THE TRUTH of the matter is Ambrose M. Bennett has been telling the TRUTH and ahead of the times and our leaders, sometimes even years ahead. Many of our leaders detest the undeniable facts that I speak-out on issues before them with the TRUTH and too many have a poor acceptance level and don’t like being made to look irresponsible in their duties. But the TRUTH is, Ambrose may be the only person in the CNMI with a Higher Education Degree in Economics, which is why I’m able to make Economic Forecasts our leaders can’t see. I predicted the rise of the Super Stores we see today like Walmart back in 1972, for my Senior Thesis in Macro-Economics, as I’ve been doing Economic Forecasting longer than some of our leaders are old — for TRUE! I even wrote the only Economics Workbook to ever be used in our Public School System, but it was Ambrose, and a Board of Education member even said on the record, “Ambrose can’t write a local textbook, he’s not local” attitude that only served to prevent students from getting the direct education on Economics needed, as our students were scoring the worse in Economics on the Standardized Test. Bigotry can hurt everyone eventually, as all it takes for “bigotry & biasness to exist & thrive is for the GOOD women/men to do (or) say nothing. I submit there is NO Economist on the Hill and the People deserve to KNOW!
My admonishments back in the early 2000s about the need to “address & change our migration pattern of people leaving for the mainland” may only now be making sense for our leaders, given the shortage of local labor and me saying “I Told You So” has never helped. They want me to kowtow, and play-along when you can smell the stink in Orbit. Heck, more recently I was trying desperately to get the primary stakeholders in our workforce to collaborate with the Government to create a “Systemic Workforce Transition Effort” to address the Mandate for Transition in 2029, but as usual it became more about ignoring and even stopping Ambrose than subjectively judging my idea on the merits. It’s truly frustrating to see and knowing we can do much better but no one in power is LISTENING!
Readers may not be surprised but I believe that they have an inkling that Ambrose could indeed be an extraordinary force for change and improvement, but that would mean Ambrose would get the credit, which is the core of the problem that our leaders have with me. Our politicians are about “getting THEIR credit,” which has restricted getting things done to “Transend & Transform our Tourism Industry and Social Fabric” for the better. I told our leaders that investing in gambling was old-news for tourism but they can’t think of anything new or different because they ARE NOT Economists. Time waits on no-one and the CNMI has fallen so far behind that the catch-up game we are now playing is resulting in real growing pains that could’ve been averted had there been a real Economist on board!
Being an Economist with an IQ of 139, seeing our leaders “play-economist” while ignoring the many proven TRUTHs that I have shared about our Economy has made me say ENOUGH! Why does the Governor always have to get all the credit, why can’t the Lt. Governor, Chief of Staff, Special Assistant and our Economist do things to get credit — it should be teamwork, not a one-man show. The Governor talked about “the value of Human Resources” and yet they refuse to even listen to the only human resource with a degree in Economics, which is why it is so easy for me to point out their economic mistakes, almost as if this was one of my classrooms. I see things being done that High School Students no better to-do or not-to-do, especially if they are 2nd or 3rd year Economics major. Being an Economist & activist FOR the People, I’m sure the people agree they deserve to know WHO is Playing-our-Economist making the insufficient Economic decisions FOR the People, WHY is there no explanation for not leasing the Marianas Resort, WHY is there no explanation for NOT trying to collect the 77-million owed to the People by IPI and the list of “our leaders’ Willful-ignorance & Oversight” goes-on. The People deserve to KNOW the answer to these questions!!!
I also noticed on the Marianas Agupa Talk Show this past Saturday that my “qualifications as an Economist were being questioned and even my role in the Cannabis Industry,” which told me someone is trying to discredit me again. But they can’t discredit me, as I’m a real economist who can back-up what I say and my TRUTHFUL Messages can NEVER be destroyed, especially when it comes to Economics, as “Time has always been on my side!” So, the-powers-that-be make attempts to discredit me instead of getting the message, which only hurts the People. Maybe One Day, they might get-learned, as we say in my culture, that I’m not the enemy and that it’s about my Economic forecasts & messages and not me the messenger! I can’t sit and watch and say or do nothing, as the People deserve BETTER! One People, One Direction.
Ambrose M. Bennett is an Economist who minored in Sociology, a Political Scientist, a 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 M. Bennett
