INFLATION, as WE the People are SUFFERING Governor with Power, Gas and Everything as the cost of living presents an entirely new challenge, especially for the Poor and those on Fixed-Incomes!!!! The Federal Government sent help to the PEOPLE in the form of over half a Billion Dollars and yet the first thing this Governor did was to put 80-Million in a Homestead Plan that WE the People don’t even need at this point in time. The Governor needs to take that 80-million back and give it to the newly established Medical Referral Program, as it is needed NOW and Health issues surely supersede a Homestead Program we don’t need. I will be first to say yes, the Governor has given us a few Stimulus-Crumbs of the Stimulus Funding but he needs to do a WHOLE-LOT-MORE as WE are SUFFERING — for REAL! There needs to be a “STUDY stream of Stimulus support FOR the People until the money runs out” instead of this “Piece-meal Stuff” the Governor is doing.
WE the People NEED: 1. A monthly subsidy of at least 50 to 75 dollars with our power bills that have gone up applicable to everyone or at least those people on Food-Stamps as it’s a clear FACT they are suffering. These people can get their CUC Voucher when they pick up their Food-stamps 2. A monthly subsidy of at least 100 for all Retirees who are also living on a “Fixed-income” which is PROOF they are suffering too. 3. The Bonuses are great for Public & Private Employees and I offer KUDOS to Sen. Edith Deleon Guerrero and the co-authors of the resolution. But these Bonuses should also continue until all the Funding is spent like the other Reforms I mentioned in #s 1& 2. Working people need and deserve a “Pay-period Stimulus Pay for everyone working & paying taxes.” These three ideas really represent the “Stimulus Support Reform” for what a lot of the Federal Stimulus Funding was intended which is really the KISS-Method (Keep-it-Simple-Stupid) to help the People.
People are asking me to PLEASE say something as it has gotten ridiculously high for LIFE in the CNMI while wages and Retirement Checks for the People have remained virtually the same for the past two decades. Well, I have offered my suggestion as you can see above, the only question is will the Powers-that-be listen, especially the Governor. Maybe the House can generate a Resolution to spend the remaining Stimulus Funds, as it’s obvious the Governor didn’t get Full Reprograming authority and it seems the Governor doesn’t really know what to do now or he would have told us. But him and his lawyers are too busy trying to “beat the system” instead of coming up with a permanent plan to HELP the People who are suffering with their bills in this inflation along with the need to improve our “Healthcare System and Human Services Infrastructure.”
FYI Governor, ALL of America is experiencing an INFLATION Explosion for virtually everything and guess what Governor — it’s twice as hard on citizens in the CNMI, as prices and the cost of living have always been higher in the CNMI than on the mainland. If you truly CARE about YOUR People then spend the remaining Stimulus Funding on the PEOPLE, because “you can’t go wrong if you treat the People like your OWN,” which was my extremely successful philosophy for teaching and why most of my students Respected & even LOVED Mr. B. It’s truly “time-to-come-to-Jesus” Governor, as we say in the hood, and “do some good in the neighborhood” BY your People and create Real & Perpetual “Stimulus Relief Reforms” that your People NEED and stop this Piece-meal Stuff you are doing, which is literally like putting a Band-Aid on a broken arm especially when most of the inflation is here to stay! This could be your last REAL opportunity to really show you are a REAL Governor and not a “Dilettante playing Governor” as there is NO Infrastructure more important than the PEOPLE, so invest in the “Health & Welfare of the People” with the remaining Stimulus Funding and start rebuilding our Economy NOW! Note: I hope this helps as this is dedicated to the People who asked me to say something and all the hard-working people and those on fix-income who are suffering due to inflation and need help.
To be continued: One people, One Direction.
The writer is an Economist, Political Scientist, retired teacher, former CNMI Board of Education Member, James Madison Fellow (U.S. Constitutional Scholar), a Fulbright-Hays & Humanities Scholar who resides in Kagman III.
Ambrose M. Bennett
