THE TRUTH of the matter is our leaders seem to literally HATE the fact that Ambrose M. Bennett tries to tell them “what needs to be done” and instead they try to let time go by and try to change my suggestions so they can try to get the credit. I have seen this phenomenon over the years, especially with the Cannabis Industry and they don’t even have an idea as to how to start the Hemp Industry that I insisted upon, which is why that potential multimillion dollar Hemp industry with the potential high-paying jobs and revenues for the government is just sitting on the shelf — they don’t even know HOW to do the work, sad. But it gets worse with SOOOO MUCH dependency on our economy and our CNMI leaders don’t have a real Economist to advise them and they refuse to let me help because of vengeful politics, as it seems they would rather see the People suffer than to hire Ambrose M. Bennett, an Economist, to help — it’s ridiculous.
It is truly painful being an Economist and having to watch our leaders flounder around making virtually no real head-way in rebuilding our Economy. Heck, they claim that they want the Japanese Market back but NOTHING is being done to lease a Japanese Hotel (Mariana Resort) that I have been complaining about for YEARS now! That hotel should have been something done in the first 100 days to start bringing back the Japanese tourists and new revenues — it’s basic Economics 200 course level knowledge. But they don’t have an Economist so we end up with Voodoo Economics making people suffer instead of doing the work early to find NEW Money and the Voodoo Economics of hoping investors will show up and save us. No disrespect intended but for me being an Economist, I view what is happening in the CNMI as being Voodoo Economics using copycat methodology to try and grab all the credit. Everyone is worried about the “tourist numbers” but no one listened to me over two years ago when Covid hit and I realized the casino was dead. I told our leaders that we needed to “reestablish the Japanese Market, Create New Attractions and to even find a new Tourists market” — they are YEARS behind me, an Economist who was taught to see over the Economic Horizon, but I don’t care about them being mad, as I CARE far more about the People!
The Governor is pivoting from the Chinese and the CPA board chair is saying we need the Chinese, which is “scatter-brain” and a clear “dichotomy that’s adverse to the synergetic efforts needed to rebuild our economy and to address the workforce mandate.” I told the Governor, prior to him being elected that “the CNMI needed the State Department’s help to get the Governments of Japan and South Korea to assist the CNMI with rebuilding our Tourism Industry” but the Governor is only now talking with the South Korean Consul General from Hawaii when he needed to go to “Japan and S. Korea when he was first elected to speak directly with these Governments under the State Departments’ privy” instead of asking the Consul General to carry his message. All of this should have been done the moment the Governor took office as he had KNOW we needed to rebuild our Tourism Industry. I know he was overwhelmed with the mess Torres left, which is why he needed a real Economist’s help, as our leaders must learn to do more than one-thing-at-a-time by putting his Chief of Staff and the Lt. Governor to work on issues separately, as the Governor can’t do it all and photo-ops together doesn’t do anything FOR the People. The delay in addressing our Tourism Industry for nearly a year is now showing up. I believe the Governor and Lt. Governor are doing their best but I can tell they need the HELP of genuine Economic Expertise from where I stand as one of the ordinary folks.
Heck, I’ve been yelling for years that the Government needed to write a grant that allow for cameras to be placed at all the major tourist sites and in Garapan where Tourism Crimes are the most prevalent and now, they took that idea and changed it to try and put cameras at the Hotels, which is ridiculous. I’m sure some or most hotels already have security cameras when DPW is still handicapped in protecting tourists and the community with no cameras where they are needed MOST — duh! I could go on and on but it is sickening being an Economist to just sit and watch “the missed opportunities and the late & only-when-we-have-to efforts to address our economy that arise out of desperation.” Please excuse me Governor, as I do respect & support you, but I can’t sit and watch things going awry and not say something. One People One Direction.
Ambrose M. Bennett is an Economist who minored in Sociology, a Political Scientist, a retired teacher & former CNMI Board of Education Member, a James Madison Fellow (U.S. Constitutional Scholar), a Fulbright-Hays & lifetime Humanities Scholar who resides in Kagman III.
Ambrose Bennett
