Toying with fiscal posture

The Legislature has approved a measure allowing agencies of the NMI government to take out loan, e.g., bond flotation on their own. While the intent is good it boggles the mind whether the legislature reviewed the record of the local government on bond flotation and its cumulative and pending deficit spending.

The fact that it bankrupted the old retirement program by introducing a competing program reflects poor fiscal management. It still owes some $779 million in unfunded liability. Then there are other debts it could hardly pay on time, if at all, e.g., $36 million to CUC, a couple more millions in CUC-CDA loan, among others. Moreover, CUC needs $321 million to fix the water leaks here. Did anybody bother to find out the bond rating of the NMI after this financial miscalculation?

It’s good if we could swing it but we’re dealing with repaying the corpus of the loan plus interest. I’m quite certain too that given our less than sterling fiscal posture the loaning institution would likely require our securing an insurance on the loan doubled down by another set of interests. All in all we’d be paying four different obligations!

This plan confirms the volatility of our fiscal posture, right?

‘We the people’ matter!

With the absence of leadership here, I often wonder what’s the future of our children amidst the deepening economic depression and deterioration in the quality of life NMI-wide.

Negligence becomes even more pronounced; it now includes the definite departure of our educated kids who can’t find meaningful jobs right here at home. And we spend millions of dollars annually educating them?

The lack of opportunities started since eight to 10 years ago. It consistently deepens by the day as more of our returning scholars head right back to Guam, Hawaii, and the U.S. mainland where opportunities abound. This was preceded by the evacuation of more than 3,000 families.

This is a design by politicians who thought we didn’t know any better. They simply ignored the wellbeing of our people by forcing abject poverty then present “casino” as the savior.

The evil geniuses have succeeded with their silent agenda. Though they chiseled their signature in the introduction of casino here, something else has equally sprouted that each advocate must embrace: serious long-term illnesses, divine curse and slow death!

That nothing has improved family pocketbooks, hardship, like a contagious virus, has spread NMI-wide. It is now a mouthwash found in the frustrated expressions of “we the people.” The net effect of the heartfelt village sentiment has begun the train of change moving well into 2018!

It has also turned the casino law highly vulnerable. It could be amended or completely abolished in a plebiscite of “we the people.” People are ready to take back their government!

Time for meditation

My day begins with meditation. It’s the humble course to understanding lasting happiness and the path that leads to it.

Politicians and business leaders are invited to mindfulness sessions at the World Economic Forum in Davos. Accepting the humbling aspect of meditation breeds compassionate CEOs and employees who contribute to the wellbeing of everyone.

“Steve Jobs, challenge the unsatisfying organizational status quo around him and become the innovative thinker he is famous for, and how it led others to follow him and fulfill their professional aspirations, according to an article by Didier Andre Guillot a specially appointed associate professor at Fukui Prefectural University.

Approaching powerful and highly instrumental meditation ought to work here. It would reawaken the Christianity in each of the people on imperial Capital Hill so they begin resetting their true north to do what’s right by doing them right! If this fails, take them to Banzai Cliff and watch them take voluntary dives into oblivion!

“Meditation is taught at Harvard Business School. Meditation groups are a common sight at Google Inc.’s campus and on the premises of other leading technology firms.

Reality in job search

It’s very sad hearing a story recounted how several of our returning scholars who were given discouraging run-around when submitting applications for jobs here.

Firstly, the person conducting the interview has credentials far inferior than the applicant before him or her. Obviously, the applicant has a master’s in business administration and manages two sections of a world brand hotel for several years in the state where she graduated from a university. Her only goal is to help her mom as the latter heads into her golden years.

The obvious attempt to derail her employment here was frustrating. She picked up her mom and headed to jet ways where she could continue working for a huge hotel and support herself. With a good education and work credentials she’d make it anywhere except home. This one-upmanship BS has got to end and the Department of Labor needs to tidy up and go after HR people who use it against our returning scholars!

Fangs of truth!

Republican Rep. Antonio P. Sablan is rumored to openly discourage folks from believing what’s published of his HB 19-195. It’s a bill that would repeal a provision on Public Law 18-43 that prevents relatives of members of the 18th CNMI Legislature from being employed by a casino on Saipan.

How do you change the narrative of straight news stories that came from your HB 19-195? That it is riddled with impropriety prompted public reactions against it, true? It isn’t a personal concoction either. Didn’t the Office of the Public Auditor warn that it would be in violation of the Open Government Act? Surprisingly, even the AG said so, simultaneously.

I pointed out the likely violation of the OGA a week or so before OPA/AG aired their views. The views of the latter were simple confirmation of my assertion full-square! It’s about the dire need to sustaining integrity in building strong governance, a scarce item these days among politicos. In brief, you can’t have your cake and eat it too!