Ambrose M. Bennett
THE TRUTH of the matter is too many of our leaders have continued to FAIL miserably and bamboozled the people by not putting forth a legitimate effort to find NEW MONEY for the CNMI. I was asked on the Marianas Agupa Show if I were to advise the governor/government on what to do about our economy and my answer was “find new money.” In the past our leaders didn’t have to work at finding investors but times and the situation have changed an instead of doing the work to FIND new investors our leaders seem to be lost about what to do. Unfortunately, they have gone down the same old path of “raising taxes and fees ON the People” when they should have been looking for new money and new tourists to replace the Chinese on DAY-ONE — learn to walk & chew gum at the same time!
Instead of finding a way to get our Hemp Industry start that I insisted the Senate leave in the bill which became law they are busy trying to find ways of putting the burden of new money for the government on the people by raising taxes, when it’s common knowledge the People are at their very ends trying to make ends meet! We the People can’t bear the weight of increased taxes, especially with inflation from the Covid stimulus and when the expectation for this new group of leaders was to find NEW Money & NEW Tourists for the CNMI. Heck, we still haven’t done anything to even try and promote our cannabis industry. The Casino Commission hasn’t even tried to establish a definitive outcome about OUR 77-million owed to the People by IPI and yet everyone else, including the Casino Commission & the Government are in line for THEIR money which tells me the People are being bamboozled by the Casino Commission and our leaders, as the Governor & legislature are silent about HELPING the People!
To make it worse the legislature has now raised the taxes on betel nut, which grows naturally in the CNMI and is used by a large number of locals. There is also a Bill to raise taxes on “soft-drinks & other commodities” just to raise money for the government. Raising the cost of living does NOT help the People and in fact it is figuratively killing the livelihood of many locals, especially the poor. It seems that nothing is safe from the politicians who sworn to “protecting & serving the People.” Heck, the Senate President who is doing a decent job has bamboozled the NMDs as she was complaining about her Bill being trashed to give the NMDs the interest money from MPLT, but now that she is the President nothing on the NMD’s money. If they are protecting & serving the people and financing the government with these ridiculous taxes running up the cost of living on everything, then I think WE the People elected the wrong people AGAIN. The Governor shouldn’t sign any more Bills that raise taxes on the People and tell the legislature to do the work to help him find NEW Money & New Investors for the CNMI.
I do want to thank the Governor for finally doing some work to get OUR Mariana Resort leased, but when it comes to finding new tourists, there hasn’t a single legitimate effort to bring back the Japanese tourists, just nominal lobbying efforts with the tour agents in Japan when the CNMI needs the full support of the Japanese government to turn things around with the Japanese. The CNMI literally slapped the Japanese in the face with our commitment to China, which is why they left and I even told our leaders that the Japanese would leave and it’s obvious they didn’t listen. To make it worse there hasn’t been a single apology to the Japanese and the pathetic part is We the People still have people talking about bringing in Chinese that is in DIRECT CONFLICT with our genuine need for the Japanese to return. If you can’t understand the simple fact and importance that “China is America’s rival and Japan is our ally” then you may need to take the High School World History & U.S. Government courses again. The Chinese government has even said they won’t send their people to the CNMI to gamble, so it’s really a no-brainer, which is why everyone should follow the Governor’s lead on pivoting away from China and start working to create new tourist markets. Heck, we can’t even get a simple statue of Ameilia Earhart put up, when she has an international appeal for tourists to visit the CNMI because we have too many leaders and people who can’t understand the need to CHANGE our appeal as a tourist destination. I keep saying our WWII tourism appeal is over and We need to change to become an International Family Destination but they don’t know how to do it and won’t let me help and/or show them how — sad and even pathetic!
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.
