COUNSELORS who help self-destructive people change their ways have a saying: If you keep doing what you're doing, you'll keep getting what you're getting. Panel on economy
is more of the sameYou could hear a collective gasp of despair in the community when it became clear that Gov. Ben Cayetano, Senate President Norman Mizuguchi and House Speaker Joe Souki had ignored that advice in appointing a task force to deal with the state's economic crisis.
Their 21-member panel from business, labor and the banks is a roster of the status quo. No small-business operators. No new-technology wizards. No opposing political viewpoints. Only two women. You'd almost think Cayetano, Mizuguchi and Souki aimed to guarantee that no new ideas would enter the discussion.
Business consultant David Ramsour had it right when he said, "This is the group that is capable of making things happen." Unfortunately, many have already made the things happen that have caused our economic slump.
Also alarming is that most proceedings of the task force and the economic summit to follow will be conducted in secret without public participation or media coverage.
A spokesperson for the governor said that's needed to assure spontaneous discussion. She said the public will have access through town-hall meetings and public hearings.
That's a tired excuse for locking out the public from its own business. Public or media presence rarely hampers useful discussion. It only impedes self-serving political deal-making.
Town hall meetings and public hearings to comment on task force recommendations have little value without open proceedings. For meaningful input, the public needs to see same information as the task force, hear the same discussion and know the ideas that were discarded as well as those accepted.
We all have a huge stake in the economy. A locked out public simply won't buy into any economic plan conceived in secret by politicians and special interests that many hold responsible for causing the current crisis.
Why are our leaders so afraid of open participation and new ideas? It's because they're stuck in the plantation mentality where the mighty few made all the decisions for the many. But that old way of decision-making no longer works, just as the old way of running the economy doesn't work anymore.
Our political system was built around a centralized economy -- a few big industries like tourism and sugar, big corporations, big unions and big government.
A few good old boys from each sector could get together and cut a deal that protected each of their interests. It was easy for the powerful few to keep tight control of our economy and political institutions.
BUT the big industries are dead or declining and the only way to revive the economy is to nurture a lot of smaller enterprises. That means the big corporations become a lesser part of the economy, the government shrinks and the unions lose influence.
What are the chances that this task force of the status quo will come up with a plan to make these needed changes? More likely, its secret meetings will produce an old-time political deal that protects their special interests but brings little real economic change.
Cayetano, Mizuguchi and Souki can make this summit a catalyst for creative ways to fix our economy. All they have to do is put aside the special-interest politics for once, foster real participation from all quarters and let the public see the process so people can trust and support the outcome.