Dick Rowland, founder and chairman emeritus of Grassroot Institute of Hawaii, dies at age 90
Photo by Craig T. Kojima, courtesy of the Honolulu Star-Advertiser The following was issued as a news release on Sunday, Nov. 28, 2020. ________________ The former Army officer and insurance executive was 71 when he set out to educate Hawaii residents about the...
Thanksgiving is a little different this year, but we still have our founder’s ‘attitude of gratitude’
Photo of Dick Rowland by Craig T. Kojima, courtesy of the Honolulu Star-Advertiser For many of us, Thanksgiving is a little different this year. But while the gatherings might be smaller or the menus changed, one thing remains the same: We are still full of thanks for...
Akina and Perry talk ‘unemployment tax blues’
Keli'i Akina of the Grassroot Institute of Hawaii rode once again with "Perry & The Posse" this past Monday, invited by host Michael W. Perry to share his views about the looming massive increase in the state's unemployment insurance tax. "It's not bad enough that...
State officials need to stop pulling away the football
For almost a whole year now, Hawaii businesses have been Charlie Brown, while our state government has played the role of Lucy. Whenever things are looking up, the state pulls away the football and local businesses end up on their backs. Ever since the COVID-19...
‘A massive tidal wave is going to hit Hawaii businesses next year’
Keli'i Akina explains on "The Mike Buck Show" why a slated tripling of the state unemployment insurance tax will only worsen Hawaii's unemployment situation "Just when you thought we're sort of getting back to some system of normalcy — not the case!" That was...
How Hawaii is harmed by ‘rent seeking’
People who think the United States has a free market apparently are unaware of the economic concept of "rent-seeking," also known as crony capitalism. During a presentation in October to a political science class at the University of Hawaii at Manoa, Joe Kent,...
Enlist private sector to help trim state, county budgets
This commentary was published originally in The Garden Island newspaper on Nov. 16, 2020. _______________ Gov. David Ige is rightly considering cuts to the state budget to compensate for Hawai‘i’s dizzying drop in tax revenues due to the coronavirus lockdown. One tool...
State unemployment tax slated to automatically triple in 2021
This article was issued as a news release on Sunday, Nov. 15, 2020, and again on Monday, Nov. 16, 2020. _______________ Failure to address the legally required increase could discourage employers from hiring back employees after the lockdowns HONOLULU, Nov. 15, 2020...
Raiding EUTF is deja vu all over again
This commentary was originally published in the Honolulu Star-Advertiser on Sunday, November 15, 2020. ________________ Gov. David Ige in his 2018 State of the State address said, “One value that has guided this administration is to not simply pass our debts to our...
Clear away the barriers that limit opportunity
Everyone talks about the need for a good economy, but few people stop to contemplate what that really means. On this week’s episode of my “Hawaii Together” program on ThinkTech Hawaii, I talked to Connor Boyack, president of the Libertas Institute in Utah, and...
Utah policy expert offers some tips for Hawaii
As promoted on ThinkTech Hawaii: The host for this episode is Keli’i Akina. The guest for this episode is Connor Boyack. Just as Covid-19 has inflicted death and disease upon Hawaii’s population, measures to deal with the pandemic have crippled our economy. As...
Hawaii can thrive despite one-party dominance
Photo by Charley Myers While voters across the nation settled in to await the final results of their state elections, in Hawaii it wasn’t hard to predict that the outcome would be a victory for the status quo. After all, that is what happens when yours is virtually a...