Battle of Saipan: Vanguard

[kmr1046]

i have a question.. If their economy sucks sooo much HOW ARE THEY AFORDING FOOD STAMP??? ARE U IN THE USA PAYING FOR THEIR FOOD STAMPS TOO???

[hotd15]

saipan is fuckin awesome. and no taxes on food nor clothing. and there are more tourists now any other time.

[TheAzov]

The prostitutes were there during the garment boom to "service" the Western and Japanese tourists. The collapse has made it worse, but sex was already good business. The locals interviewed here were living off the government before and during the boom.

[253uce]

im chamorro and this saddens me. the minimum wage in saipan is $4.05 and was recently 3.55 and before that 3.05. its horrible to see my island in this situation

[flagship21]

fc commercials

[Kenddrick]

lol hearing the 2 presenters speak both mandarin and japanese hahaha

[SKUNKBALLScom]

So what happened to Saipan? Is it back on track? It's almost 2011.. this doc was 2009.. Are there more Chinese tourists?

[skyding8962]

@SKUNKBALLScom

Last I heard the people doing the documentary were so deep in asian pussy they never left. LOL

[Kenddrick]

@skyding8962 are u kididng? they were so entralled by the pussy they never left? christ wtf???

[1Pantikian]

I want to work for Current. I wonder what it takes, probably have to be a bad ass who's awesome at everything though

[kindrea88]

my home ;(

[lighthousesrule1able]

This clip really captures the essence of all that Saipan has gone through in a nutshell. It's a beautiful island with white sand beaches... but it's gone to the dogs.

[200147380]

i think i might move to saipan, japanese anc chinese people please :D, sad what super powers do to little countries :/

[rickbar123]

HEY LOOK- ITS THE FREE MARKET IN ACTION

[Hitamaru]

i feel bad that i payed 6.00 for a Soda yesterday.. i work at current i only get 10 dollars to gamble!

[spn9070]

My island. What happened to it, that LA FIESTA mall was the place to be when i was a little kid. From the big arcade room to live concerts and events every weekends, holloween nights in october and snow fight in december. i left saipan when i was 12-13 yrs old but i still have alot of good memories of it.

[frstr8d]

sad



[bammass]

my god your mandarin is embarrassing they wont answer you cause they don't want to laugh at you

[hazellina07]

omg look at that beautiful blue sea...

[jamrock1ful]

No it's not lower coast but Maximum profit by the multinational corporations and the irresponsibly of the regulators = that being the west!! That was a lie what the guy just said!! These manufactures will produce a garment using cheap material and labor and then sending it to America or Europe and selling it for a lot of money!!

[PisceanBeautyy]

Is there a reasoning for why CNMI and other pacific territories/freely associating states in conjunction with the US government have never built up much of an infrastructure for tourism for US mainlanders?? I honestly don't think most Americans realize we have these territories (let alone realize that Puerto Rico is a territory!). Can someone from these islands or with some insight shed some light on why this hasn't occurred?

[hoyeonzang]

When I was a kid, that shopping mall was the place I would always go to. It was called La Fiesta, and every October of each year I would remember a big holloween event taking place there, and every single person or family would join there to have fun. Every december, since saipan did not have any snow, they would ship boxes of snow from Japan and place them all around La fiesta so people can make an artificial snow fight. Seeing as it is now... well it would be hard to describe in words.

[frstr8d]

@hoyeonzang

everything you've said about the mall, la fiesta, i too remember. i haven't been back home for more than five years now and it's really sad to see this. it's all a glimpse of what corrupt politicians will do just to earn an extra comma on their pay.- invite outsiders for business, without consideration, and not thinking of a fail plan. but wait there's more and i can go on. they've made a mess for their children to clean up. i hope our future leaders have enough mops to clean out.

[frstr8d]

@hoyeonzang

everything you've said about the mall, la fiesta, i too remember. i haven't been back home for more than five years now and it's really sad to see this. it's all a glimpse of what corrupt politicians will do just to earn an extra comma on their pay. they invite outsiders for business, without consideration, and not thinking of a fail plan. but wait there's more and i can go on. they've made a mess for their children to clean up. i hope our future leaders have enough mops to cleanout

[PerfectDecalibration]

very interesting.

