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Charlotte Amalie
Thursday, March 28, 2024
HomeNewsArchives'The Gravy Train Done'

'The Gravy Train Done'

Dear Source:

The gravy train that has kept the island's rulers and managers fat and happy is done. Our situation truly is desperate and there are no immediate solutions to a situation that is only going to get worse over the next several months.
1. All government employees (including me) need to turn off all extra lights, stop using cars for non-government business, stop using faxes, copiers, phones, etc for personal business.
2. That includes management
3. Government employees being paid to be in their offices serving the public need to be in their place of work, not out doing the laundry or getting a hair treatment.
4. Government employees caught not following the above or abusing privilege in any way need to be placed on immediate administrative leave.
5. There needs to be a 5% sales tax on everything except food for the next 5 years, which must absolutely stop at the end of that time, which money needs to be used exclusively to pay down debt already accumulated. Yeah that's gonna hurt, but "gravy train done."
6. The senate needs to be instructed that it cannot spend more than it has and the governor needs to veto any expenditure above what is in the government coffers. Yeah, that's gonna hurt, but "gravy train gone."
7. WAPA needs to stop giving free lodging and other perks to its employees. Those who were caught stealing electricity from their neighbors need to be made to pay it back.
8. WAPA needs to come up with and immediate, short-range plan to bring our costs under control before we have an economic meltdown. There is no excuse for the prices we are being asked to pay for electricity that surges and kills our electronic equipment or which stops altogether for no apparent reason.
9. Criminal negligence charges need to be brought against those mis-managers who got us into this mess and they should be made to pay for their greed.
10. These suggestions are hard, but we can either change or we can go on like we have until we have the total economic collapse that makes the depression of 1929 look like child's play.
Roger Morse
St. Croix

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