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Re: Pellegrino’s ‘Growth comes from within, not without’
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Posted on Aug 29 2011
I am in agreement with Tony’s assertive sentiment on growth and how easily, through the years, we’ve ignored the traditional strength of these isles in farming and fishing. We aspire for glitz and glamour as to even brave violating the wise counsel of our elderly who warned, “Muñga mañaluda ni ti tihoñgmu” or don’t claim credit or accolades in what isn’t yours.
Had we humbly did our due diligence on a fully thought-out socio-economic plan leaving room for refinement, we would have had the opportunity for refinement when the global economic recession hit our shores. That we had nothing to fall back on forces the helter-skelter modus operandi that we find ourselves in today. We never had a plan and so how could you reasonably draw answers to a nonexistent plan? Guam did this and it is well on its way to raking in more revenues as ours head deeper south.
If casino is really a lucrative industry, then the likes of Addelsen, Qwynn, and Ho would have been here preparing the grounds to devour any and all opportunities. Instead, they headed to Singapore and have done their homework on which venue is ripe for casino. Japan is their next target, not the CNMI. Why? Their research show the existence of some 2.6 million wealthy Japanese who have the disposable income to use as a form of entertainment. How many wealthy folks are in the CNMI?
It seems we’ve adopted and adapted to what I call the “Madame X” syndrome where we refuse to live with what we have. For as long as we ignore and neglect the development of what we have as gold in the ground and the sea, we’d be doomed to aspiring for something that is literally unsustainable like casino. Do we continue the scholarship program so our children could return and work in this suspect industry?
[B]John S. DelRosario Jr.[/B] [I]As Gonno, Saipan[/I]