[actsai1]

That question about American can't hang on low-pay is spot on, deserves good answer even a 100-page report to Congress, almost any POV can provide a glimmer of answer from American political subsystem, American consumeristic economical subsystem, American union subsystem (UAW being a past example) to even American core values.

[Tvox]

This is very sad! I used to lived in saipan way back 1992 and it was still booming. It's a beautiful paradise island. I had a great time there. I still would visit someday if I get the chance.

[eugenealbert]

what a shame , this is just the tip of a iceberg?? wake up america,, wake up???

[darwincollins]

If I remember correctly, the last factory had already closed.

[darwincollins]

It looks like that is a slightly different edit than what I just saw on TV. For me, I would like to visit since I lived there as a kid. However, trying to figure out how to be a tourist there is abit of a challenge.

[randy109]

I had an uncle who was seriously wounded in WW2 on Saipan. He was US Army and carried a flamethrower. He NEVER talked about the war. The nightmares of using a flamethrower ate at him for 50 years. The war had many victims and back then there was no such thing as PTSD. PTSD in the 50's was another word for combat fatigue, or worse yet, "chicken"... There's no reason that the USA can't pump a little money into the Saipan economy to give these people some dignity and reasonable wages.

[treon123456]

@randy109 ...MY FATHER WAS A .30 CAL.MACHINEGUNNER ON LCVP'S(LANDING CRAFT)IN THE COAST GAURD HIS BOAT WAS SHOT OUT FROM UNDER HIM ON SAIPAN AND HE SPENT A WEEK FOLLOWING MARINES AROUND....NEVER SAID BUT A FEW WORDS ABOUT IT...

[JohnnyBoyCali]

@randy109 Do you mean the same US that has almost 14 trillion dollars in debt. I'm sure the US could borrow more money from China and give the money to saipan but wait a minute did you stop to think that almost every city in America is also facing high unemployment and poverty. Detroit looks just like Saipan if not worse. Even Las Vegas which was once a booming town now has almost 14% unemployment. American cities are starting to look just like Saipan and things are getting even worse.

[ThePrincesspualani]

The island cant even afford to keep the power on for the whole island! it has to be turn off and rotated from village to village and there's no telling where or when\!

[ThePrincesspualani]

Then it closed!I soon realize that I had no future on the island. At my lowest I was making $2.30 as a cashier at a grocery store.I would rather struggle in the US than be back in Saipan.Fortunately for my Dad, American who has spent over 20 years there, has a great job and is living well.But like the US we have "ghettos", they dont look like the US ghettos but they are. I would like to see my island better soon. IDK if i can help but i hate to see it in it's current state.

[ThePrincesspualani]

The "mall" he talks about and shows use to be great.Live shows on the weekends, haunted house on halloween, shops gallor and a game room. stopped coming.Things like that weren't common and as a teenager I wanted to be there every weekend.

[ThePrincesspualani]

As a born an raised Saipan girl it is sad to see my island they way it is shown in this video! Unfortunately, he showed the truth! Im not the best at economics but I know it stinks on the island.I ready as a kids my uncles and aunts worked at the factories! not just foreign workers locals worked there to.But as the industry got better they recruited alot of foreign workers not just from china but also bangladesh. As far as tourism, I don't now what went wrong but the Japanese and Koreans

[chukchee]

The fun we have with cheap chinese products can't last long....

[rickbar123]

The American people need to wake up.

END IMPORTS

END THE WTO

[rickbar123]

LOVE THOSE NEO/CONS

[Pauliec386]

Adam's cute, and his Japanese is really good. I wonder if he spent time there as a kid or just learned from his relatives.

[britainmal]

Well, Saipan(Capital of the Northern Marina Islands) is a US Territory, but US citizens can't own land, but they can do everything else. The Constitution of the Northern Marina islands only allow native islanders the right to own land in the territory. if they allowed landownership to everybody or to at least all US citizens, the economy of the territory will improve.

[Jas2davir]

this is one of the reason why vanguard isnt really the best documentary out there

[gourder]

wow thanks for this video. i just have to go back to see for myself. i was born there and lived there for 11 years. the abandoned shopping mall was called "la fiesta" and was so lively.. i cant believe it.. you can actually see the place i grew up in at 7:30 across the street.. the very right side of the white building..

