Oh Brother Where Art Thou

Read this letter to the editor by business tycoon Anthony Pelligrino where he is questioning where have all the good old days gone. He is brought down to the memory lane bringing up the past when the CNMI used to be in that golden era. I believe he has posted some questions for the community to ponder on.

Sometimes I get the feeling that our feet are walking forward but our heads are screwed on backward. We yearn for 1986 through 1997-the “golden years.” During this period everybody and everything was on a roll making money and tourists were flooding into the CNMI. Land was being leased at fabulous prices. New hotels and other attractions were filling the skyline of Saipan. We actually reached over 736,000 guests in 1996. Ah, yes, those were the good old days. How we wish they would come back. Sigh! Sigh! But..

Today the picture has turned quite bleak. Government laments that revenue is way below previous years. Tourists are not flocking here as previously. No new hotels are piercing the skyline. Investors have become endangered species. Garment factories are obsolete. Indigenous people are packing up and flying off to happier hunting grounds. How could this have happened? After all, what did we do to scare them off? And, of course, the usual question: Who is to blame? It's not our fault. Right?

He is asking who is to blame here....