I\u2019d be remiss if I didn\u2019t offer up my obligatory New Year\u2019s prediction for the CNMI economy, so I fired up my crystal ball. I gazed into it, and it said:<\/p>\n
\u201c1999, all over again.\u201d<\/p>\n
And, basically, it makes sense.<\/p>\n
The CNMI never seemed to grasp the difference between internal (known as \u201cendogenous\u201d in economic parlance) and external (or \u201cexogenous\u201d) economic forces. A well managed economy is one in which local policy makes endogenous forces as sound as possible, because you can\u2019t influence what happens in the cold, cruel, outside world.<\/p>\n
In other words, a good sailor tends his sails, the better to deal with the wind\u2014which he has no influence over.<\/p>\n
A lousy sailor spends his time cursing and blaming the seas and the wind. He\u2019ll wreck his ship, but he\u2019ll have no shortage of excuses for his mishap.<\/p>\n
And we\u2019ve had plenty of choppy seas here. Japan and Korea\u2019s woes financial woes, coupled with strains with Uncle Sam and the unhappy prospects therein, are valid points to analyze. But pointing the collective finger at these factors doesn\u2019t relieve us of the onus of managing our affairs properly here on our fair shores.<\/p>\n
I like it here, but I\u2019m not a paid booster or spokesman for the place, and when overseas investors are eyeing projects here, they get from me exactly what they want: a valid and realistic assessment of the expected risks and rewards of their endeavors. And, in most cases, it\u2019s become a no-brainer: the risks are far higher than the rewards are.<\/p>\n
Investors aren\u2019t scared of risks\u2014they profit off of taking risks. But the higher the risks are, the higher the potential rewards must be. That\u2019s basic.<\/p>\n
On a personal note, I think it\u2019s a shame for the Commonwealth to have backed itself into such a bleak corner. This is a great place to live, and has a lot of raw potential. But we\u2019ve slid into international disrepute, and the trend is merely accelerating.<\/p>\n
The CNMI is heading straight for economic also-ran status. Japan is sort of flat now, Korea, by contrast, is booming big time, and we\u2019ll see better tourism activity in the coming year. But that\u2019s all we\u2019ll see. I don\u2019t envision any new hotels being built, any new industries taking root, any real change in the economic base, any influx of investment funds. We\u2019ll actually see more bankruptcies and more businesses throwing in the towel.<\/p>\n
On the \u201ccount your blessings\u201d side of the coin, the CNMI did manage to escape a full blown fiscal meltdown, and we have to give some folks on Capital Hill credit for managing those things so well in such tough times.<\/p>\n
In the bigger picture, though, the economic tune for next year will sound a lot like last year\u2019s.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
I\u2019d be remiss if I didn\u2019t offer up my obligatory New Year\u2019s prediction for the CNMI economy, so I fired up my crystal ball. I gazed into it, and it said:<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-49351","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-local-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/49351","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\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=49351"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/49351\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=49351"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=49351"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=49351"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}