When nailed to our cross from a mind numbing issue we dig down deep to resolve it forthwith. We forge ahead amidst crippling financial shortfall families have to endure these days. Life goes on, though quizzically painful the uncertain journey ahead.<\/p>\n
How do we deal with the cumulative increase in the cost of living? Well, most fail to see the \u201ccumulative increase\u201d crashing fatally into the reality of our empty family pocketbooks. But feeling its crunching effects is right up front and center in every household.<\/p>\n
For retirees, you add the 25-percent cut in pension, 40-percent increase in health insurance plus 20-percent increase in the cost of living and you\u2019re looking at an 85-percent cut in your total income or buying power. The rest must endure cut in income by over 65 percent.<\/p>\n
The vicious hardship is ubiquitous\u2014could be seen everywhere\u2014throughout the CNMI. It\u2019s all about lapses in leadership from A-Z. \u201cWe the people\u201d are the victims!<\/p>\n
The issue drops into two categories: 1.) \u201cStanding complaint\u201d among the multitude about misery forcibly placed upon them by, reiterating, leadership failure. 2.) Turns into breakfast, lunch, and dinner people would bring with them to the polls this November. <\/p>\n
No matter the political calisthenics, there\u2019s no doubt people would keep repeating the standing narrative found in pseudonyms like CUC, CHC (health insurance), and other Cs. Apparently, your wagon is dislodged and gone off on its own while the horses have headed elsewhere, too!<\/p>\n
With instability in Iraq, oil would skyrocket by as much as $150-$200 per barrel. This increase will soon hit the CNMI. At day\u2019s end, it\u2019s you and I who must pay higher power bills. Moreover, the domino effect definitely would increase shipping cost that translates into another layer of increase in the price of basic commodities. Did someone say alternative energy?<\/p>\n
With the inevitable cocktail of increases from power to food, perhaps pro-casino folks should explain how the casino industry would resolve the persistent fiscal and financial crisis at home. Let\u2019s see your arithmetic beyond conjecture and propped-up projections. Hell, it\u2019s your chance demonstrating there\u2019s brighter break of dawn, huh?<\/p>\n
Whether we like it or not, our government is bankrupt! It can no longer afford paying for its hefty obligations. Looking at the combined effects of cumulative deficit of some $1.2 billion versus revenue generation going Deep South, it\u2019s all a matter of time before the die is cast! The crippling effect of bankruptcy has descended into every corner of the NMI.<\/p>\n
Bubble of isolation<\/strong> Have they done anything of substance to reduce a huge deficit? As though this isn\u2019t sufficient, there\u2019s also a plan to take out pension obligation bond that would effectively deny our children their economic freedom. The apathy with which incumbent leadership has treated these issues has forced a shift in slogan from \u201cbetter times\u201d to maybe \u201cnext time.\u201d <\/p>\n Nothing has been done to mitigate new and impending increases. The ineptitude has left wages and salaries stagnant or the same for the last 20 years. This doesn\u2019t offer much help to anyone. The pain is the same in every household. Is there a way out of this filthy swamp of persistent leadership failure?<\/p>\n Indeed, there are ways to ease what families have to endure today if, and only if, leadership buckles down to using its cranium to the hilt. I salivate at the opportunity to turn the mess around and lift our sunken canoe from the harbor of bankruptcy. That our sail is shredded is more the reason to burn the midnight oil to give opportunity another shot so we could rebuild the bridge of hope.<\/p>\n When you slip into history then you know your career has sailed permanently into the sunset. It\u2019s beyond the reef where you could relish living in bubbly isolation!<\/p>\n Kick the bums out!<\/strong> The more critically you probe it, the more it shows that it\u2019s in the poor caliber of leadership on the hill or lapses in leadership. Obviously, the culprit is no rocket science stuff either. Thus, the dearth of meaningful economic policies has been soundly relegated to irrelevancy.<\/p>\n Having contributed to the deepening mess as \u201cDo-Nothings,\u201d they\u2019ve learned to insulate themselves with our tax dollars to the tune of $60,000-$90,000 each. No wonder! What work only evil geniuses could concoct on self-serving basis! Kick the bums out!<\/p>\n Historic amnesia<\/strong> There\u2019s the historic amnesia trashing the will of the people on casino. It\u2019s a fertile year too for non-economic policies confirming complete misperception of the people\u2019s issues.<\/p>\n Are we supposed to be forgiving of policymakers who\u2019ve simply failed the multitude donning the cap of abecedarians?<\/p>\n Instead of fully thought-out economic policies, we see laws prohibiting panty hanging in Garapan. Does it mean you\u2019d be paying for their utility bills too?<\/p>\n Then there\u2019s the cockfight measure. Is cockfighting the economic engine on the islands? This is provincial stuff, fittingly the purview of municipal councils. Or is this the depth of your perception of the crippling economic mess at home?<\/p>\n That there\u2019s literally nothing undertaken to ease familial economic hardship is more the reason to \u201ckick the bums out.\u201d It\u2019s time to begin insisting, via our ballots, for a more academically and professionally competent group of policymakers. No more amnesiac leadership. No mas! <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" When nailed to our cross from a mind numbing issue we dig down deep to…<\/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":[256,26,67,50],"class_list":["post-39394","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-opinion","tag-casino","tag-cnmi","tag-people","tag-power"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/39394","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=39394"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/39394\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=39394"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=39394"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=39394"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
\nOur men of wisdom have opted to live in isolation in order to insulate themselves from serious questions coming from \u201cwe the people\u201d on the whole ball of wax of forced economic misery. They do not wish to listen to complaints about joblessness, hopelessness, and other familial economic maladies originating from their failure.<\/p>\n
\nMany of us have gone to hell and back, trying to understand where things may have gone wrong in the persistently deepening fiscal and financial crisis at home.<\/p>\n
\nA Clinton staff quip, \u201cIt\u2019s the economy, stupid,\u201d remains the most relevant reminder here today. It should have been the mantra of every politician worth his salt! It isn\u2019t! <\/p>\n