Fatal policies of appeasement

We vacillate with appeasement as to blindly call it reform, forgetting the greater question of what works and will continue to work in wealth and jobs creation for these isles. We tinker with labor and investment laws only to end up rearranging the fire so we do not burn the fish.

All these in the name of superficial reform when in fact it’s nothing more than being reactionary as to land in the sea of grand appeasement. It’s a demonstration of our inability to accept that the free enterprise system is good for the CNMI. It has worked for us paving the way for phenomenal economic success in the late eighties and early nineties. But we aren’t sure ourselves whether a healthy revenue generation is good for purposes of meeting our basic needs in public services that increase by leaps and bounds, annually.

If anything, politicians and bureaucrats need only to take a glimpse at the substantial contraction in anticipated revenue generation to come to grips with reality that our economy has taken a slide into the sea of red ink. Why would the CNMI want to aid the current downturn in the economy by approving policies that are at best reactionary? It goes to illustrate the obvious lack of definition on the part of local leadership based on a set of hard economic data. Our nervous disposition seem as erratic as the trail of storm that head to these isles during the typhoon season!

For instance, we have placed a cap on the number of garment workers in the only industry that supports the local coffers. At the same time, we are in the process of approving the Free Trade Zone to encourage other industries to place their investments here. What is the goal of capping the number of workers? What if, under the proposed FTZ, a certain manufacturing company (at the assembly level) requires thousands of guest workers for its operations? It would have rendered baseless the reactionary appeasement policy of limiting worker numbers for the apparel industry today!

What is the fallacy of appeasement policies? It would work against our dedicated efforts to lure fresh and lasting investments to the CNMI. All these reactionary policies at a time when our country begins discussion with Mexico for additional workers in its farmlands and manufacturing sectors. Hello? Do we again rearrange the fire so we don’t burn the fish on the grill? Hello?