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New leadership desperately needed
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Posted on May 21 1999
We had a few good leaders during our economic heyday. They were the people who enacted various liberal-minded political reforms to open up our economy to foreign investment, to great effect.
The boom years were truly phenomenal. Real estate prices soared ten-fold and then some. Millionaires were created virtually overnight. Money could not stop flowing into the CNMI, and made its way through virtually every economic sector.
All of this was made possible through sound, sensible leadership. Luck and sound, sensible leadership–but mostly through a leadership that was open to trade liberalization, because fools easily ruin good luck.
In this rough economic climate, we need proven leaders–accomplished local businessmen who understand what it takes to get this local economy moving again. There are a few new candidates who fit that profile. These are the people who fully understand what businessmen need in the way of productive economic incentives, and what this all means for our local people, struggling, as they are, to keep afloat amid a rapidly sinking economy.
When we cast our votes this November, we must seriously look into new leadership options; because–let us face it–the current crop of leadership has utterly failed us in virtually every vital area.
Over the past several years, we have gradually seen our economic position erode. We have seen the bureaucrats and the politicians impose cumbersome anti-business regulations, to the detriment of incomes and employment. We have seen abrupt changes in government policies, leaving our prospective investors thoroughly befuddled on the question of CNMI stability. Finally, we have also seen the federal government move against us, attempting, at virtually every turn, to deprive us of our freedom and local self-government, in favor of arbitrary federal paternalism.
The time for failed policies must now come to an abrupt end. It is time to bring sound leadership back to woo prosperity and regain our confidence in good government.
I encourage all of you to vote for fresh, new candidates in this upcoming mid-term election.
