One member of parliament made a motion to lower MP’s salary for three months, by Awg 1,000 a month.
Then his coalition buddies, gave him an immediate kick in the balls calling it a cheap political trick, a cockamamie PR move, because they were going to make bigger cuts down the road. And how insulting it is to offer a miserable Awg 1,000 contribution to Aruban workers, when 25.000 just saw their last pay check.
Thus as expected, in a parliamentary vote, 9 voted against, 8 for, and 4 were absent, though they could have been contacted to vote by absentia, but one of them doesn’t give a hoot, anyway.
So what was confusing?
Wasn’t the motion discussed behind closed doors, PRIOR to parliamentary vote?
On TV, fictional, Machiavellian Vice-President Julia Louis-Dreyfus, Veep, always voices her concern about Senate support for her proposed legislation, prior to vote, in an attempt to make her mark, push things through, and create a legacy. Doesn’t anyone here watch TV to learn how to lobby, and force their proposals in??
Perhaps GOA should hire a few lobbyists, so that motions get introduced and the votes pre-determined, because this current stealth POUNCING of proposals doesn’t work!
If you just hit them with your pearls, without working to sway their vote, it is indeed just a PR move, where the dejected may climb on his cross to show the world how righteous he is, and how mean they are.
The last thing we need at the time of corona.
I also learned that many think it is OK that GOA costs us 1.5 million florins A DAY, 50 million a month, including teachers, police, serlimar, etc., “because now is not the time to make cuts. Now, it the time to spend and invest.”
Apparently, many believe now is not the time to restructure GOA to acceptable levels of expense of value, because we are fighting a global monster.
On the other hand, many others think it is a unique opportunity to create a sustainable future: Don’t throw the baby out with the bath water, but slash WASTE, because with zero income, ‘man plans and the gods laugh.’
FREE Advice from an economist:
- The approach is backwards. They should have started with what GOA, SVB, AZV, etc. SHOULD be with an (temporary) economy of 0. Then see how they can get any additional financial support. Now it looks like they have just kept everything in place and then try to find financing for that.
- To make any kind of year “budget” is a waste of time. There are too many variables/unknowns. They should setup a system of financing shorter time cycles (based on step 1.) which make taking advantage of opportunities possible. It’s called Beyond Budgeting, something which many industries and governments have adopted.
From what I understand beyond budgeting means rethinking how we can manage our economy in a crazy world where everything changes every minute and where sticking to a fixed annual plan is impossible.
So, what’s possible? Short term, goal oriented strategies.
Good news: According to statistical experts our rate of infection slowed down yesterday.
Compliments to MinPres on an excellent TV appeal last night. She is super-woman, not sure about the rest of the gang.
