A call to convene a CNMI economic summit

Gov. Benigno Fitial’s administration will begin its fourth year of stewardship next month. For three years now, it has attempted to turn around the ailing economy of the CNMI, but with little success. Whether it could do so in 2009 is quite doubtful, for several reasons. First, for a year now, the U.S. economy itself and most of the major world economies have been in a global recession. Second, there has been no significant economic event taking place in the CNMI during the past three years that would indicate that the poor state of our economy would soon turn around. Having said this, it does not mean that the CNMI should simply give up and do nothing anymore about fixing our economy.

There is no question that 2008 appear to have been the worst year for the CNMI economy since 1998. The continuing decline in tax and other revenues realized by the CNMI government during the past 10 years attests to this fact. The budget of $156.7 million for FY 2009 that the Legislature just passed reflects a decline of over 35 percent from the revenue collected by the CNMI government a decade ago. The continuing decline in government revenue, as everybody knows, has greatly compromised the delivery of essential public service to the people of the CNMI.

Aggravating our dire economic condition, we learn from Finance Secretary Eloy Inos the other day that the CNMI government incurred a substantial deficit of $18 million for the fiscal year just ended. This news, amidst the series of austerity measures taken over the past three years, does not bode well for the economic future of the CNMI. Unless the local economy begins to turn around, the CNMI would soon find itself unable to function effectively as a self-governing entity.

The insular economy of the CNMI, which has been in recession for at least five years now, continues to remain gloomy. Primarily because of the poor state of the economy, many of our residents have left for other places to earn a living. The CNMI economic situation is such that there appear to be no light at the end of the tunnel. We know, though, that there is light at the end of the tunnel. We simply have to work hard to reach that light. In order to turn around our literally stagnant economy, we have to sit down and determine what needs to be done to turn it around. This requires realistic and sound planning. It requires making tough, difficult and, many times, unpleasant decisions. It requires plenty of hard work and sacrifice by all of us. And it requires that we set aside our differences, so that we could begin working together. But we have to do it, if we are to improve our lot.

Success, as we all know, comes only through hard work and perseverance. In order to turn around the poor economic state we are in, however, we need to start somewhere. So far, we have not really made any concerted and realistic effort to turn around the CNMI economy. And just exactly what do I mean by this? Well, we have never really “grabbed the bull by the horn” and come up with a specific set of proposed actions that must be taken to improve the economy.

Our leaders, like many of the early-morning bloggers whose comments you read on the papers daily, are mostly reactionaries. Like the morning bloggers who instantaneously react to almost any news story that is printed, many of our elected and appointed leaders approach issues affecting the CNMI mostly by reacting. This is not good, of course, because it shows that they are not in control of the situation. If our leaders are going to start making positive changes to the economy of the CNMI, for example, they should start by first formulating and adopting a clear “plan of action” to improve the economy. Our leaders must work together in the formulation of an “economic master plan” for the CNMI, both short-term and long-term. Then they must follow it up with real action and hard work.

Why is this so difficult to do? The reason why is because many of our political leaders (elected and appointed) in the CNMI are usually looking out only for themselves. This is really the major setback that many of us have: the attitude that “if not me, then it’s them who will benefit.” These constant fighting, bickering and gamesmanship have been going on for far too long in the CNMI government. And it has to stop first before we could begin making any real and lasting improvements. The really sad thing about this unhealthy attitude of many of our leaders is that our young adults are quickly learning to do the same thing. Our leaders know very well that they are elected to serve the people and not their own personal interest; yet they persist in “business as usual.” If our selfish attitude is not corrected soon, our government and our economy will continue to be dysfunctional. We will continue having great difficulty improving our situation.

In order to stop once and for all the constant bickering and gamesmanship that have been going on, our leaders have to develop a new and positive attitude. They should lead (not react) by working for the benefit of the people they are serving. Our elected leaders, as well as those appointed to public office, have to work cooperatively for the benefit of everyone. They must also learn how to compromise. And for the sake of the Commonwealth, they have to formulate and adopt a clear and realistic set of goals and objectives that the CNMI should be working to achieve.

We cannot continue fighting with one another, because nothing will ever get accomplished. As elected officials, our leaders are charged with guiding the future course and direction of the Commonwealth. They are also charged with improving the welfare and well-being of the people of the Commonwealth. Those are the primary reasons why they were elected to public office—to lead and to govern wisely. But sadly, as we all know, this has not been the case most of the time.

We know, though, that it is never too late to start. And we also know that we have to start somewhere or we will continue to be in the same unfortunate predicament that we have been in. A “call to action” must, therefore, be made immediately by our executive and legislative leaders. We clearly have no more time to waste. We need to set aside our differences and meet soon to formulate a plan of action that would address the economic situation of the CNMI. We have to come up with solutions to our economic problems. Once we have established a set of goals and objectives, we would then need to begin actively implementing such plans and begin doing the hard work needed to improve the economy.

Could this “CNMI economic summit” be organized soon and be sponsored jointly by the executive and legislative branches? Could it be scheduled for sometime in February or March of 2009? Such economic working conference should, of course, include our business community. Our government and business leaders are hereby challenged to rise to the occasion and take charge of the economic predicament we are in by calling for a major economic conference. The purpose of such working economic conference is to address and try to correct the CNMI economic downturn that we have been in for several years now. The people of the CNMI deserve nothing less.

Until we join hands and work together for the benefit of everyone in the CNMI, until we realize that we all have to make an honest and sincere effort at improving our economy, and until we make those hard decisions needed to, among other things, start alternative industries and attract new investors to invest in the CNMI, nothing much will happen and our economy will continue to get worse.

If nothing concrete is actually done by our leaders to turn around our economy, the CNMI would very likely return to the “subsistence economy” we had before we began self-government in 1978. When this happens, our experiment in Commonwealth self-government will have failed. Is this what we want to happen? Clearly, none of us want this to happen. But if we continue on our present course without doing anything concrete and positive to improve our economy, this would most likely happen within the next 10 years.

So what do we need to do? The first thing that I believe should have been done years ago actually is for the CNMI government to formulate and adopt an “economic plan or agenda” that would, among other things, address the kind of industries that appear suitable for the CNMI. This economic agenda should also identify what are the key legal impediments that must be removed in order to facilitate foreign investment in the CNMI. Such an agenda must also address the state of our public education and the need for CNMI residents not going to college to acquire a skill so that they could be gainfully employed by the private sector. It should also address how the CNMI government should reduce its bloated employment bureaucracy. It should address the need to improve and strengthen our visitor industry and make it competitive with other destinations in our region. And so forth.

If the people of the CNMI are in agreement with what this letter is proposing, i.e., to have a CNMI economic summit early next year, then it is strongly urged that they make their feelings known in writing to the media and to our leaders (government, business and civic). It is high time we do something concrete and realistic to improve matters in the CNMI. Such summit should serve as a referendum on what future direction the CNMI should take hereafter. We really have no choice but to begin somewhere; and the time to do that is now.