Once again, our political class anticipates that when the Fiscal Oversight and Management Board (FOMB) leaves, it won't take long for us to fall back into financial deficit and go backward again. Something that would surprise?
Photo: El Nuevo Día
The answer to that question is no. Our political and governmental class broke the monopoly of the Electric Power Authority, broke the monopoly of the Aqueduct and Sewer Authority, broke the Highway Authority, economically destroyed the Government Development Bank and did not break the Telephone Company because they sold it before, but if not, chach!
In just one week, two news items exemplify what I am saying. Everything that has to do with impacting the economy and the Government's coffers or operations has to go to the JSF first. Almost seven years after the Board went into effect, our politicians and the Government continue with their determination to pretend to be on their own or to present legislative measures that only validate that our politicians do not care about anything, only about winning votes at any cost.
Recently a legislative measure was introduced to grant "military leave" to all immediate family members (husband or wife, children, siblings, and parents) of a military member to be absent from work when the military member is on the island for a visit or when the presence of the family is "required" for some activity. This little dessert applies only to government employees, up to 5 days a year, and is paid out of your pocket as a taxpayer! In other words, more days off with pay, courtesy of the people of Puerto Rico. With what our veterans and military really need, they look the other way!
The measure was unanimously endorsed by the committee that heard it, i.e. by all the political delegations present.
You can take some legislators to the river, but you can't force them to drink water. These guys are going to bankrupt us again when the JSF leaves if it leaves. I am not saying it for this measure, but for many measures like this one that will continue to be presented, measures without analysis, without intellect and that only seek to fish for votes. That is why the unanimous support of the legislators in the committee, because there are going to be elections in a few months. That is what led us to bankruptcy, this mediocre mentality and with little or no level of rationality, much less responsibility.
You know what? The Office of Administration and Transformation of Human Resources of the Government expressed that the measure has problems. "The OATRH recommended that being a measure that would have a fiscal impact, they understand that it should be analyzed whether it complies with the Certified Fiscal Plan, pursuant to Article 7A of Act No. 103-200610, as amended, known as 'Fiscal Reform Act of 2006′, requesting the official certification of availability of funds and in its report asserting the fiscal impact, if any, that the approval of the measure is estimated to have on the budgets of the agencies, departments, agencies and instrumentalities or public corporations. Therefore, they suggest consulting with the Budget Office of the Legislature (OPAL) on the feasibility and possibilities that may be incorporated into the Bill, as a result of the comments and analysis that they may kindly submit," reads the report of the committee that endorsed it.
For its part, OPAL, according to published information, determined that it is impossible for it to calculate the final impact of the measure. With OATRH (executive) saying that the measure has problems and OPAL itself (legislative) saying that it is impossible to determine its impact, the legislators of the commission endorse it. Can one be more irresponsible?
Let's now go to the central government. As I mentioned, we have been with the Board for seven years, and everyone knows how things should be channeled. The JSF did not know that these increases to trusted employees had been approved, and they had to request information that the government did not give them, knowing that it had a fiscal impact.
We are in an election year, and the political class that operates the government is playing with the people, including public employees. What happens if the JSF reverses those increases? The government was the good guy, and the Board was the evil one. And the public employee? It is just collateral damage that they hope to be graced with their vote for the attempt that perhaps they knew was not going anywhere.
I am not saying what is going to happen. I really don't know, but if it does happen, they knew and decided to play electoral politics with the minds of these employees.
Now, supposing that the Board disallows the increases because they do not have recurring funds, because they do not comply with the fiscal plans, or because of any circumstance that compromises the stability of the Government's finances, imagine that the Board was no longer in Puerto Rico and imagine what the politicians would do: give pa' lante to everything that is increases, "gifts" and smells like a sum of votes. These people are still on the "devil take the hindmost" track. They will go back to the culture of kicking the can down the road and let the next government deal with the mess... But those next governments will do the same, and the snowball will continue to grow until they fall back into insolvency and bankruptcy.
Our history of how we reached this level of bankruptcy is very recent. They managed to discredit even the Constitution; remember that it guaranteed payment of the debts owed and even that went bankrupt. Politicians have ruined our knees and even with blood and without healing well, they are already anticipating with their actions that they are on their way to ruining us again.
This article was published originally in Spanish in Metro.
