This year, and next

The dust has finally settled from the Christmas season here at my humble redoubt, although the swelling in my stuffed belly from the Mom’s Round II blowout is still lingering. What a heck of a nice shindig they threw for those of us who are rootless elves this season. Sam Joiner cranked out the jams, and proprietors Don and Nola Pangelinan played gracious host and hostess.

Don and Nola, by the way, report they’ve been hitched for over 46 years, which, in this era, should qualify them for a Nobel prize or something.

They sure take a prize for Christmas generosity, given that they hosted one heck of a buffet, complete with brewskis, and didn’t charge for it.

Which was a nice touch for the end of the year, given that 2000 was an economic Grinch for most of us. Now, we’re forced (forced, I say, because nobody would take on such dangerous tasks willingly) to grapple with the concept of yet another year, and yet another 52 weeks of cash flow blues for many, if not most, of our businesses.

On the bright side, industrial Asia is more likely to improve than sink, which, in theory, is good for our wheezing tourism industry. On the dark side, as I predicted time and time and time again, our fumble footed competitive stance resulted in Guam scooping up market share, and it’s Guam, not the CNMI, that’s in a position to really benefit from any economic happy faces in lands north.

Sure, you’ll see press releases that point out that tourism arrivals on Goat island went up 784,000 percent in February 10 of this year vs. August 8 of 1955, but these lame statistical smoke screens won’t mask the real truth. If you want the truth, then ask to see a valid (valid, I say) analysis of the Commonwealth’s tourism activity compared to Guam’s for the past three years. Don’t hold your breath waiting for this, you’d have better luck asking the tooth fairy to take your dentures in trade.

Meanwhile, it looks to be “same old, same old” for our other industrial sectors, unless there’s something I’m missing. Back to the broad picture, with Asia’s crisis no longer a valid excuse for our shortcomings, and with federal relations also falling into a more benign posture, the Commonwealth will have only one entity to blame for its economic problems. Namely: itself.

And, also meanwhile, the crime genie is going to continue to float from the bottle, as the embrace of urban American ghetto culture continues to perpetuate and grow in the segments funded by the sweet and easy handouts from Uncle Sugar. Gang-Welfare Chic is rooted and growing, and the mean and vicious crime it brings is going to grow right along with it. Burglaries, assaults, and even murders are going to be continued news stories. It’s a creepy specter that someone reading this very column right here, right now, is going to wind up being a murder victim next year. Which displays a remarkable lack of gratitude, since it will take a toll on our newspaper circulation.

Ah…but that’s next year, and maybe we should just defer 2001’s worries until 2001. I’m all for that. Rest assured, though, if you, like many others, wind up going out of business next year, as long as you can make it to Christmas without starving, you can probably count on a good meal at Mom’s Round II then.

Stephens is an economist with Stephens Corporation, a professional organization in the NMI. His column appears three times a week: Wednesday, Thursday and Friday. Mr. Stephens can be contacted via the following e-mail address: ed4Saipan@yahoo.com.