[checkblankcheck]

where is Saipan? and is there population declining?

[kenialopez62]

google it. youll find info. i know but i dont like helping lazy ppl. its enough i help them out with my taxes which i pay every year

[Asianboysiam]

what you do is turn all those abandon places into a simulated game play area of paintball and so forth to rich white boys lol

[IfTheresTime]

My mother is chamorro and I actually grew up on Saipan. I had a lot of fond memories and it used to be a very nice island, almost like Hawaii except more secluded. However, not four years ago I visited for the summer and much of what the video said is true, and it's only getting worse. It's sad to see this kinda thing happen.

By the way, that empty "complex" shown in the video did used to be a shopping center. I used to frequent that place when I was younger.

[JRPeyesatsne]

Ummmm, the problem is not with "free trade", it is with a lack of it: minimum wage laws prevent a free negotiation of prices, creating unemployment and driving jobs out of the USA. If wages were left to actually reach an equilibrium, we would have very low unemployment AND a lower cost of living (thus allowing people to live off of a lower wage).

[Asianboysiam]

lol it looks good on paper and i can tell you've taken macro economics but it's practically impossible to not hvae a minimum wage law in US due to high cost of living...you're pretty much creating a very huge gap between the middle, low class and the upper class..

[mele1mele]

anyone got any positive options for Saipan's future income cash cow?

[Johnpauljone]

Does this tiny island have to have a cash cow?

just like it did 'artificially' a decade ago?

Isn't it just as good as it is? a peaceful, quiet island?

[able510]

Just one person here to figure if the economy is slower then gas would be used slower.  There'd be less pollution.

[FatalHitzMusic]

I currently reside in Saipan, and have been living here for about 6 years, and to see it collapse is sad, really. Only hope we have really is to leave and go to the mainland United States...

[AllMyBaseQTqt]

i love ya episodes ive subscribed!

keep the quality episodes up. ;)

[SilverGunZoO]

fuck america

[monkey68sha]

Most people who argue that US manufacturing is in decline are really referring to the long-term decline in US manufacturing EMPLOYMENT. US manufacturing is increasing its efficiency. Get your facts straight and stop generalizing to support your agenda. I actually agree with your perspective but you do us a disservice with poor journalism on the topic.

[monkey68sha]

This video and others with this same so called journalist is too loaded with inaccurate generalisations. The US share of global manufacturing is over 22%. This is the same as it was in 1995 and more than the 20% in 1982.

[sergio311]

bro ... its yamaguchi man ! c;mon ~

[poopdude]

I love Current and Vanguard, it's always so interesting and I learn something new every time I watch it ;D.

[JohnnyBoyCali]

@poopdude I learn a lot too. Mostly I learn that the world is a very depressing place.

[whalerfisherman]

i love current tv besides that and npr i dnt think i could get through the day

[GrimRose13]

12:04, the sign above the garment workers heads says (From what i can tell) "Do it right the first time!". I know things in a factory setting, especially with the conditions going on now, need to be done right but it sounds a bit harsh to me.

[ColossusofVita]

are there people even living there now? interesting video btw

[xxxgwiZZyxxx]

in saipan??...hell yeah!!....shit im still livin there

[ToMyDearFreak]

Interesting video. i love this channel !

[amieamie12]

what is so scary about this video is it makes you wonder not what is wrong with the us.. but what is wrong with asia when wages far below minimum wages cant even compete

[kokuryu]

Nothing is wrong with parts of Asia where cost of living is so low compare to developed nations.  It's just economics, just like how cost of living is high in NY compare to some little town in Louisiana. In Vietnam, for example, you can have a full meal for under 1USD. So paying workers 2USD/hour would be enough for someone to get by in that country.

[bowmasta]

very interesting video.

[saikasha712]

I really, really wish Current had a bigger audience...I know that lots of people wouldn't watch it cos "that's stupid" and "what does that have to do with me?" but the fact is, a lot of things Vanguard and Current covers deals directly with us...

[EpwnaExeter]

wow. great video on globalization and its negative repercussions.

[VegitarianTabloidTV]

really interesting

[TKDKarate]

second

[barrijitos]

first