A FORMER island resident asked via email: Any good news?
There’s always good news, but it seems many of us believe that the bad news far outweigh the good ones — if they’re truly good at all. As a book publisher supposedly once advised an author, if you want your book to sell, write about doomsday predictions.
But yes, I told the former island resident; there’s good news.
Recently, NMC and SBDC hosted “Small Business Night” which featured 15 small businesses. It gets better. NMC says it could be a monthly event. “We wanted to provide a platform for [people] to be able to grow their businesses and have that support from the college in the hopes that we could also encourage other students to open up their own businesses and become entrepreneurs themselves,” an NMC official was quoted as saying.
What the official said makes more sense — and is more helpful for the CNMI — than all the recycled and reheated political rhetoric we’ve heard since the local economy crashed over two years ago.
Meanwhile, on Guam, its impressive university hosted a three-day online Startup Weekend Micronesia event for aspiring businesspersons on Guam, the NMI, Palau, Pohnpei, Yap, and the Marshalls.
Also on Guam, and “in line with ongoing economic recovery initiatives,” Gov. Lou Leon Guerrero’s administration has announced improvements to business licensing and permitting processes. The CNMI is still talking about “one stop shop” for prospective inspectors over 20 years since it was first proposed. Guam formed a Task Force to Reform Government Permitting Procedures in February 2019, and has now announced improvements to business licensing and permitting processes.
“Nurturing a business-friendly environment that maximizes free enterprise and simplifies business startup or growth is essential in our efforts to expand Guam’s economy,” says the island’s Democratic governor. “By doing so, we foster economic growth that produces jobs for our people, opportunities for entrepreneurs, and increased incomes for working families.”
Words backed by action.
I’ll say it again: encouraging residents to become entrepreneurs and/or to launch their small business ventures is far more important and useful to the CNMI than the ongoing election-year politicking, maneuvering, speechifying and grandstanding that, in the end, is almost always about who and what political faction should be in charge.
No one is really talking about the real “problem,” which is the lack of local funding for the government’s many and never-ending obligations. If this problem is mentioned at all, it’s usually in passing, or as a reminder of why it’s someone else’s fault.
The economy is down, but is propped up by federal funds, almost all of which will be gone next year. Then what? How can the CNMI government pay the Settlement Fund, medical referrals and government payroll, among many other financial obligations?
Besides the usual general campaign statements and slogans, have you heard any specific “plan” or “proposed solution” from any politician running for office this year?
Politics is hopeless, but it peddles hope.
Legitimate businesses are based on hope, but to survive it must provide services or products consumers need or like. Businesses must give before they take. And it’s our choice whether to patronize them or not. In contrast, government, which is run by politicians, is usually intrusive but inept, and, more often than not, is led by people who believe that good intentions are just as important, if not more important, than actual results. Government likes taking other people’s money and calling those people greedy for not “giving” more.
Businesses fail because they cannot deliver on their promises. When government fails to delivers on its promises, it simply makes other promises — which many voters believe. Unlike businesses, government never goes out of business. Unlike businesses, government usually don’t “learn” anything from its failures.
Government cannot be run like business. Government is all about what’s “popular,” arithmetic be damned. Business is all about arithmetic.
We need more economically literate politicians like Guam’s governor. The U.S. economy, which is the world’s largest and most dynamic, can outlast popular politicians who complain about the existence of over 20 brands of deodorants “while children go hungry” or who sell $58 sweatshirts that say “tax the rich.”
But not the CNMI economy. What it needs now are new businesses and more tourist arrivals to generate the revenue the CNMI government must collect as soon as possible to pay its obligations to its vendors, creditors, employees, retirees and other voters.
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