NMI: A welfare state

With 51 percent of employees here earning poverty level income, these pearly isles is now a “welfare state.” The sum of $24,600 per year for a family of four is the federal definition of “poverty income.”

A lot of employees earning well below the federal benchmark obviously have to struggle harder to provide basic family needs daily.

It means that more than half of our people have also turned to federally subsidized programs like food stamps, Medicaid, and housing assistance to muddle through the bad times.

The issue is even louder for many who aren’t even earning $24,600 per year. How did the elected elite allow families to sink this low? More specifically, what have you done to improve this situation since three years ago?

History: It’s a monstrosity or material evidence of failure by the elected elite in addition to acknowledging that over 46 percent are without health insurance of some sort.

Not so good tidings amidst Trump’s decision to cut heavily into entitlement programs to pay for institutional basic infrastructure upgrades and the modernization of the military.

The “solutions driven” team tried to spin the sinking economic conditions with so-called “economic improvements.” But then where have your economic improvements gone? Was any of it ever funneled to help the 51 percent or those below the benchmark improve family buying power and to assist those without health insurance?

In other words, you break down the issue to its common denominator only to find that you’ve failed to empower families NMI-wide. Zero! Did you get that, pal?

Avoiding duty: The NMI has had a history of refusing to impose higher user fee for the $2.1-billion apparel industry when it was here at its peak. It’s gone!

Today, the elected elite ignores taxing the casino industry now raking in billions of dollars per month. Why is this the case? Isn’t it true the NMI has serious budgetary shortfall? Another mea culpa trip to D.C. would have the U.S. Congress breathing fire down the NMI’s throat, demanding that it taxes the casino industry. Hmmm! Sad that the lights are on but nobody is home. Hello?

The infraction is rooted in the I Deni` establishment waltzing with denizen corporate sugar daddies. Thus the quiet slide into servility. Furthermore, it is rumored that this relationship is further cemented to pay off next year’s gubernatorial race.

Woe! Let’s rally and probe this agenda to figure out the beast! Fostering this form of master-slave relationship is very demeaning. Let the “government of the people, for the people and by the people” hail from, yes, “we the people!”

No plans: I remember the vicious thrashing of a set of socio-economic plans years ago by the elected elite who dismissed and subsequently trashed it.

I sensed the laziness and inability to review and understand technical materials. It would have afforded policymakers the opportunity to understand the inter-relationship of issues so they could connect the dots. It was ignored full square!

The NMI would have been better off today than the wobbly fiscal posture it now faces where more than half its people are earning poverty level income. It confirmed one thing: so-called leadership underperformed or failed its fiduciary duty for nearly 40 years!

When we dismantle this failure, the bottom line is the livelihood of our people so corralled to believe everything is fine. We now know with clarity it isn’t!

Do we go on repeating the failures of history? Specifically, do we elect people whose warped views of representation focuses solely on solidifying their Cadillac lifestyle with chosen sugar daddies while ignoring the interest of “we the people?”

In retrospect: The NMI had a seven-year guaranteed funding for basic infrastructure. Were these funds used wisely? If so, were efforts taken to improve water, power, sewer and roads over the last 40 years? If so, why is basic infrastructure so inadequate today?

When Japanese investments pioneered tourism here in the late ’60s, did we work with them as partners or did we quietly show them we’re no longer interested? Didn’t we do the same with Korean investors? In light of likely escalation of regional conflict, how would our new investors fare when the feds shutter everything from the Republic of China?

Delusional contentment among the elected elite is blooming. It sits and seems content with complacency. It seems the GOP rhinos are looking forward to collecting its golden eggs from a flock of turkeys.

As conditions deepen, imagine how much lower the poverty income level would be for the 51 percent of employees now adversely pounded by involuntary economic hardship as elitist elected officials live it up with their Cadillac lifestyle. Hello? EVERbody home?

The poverty income level of $24,600 for a family of four remains a dream for many of our people. Hardest hit are those earning far less or immediately above the benchmark figure. And most are found in private industries.

This is where we find kids from impoverished households deal with empty tummies before and after school. Have these families been able to pay sufficiently for food, utility bills, monthly real estate payments (first family home), clothing, school needs, etc.?

Health insurance: The administration also related that some 46 percent, if not more of the population here is without any type of health insurance coverage.

The acknowledgement was rather long without any strong answers to resolve these issues. Or do we accept it as calcified conventional wisdom drowning steadily in its fading mantra, “solutions driven?”

Debts: The explosion and implosion of debt (now at $471 million) is treading on dangerous path lacking a clear picture of the NMI’s fiscal posture.

The deepening fiscal mess reminds me of Mahatma Ghandi’s answer when asked about problems with Christianity. Said he, “Christians!” Did you get that pal?