaving Rota dangling in no man’s land. Screw that it’s a perfect show of instability for as long as instant gratification is attained.

Policy stability is everything! Take a look at the most economically successful countries or states in the union. Their strength is on stable policies that are investment friendly. They move about refining policies that lure greater opportunities for global-sized investors. Instability is itself a vicious deterrent to investments.

To illustrate a point: Toyota is relocating from Southern California to Dallas, Texas. The golden state’s taxes are a bit too steep to chew. Texas has repealed its income tax altogether. It also offers capital to incoming investors and aligns college and university graduates for jobs with new industries. It’s a highly successful partnership with private industries that foster revenue and jobs creation for Texans.

It’s frustrating this penchant to avoid the harder though lasting pathway in favor of rushing into noisy and disoriented discussions on quick fix policies. It’s troubling in the sense that we never seriously trump our cards to plan for the future of our children. Do we do it now or ignore it until we’re permanently drowned and paralyzed by bankruptcy?

Is it really that hard choosing the more difficult but lasting pathway to fixing the persistent bouts with fiscal collapse? The fiscal obligations transcend the needs of the Retirement Fund. What about education, healthcare, and other social programs? Do we ignore them in favor of more instant soba patch-up jobs to serious budgetary shortfall? It’s all in the palm of your hands.

Personal responsibility
Buddy Magoo has this “everything is government” mindset, smiling ear-to-ear when he expresses it. Sure, government serves as the nucleus of order in our community but it isn’t our holy grail of salvation. It lives when we rally behind it. It fizzles when we can’t make positive difference in its persistent bouts with fiscal collapse.

“Eh, braddah, when I didn’t have a job there’s food stamps, even a housing voucher where my girlfriend and I lived up to now,” Magoo related. “Government is good, braddah.”

I pressed for more realistic answers like health, education, among other social services.

Said he, “The government built the hospital for us and there’s also Medicaid that pays for my healthcare.” I don’t qualify for this program so it seems he’s ahead on this score.

“When folks have heart problems or when doctors find serious illnesses like cancer the government sends them to off-island medical centers,” he related. “Where on earth do you find a government that takes care of its people?” Bloviating isn’t going to help any. It was a no-win discussion.

As I rushed through the list to revisit issues he needs to know, there’s also the problem whether he would understand that the money for all entitlement programs didn’t rain down the blue skies of paradise. It came from the backbreaking hard work of taxpayers across the country. Would he understand that as the number of taxpaying folks shrinks, the less money would be available for freebies? Nah!

But Magoo is a simple person who couldn’t care less about the source of assistance he now rakes in. I’d probably exchange blows with him if I were to explain that health begins with the self. He’s convinced he doesn’t have to worry about it because the government has already built a hospital and has a program that pays for his medical expenses. Worse yet, he doesn’t have to work after lining up for NAP coupons for over a year. In other words, he relies on government for his food too!

I know that this isn’t the mettle of the indigenous people who are proud and industrious in the way they earn their dues. But there are those who really need help. Buddy Magoo isn’t one of them!

Your place in history
Journalism, it’s often said, is the rough draft of history. It represents an assessment of the year’s events, e.g., policy decisions, indecisions, and perception of leadership or apathetic followership, among others. It focuses on what leadership did rightly or wrongly. If you are or were a politician, what would posterity’s verdict be on your performance record? And this historic assessment shouldn’t be limited to politics.

It’s an interesting question and it pays a great deal to probe it as the young folks prepare their verdict on your performance between laudatory, mediocrity or sadly, none of the above. In all professions, though, journalists would expound positively on careers (small or dim they may be) on people who stood up for the rights of the downtrodden.

Abe Lincoln ranks No. 1 on this score. In my book, I’d add Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. as second. The latter was a minister whose dedication to fostering civil rights transcends bright Washington-type political careers. Bill Gates and the Koch brothers are also on my list. What grand commitment and design availing of their wealth to help young kids get an education. It’s a sure ticket to moving out of the dungeons of poverty as they move forward.

Is there anyone among our people who fits the criteria helping his or her people? I only know of two who lost most of their possessions attending to the needs of others. They now dwell somewhere weathering the storm of their golden years. They entered public service relatively well off. They left basically destitute.