CUC is in the ditch by $31 million. It\u2019s the result of a failed legislative engineering design. It sent it spinning into insolvency. That legislative \u201ccircuitous logic\u201d cripples CUC\u2019s operations isn\u2019t news anymore. I mean, what else is there? It happens when one fails to use inference. It\u2019s a legislative trophy in humiliation\u2014another given. Combined legislation cuts over $10 million in revenues due CUC. Must be the work of evil geniuses.<\/p>\n
With the Legislature falling flat on its face with shortsighted salvos, how does this deficiency spare the multitude of likely rolling blackouts? It\u2019s even comically questionable if it could use critical scrutiny to secure an overview of the woefully sick fiscal posture of the NMI.<\/p>\n
Does it know that of the $31 million in CUC debt, some $14 million is money owed from fuel purchases? Appalling that this doesn\u2019t compute in the minds of 29 very smart legislators nor are they wary of the dire consequence of reckless derailment of CUC funds.<\/p>\n
The erupting mountain of debts reminds me of the work of engineers in the book Atlas Shrugged. The train ran out of fuel in the middle of a long and deep tunnel. The engineers ordered trainloads of coal to fire it up. When the coal train arrived it ran straight into the waiting train. It exploded like an A-bomb that crumbled the tunnel. Everybody was killed!<\/p>\n
Now, the \u201cwillful rejection of reason by those who think the rules of reality don\u2019t apply to them can cause tragedy for everyone. Do we really believe that we can get ourselves out of an economic crisis caused by too much debt by creating\u00a0more debt? Do we believe the answer to stimulating real economic growth is piles of debts? Are not these incidents of persistent evasions of reality stem from the blurred prism of those at the helm?\u201d<\/p>\n
Victims: We the people\u2026<\/strong> But let\u2019s challenge the 29 legislators to begin spending cuts with itself by downsizing a useless bicameral to a unicameral system of eight members. You could save taxpayers nearly $4 million by doing the right thing today! Don\u2019t rely on suspect tourism dollars, what with plans to cut flights out of Tokyo this winter. Economic stagnancy and dystopia still rule the entire economic landscape. What are your plans on the long awaited economic recovery?<\/p>\n Would raising taxes be the appropriate option at this point in time? Weren\u2019t salaries recently assaulted by another spike in health premiums and deductibles? How about reduction in force of government employees? Do we really need all 3,000-plus public sector employees? Isn\u2019t this sheer excess baggage forced against the tired taxpayers?<\/p>\n Some 1,100 employees are under contracts just to avoid the merit system that pays less. So what good is meritocracy in this case? Isn\u2019t the system designed to ensure real qualifications?<\/p>\n It\u2019s time that you show leadership. Stop being spectators as though you\u2019re victims too. \u201cWe the people\u201d are your victims!<\/p>\n Meth capital of NMI<\/strong> Cattle rustling have returned, including theft of other livestock. Farmers who usually head home after sunset now stay back to guard their farm-raised animals. It has come down to people stealing from each other, the stolen items sold to meet the new habit.<\/p>\n Meth smoke is very destructive, its use paralyzing families who are into it. Young minds would simply flush their future down the drain. How sad if strong families disintegrate because of this drug. I\u2019ve seen once very productive families destroyed and reduced to some form of federal assistance. Sad.<\/p>\n I know this is a headache for the mayor, DPS, and the DEA. But a concerted effort to cleanse the island of manufacturers and peddlers is the path to resetting the community\u2019s peaceful existence. The growing social malignancy must be stopped dead on its track. It\u2019s time to move in and save the island and its people.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" CUC is in the ditch by $31 million. It\u2019s the result of a failed legislative…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[49,2151,257,67],"class_list":["post-202283","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-opinion","tag-cuc","tag-dea","tag-nmi","tag-people"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/202283","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/7"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=202283"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/202283\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=202283"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=202283"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=202283"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
\nThe geniuses would be dealing with projected revenue for fiscal year 2016 of some $180 million. Subtract about 60 percent for government salaries for a balance of about $80 million. This should be earmarked and limited to essential departments: $42 million, PSS; $40 million, CHC; $30 million, settlement fund; $31 million, CUC; DPS and others. Real juggling is a must to walk a woefully tight fiscal rope. No room for specious arguments here.<\/p>\n
\nIt\u2019s frightening to learn how methamphetamine or \u201cice\u201d has descended and infested the peaceful island community of Tinian. It\u2019s even more frightening to hear that the destructive drug is manufactured there then sold locally and throughout the NMI.<\/p>\n