They have proposed taxes on environment-friendly merchandise and incoming passengers and cargo. They have raised the driver’s license fee and are now urging DPS to enforce an old law that imposes fees on trucks. They will once again attempt to loot the ETC program. After all, the administration vetoed the ETC “suspension” bill not because the governor is against it, but because the version lawmakers passed will “generate very minimal revenues.”
The ETC suspension, lawmakers say, will provide more funds to PSS. Public school administrators, however, oppose the bill. Who do you think is more believable? Now lawmakers say that collecting fees from the few tourists who still visit the islands will “improve” the services provided by Customs and Quarantine.
Too much already da b.s.
The truth is these politicians are under immense pressure to end the work-hour cuts. They are not interested in long-term solutions because their problem is short-term: how to appease voters before Nov. 2012. The real problem, moreover, has never been lack of funds but the countless obligations assumed by the government — courtesy of politicians who need votes and voters who have elected and reelected these officials.
The ponzzi scheme otherwise known as the CNMI government can no longer pay everyone nor fund everything. Surprisingly, voters who are careful with their household budgets are still making unrealistic demands from their government: good paying government jobs with annual pay hikes, free healthcare, scholarships on demand, homesteads, rebates, generous pensions, etc.
But there is no more money. Your government has reached the point where it is mathematically impossible to pay off everyone. Something has to give and lawmakers agree. They want you to give: the remaining businesses on island, the few tourists and those who donate to private schools which, because they exist, are absorbing students who will otherwise enroll in the already underfunded PSS.
These lawmakers are trying anything to save their necks even at your expense.
To be sure, they know how to deal with the CNMI financial crisis. They know they must reduce the size of government while protecting key public services. They also know that it would cost them their cushy legislative seats.
In other words, expect CNMI officials to continue squeezing blood from stone. Sure it is bad leadership, but it is still “good politics.” Governing well is the least of their concern. Getting something out of it is.
So what can the independent reformists offer voters? What will be their platform? What can they promise? Good government? What is that? “Vote for me and I will cut jobs, reduce pay and not hire my supporters. I won’t buy you pugua or beer, and neither will I lend you tents and picnic tables.
I certainly won’t buy your kids’ fundraising tickets and bentos. I won’t do anything unethical. I will always tell you the truth. I will work for the long-term welfare of the CNMI. I will not pander.”
Sounds like a landslide winner.
Real change, in any case, has to begin with voters. You cannot just elect “new faces” and then expect them to do a better job with the old ways that have already proven disastrous.
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