Asian economics, Washington politics . . .

Asian economics and Washington politics. At first glance, these two issues appear central to the CNMI’s horrendous problems. The collapse of Japanese and Korean tourism sent our monthly visitor arrivals plummeting for more than a year. The garment lawsuit further aided the dramatic tourism slump by propagating horrible, vicious lies about the CNMI.

Our fanatical detractors ruthlessly portray the CNMI as some kind of outrageous slave state. The negative publicity has reached the traveling Japanese public. Who wants to actively support slavery? Result: further tourism declines ahead.

The only industry now sustaining our weakening economy—-garments—-continues to be mercilessly maligned and attacked. The aggressive proponents of federalization have not let up. They continue to scare away our foreign investors with their brutal policy threats (immigration and labor) and carefully orchestrated negative publicity.

Thus, the two factors—-Asian economics and Washington politics—-interact together to form a dangerous, deadly mix, all leading up to the ultimate horror: the CNMI’s reversion to a stagnant, pre-Covenant economy, leaving our local residents both desperate and destitute.
Asian capital infusion (investment) is already scarce. The speculative investment bubble–the Asian investment frenzy that characterized the 1980s–has long since exploded. Major Japanese banks are still billions of dollars in debt. Asian capital is extremely tight. The federal threat only makes everything much, much worse.

But this is not all. Combined with Asian economics and Washington politics, we also have another depressing factor in this dismal, pathetic CNMI equation—-an equation that basically amounts to the complete destruction of the CNMI economy as we have known it.

Here is that equation: Asian economics + Washington politics + local stupidity = serious CNMI poverty (major disaster). A friend summed it all up beautifully in a recent e-mail, which reads as follows:

“Keep in mind that most people—-and certainly the Saipan electorate—-hate freedom, hate capitalism, and crave authority and (big government) paternalism [local, not federal).

“Saipan’s economy is kaput. I’ve known that for over a year. It’s not coming back. The problem isn’t Asia, or even America. The problem is…Saipan.

“I pondered that when I saw a beautiful new F-150 truck in a local Korean market where I buy my Tribune, a truck I can’t afford to buy, and the owner . . . was buying food on—-what else?—-foodstamps! Off she sped in her $26,000 truck.

“That,” said my friend, “is Saipan in a nutshell.”
Saipan as a huge little welfare state, with Marianas high school graduates earning upwards of $35,000 to $40,000 a year. With police officers regularly chalking up to $90,000, or even over $100,000, in ‘overtime’ pay per year. With $26,000 truck owners using foodstamps. With ex-cons raking in $700,000 a year on the government racket. With municipal authorities using government funds (taxpayer funds) to pay off personal loans. With the Public Auditor’s Office exposing it all—-and yet with nothing happening, with no consequences whatsoever.

Saipan is reverting back to the Pacific island mean, declared my friend, referring to widespread Micronesian poverty. “The place had it all: beauty, tourists, garments, lots of money flowing through…and now all we’ve got to show for it is $26,000 trucks, no work ethic, and two thousand signs that say, “we accept food stamps.”
Asian economics, Washington politics and Chamorro stupidity. They will do us in—-if we let it.

Don’t let it.