Student gripes

Calm down, calm down, I told my college student friend. It’s not the end of the world. OK, so the administration is cutting off the college grants and scholarships. That’s all right.

We are still mired in a financial crisis–a mess. The government is still heavily in debt, perhaps as much as $90 million in debt. We are in the hole, drowning in red ink. We have no choice but to cut back. The situation itself demands it.

“That’s bogus,” rejoined the student. “Look at the legislature’s budget. They gave themselves big pay raises in recent years. Their annual operating budget went from $2.5 million to about $7 million.

“Why don’t they cut somewhere else? Why don’t they cut government salaries across the board? Why don’t they fire those consultants making more than $10,000 a month?”

I am afraid there aren’t too many government consultants making $10,000 a month in the Teno administration. Perhaps you are thinking of the Froilan-David Cahn administration?

“You are damn right I am thinking of the Froilan administration. At least CNMI college students never went hungry during Froilan’s term in office. He even gave students teacher ‘scholarships’ amounting to as much as $12,000 per year.”

Yes, that’s exactly right. And that’s exactly why the Teno administration is now forced to take drastic action in order to remedy Froilan’s spendthrift habits.

Besides, I don’t know what’s so important about public school teachers, anyway–that they are worth $12,000 a year in “scholarships.” Are they more important than accountants? Are business and computer science majors mere bums?

“No, no, Froilan has been out of power for a good two years now. We can’t keep blaming Froilan for the present crisis. Everything is not Froilan’s fault. He was sued. He even put himself on the line to ensure that the people’s needs were met.”

You are a socialist, my friend.

“No, I am not a socialist. The government should cut the manamkos off first, before they mess with the poor college students.

“We don’t need the aging center. There is no return on investment there. Do you think the retired old folks are going to pay the kind of taxes that the young college graduates are going to pay? The government is investing in its future revenue generators. The more educated we are, the more we will earn, and the more taxes we will pay.

“In 2001, I am voting for Froilan, not Peppero.”

Yeah, but Froilan was an avowed limited government man.

“He was?”

Well, maybe he can grow the economy with pro-business policies, so that he doesn’t have to cut college grants so much. This administration still has yet to repeal the $100,000 security deposit, the labor moratorium, the developer’s tax, and so forth. But at least it is cutting big government some.