Furloughs alone won’t solve budget crisis
The following recording from Dec. 18, 2020 features Hawaii radio host Mike Buck interviewing Keli'i Akina, president of the Grassroot Institute of Hawaii, on The Mike Buck Show on AM 690 and FM 94.3, The Answer. It's about 20 minutes, and here's how it started:...
NEWS RELEASE: Governor being coy in new budget about tax increases totaling $1 billion
The Grassroot Institute of Hawaii advises that the best way to increase state tax revenues is to encourage economic growth HONOLULU, Dec. 24, 2020 >> Gov. David Ige’s proposed budget for fiscal 2021-2023 includes $1 billion of “other revenues,”[1] the...
The best gift from Santa would be economic freedom
If only it were possible to fill a stocking with economic freedom and leave lots of new jobs under the tree. Like everything else about 2020, this Christmas season has been quite different, and we at the Grassroot Institute of Hawaii have had a lot of time to ponder...
Tribute to Dick Rowland: Beacon of liberty
This short video montage was presented on Thursday, Dec. 19, 2020, at the conclusion of a one-hour online tribute to Hawaii's own beacon of liberty, Richard "Dick" Rowland, founder and chairman emeritus of the Grassroot Institute of Hawaii, who died Nov. 28, 2020, at...
NEWS RELEASE: Hawaii has third-fastest population decline in nation
HONOLULU, Dec. 22, 2020 >> Hawaii's economic crisis has precipitated the third-fastest level of economic flight per capita in the nation, behind Illinois, and followed by West Virginia, Mississippi and Alaska, according to the Grassroot Institute of Hawaii. U.S....
‘We are going through one of the worst financial crises the state has ever faced’
Kauai radio host David Lister of Star 94.3 FM interviewed Keli'i Akina on Sunday, Dec. 20, 2020, about Hawaii's precarious financial situation. Akina, president of the Grassroot Institute of Hawaii, called it "one of the worst financial crises the state has ever...
Best way to generate taxes is through economic growth
If Benjamin Franklin had ever seen the Hawaii state budget, he’d have changed his famous quote to say that the only two things certain in life are debt and taxes. Especially these days, it’s as if local policymakers can think of nothing else to help Hawaii come to...
NEWS RELEASE: State deficit equals overspending since 2012
HONOLULU, Dec. 16, 2020 >> The state spent $1.4 billion over its constitutional spending cap during the past decade, which might have been enough to deal with the state’s current $1.4 billion shortfall for each of the next four fiscal years,[1] according to...
Private savings accounts could save Hawaii’s unemployment insurance system
Hawaii’s unemployment insurance system has become a ticking time bomb that threatens Hawaii’s fiscal future. In the short run, it might still be possible to avert disaster through creative budgeting involving reduced government spending in other areas. In the long...
A better way to help Hawaii’s unemployed
Hawaii’s unemployment insurance system is in crisis, with stalled payments, rampant fraud and massive debt leading to higher taxes. Is there a better way to help the unemployed — and Hawaii's businesses that pay the taxes? Yes, says international economist Veronique...
Dick Rowland was devoted to making a difference — and he did
How many individuals can boast of leaving a legacy for liberty? Last week, the Grassroot Institute of Hawaii lost its own Founding Father, Richard “Dick” Rowland. Dick started the Grassroot Institute nearly two decades ago, when it became clear that our state needed a...
Akina gets fiscal with the Hawaii Society of CPAs
Keli'i Akina of the Grassroot Institute of Hawaii outlined the financial problems Hawaii is facing, and the “best practices” that could help it recover, during the 60th — and first virtual — annual conference of the Hawaii Society of CPAs. Other speakers at the Nov....