By Dave Davis
For Variety

THERE could be a big, big problem for every resident of Guam coming down the pike, and the Guam Legislature had better do some diligent soul searching and exercise an uncommon degree of judgment and fiscal restraint when it hits their turf. I refer to the governor’s vaunted bond-borrowing scheme which, in its current incarnation, would indebt every man, woman and child in Guam to the tune of some $6,000.
Here’s the problem: much of the so-called “public debt” to be satisfied by this huge new borrowing scheme is actually deferred operating expense in disguise, created through the inability of those in charge of GovGuam departments and agencies to operate within their allocated budgets. Much of it — repayment of money owed the Retirement Fund, payment of overdue wages and the ludicrous process by which various GovGuam agencies accumulate huge debts to other GovGuam agencies — isn’t legitimate public debt at all, as defined by the U.S. Census Bureau and others in the financial businesses.
If the bond issue goes as the Governor hopes, and he’s allowed to borrow hundreds of millions of dollars to pay operating expenses incurred through decades of mind-numbing incompetence and mismanagement, the executive branch will have a continuing license for business as usual. Five, six or 10 years down the road, the same lame excuses will surface as justification for yet another round of bond borrowing, to pay off more deferred operating expenses generated by more of the same incompetence and mismanagement — much of it doubtless attributable to the same people or their relatives.
We already know that those doom and gloom “chicken little” predictions of financial meltdown and payless paydays promised by the administration and GEDCA years ago were a pack of lies foisted upon a gullible and largely uninformed public. They’re still lying, but now the peril is very real. They want to borrow hundreds of millions of dollars so you’ll think they’re doing you a favor by paying back part of what they’ve owed you for years, and by doing so buy your vote. They want you to believe that borrowing our way out of debt is a practical alternative to progressive government reform and enlightened fiscal management.
Think about it. Are you ready and willing to impose a $6,000-plus debt burden upon yourself, and every member of your family, and every one of your children and grandchildren for at least the next three decades, so that you might (or might not, given past performance) get your tax refund a little sooner?
On the other hand, you may not have to make that kind of decision at all, now that Guam’s credit rating has been downgraded by Standard and Poors, with dire threats of ratcheting it down a few more notches if our ‘leaders’ don’t somehow manage to get GovGuam finances under control.
Don’t hold your breath while you wait for that to happen. Call your favorite senator, or call them all, and tell them you want no part of this transparent power play.