Si Yuus Maase` Congressman Young

At Issue: The successful exclusion of the NMI from the newly approved federally mandated increase in minimum wage.

Our View: Our most profound sense of Si Yuus Maase` to Congressman Don Young and Friends of the Commonwealth.

The NMI owes a debt of gratitude to Congressman Don Young and Friends of the Commonwealth on Capitol Hill for their support in defending the rights of governance in this tiny American soil to build upon their political and economic freedoms.

A few days ago, the US Congress approved an increase in federal minimum wage by a dollar over the next two years which included measures to allow small businesses to cope with the new wage cost.

The NMI is excluded from both the proposed increase and federal minimum wage law altogether. It’s a most appropriate decision given the fact that although the minimum wage in the NMI may appear lower than that of the federal government, adding all the benefits that guest workers receive sums up to about $6.61 an hour. Imagine employing the reckless agenda of piling it with an additional dollar. Our guest workers would be receiving nothing less than $7.61 an hour. We all would have to endure a gradual though definitive economic meltdown had the NMI been included.

The popularity of the minimum wage issue will never recede with the tide. Interesting that even those making over $18 an hour are clamoring for an increase in minimum wage as though they too would see an improvement on their income. Well, if one is making well beyond the statutory minimum wage, would they really storm into management and insist that they begin all over again? Beats reasoning, doesn’t it?

Minimum wage is an entry level salary basically designed for workers without skills. The cargo cult mentality won’t help in this instance. Why encourage people to perpetuate failure and a cemented sense of helpless? Is the answer more nickels and dimes? Or isn’t it true that the more appropriate approach is granting entry level workers the opportunity to acquire lifetime skills? It’s surest route to empowering people to help themselves. And education and training are the only route to burying entry level salary.

We join our people in giving Congressman Young and Friends of the Commonwealth our most profound Si Yuus Maase` for their efforts of ensuring that economic reality is given a chance in this tiny archipelago. We will never forget how you have rescued our inaudible voices often thrown underneath the rugs of powerful special interests agenda and legitimate national issues. Si Yuus Maase`!