Investments needed to improve our economy

Last Monday we discussed the need for a personal inventory as we venture with great expectations into the New Year—2009! After all, changes begin with us. As we strive for self-improvement, it follows we must demand that our government also improve itself in governing us.

Today let’s review the path the government traveled during the previous year. When I mention “government,” I combine the administration and the Legislature. Each of us must decide what it has done to make our lives better. You be the judge. As you review each thought, think about what the government has done to improve our lives. What and how they can do better? Which actions or laws specifically helped us to become better citizens and more prosperous?

A. Human Health: What has the government done to improve our health and nutrition? Have services at the hospital improved? Has there been much guidance to how we should improve our health? What should the government do this New Year to make our lives healthier?

B. Business Capital: What has the government done to improve the machinery, facilities used in agriculture, industry, and services? In other words, have we been assisted in creating our internal structures so that we could improve our abilities to generate better farm work, services and other industries?

I have been told that farmers need water for their fields and need help in getting tractors to till their farms. How has the government assisted them this past year and how can it improve its services? Does the government understand the economic potential of increasing our farm productivity or is it just focusing on seeking outside investors?

Why hasn’t the government studied how agriculture can become a major industry? We have the land and the people that can produce much of the food we consume. The rest can be exported to Guam and to Japan.

We have a bountiful ocean filled with fish that can be harvested and used for local food and the rest shipped to Guam and to Japan. Why isn’t the government studying how fishing can become a major industry along with agriculture?

C. Infrastructure: How do we rate the government’s performance on improving our roads, power, water, sanitation, airports and seaports, and telecommunications systems—all critical inputs into business productivity?

This one we have to really ponder over. Just the other day an article in the newspaper mentioned that only a few of over 50 CIP projects have been completed! Yet the money sits while we wait for what?

Think about the power situation, the quality of water we receive and the other sections mentioned above, and we begin to wonder what the heck is going on here. Is it the “lack of money” or something else more serious? Rate the government on these matters over the past year. What should we expect this new year?

D. Human Capital: What has the government done to motivate and assist us to become skilled laborers so that we can earn the money spent on construction and on other jobs here?

Try to find local skilled laborers to build a house or repair it. Almost none exist. Yet we are constantly in need of this vital work. Why are we allowing the money spent on construction, both from the private sector as well as from the public sector, to be exported overseas by guest workers? When are we going to circulate that money in our own community and do the same work by you and me?

I could go on listing areas that the government could be helping its citizens and creating local industries. While inviting investors to come in is a good thing, but where do the local people fit in? Are you feeling the benefits of all the investments here? Is the building of new hotels, casinos, golf courses and other attractions helping you and me to improve our lives with a better personal economy? Or does the extra revenue that comes in from these activities help feed more government employees and more junket trips and the rest exported? What happened to all the money that was generated from the boom times of the garment industry? Did we invest it wisely? Think about it!

The time has come to examine our dependency on outside help. We must depend less and less on outside investors which do little to benefit us. We must pick up our shovels and tools and start building our own destiny. We fail to see the potential diamonds that lie beneath our feet.

Because we have emasculated ourselves over the years through dependency on outside help, we feel helpless. We squandered our resources when they were plentiful without giving thought for a tomorrow.

We belong to a great nation called the United States, yet we do not fully understand how to deal with it to our benefit. Instead of seeking understanding, we seek confrontation. When are we going to realize that we are an asset to them in that they need us as much as we need them? We must create a better dialogue between the two of us.

I have repeatedly mentioned in these articles and in public and hopefully through my small personal actions that the CNMI is rich. But sadly many of us don’t believe that. We are situated between two rich locations—North America and Asia. We have access to both markets. We have year-round climate that is near perfect. We have beautiful scenery overlooking a lovely ocean. And we have warm and friendly people. But sadly we lack insight into how God has blessed us. We haven’t learned how to cultivate our garden.

I am reminded of the story of the farmer working in his fields. One day a preacher happened by and saw how well tended and how bountiful the farm was. He stopped, walked over to the farmer busy at work in the field and remarked: “My friend, God has blessed you with a bountiful farm.” The farmer paused, looked up and replied: “Father, perhaps that is so, but you should have seen it when he gave it to me!”

I have to insert a personal experience of mine that fits in with the story above. Do any of you recall what the area where the lovely Outer Cove Marina is located looked like back in 1994 before work was begun on it? This is what I am talking about. We have a beautiful island but we are constantly desecrating it.

As you review the points mentioned above, think—what laws has the government passed this past year that have helped us personally in enjoying our lives? At the same time think of the laws that are petty, meaningless and stifle our creativity.

The Greeks had a king called Sisyphus who offended Zeus, their supreme god. For this, Sisyphus was forced to roll an enormous boulder to the top of a steep hill. Every time the boulder neared the top, it would roll back down, and Sisyphus would have to start over. Sometimes I feel that we in the CNMI are just like Sisyphus. We get near a goal and then-wham! We have to start all over again.

I have mentioned it before and I will repeat it: I am glad that Federalization is here. Believe it or not, we will greatly benefit from it if we just understand that it is for our own good.

In closing, I hope that the above has caused us to think at how blessed we are. But we also need the government to improve itself. We can become a prosperous nation again if we will lift up our hands and get to work. Let’s get off our buts (excuses)! Do it! Insist that our government do a better job of assisting us.

We have had a good past history. We cannot change the history of the past, but we can influence the future. As Thomas Jefferson said: “I like the dreams of the future better than the history of the past.”