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+--- Thread: Furlough Friday coming back (/showthread.php?tid=21712)
RE: Furlough Friday coming back - kalakoa - 04-18-2020
https://www.staradvertiser.com/2020/04/18/editorial/letters/letters-medical-lab-professionals-essential-to-good-testing/
What’s your plan for the economy, Gov. Ige?
Although Gov. David Ige’s restrictions to prevent the spread of COVID-19 could have been more surgical, I’m not criticizing these decisions to date. However, I would like to know Ige’s plan to bring our economy back after the shutdown period, especially in relation to the visitor industry.
For example, what is being done to enable visitors to come to Hawaii safely without being subject to quarantine? What steps has the state taken toward implementing expedited testing on a large scale in order to screen travelers? What other actions does the state plan to take to resurrect tourism, which is essential to the health our island economy?
Having decided to shut down our economy, Ige now has the responsibility to repair the damage that this has caused while continuing to protect public health.
The livelihoods of many of our citizens depend on his getting this right.
Matt Pietsch
Kula, Hawaii island
Recurring theme: we "need" to figure out "testing" so we can "manage" the pandemic while opening Hawaii up for tourism. Maybe a better plan would involve less reliance on tourism, which is by definition a pandemic vector?
RE: Furlough Friday coming back - HereOnThePrimalEdge - 04-18-2020
pandemic vector
...
an unfortunate coincidence
kalakoa,
You are definitely winning my personal best-phrases-of-the-day contest. Not only are they great in context for the topic at hand, but I'd highly recommend any young Punaweb readers/musicians consider these gems for East Hawaii band names.
RE: Furlough Friday coming back - terracore - 04-18-2020
"They didn't need any permission because Northwest flew cargo only flights up to 2009."
Northwest owned freighter aircraft certificated by the FAA specifically for cargo-only use. Alaska still does, but they still need waivers from the FAA to put cargo on the passenger deck of their passenger aircraft.
ETA: more interesting are the Alaska combi aircraft:
https://www.alaskaair.com/content/travel-info/our-aircraft/737-400-combi
but they have been retired:
https://blog.alaskaair.com/alaska-airlines/operations/combi-plane-retires/
RE: Furlough Friday coming back - Obie - 04-18-2020
They are not putting cargo on the passenger deck. These are brand new airplanes and they don't have a main deck cargo door.It's all going down below.It's a cargo flight operated by a passenger A/C.
The flights will operate three times weekly using a fuel-efficient Airbus A350-900 aircraft, a widebody jet that can carry 49 tons of cargo in its hold.
RE: Furlough Friday coming back - terracore - 04-18-2020
Is this Hawaii's future?
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/04/17/business/dealbook/illinois-pension-coronavirus.html "Illinois Seeks a Bailout From Congress for Pensions and Cities"
The ironic thing is that Illinois was headed towards bankruptcy and had insolvent pensions long before the pandemic. The US taxpayers shouldn't be on the hook to solve their problems that were decades in the making.
RE: Furlough Friday coming back - Chunkster - 04-18-2020
Apparently Delta's transatlantic partner, Virgin, is using passenger deck space for cargo, although I can't imagine it being very effective except perhaps for small parcels.
https://www.bbc.com/news/business-52319575
"When a passenger aircraft is used to carry cargo, most of the seats can be covered with netting, so that supplies can travel in the cabin as well as in the belly of the plane."
RE: Furlough Friday coming back - ironyak - 04-18-2020
terracore - Is this Hawaii's future? "Illinois Seeks a Bailout From Congress for Pensions and Cities"
Only the Feds can create money from nothing so they have to decide when, or if, to step in to help the states. Taxpayers aren't really going to ever pay off any of this (anymore than the boomers payed off the national debts of the Great Depression or WW2, or their parents paid the debts of WW1 and the Spanish War, or their parents the debts of the Civil War, etc all the way back to 1835).
