“Something Is Not An Answer, It’s An Excuse” Thursday January 21, 2010

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I find it quite ironic that the answer to COS’s departure due to government intrusion (the minimum wage law) is more government.

How nice it is for government to offer itself as the solution to the very problem it created. Hence the excuse that it must do something rather than nothing.

Yet the last thing we want is for our government to make matters worse. That is not an unreasonable demand for the People to expect of their elected representatives. Something is better than nothing— when that something is actually better than nothing.

If that is not the case, then lawmakers earn every single dollar we pay them by deciding to sit on Governor Togiola’s proposal.

Our objection to the governor’s proposal is the government’s poor track record in running businesses. ASG’s involvement into ASTCA’s business has meant that the semi-autonomous company’s revenues go to pay for the ASG’s loans rather than improving services and its infrastructure. ASG’s involvement into ASPA’s business has meant that the ASG can stall and refuse to pay its bill effectively forcing the semi-autonomous company to pass such costs along to the rest of its customers.

The reason government is not any good at running business is because it doesn’t have to play by the same rules as business. No business could do what the ASG has done with its two step-children noted above.

So here are some suggestions to improve the Governor’s proposal. 1) Hold the Governor, all sponsoring legislators and all private parties involved liable for the $5 million of taxpayer money. 2) The ASG cannot bail out the operation should it become a failure; if it fails, it fails, and the ASG cannot leave taxpayers holding the bag again and again.

Those two items alone will make his plan more market-driven and responsible as liability and failure for the parties involved are on the table.

Nevertheless, the Governor is right that lawmakers should offer an alternative. That alternative should be an agenda that incrementally reforms government in ways that lead the ASG to protect and respect private property rights, enforce contracts, level the playing field in terms of paying for needed government services, lower the costs of those services and reduce its bureaucratic burden and red tape.

That is an agenda that supports freedom, and history has demonstrated that freedom and prosperity go hand in hand. Now that is something that’s definitely not an excuse.

Talifaitasi Satele
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Comments to this story (3)
Tama Samoa Moni  wrote:
21 Jan 2010 08:08 AM
Another superb piece Tali, and I look forward with enthusiasm to read your thoughts and ideas. This one should be laid square on the shoulders of the Governor and his crony advisor Carlost Sanchez, and then hold every Representatvie accountable also if they decide to vote in favor of this outrageous proposal. Hold the "fathers of the territory" who also believe this is a good venture to get in to. That's exactly why your explanations on "something is not an answer - it is an excuse" makes so much sense. Keep 'em coming Tali. Manuia pe 'oe, manaia mafaufuaga ma fautuaga.....
So the answer is lets Experiment with taxpayers funds?  wrote:
21 Jan 2010 06:26 AM

It's a gamble that Govenor's body cannot cash. Your gambling with our five million dollars to "check" out the prospect of a ROI? Who spends money on a system to bring cable to the island promoted by "independents", and has no return? You got that right, the Governor.The People of American Samoa lost on the venture, we lost the money on a failed escapade of Governor. Who pays for it? We Do as taxpayers. Who pays the indendents side of the equation, their shareholders. So the answer is "lets do it again?"-- you gotta be out of your mind. You can forget track record, your dealing with a failed record. Who goes to Fono and ask for a bailout? Got it right again, that monolith called ASPA-- you should privatize ASPA and that call center that does not work ASTCA-- or whatever they call it now days, that Public company runned like a private bank for again ONE family, the Sene's-- the Sene's has had their teeth clawed into ASTCA since dawn of samoans on island, the same as the Sunia's having their fangs into the machine of American Samoan politics. So you want to move backwards and not forwards, ask a failed Governor to go shop this deal around the Pacific to see if any takers are available. The problem is everyone knows your reputation ASG Governors, it was better to have a good name then all the gold and silver. They can nod, but nobody puts down hard cash for a partnership that will fail. Their shareholders KNEW the Risk, we the taxpayers DID NOT know the Risk for Governor shook the treasury without approval from us the taxpayers. Who lost American Samoa-- we all did, for watching him do it and no one stopping him.
Roscoe  wrote:
21 Jan 2010 05:41 AM
Satele. Please Please Please run for Governor. You make sense. I hope everybody reads your letter. I'm very concerned with the current Governors thinking. Arrogance is not the word for it he thinks he's Tui Manu'a (a King)but there is no thought process behinfd his decisions, he's just running a scam.