You get a sense of blind confidence that things are all right. Yet there\u2019s that weird sense of nagging uneasiness that something\u2019s awfully gone wrong somewhere. The Year 2015 is bad all around: shuttering of communication system and two typhoons! Anything else?<\/p>\n
Atop the disasters and accompanying mess, our government seem paralyzed, incapable of governing except to avert crises as asserted recently by the lieutenant governor in what he called \u201cveiled\u201d concerns. The governor did his garrulous pompous remarks on the budget pissing all over legislators. Folks below imperial Capital Hill are totally dispirited, trying to figure out heads or tails, in the deepening hardship on all fronts.<\/p>\n
Stagnancy:<\/strong> There are two significant features in the appalling and fatal mystery that ruins life in the entire archipelago: 1.) Economic stagnancy, therefore salaries remain the same for over 14 years now. 2.) We still had to fork out beyond family purses to pay for increases in health premiums and deductibles, basic commodities, real estate and auto loans and accompanying insurance, etc.<\/p>\n This is the juncture where we realistically collide with hardship, stormed up by the uncertainty of a highly depressed economy. Yes you have a job that pays the same for nearly 15 years now. Nothing has improved and about the only thing that has helped us carry the day is the powerful culture of communal sharing. We share everything from food stamps to tummy and mental cramps!<\/p>\n Wrong book:<\/strong> The boys were busy paging through their \u201csolutions driven\u201d book, only to find out it\u2019s the wrong book. What\u2019s before them is a cookbook, e.g., how to make bone soup and other heavy-duty food that makes visiting our medicine cabinet mandatory. Otherwise, you\u2019d pop a brain in what\u2019s known as \u201cstroke.\u201d<\/p>\n Perhaps the use of the wrong book is exactly what has gone wrong in paradise today. Or is it more like the obvious lack of a plan to glimpse when nothing else works?<\/p>\n It\u2019s all ad hoc attempts or plan BY, not plan FOR eventualities. This amidst admission that the two disasters mean we start all over from \u201cA.\u201d Hopelessly it\u2019s a rudderless boat so uncomfortably painful to even brave explaining. It breeds nothing but uncertainty!<\/p>\n Mixed messages:<\/strong> I was completely baffled by the lieutenant governor\u2019s raw assertion of \u201cveiled issues\u201d the elected elite has ignored to address responsibly. Well, he unveiled what he subsequently returned to veil once more. Then came back declaring the first unveiling was the real stuff, you know, 51 percent of our people are below federal poverty income level. He appointed an instant soba commission to probe and resolve the mounting mess. Wow!<\/p>\n People on food stamps or students on breakfast and lunch programs paid for by federal funds are situational necessities prompted by woefully poor economic conditions here under your charge, sir! In other words, it didn\u2019t spin out of thin air but is tethered to rock solid origin. If economic depression has inched up a little, maybe, and just maybe, sir, some of our people would move concurrently off the food stamps roster. But with economic stagnancy\u2014where nothing works\u2014therefore salaries remain the same for 14 years, what did you expect?<\/p>\n Courage:<\/strong> Glad, though, that he had the courage to remind us to quit gaming the system in order to avoid resolving longstanding problems. You\u2019re there now and I challenge you to inflict orderly change to fulfill fiduciary responsibility. No more excuses. You\u2019re there now, let\u2019s see you do it. You weren\u2019t elected to willfully confuse your speech like some high school intramural contest where errors are forgiven. You\u2019re dealing with real life situations!<\/p>\n Leadership:<\/strong> Perhaps he\u2019s wary the flock is lost in a dense jungle or forest. And so he\u2019s climbed a tree to see his way forward. Descending and on the ground he declared, \u201cWrong direction. Sorry, this way please!\u201d It\u2019s known as \u201cleadership.\u201d I\u2019m sure he knows he can\u2019t get anywhere without a fully considered plan. There\u2019s none now for anyone to glimpse at in deeply troubled waters.<\/p>\n The convenience of political loyalty gift-wrapped in nasty coalescence and negligence has run dangerously thin and deep. Torres doesn\u2019t have the room to massage the fossilized ego of the governor\u2019s staff whose focus is superficial self-importance. The slugfest has begun and I\u2019m keeping score whose ego is poked and deflated first among the governor\u2019s top guns.<\/p>\n Cost of Programs:<\/strong> How much of the projected FY 2016 budget of $145 million could be collected? Funding PSS and CHC over $86 million would simply drain what\u2019s left when funds for salaries and wages are deducted. The latter makes up about 80 percent of the budget. CHC and PSS would need the cumulative figure to survive the fiscal year if there\u2019s anything left.<\/p>\n Then the guys and gals must settle to learning a new skill: dancing in the rain to avoid the creeping fiscal storm. Trust me, everybody\u2019s going to get hit and hit hard when the fiscal crisis spirals completely out of control!<\/p>\n Would the administration be sufficiently bold to institute reduction in force? Two issues instantly pop-up if this measure is undertaken. They include: Are there jobs in private industries for people you would be releasing from government? Is the other sector sufficiently healthy to hire more drone employees? It\u2019s one tough displacement! I hate to see this day but it\u2019s looming into one nasty dark clouds ahead!<\/p>\n Learned NOT!<\/strong> We\u2019ve gone through storms since time immemorial, always declaring at the end of each disaster that we\u2019ve learned our lessons in the lack of preparation. Nah! We thought we did but failed royally, time and again! Still waterless after every storm and we parrot what we said earlier, \u201cwe\u2019ve learned\u2026\u201d NOT! A`saina!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" You get a sense of blind confidence that things are all right. 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