No financial virgin

The U.S. Virgin Islands, “America’s Caribbean paradise,” is bankrupt, broke, insolvent, desperate, destitute, in receivership, desolate, ruined, poor–kaput. Years of unfettered socialism (i.e., big government spending) has bankrupted the U.S. Virgin Island government.

The problem is so severe that one in three U.S. Virgin Island workers works for the government. According to a recent Reuters wire story (“Patience Ebbs on Cash-Strapped U.S. Virgin Islands”), fully eighty-five percent of the U.S. Virgin Island’s annual budget goes toward meeting the government’s payroll “needs” alone. In fact, the U.S. Virgin Island’s government is so bloated that local officials are forced to float municipal bonds just to meet their payroll demands.

“We’re borrowing money for operating expenses,” said Senator Lorraine Berry of the U.S. Virgin Islands. “How are we going to get out of this debt? By mid-September, I hope I know.”

The U.S. territory is running a $100 million budget deficit and is already $815 million in debt. No budget surplus is in sight, and the islanders are extremely reluctant to cut back on their precious government “services.”

Meanwhile, the federal government remains extremely concerned, as some observers hint that some sort of federal bailout may eventually prove necessary. (U.S. Virgin Island officials have long been suspected of squandering federal funds.)

The CNMI, by sharp contrast, remains leaps and bounds ahead of the bankrupt U.S. Virgin Islands. Even with the Asian financial crisis and the subsequent downturn in our tourism industry, even with the merciless political assault from the U.S. Interior Department and their ideological sponsors in the U.S. labor unions–even with all of that–the CNMI still stands taller than any other U.S. territory, including American Samoa, Puerto Rico, the U.S. Virgin Islands, and, yes, possibly even debt-ridden Guam.

(Guam may post better tourism numbers, but at least the CNMI is not $1 billion in the red.)

Congratulations to the CNMI government for keeping us relatively afloat–for performing better than the other insular areas.

Our success lies in the CNMI garment industry, which offset the dramatic decline in tourism. As long as it keeps local control of labor (minimum wage) and immigration, the CNMI should continue to surpass all of the other U.S. territories. Local control plus some semblance of free enterprise–that should keep us on top.

The U.S. Interior Department should focus on helping the U.S. Virgin Islands, rather than on penalizing the CNMI for its relative successes.