IF you’ve been paying attention to local news for the past, say 50 years, you may have noticed that the following catchphrases are uttered, every now and then, by government officials and/or politicians — and they usually say them like it’s the first time they’re being said:
“Right-sizing” government; the “vital importance of education”; the need to train local workers and/or expand local workforce; “revitalizing” Garapan/island destination; improving infrastructure; tapping new technology; creating a one-stop shop for investors/businesses; leveling their playing field; the “promising potential of agriculture and fishery”; “diversifying” the economy.
In the spring of 1999, amid an alarmingly and rapidly declining local economy, Northern Marianas College hosted a two-day, federally funded conference called “Planning for the CNMI’s Economic Future.” Among the keynote speakers were a Japan Airlines executive, university professors, economists, economic consultants, local business leaders and CNMI officials, including members of the Governor’s Economic Recovery and Revitalization Task Force.
The CNMI government vowed to open free trade zones on Saipan, Tinian and Rota, and adopt “investor-friendly policies.” A lawmaker said the Commonwealth had “started improving data collection and processing capabilities…[to] help craft an economic model that would answer development and policy questions.”
According to a newspaper editorial, “[T]he best government is the one that governs the least. Piling up more layer of government so dedicated to imposing strangling laws and regulations as to effectively stifle wealth and jobs creation is the perfect prescription to sending the NMI and all insular governments into the dark abyss of financial insolvency.”
Hotel executives, for their part, complained about the “instability of local laws and regulations.” One of them compared “the current business climate” to a “triangle [as in Bermuda] that has us trapped and choking for air.” He said the CNMI government “needs to recognize that there [must] be a balance between what [their] constituents want and what the business community needs in order for our economy to return to what it once was.” Mounting pressure on the business community was making the CNMI a difficult place to do business, he added. “Any investor will tell you that what they look at when considering a place to do business is stability of local laws and whether or not they can get the necessary labor to staff businesses. And we do not have that.”
In his remarks, the then-governor said “efforts to revitalize the economy should start with a change of attitude.” He said the CNMI “can benefit from the so-called information superhighway. We must begin to build a new type of infrastructure — one that will enhance the ability of our government and business community to reap the benefits of…high technology.”
A Japan Airlines executive said the competition in the travel industry was “cutthroat” so the CNMI should create a “unique image” of Saipan. “Trying to win back the Japanese market will not be an easy task for yourselves or any other country that you are competing against…. Only through concerted efforts of the airlines, travel agencies and tourism bureaus can any success be expected.” He said JAL, incidentally, would appreciate “lower land costs.” (The airline was a huge investor on Saipan where it owned Hotel Nikko, La Fiesta Shopping Plaza, and Tropical Laundry & Linen Corp. In July 2005, JAL pulled out of the CNMI.)
A University of Guam professor emeritus talked about the “major factors that facilitate long-term economic growth”: transparent financial markets, well-capitalized and well-regulated banks, free trade, a reliable legal system (rule of law), stable political and regulatory environment, low taxes, welfare benefits and access to well-educated and well-trained workers. “Seldom can a modern market stand still for long,” he reminded the CNMI. “It is either growing, getting bigger or receding, getting smaller.” He said the CNMI’s smallness coupled with its proximity to Asia and its distance from the U.S. mainland “will always make its economy particularly susceptible to unforeseen external economic, political and social impacts.” When Asia coughs, he added, “the CNMI gets pneumonia. When the medical prescription from Washington finally arrives, its use may kill the patient if not administered in moderate doses.”
Indeed, alas.
As for everyone’s favorite “magic bullet,” diversification, here’s what a University of Hawaii business and economics professor said: “Diversification is really hard…you cannot expect very much promise very quickly. To actually diversify will take 10 to 20 years.” He said the “insufficient supply of skilled manpower in the Northern Marianas should also be a factor to be considered by the government when it talks about diversification.” But he noted that tourism “is [the] one industry which the CNMI has already demonstrated some competitiveness in. So that is one industry where it would make sense to try to be more competitive.”
Then and now.
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