Economic Alternatives For Hawaii

[randomq]

You can NOT tax your way to prosperity.

There is some evidence to challenge that assumption.  Nordic countries have very high taxes, for instance, but their education, social programs, job training programs, universal healthcare, and safety nets are a form of prosperity.  They are both more wealthy on average than other European countries, and have less economic inequality.  They are also much more engaged in their elections than we are here in Hawaii, have better education, and their leaders are held to task by the population and unions.

I think the problem we have here in Hawaii is that our leaders suck, and also we haven't established enough resilient economic activity to support a high-tax, high-service model.  We have systemic incompetence and corruption, and they already squander our tax money on themselves and their cronies, so why would we want to give them more?  But if we elected proper leaders, and they cleaned house, and enticed sustainable industries to move to Hawaii, moving workers over from the public sector to the new private sector jobs...  Maybe then we could think about raising taxes for the common good.  Green infrastructure projects that would reduce our dependence on oil and lower electric bills.  Free education and job training to reduce the welfare rolls.  Better teachers, more and better medical specialists...