YEAH, YEAH, Where’s My Check!!

You hear on TV and read in the paper about all the money being wasted by the Federal Government. In the CNMI, we don’t pay US Income Tax so maybe we don’t feel the need to be overly upset about this issue. Basically, we are like a baby bird that always has its mouth open waiting for the Mother bird to drop in a tasty worm. We never get enough and we never grow up.
Such is the case with a new job program being touted by the Federal Government. It is supposed to create Green Jobs for local residents.
First, how much money are we looking at? 3.5 million over a couple of years.
Second, how many people will it involve? Well, let’s just say that some jobs are not equal to others. There will be 20 people hired to handle the other 200 other people hired to learn about Green Jobs. The 20 “elite” hires will get all-expense paid trips (multiple trips over a couple of years) to the Mainland and other places to look at a windmill and see some algae.
The lucky 200 people will actually get to learn about green jobs. They will get practical knowledge of… well, things that don’t run on oil. Maybe they will learn how to turn coconut juice into fuel for our cars. Maybe they will learn how to run a power plant on sunlight. They will be able to do all of this stuff after they are trained, right? Not really. A line taken from the proposal reads:
Additional trained experts are needed in the islands to promote, sell and service solar products.
Great
What I can guarantee is that they will get a check for learning all of this good stuff. Money they can use to buy gas for their cars and pay for their fossil fuel generated electricity. They can buy frozen meat and fresh vegetables delivered on huge ships and airplanes then cook it up on charcoal burning grills.
Thanks a lot Federal Government for the Green Job learning!!
The only losers, besides the stateside taxpayers, are the people that sign up to be trained thinking that they will actually learn a skill that will benefit them in the future. Of course the majority of the people that sign up won't really care as long as they get a check.
Let’s just call it what it is: A Government Welfare program to help 20 connected people as well as an additional 200 less connected people.
What’s that I see up in the sky? Oh, it’s a Big Momma Bird with a whole bunch of worms!!