Shoreline debris

With any sense of vision, the gambling commission and the elected elite ought to know by now that another major source of casino revenue was recently shut down by China.

The Chinese president just killed the VIP service from any further use by the wealthy from home. Furthermore, China and Australia have agreed to swap information on money laundering and other financial transgressions as a crackdown by Beijing on alleged gambling-related crimes.

This has sent a chill through the casino industry. VIP service and junket tours in Macau are basically dead by order of the president.

Though embryonic at this point, there’s also the likelihood that nearby Japan could turn itself into the hub of high rolling casino up ahead. It would thrive, what with more than 30 million wealthy people looking for some excitement. Would any of this group ever slide by the border into the islands? I wouldn’t even think about it. It’s the future of the casino industry in a nutshell!

Wobbly future: The shutter of junket tours and VIP service effectively ended, the casino industry quizzes prospects for its revenue generation when the wealthy can no longer bring their money out of China.

The long arm of this decision would reach the Saipan casino here, greatly reducing the much-touted use of one or both services that no longer exist. Bad tidings for the industry even at the get go. The alternative is to promote our industry in Japan, Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia, and other wealthy countries including Scandinavia.

With less revenue it means trouble for retirees on Tinian and Rota. Saipan legislators would be on full press to meet the needs at home first before opening the door of blind generosity.

Geopolitics: When the Republic of the Philippines, Thailand and Malaysia pivoted to China, it sent a cold chill down my spine as I sit, hopeless and ignorant, what comes down the pike in geopolitical relationship between the two giants.

Could our country cede military, trade, investment, among others, to China? And the former isn’t sitting pretty either. It is out aggressively investing her eggs where she could eventually count chicks as her own. China is out investing billions of dollars across the region.

Our country must reset buttons in imaginative fashion to strengthen its ties with Manila and Bangkok and other allied countries in the region. It must meet with its leadership to figure out what makes them stay up all night, soon. Is U.S. Pacific power in peril?

Political stage: With the final ballots counted, we now know the decision of the multitude that seems to defy reasoned expectations. Or is it a misperception on my part? Wasn’t the paradigm about change for the better? Isn’t there a crisis of confidence in civic institutions? The outcome doesn’t necessarily resonate with expressions we’ve heard before the election!

The path has been set for a unified government with a Republican majority in both chambers. Be that as it may, people would continue clamoring for a government of laws. And the vicious challenge lies in delivery of expectations.

Stunning how issues are trashed in favor of corporate dictates derailing the true sentiments of “we the people.” At any rate we would eventually see what went down the pike of alleged voter fraud, intimidation and bribery.

There’s that whispery echo in my ears, signifying some bad omen coming down the pike. I wonder if we would ever see the Ship of Hope make it to safe port? Still convinced not all is lost and not when there’s still dawn and dusk willed by nature since time immemorial! Time will reveal corporate manipulation in the just completed election.

GAO’s review: The U.S. Government Accountability Office, an investigative arm of the U.S. Congress, would be here to review the impact of the federal minimum wage and labor issues.

The issues, specifically their impact, would be mirrored against reported economic growth, its ability to absorb the new wage and salary imposition, realistic programs to develop the local workforce, among others. Is there one focusing on the training and education of our people? If not, is there an explanation for such an inadequacy?

Would there be an opportunity to continue the CW program beyond 2019 or would USINS stick to its current position?

Obama’s failed amnesty program has seriously presented weapons against anything immigration. In short, there’s a fat chance USINS would shift position much less a viciously riled up Republican bunch in Congress rallying behind wobbly needs. We can genuflect and employ another round of mea culpa but immigration issue is one that is the under the sovereign disposition of our national government.

Federal minimum wage is designed to help empower U.S. citizens meet familial needs. Moreover, Washington is wary how private industries here have suppressed wages over the last 30 to 40 years. This needs clarity and rectification more so than ever before. Why hire workers who still must line up for food stamps and housing vouchers?

Opportunities shut: Appalling the newly asserted “vision” in the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program. Nah! Some 85 years ago, an author has this to say about entitlement programs:

“You cannot legislate the poor into freedom by legislating the wealthy out of freedom. What one person receives without working for, another person must work for without receiving. The government cannot give to anybody that the government does not first take from somebody else.

“When half of the people get the idea that they do not have to work because the other half is going to take care of them, and she the other half gets the idea that it does no good to work because somebody else is going to get what they work for, that my dear friend, is about the end of any nation. You cannot multiply wealth by dividing it.” So said Dr. Adrian Rogers, 1931.

Anyway, indigenous tradition has it that we earn our dues! Is the elected elite poised to set economic prosperity in motion?