VI Senate Approves Borrowing $250 Million

Borrow. Borrow. Borrow! This will be the path to death. Look at Greece! Nothing living above your means. But sooner or later you will need to pay. And it will be the grim reaper who will call.

billd

Borrow. Borrow. Borrow! This will be the path to death. Look at Greece! Nothing living above your means. But sooner or later you will need to pay. And it will be the grim reaper who will call.

billd

Looks like were(VI & US) are in the same boat.
History repeats itself, & sometimes you can learn from someone else s mistakes.
But unfortunately, our governments seem hell bent on learning the hard way.

Absolutely ridiculous. It's amazing that governments everywhere all seem to have the same inability to live within their means.

Bernie

Our nation has been living beyond its means since it was founded and yet our quality of life improves again and again. I am aware of no evidence to suggest that governments should handle their finances as individuals do. Indeed, every time that we as citizens anthropomorphize governments or nations the results are disastrous, whether in the financial or, especially, the foreign policy realms.

Cruciansinfocus....really? You read that stuff?

what was amazing to me is that not ONE concession was made towards controlling the size and the cost of Government. The parade of people before the Senate all stating their salaries were over 100K.. There seems to be no procedure for performance review and accountability. The empire continues to grow.

I was looking for something. Maybe a 2% cut in pay, park some SUVs, a real hiring freeze. Nothing, just business as usual while our future is being mortgaged away. Unreal. Suspended reality. The gov't gives up nothing while the the private sector is suffering and trying to deal with the effects of the economy. Don't stop the carnival.

Government debt is about the most undemocratic thing I can think of. It is putting a financial burden on those who have no say in the matter. By this I mean our children (and possibly grandchildren).

To put it in perspective, our government just took on around $2000 of debt for every man woman and child living in this territory. As Bombi said, no concessions were made in cutting salaries or the size of this ridiculous government. This is unacceptable.

Sean

Sean - That's an ADDITIONAL $250 MILLION - so it is truly over $4,000 per person (man, woman, child). Or equal to what the UVI President or the CEO of RLS Hospital take home in a week's paycheck (after taxes).

Our nation has been living beyond its means since it was founded and yet our quality of life improves again and again. I am aware of no evidence to suggest that governments should handle their finances as individuals do. Indeed, every time that we as citizens anthropomorphize governments or nations the results are disastrous, whether in the financial or, especially, the foreign policy realms.

Cruciansinfocus....really? You read that stuff?

Yes, I read Cruciansinfocus and several other "alternative" websites. I also listen to Mario on occasion. It's good to hear what everyone is thinking, even if I disagree with it. The opposition is never totally wrong.

But what would be REALLY great would be if our local web-daily newspapers reported the news ON time and IN-depth. And it would be wonderful if our senators blogged their positions and plans. Alas.....

I completely agree that our government reflects our citizenry when it comes to financial management. I don't have a problem with borrowing to cover emergencies. And I was disappointed that no one attached an austerity amendment to the bill. Perhaps that's not the way legislation down here works. Had they been able to do so, the bill probably would have passed by a wider margin.

Exactly! Government tax sources are drying up yet they won't do ANYTHING to cut back. Either cut back on services/personnel or make the personnel you have do more to justify their existence (in other words if you can't politically afford to cut back on government employees then let's streamline processes and use displaced government workers to provide ADDITIONAL services to the community - hey they wouldn't like it but someone could pick up the trash along the roads or something else that's needed.)

what was amazing to me is that not ONE concession was made towards controlling the size and the cost of Government. The parade of people before the Senate all stating their salaries were over 100K.. There seems to be no procedure for performance review and accountability. The empire continues to grow.

I was looking for something. Maybe a 2% cut in pay, park some SUVs, a real hiring freeze. Nothing, just business as usual while our future is being mortgaged away. Unreal. Suspended reality. The gov't gives up nothing while the the private sector is suffering and trying to deal with the effects of the economy. Don't stop the carnival.

I don't have a problem with this. I don't know the exact numbers they make but the numbers you cited are inline with stateside numbers for someone who runs a regional hospital or a community college.

Sean - That's an ADDITIONAL $250 MILLION - so it is truly over $4,000 per person (man, woman, child). Or equal to what the UVI President or the CEO of RLS Hospital take home in a week's paycheck (after taxes).

The woman who is the new CEO of RLS Hospital makes $310K/yr plus 40K moving expense plus a govt car. This, per a website tracking medical managers, is a SUBSTANTIAL INCREASE from what she made running Broward General Hospital, a 700+ bed facility with a Level 1 Trauma unit.

The President of UVI makes something like $350K/yr.

And after interest - this $250 Million dollars will cost us over $400 Million over 20 years.

And then there's Miller, didn't have to pay back anything in the end(correct me if I'm wrong):

Former USVI hospital CEO and attorney ordered to return $775,000

....

Cruciansinfocus....really? You read that stuff?

i read crucians in focus and also dem man say. because i believe everybody who's willing to speak just may have something interesting to say (whether i agree with it or not).

crucians in focus is an outlet that polices its users and seeks to present fact and let the discussion blossom from there. the editor(s) may have their views, but those of all are respected, as long as they are delivered respectfully. it gets kind of picong in there from time to time! but that's lively talk, and i love it!

I like both Crucians in Focus and De Man Say. Just 2 more pieces to the puzzle of VI politics.

The Gov has scheduled a news conference to attack the no voters and propose some vague austerity plan. If he pisses off the govt employees he's finished. They pretty much control the election because hardly anyone else is registered to vote.

Saying that only government employees are the only ones registerered to vote is a pretty sweeping statement. And untrue.

Not really. I recently circulated a petition and approached over 300 people and about 40 were registered. Mostly trades people, vendors, retail and restaurant workers. Ask a few of the people you come in contact with today if they are voters. I'd be interested what you find out.

Almost all the people I associate with on a personal basis are long-time residents and registered voters -- getting them to go to the polls every time is a very different percentage. It usually takes some pappy show or rugadoo!

According to http://www.vivote.gov/voter_statistics.htm there are 25,000 registered voters on St. Croix.

Aug 11, 2010 is last day to register for Fall elections.

Considering we have about 50,000 total residents on STX, including children, I'd say that's not a bad percentage.

Bombi, you might consider that some people might tell you they aren't registered to vote so as to avoid signing the petition.

Bombi,
I'm registered, I vote, and I get called for jury duty.

ok my estimate was way off and yes some may have said that they weren't voters because they didn't support the petition. I wonder how many people actually voted in the last election. I still think that govt employees are the largest voting block.

I wonder how many people actually voted in the last election.

For the entire USVI:

In 2008, at least 18,319 people voted. That's based on total vote count for Delegate from the unofficial results posted at http://www.vivote.gov/General08/Unofficial_Tally_by_Election_Results.pdf .

In 2006, at least 32,263 people voted in the first round, and 29,046 voted in the second round. That's based on total vote counts for Governor from the unofficial results posted at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elections_in_the_United_States_Virgin_Islands#Latest_elections which is from http://www.vivote.gov/General_Election_2006/General%20Election%20Reports%20-%20tallybyelection.pdf and http://www.vivote.gov/Run_Off_Election_2006/tallybyelection_runoff_2006.pdf .

Participation was much higher in 2006 because the position of Governor was up for election. There were two rounds of voting because no candidate got more than 50% of the vote in round one. DeJongh was short by one vote, then he won easily in round two.

USVI has 53,017 registered voters as of October 23, 2006, according to http://www.vivote.gov/voter_statistics.htm .

In 2006 first round, 32,263 people voting out of 53,017 registered voters is about 61% turnout.