The NMI lags behind in basic infrastructure to meet the needs of current and future growth. Understood the interest to explore low interest bond loan for this and other purposes. It\u2019s the only path to luring more lasting investments.<\/p>\n
But it\u2019s better to let political plans cool off in order to allow for wisdom to prevail. In other words, let\u2019s wait for the GAO report to find out our fiscal posture, specifically the NMI\u2019s ability to pay additional long-term debts. This is not a topical issue but a substantive one, meriting careful review.<\/p>\n
Take a look at the history of Puerto Rico and how it piled a $70-billion debt it could no longer afford to pay. Low interest could well be the lure, quite similar to what several states did, with Puerto Rico dishing generous loans decades ago. <\/p>\n
Today, the territory is pinned down with a $70-billion deficit it can\u2019t pay. In the process, it lost economic opportunities that triggered a huge decline in its population. Some 50,000 leave the territory annually for greener pastures in the U.S. <\/p>\n
Didn\u2019t this happen here some eight years ago when 3,000-plus of our people evacuated to Guam, Hawaii and the U.S. mainland? Wasn\u2019t the powerful intuition that opportunities at home are basically history that prompted their evacuation?<\/p>\n
Dilemma:<\/strong> The NMI is faced with the dire need to emplace basic infrastructure to meet investments now on the runway. <\/p>\n However, it\u2019s good to be on the safe side of caution. A huge debt is bad for taxpayers for a simple reason: we carry the burden of paying for loans that could mean tax increases and quadruple taxation from CUC to cover for the incompetence of the board and agency, among others.<\/p>\n Beyond eyesight:<\/strong> Other than vision and integrity, it would help dispositions if the elected elite strengthen \u201cattribution\u201d in order to understand, with some sense of clarity, the whys of certain issues.<\/p>\n For instance, the NMI faces three challenges today: 1). China\u2019s to cut promotions at home that lure the wealthy to gamble in overseas casinos. 2). Japan\u2019s casino industry opening in less than two years. 3). Gaming industry in the U.S. converging to destroy the casino industry here in ways we would never know. It\u2019s their survival versus ours!<\/p>\n China wants to stem money laundering and capital outflow while the U.S. gaming industry is bent to protect its turf in what appears to be fading opportunities to rake in billions of dollars. In other words, there\u2019s vicious competition across Asia. We are a part of the Asian equation.<\/p>\n Though these may appear insignificant initially, take another critical look, employing thoughtful attribution to events unfolding nearby that pose as heavy competitors against the NMI. It doesn\u2019t look very encouraging and it\u2019s about time the NMI retreats to it silent corner to reset buttons.<\/p>\n Is there a chance ahead to revive the Japanese tourist market? Trust me. It\u2019s history and it\u2019s timely that we start bonfires along the shore with chants to ponder upon our future. Some vicious competition nearby would slowly annihilate all efforts to refuel our fickle single-engine economy.<\/p>\n Unease at home:<\/strong> My buddy Magoo has the simplistic view of our relationship with our national government. He\u2019s convinced Uncle Sam would come riding into town whenever we mess things up. Not quite!<\/p>\n Sadly, Uncle Sam is exasperated with our apparent redundant adolescency in the disposition of matters of state. He\u2019s waiting for us on the steps of Capitol Hill in D.C. to unload some harsh lessons about self-government.<\/p>\n It should include a brief lecture on how to build strong governance a step at a time. And it begins with the \u201cself\u201d dealing with the term \u201cresponsibility.\u201d This would be followed by the term \u201caccountability.\u201d If neither word sinks into our soft ma\u00f1ana brain, the next recommendation would be frontal \u201clobotomy.\u201d<\/p>\n To rely upon so-called Republican connection doesn\u2019t fit the Trump equation. The NMI sighs at the impending destruction of new investments without CW workers. Recently, however, Trump wants companies to hire U.S. citizens first. That decision paralyzed the H-1 visa program. We\u2019d see how the Donald disposes of the NMI\u2019s request.<\/p>\n Resignation:<\/strong> We spout self-government while openly flouting ethics laws, refusing to take full responsibility for serious violations of statutes.<\/p>\n The Five Musketeers have been found to have lied about a certain firm not paying for their HK trip. This was proven in a HK court decision. The denial is a clear violation of the ethics law that all must follow to the letter. Interesting that the Five Musketeers have kept mum on this issue, perhaps praying that it fades into history.<\/p>\n It remains the view of \u201cwe the people\u201d that the NMI is a government of laws! Be mindful and tender your resignation forthwith!<\/p>\n \u2018Da Speechment\u2019: <\/strong>Magoo was rushing to review what he calls the \u201cspeechment.\u201d He meant the SOCA delivered last week by Raffy Torres at the Multi-Purpose Center hardly attended by the multitude.<\/p>\n \u201cThere\u2019s nothing new other than a smorgasbord of issues and it\u2019s not even a sit-down dinner,\u201d he complained. He talks about helping families meet dinner table needs. There\u2019s 51 percent of the working class earning poverty income level and below. \u201cStart there!\u201d<\/p>\n It\u2019s time to buckle down to formulating a short and long-term plan detailing your specific plans for economic diversification. It simply means revenues accruing into the local coffers beyond tourism. What are these areas? Would it include modern farming and fishing methods, service industry upgrades, others? Unless this is done the SOCA is another weak-kneed posturing.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" The NMI lags behind in basic infrastructure to meet the needs of current and future…<\/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":[256,257,5368,1743],"class_list":["post-249785","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-opinion","tag-casino","tag-nmi","tag-soca","tag-uncle-sam"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/249785","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=249785"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/249785\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=249785"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=249785"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=249785"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}