Sour Grapes for Tuesday, October 2nd

Countability

I’m banking on it
Banking rules here tend to be anything but customer friendly. Some bigger, full service banks flaunt US banking law because they can get away with it out here. Lack of regulatory enforcement means the customers, you and me, suffer poor and delayed service from some of them.

I must say, to be fair, that the local personnel behind the counter and in the local administrative offices always seem to offer a smile and offer the best service they can. It is their bank’s home office that sets the draconian style for second-class service out here on Saipan.

Their corporate home offices are off island and that is where most of the CNMI’s money goes too. These banks have little interest in reinvesting here locally. They prefer to send nearly every dime to other far off pacific islands and do their investing there. They send our money offshore electronically, usually the same day it is deposited.

These corporate offshore banks get money from other banks the same way, electronically. Meaning usually the same day or within 2 days of the time it is requested. In violation of US banking law they then rub salt in the customer’s wound by delaying credit to that customer’s account by as long as three weeks. Meanwhile they have had the use of your or your businesses’ money for free all that time. Nice deal, for them. Rotten rip off for you, the customer.

You have probably experienced it. You deposit a check from another FDIC bank with corporate offices on the same island a few thousand miles from here, but the deposit is not credited to your account for 5, 10 even 15 ‘working days’ (meaning 1, 2 or 3 real time weeks). How long do you suppose it took the bank to get the money from the check issuer’s bank account? Minutes usually, a couple of days at most, even for ‘off island’ checks.

US banking regulations instituted a few years back took notice of the instantaneous nature of money transfers and posited rules about how soon banks are required to post credits. Those rules are flaunted by some banks out here. Those rules are adhered to by other big and small banks out here that have corporate offices a lot closer to home. Where you bank is up to you. Might I suggest you bank with those that follow the banking rules designed to protect your rights as a customer.
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McCoys and Hatfields
PSS and DCCA are fighting over some public funds wrung out of taxpayers somewhere in Idaho or Oklahoma that is supposed to fund child care here in the CNMI.

I think the 1.7 Million windfall should be split evenly between the twenty new incoming House Representatives. Think of the bushcutters and barbeques this would buy. All manner of popular entertainments could be devised and a nice batch would still be left over to fund that new Escalade each has had his or her eye on. There will even be a few Congresspersons who will want to fund local childcare with their share.

I say the whole idea of public childcare is counterproductive. What do 14 year old girls do for pocket money if all the babysitting jobs are publicly funded? A hulking bureaucracy, chewing up the funds and spitting out rulebooks is also unlikely to provide meaningful childcare no matter who is at the helm or who is spending the loot. Lets keep childcare in the private sector.

Alternatively, divvy the loot up among all 14 year old girls. Hello Kitty stock would get a boost and babysitters would never be better dressed. Each gal (or guy) has to perform x hours of Babysitting Duty weekly to stash a share of the federal cash.
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Continuing revolution
Here is a simple solution to the no budget is passed after an Administrations first year in office problem. Let’s change the rules so that the government has to shut down if no budget is passed by the fiscal year funding deadline. Period. No extensions, no excuses, no ‘continuing resolutions’…it just comes to a grinding halt.

The fire Department and the Police Department get to draw directly from the Treasury to fund their operations. Everything else stops. No paychecks, no programs, no services, just nothing. Autonomous agencies like CUC that provide their own funding keep on trucking as before but everything else ceases until a budget is passed.

I’m betting this would stop the continuing resolution dance in its tracks. This would stop the overspending that always occurs under a continuing resolution. I’m betting that the Administration would submit and the Legislature would pass a budget on time every time. Why? Because their biggest fear would be for you, the citizen and taxpayer, to find out that you can do very well without them for the most part. Plus the hardworking government employees would not stand for the stoppage and other citizens would not stand for it either. Moms with kids in tow mobilizing on the Legislature’s lawn because the schools are closed? How long do you think that would last? Ever read the Lysistrata?

I believe this solution would require a citizen’s initiative as no legislature would ever pass a bill or produce a legislative initiative to alter the Constitution or the funding rules to make themselves fully responsible. Where is Tina Sablan when we need her?
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Still Yes
Another reason to vote Yes for the Saipan Casino Act: As the US military pulls thousands of troops away from Okinawa and puts them in Guam, we will want to attract them to come to the Marianas as tourists for R&R.

Properly regulated, clean and well lit casinos in some of the major hotels and resorts will attract those soldiers, sailors, airmen and marines to come here. Once here they will find the many other charms the Marianas have to offer. These thousands of potential GI tourists tend to have a lot of disposable income they like to spend on pure fun and recreation. They also can be a repeat source of income for CNMI businesses and government. If we can make ourselves attractive to the Military personnel on Guam, new and old, they will come to visit us over and over again. Professionally run casinos and the entertainment they will attract will add a big draw tempting them to come here over and over for “getaway weekends”.
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Quote of the week: A man may learn wisdom even from a foe. Aristophanes (450 BC – 388 BC)