Missed Opportunities

At Issue: Decline in local revenue generation is the result of our self-righteous protectionist attitude.

Our View: More the reason to approve the Omnibus Economic Reform legislation sooner than later.

A local economist once remarked that “when you’re down, it doesn’t mean you can get up…and when you get up, it doesn’t mean you can walk” for you may have fractured a bone or sprained a joint. In either case, recovery would be very slow. And the pain is two fold: 1). Recovery from actual injury. 2). Immobility.

The local economy is still in the Intensive Care Unit although there are suspect signs that its health has gained negligible ground. It is difficult to predict when exactly would it regain normal health. The doctors and nurses have given it their best attention and service. The family in the court yard are in hopeful prayers that it will rebound soon.

The health of this patient is largely self-inflicted. As voo doo doctors, we prescribed all the wrong and unhealthy habits, i.e., protectionist laws that finally took their toll. The patient is still in critical condition at the ICU.

The NMI is battling a fatal illness fueled by our attitude that the bad times belong to others. Well, we have seen it descend in these isles since three years ago. And we need not look further than the number of local applicants (even for a clerical position) of some 40-70. It’s a tale that many have been denied job opportunities because the previous legislative leadership has failed grandly at wealth creation.

It isn’t our purpose to breath fire down the throats of those who have used their lack of depth and vision to suffocate current and future investment opportunities with protectionist laws. We hope that there’s room to learn from these fatal mistakes where the net result is economic hardship at the grassroots level. It is here where we see how self-serving measures have finally translated into zero job opportunities for local job applicants who number in the hundreds.

It behooves policy makers, therefore, to take a glimpse at the larger picture or forest over the trees, so to speak. Think long and hard of the impact of policy decisions that have at best, shut down wealth creation upon which jobs creation is founded.

Finally, we must generously converge on the proposed Omnibus Economic Reform measure (and other accompanying legislation) to revive wealth creation. Establishment of businesses or expansion of current investments are wealth creation in themselves which open up jobs creation for people here. It’s the only way to realistically prepare job opportunities for the hundreds of high school graduates who march out of school campuses here every May and June. Si Yuus Maase`!