Shifting gears involuntarily

The holiday season brings shifts in gear and December does that almost naturally. There’s joy and heartfelt felicitations to spread among friends and family.

We close out the receding year thankful for all our blessings bracing to meet the challenges of 2016. We’re set to do better from family obligations to our community responsibilities.

The shift brings with it equal amounts of good and bad tidings too. Regardless, no one is immune from life’s sometime abrupt and derailing setbacks. We all get a share of it at some point.

For those in their golden years there are nostalgic moments when we reflect upon our life’s journey 40-50 years ago. It placed under our belt a wealth of experience, tolerance, patience and wisdom. The friendship and solidarity we’ve cemented granted us time to revel in nostalgic renewal.

Indeed, we could see around the table the tired and wrinkled faces of our parents and friends though their smiles signal hope that not all is lost. They are still mindful of the fate of our people.  Never mind that the wagon and horse have abruptly been dislodged each heading in different directions. We’ve persevered through mind numbing adversity.

Question: have we contributed sufficiently to guide our sinking canoe amidst a huge fiscal storm at sea and threats of cultural genocide? Do we sleepwalk it once more?

Somewhat troubling though how the educated have somehow shied away from active participation to help the overall wellbeing of our people. Please, don’t despair though hopelessness may be a discouraging word. I’ve been up this road one too many times over the last forty years. I’m still standing and have outlasted a lot of politicians that have sailed into the sunset.

We wonder how our families have done over the same period. There’s the shift in the way family does things including the use of modern devices that mutes family conversations. It has slowly pushed culture and tradition to the edge.

Immediately outside our doors are events unfolding that would eventually displace our people. If we evolve into something better, fine. But the path has taken on strange direction riddled with disorientation that challenges the simple minds and conviction of our people.

As I struggle to understand these shifts there pops the issue whether I am the victim of my own slow reaction to change while others have instantly caught up; or is it just the reverse. I have accepted the inevitable imposition of technology on a global basis. I pine though for a slow down on the adaptation of change. We need some thoughtful review so we could all be on the same page.

I’d head to the quiet corners of my mind if only to sift through the maze. I know too that the more mindful bunch have been eyeing the very issues I’ve discussed and have done due diligence to dissect the consequences of events now unfolding. We need not wait until the eleventh hour to actively and proactively take back what’s ours. We must begin today!

Retirement’s unfunded liability
We seem to have lost vital navigational tools. As such, we’re headed into a huge underwater reef that could render our ship totaled by 2019. I’m talking about the hidden unfunded liability of some $789 million of the retirement fund. This is serious debt. Major reform is in order including finding funds to cover Medicaid costs when we’re mandated to absorb every penny.

Four years from now when investment funds are eventually depleted displacing some 3,000 retirees, you wonder what else is there as the fund wrestles hopelessly with the balance of its unfunded liability. I doubt the NMI could pay for it either or the entire 100 percent in pensions due!

Its economic effects would be devastating meaning, a loss of about $70 million from the local economy. Retirees won’t be spending for needs without receipt of their pension funds. Definitely, this would drive us into the realm of chaos all over.

Recovery goes through a process. This can’t be treated with instant soba mindset. It needs to pan through before we could see if revenue generation is factually revived. Would a federal bailout be possible? It looks grim! We’re now wading deeper into economic and financial crises that begin to look too difficult to resolve.

Required infrastructure
Appalling to hear legislators quizzing the dire need for basic infrastructure in the Garapan area where a big project has begun. Shouldn’t this issue be addressed at the initial stage of the project to determine its likely adverse impact upon the community? Why embrace a fool’s wisdom of advancing to the rear?

Moreover, the northern side of the island is ill equipped with the same infrastructure that would become problematic with the community up there. I’m talking water, power, and sewer. In light of this, do we allow for a large development to proceed or do we delay until we could come up with our share in basic infrastructure emplacement?

While some issues may easily be accepted like jobs for locals basic infrastructure must be addressed and resolved before we’re forced into two decades of catch-up jobs. It’s to ensure the quality of life doesn’t sink into the abyss of hardship because we failed to plan accordingly. Our fond “halo” and “welcome home” to legislators who just woke up to reality!

You can’t consistently ignore the benefits of a fully thought-out plan. Must have something concrete and credible lest investors would move to the sidelines to wait out the usual internal indecisions at home. The NMI can’t afford the usual sleepwalk syndrome it has treated significant issues.