Hawaii Tourism Cool Down Looms - good or bad?

[Punatang]

I think you are 100% right Edge. Transparency, transparency, transparency.

It would be a kick, to see the long term results, if suddenly Chocolate made in Puna or Coffee from Kona or Honey from Opihikau or Beef from Waimea and all of the other products that are made here or could be made here, were competitive in price with the cheaper imports we get.

It could be revolutionary.

https://amiba.net/local-multiplier/

The poster shares this link solely for informational purposes. No claims are made regarding the accuracy, completeness, or reliability of the content, nor about the views or credentials of the authors. Readers are encouraged to verify information independently.

[HereOnThePrimalEdge]

Chocolate made in Puna or Coffee from Kona or Honey from Opihikau or Beef from Waimea

Good example Punatang. That makes it easy to see how being dependent on local products, especially on a rock in the middle of the Pacific would lead to an extremely unbalanced diet. Unbalanced everything in fact.

Look at what the Native Hawaiians in the 1700’s had. What you like to live within those limitations?
Look at what the immigrants in the 1800’s brought in. Nothing compared to today.
We’re extremely limited as to what we can grow and manufacture locally. Magical thinking might get us there, but not reality based production methods.

[Punatang]

Edge, I'm assuming the best but I'm not understanding.

1) Did it sound like I'm advocating that Hawaii eschews 400 years of technical advancement?

2) I listed 4 Big Island products off of the top of my head and added "and all of the other products that are made, or could be made here."  Did I give you the impression that I thought we should live on four products? 

3) Did I give you the impression that I thought we should never purchase anything imported?

4) What "reality based production methods" do you feel Hawaii is incapable of duplicating?

[HereOnThePrimalEdge]

I'm not understanding.

Maybe you could expand on “It would be a kick, to see the long term results.”
What else do you think could be produced locally? What percentage of goods do you think could be made in the islands? How long would it take?

[randomq]

Hopefully this will at least be another nudge toward further diversification of the Hawaii economy.  

Describing it as a "nudge" is either ill informed or disingenuous.  It has already caused huge harm, and will likely lead to real sustained economic suffering and malnutrition in Hawaii. 

Nudge or sledgehammer, it's not going to convince young folks to start growing rice or assembling iPhones here. It's just going to encourage them to move somewhere "less bad" away from Hawaii.

[HereOnThePrimalEdge]

Chocolate, coffee, honey, beef

How do Hawai’i grown prices compare with imported?  Double? Triple?  By slapping import taxes on those items we’ll be paying double or triple on chocolate, coffee, honey, beef.  We won’t be paying the current imported prices on Hawai’i grown.

Not to mention that those local products you used as an example depend on tourism and tourists to support those businesses.  With tourism headed downward, growers of those products may not be able to sustain their operations.  They need tourists as part of their overall sales.

[Punatang]

Random:

It may very well cause all of the ill effects you are suggesting.  That's bad.

If it does create those effects, that will hopefully nudge (AKA motivate, inspire, necessitate) us to diversify, become more resilient, and be more self-sufficient.  That's good.

Both can be true and in fact one does not happen without the other.

I won't take offense from your declaring that  that I am either ill informed, or disingenuous - because you didn't understand me.


Edge:

You are either not equipped or simply do not want to imagine how things could change, scale, etc., under different circumstances which is all that I was saying would "be a kick".  I wrote that for people with imagination, vision, and an open mind.  It was not meant to be a manifesto or treatise. 
I think you want to make this a referendum on national politics and that was not my intent.  Please just enjoy your paradigm where everything is either bad, magical thinking, or impossible.  You're right.  Have fun.

[MyManao]

It would be a kick, to see the long term results, if suddenly Chocolate made in Puna or Coffee from Kona or Honey from Opihikau or Beef from Waimea and all of the other products that are made here or could be made here, were competitive in price with the cheaper imports we get..

The notion of a divided world, which is what we’re experiencing now, is a world torn by differences rather than one united by commonalities.

You may have noticed that in the past the selling card of the USA has been democracy fostered in trade. And, now, as totalitarian regimes take hold, all that sharing and getting along is being replaced with a general air of hostility towards each other.

So yeah, we can have expensive honey made in Hawaii because it costs so much here, and a peaceful world, or our honey can cost as much as the other guy’s in a world in which war is inevitable. Our choice, or really, the choice of the few who elected the current moronic regime.

Suggesting that made in Hawaii can be ‘reasonably’ priced is a nonstarter. How can that be when we are the most remote, so our imported goods cost the most naturally, and our land prices are so high? It simply doesn't add up to competitive.

[HereOnThePrimalEdge]

You are either not equipped or simply do not want to imagine how things could change

Equipped: I ran a business in Hawaii for 30+ years.  Some things I tried within the product line proved to be quite successful, some not.  But I stayed focused on what worked and made a good living.  Over the years I saw many examples of how things changed, by decisions I made, or how my customers or potential customers chose to make their decisions, or by influences beyond my control like paying changing duties on Customs imports, international, national, interisland freight charges (fuel surcharge, what?), 9/11, 2008 banking collapse, it all made its way to how my business functioned in Puna. I watched, I learned.

Imagination: I love fiction in books, movies, etc.  I find science fiction fascinating. Economic fiction not at all.  When an entire economic strategy is based on a made up character in a book to justify the decisions that have been made, it’s sad, stupid, and most people don’t even understand that’s what happened.  Prices are already high in Puna, running a business is difficult in Puna, finding a job isn’t easy.  We don’t need to make it even harder.

[kalakoa]

If production of commodity goods were economically feasible in Hawaii, people would be doing it already.