by Keli'i Akina, Ph.D. | Apr 19, 2019 | Economy, President's Column, Regulation, Website
Would you vote with your feet? If economic conditions got bad enough, would you choose to live elsewhere? That’s a recurring theme in the most recent edition of Rich States, Poor States, the ALEC-Laffer state economic competitiveness index written by Jonathan...
by Keli'i Akina, Ph.D. | Apr 16, 2019 | Featured, Minimum Wage, President's Column, Website
Try as they might, Hawaii’s policymakers cannot mandate people into prosperity. In fact, their efforts to do so might only make things worse. For example, the Hawaii Legislature right now is contemplating two bills that would dramatically increase the state’s minimum...
by Keli'i Akina, Ph.D. | Apr 5, 2019 | Featured, President's Column, Rail, Website
The Honolulu rail is now famous, but for all the wrong reasons. The question is: “What we are going to do about it?” With the project under federal investigation, news outlets around the country are writing about it, using words like “debacle” and “boondoggle.”...
by Keli'i Akina, Ph.D. | Apr 1, 2019 | Budget, Featured, Legislature, President's Column, Website
Hawaii lawmakers are considering a myriad of new tax increases in order to pay for their spending plans, but instead they should clamp down on their spending so tax hikes aren’t needed. The Legislature on March 27 sent a record high $16 billion budget plan to Gov....
by Keli'i Akina, Ph.D. | Mar 22, 2019 | Featured, Health care, Pension, President's Column, Website
It is common knowledge that medical costs have been skyrocketing for years, regardless of all attempts to reform our nation’s medical system. What many people in Hawaii don’t realize, however, is that higher medical costs increase our state’s debt — and Hawaii...
by Keli'i Akina, Ph.D. | Mar 15, 2019 | Featured, President's Column, Privatization, Website
Imagine that you’ve just been appointed to a managerial position in county government. You’re looking for ways to make your department run more efficiently and you notice that janitorial services have been a perpetual headache for previous managers. Filling the...