Or states could be added to the type of municipalities allowed to declare bankruptcy and restructure their debt. If it can be done for major cities, why not states?
Various ways to adjust the made-up economic frameworks to handle the situation, but believing that Hawaii can just will tourism back into existence is just playing make believe.
RE: Furlough Friday coming back - Guest - 04-18-2020
The US taxpayers shouldn't be on the hook to solve their problems that were decades in the making.
Isn't our dependance on tourism the same thing? Didn't we create our problems by not diversifying? I'd say we shouldn't give the airlines a dime when all they did with the last bailout was line their pockets. Didn't they create their problems? Dealing with states that have high pension issues because they bought into a model that was considered the right thing to do in the past shouldn't be cause for abandoning them now.
Just think of the ridicule heaped on Bernie and his medical for all, the scorn Andrew Yang with his Universal Basic Income had to endure. And the socialistic structure we are going to have to apply to carry us over until we are rid of the pestilence and are able to rise up again. Hopefully we'll find a way guided by compassion.
RE: Furlough Friday coming back - terracore - 04-18-2020
There is a precedent for the federal government to bailout a government through bankruptcy- they did it with Puerto Rico. But the problem there:
On June 30, 2016, President Barack Obama signed the Puerto Rico Oversight, Management and Economic Stability Act, or PROMESA, which empowered him to appoint a seven-member Financial Oversight and Management Board that has ultimate control over the Commonwealth's budget...
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Puerto_Rican_government-debt_crisis
RE: Furlough Friday coming back - ironyak - 04-18-2020
terracore - There is a precedent for the federal government to bailout a government through bankruptcy- they did it with Puerto Rico.
Thanks for that - an interesting read although the Feds haven't really bailed out Puerto Rico yet, still just trying to figure out the process. Regardless, they appear to have several parallels to here as well as some hints as to what may be in our future if the Feds choose not to lend a hand or as least some greenbacks.
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"The government has also been unable to set up a system based on meritocracy, with many employees, particularly executives and administrators, simply lacking the competencies required to perform their jobs."
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"What we are asking for is runway to establish these reforms and have Washington recognize that they have a role to play."
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"He proposed austerity measures cutting payments to government pensioners, who do not receive Social Security, by 10%, prompting criticism from the island's chapter of the Service Employees International Union."
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"On May Day protests residents angry about the Governor's proposed subsidy cuts shouted: "Ricky is selling the island!"[13] As soon as a court stay expired on May 2, 2017, bondholders and a bond insurer sued the Commonwealth for full and timely debt repayment.[78] On May 3, Governor Rossello reacted by asking the Oversight Board to file in federal district court for debt relief under PROMESA, proceedings which will be very similar to bankruptcy.[78] On May 5 [...] the Puerto Rico Department of Education announced plans to close 184 schools."
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"On July 2, 2017, the Puerto Rico Electric Power Authority filed for bankruptcy protections under PROMESA for its $9 billion in bond debt.[80] On August 7, 2017, Aurelius Capital Management had Theodore Olson file another lawsuit, now alleging that the selection of the Oversight Board violated the Appointments Clause of the U.S. Constitution.[81] After touring the damage from Hurricane Maria on October 3, 2017, President Donald Trump announced: "They owe a lot of money to your friends on Wall Street. We're going to have to wipe that out."[82] When markets opened the next day the price on the Commonwealth's General Obligation bonds dropped to all-time lows of 32 cents on the dollar.[83] Mick Mulvaney, the White House Director of the Office of Management and Budget, then said that the president should not be taken literally and clarified that "[w]e are not going to bail them out".[83] The Commonwealth's $123 billion liabilities from debt ($74 billion) and unfunded pension obligations ($49 billion) are much larger than the $18 billion Detroit bankruptcy, the recordholder for municipal bankruptcies conducted under Chapter 9.[78] The debt restructuring procedure will also be unprecedented in that it is governed by Title III of PROMESA instead of Chapter 9 of the U.S. Bankruptcy Code."