Economy: Beyond political regimes

Most simple folks at home quiz what has gone wrong in recent years. Yes, the convenient blame game of “It’s the Asian Crisis” reverberates and turns into a redundancy. It eventually cascaded into deficit spending, prompting a very familiar chorus called “austerity”. Sadly, it included cuts in scholarship funds for students taking courses at NMC.

This isn’t a criticism of the lame duck administration as much as it is an issue that warrants collective review of economic policies beyond political regimes.

This involves a process. Most people prefer short circuiting the process. It’s inconvenient, time consuming, but it is an exercise that gives policy makers the rare opportunity to map-out the future of these isles during the first quarter of this millennium.

But it seems that someone dropped the ball along the way as to totally neglect the use of a compass (economic blue print) in the uncertain and treacherous journey to economic recovery. It was business as usual, a period of dormancy and complacency, while a major sector of the economy recedes into the 30 percentile level. This is exactly what I have been discussing about the dire need for an economic blue print formulated by both the private and public sectors and sanctioned by the legislature. It should include policy matters that transcend political regimes.

We melt in our fragility when tasked to deal with real substantive issues, but quite agile attending to provincial politics gearing up for the next gubernatorial race. Out the window goes any serious planning of the future of these isles. The business community is basically left to fend for itself. Surprisingly and perhaps because of the impending gubernatorial race, everybody is now talking about the economy. There are two questions that come into mind:

1. What economic plan are we talking about after the dormancy and decay that came after 1983 when the last major investment (apparel production) settled in these isles?

2. Are there economic substitutes to scaffold speculative and heedless pot shots about the eventual departure of the apparel industry?

Beyond rhetorical niceties that often scores a big fat zero on the scale of 1-10, I’m beginning to be nervous about what’s coming down the pike as the deepening crisis spirals toward rock bottom. I’m not talking about an economic rebound, but of the persistent misreading of situations on grand opportunities for wealth and jobs creation. Thus, the future looks awfully dim under the circumstance.

How grandly do we soothe our fears with intermittent tidings that the local economy is making a come back. My friends, it isn’t and the closure of more businesses in recent months should be our factual indicator that something is seriously wrong right here in paradise. In short, politicians can no longer rely on good old faithful–ad hoc planning method–where we plan by, not plan for, eventualities.

And we need not go further than taking a glimpse at current economic conditions to discern that indeed it’s time to bring about lasting policies however difficult that would encourage wealth and jobs creation. I’m hopeful about it. Otherwise, we would be repeating history as though we’ve never learned from the lessons of the past. Si Yuus Maase`!

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iStrictly a personal view. John S. DelRosario Jr. is publisher of Saipan Tribune.