Reassessing investments

Insightful intuition flags the single common denominator that direly needs revisiting: fiscal insolvency that has accumulated over the last 20 years.

Faced with obligations leapfrogging quicker than what’s coming into the local coffers, we need to probe whether the foreign investment paradigm is still the way to go. This has gone on for 36 years without critical review.

Unless we understand this issue and its ramifications, only then could we put context into its relations to other collateral issues. Otherwise, we’d be suffering perennial paralysis in ignorance.

After 36 years, have we benefited from foreign investments on a lasting basis? Have any of the MPLT investments (money originating from the lease of indigenous public land) filtered down to the people it is designed to assist? If not, how do we rework the beast so it helps in the development of our people?

It seems the term “leadership” has been ossified as to paralyze entertaining the power of new ideas to move the lot of the indigenous people forward. I’d be damned if time and again we blame Uncle Sam for indigenous inadequacies. Since 1977 we’ve elected indigenous leadership. Uncle Sam or any of his cohorts were never directly involved in the daily operations of our government.

This is just as good a time to jerk the old mango tree to see why most of the fruits downstairs are heavily infested with fruit flies and maggots. I mean we know it’s an infestation, yet we walk away from it hoping someone from the USDA would come by and do our work for us. It’s our mango tree in much spouted self-government. Must own up to our responsibilities!

Is time on our side?

The subhead reminds me of a joke of a Christian asking if “God is on our side.” His friend said, “Nah! God is always right. It’s us that need to get things right by doing it right.” True! It’s the only way to get to His side of the perceptual divide.

Indeed, the issue before us is dizzying given its magnitude and our lack of professional wherewithal to address it forthwith. But we better buckle down now and begin realistic discussions to resolve the growing fiscal crisis.

As difficult as it may be, it’s time to physically put aside a good portion of revenues to invest in the education of our people. I’m talking requisite skills acquisition in the United States, Europe, Japan and elsewhere in much the same way as the most successful Asian economies have done over the last 300 years. It may be time consuming involving real sacrifice, but it’s the one time we could employ the proverbial first step in a thousand-mile journey to get to achieve stable economic foundation.

Hell, if we do the right things by doing them right, He will also be on our side for our resiliency to begin anew for something far more lasting.

Foreign investments

The crux of this issue reminds me of a local adage: “Never salute others with somebody else’s hat.” Yes, the boom years of the ’80s saw millions of dollars overflowing in these isles. But notice that when they exited, we’re left with breadcrumbs? In other words, we’re back to Poverty 101!

This is more the reason to retreat and reassess our journey moving forward. In other words, let’s eventually raise our own hats when saluting others. Let it be a source of wealth from within and not from without. This issue has been ignored all along.

It would require local resolve to buckle down to the task at hand. Sure, it’s easier said than done but if we employ predatory and destructive mañana, how would you answer your children about the lack of realistic security embedded in their future?

Getting our ducks in order

The never-ending saga of land compensation can easily be resolved: Earmark every penny in interest earned for this purpose with a sunset clause. Once this liability is paid, interest earned returns to traditional appropriation by the Legislature. I know of no other way to resolve this matter with finality other than earmarking it until this debt is paid in full!

The settlement fund issue requires thoughtful determination to domesticate its fiscal needs. We can’t just focus on this issue at the expense of the needs of the larger majority. In other words, there are sick people to take care of and thousands of kids to educate, among others. These are areas city hall can’t ignore in favor of retirees. Some happy medium should be struck to ensure their livelihood and the wellbeing of the majority are met concurrently.

Looking ahead, technology has drastically changed our way of life. It’s a challenge in itself that we must learn to learn and domesticate. It begins inside the family home where we initially instill value systems on our children. Indeed, it’s a long and challenging journey ahead. Education and health planners must also zero in on how technology could improve quality of instructions for our kids. This should include health planners as well. The door to explore the benefits of technology is wide open.

Travails of modernity

Most admirable the simplicity of my buddy whose break of dawn smiles light up the entire day! Over morning coffee and breakfast we’d careen in and out of ancestral cultural tradition versus modernity.

While there are the conveniences of modern amenities, there’s also the accompanying cost that are tagged to each of them. My folks never had to worry about real estate insurance that also requires submitting your life insurance, prohibitively high power cost, auto insurance, health insurance and costly health deductibles, among others. There’s got to be some way out of the travails of modernity.