Fitial says feds applying ‘socialism’ to NMI

Friday December 14, 2007 By Gemma Q. Casas Variety News Staff

GOVERNOR Benigno R. Fitial says the United States, known as the land of the free and opportunities, seems to be applying “socialism” to the Northern Marianas at the expense of its indigenous people.
He made the statement in the wake of the U.S. House of Representatives’ move to pass legislation ending the CNMI governor’s control over local immigration.
“This bill would impose a federal labor system on the commonwealth which is nothing more, or less, than an effort to enforce a ‘command economy’ system on the Northern Marianas. In another day, it would be called socialism,” said the governor in a statement.
“It entrusts to government officials the responsibility for allocating laborers to particular industries and, within industries, to particular companies. These economic decisions should not be made — and cannot be made effectively — by government officials,” he added.
The U.S., a melting pot of people from different ethnic backgrounds, prospered because of its open market policy, said the governor.
“The United States economy has prospered because of our reliance on a market economy – and the forces of supply and demand. I regret that the members of the U.S. House committee rejected these basic principles,” he said.
He urged the U.S. Senate to wait for the results of the General Accountability Office’s economic study, which is expected to be released in May 2008, before acting on H.R. 3079.
The U.S. Department of the Interior separately funded an economic study on the CNMI. The report prepared by the Saipan-based financial firm Burger & Comer is due to be released next month.
The governor said federalizing the islands’ immigration system may further destabilize its tourism-based economy.
“Economic experts and business leaders say the number one tool for revitalizing our economy is retaining this particular competitive advantage. Local control over immigration has enabled us to develop new sources for our tourism business,” he said.
“It gives us the needed flexibility for new investment for educational institutions, new hotels or resorts. This legislation would take that authority away from us, and threaten thousands of jobs and billions of dollars in potential new investment,” he added.